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By Michael D. Roberts |
His training and leadership are not clear.
The officers and troops are inconstant.
The formations of the military are jumbled.
This is called "Chaos."
- -The Art of War" By Sun Tzu.
In the late 1980s right into the mid-1980s
America's sanctimonious business and political classes lectured
the rest of the world, in particular Third World nations, about
the pitfalls of crony capitalism and financial nepotism. The
U.S. set itself up as a bastion of right and prissiness in the
dog-eat-dog world of international trading and business. As America
backed its business sector with big money that brought unbelievable
wealth to the top one percent of United States business class,
the rest of America sucked salt and hoped for the best. And the
danger signal that as the Savings and Loan (S&L) crisis sent
was dismissed as just a costly irritant of capitalism.
So we let the S&L scandal slide because the big shots placated
public outcry with slick talk, and the Republican government
went ahead and spent billions to bale out the bankrupt organization
even as the top management raked in millions as they picked the
carcass dry from a deal gone kaput. Thing is nobody went to
jail because the ruling class insulated itself politically and
rather than open an embarrassing can of worms that would have
shown both Democrat and Republican collusion and compliance in
the scandal, everybody just kept quiet. The press gushed about
how we learned our lesson and that this could not happen again.
And then came Enron and Arthur Anderson's fixing of the corporate
books that made the Mafia's bookies green with envy. The biggest
accounting and theft of people's money in United States history
drew sheepish statements from a White House that was closely
aligned with Enron. Republicans pulled out all the stops to sidetrack
this mega-scandal with President George Bush leading the pack
about America being at war.
This is fast becoming a real outmoded cliché since the
same Bush Administration who boasted that it had won the war
in Afghanistan with the rout of the Taliban can only account
for approximately 300 low-level Taliban fighters held in Cuba.
Moreover, Bush's "War on Terror" has become a catch-all
phrase to hide the real domestic problems of growing inflation,
economic stagnation, and the fact that inspite of Bush's claims
the United States is still in a state of economic depression.
Then in quick succession make Tyco, Xerox and about seven other
big companied that have all gotten into trouble. Amtrak had to
be quickly bailed out with $100 million to keep the company on
its rails, and the airline industry is still in a state of contraction.
The manufacturing industry is yet to come out of its slump and
massive layoff continues even as the Administration continues
to spend billions on war materials. And the sad thing is that
ALL these problems were in the pipeline BEFORE September 11,
2001. That terror event only helped to further aggravate the
situation.
That is why the continued saber rattling against Iraq Bush
now has to deliver a "Genuine war" so that Americans
can rally around the flag. He knows that if he does not start
a new war soon, many questions will start to be asked about exactly
who are we at war with and what is our exit strategy in Afghanistan
where the potential for a Muslim Vietnam is very, very real.
The fight against terror, according to the Bush Doctrine, is
ongoing and cannot be seen as a conventional war since Osama
bin Laden and Al Qaeda do not have a standing army like Iraq
or Iran.
But picking a fight with Iraq (that has become the US and its
allies' whipping boy) will not help the grave domestic situation
here in the United States. Enron proved that corruption in high
places, collusion with elected officials who took pay offs, is
the kind of crony capitalism that is aggravating the economic
situation in the United States. Still, nobody has gone to jail
for betraying the public trust, making off with millions of dollars
even as thousands of poor American lost their retirement incomes,
or for lying to the public. The top leadership is wealthier with
the collapse of Enron (and the other companies) than they were
before the collapse.
And still the Democratic Party and members of Congress have only
challenged the big shots in cosmetic hearings that are designed
only to show the public that they were concerned. For the most
part the Republicans have been making similar noises as these
scandals ultimately blow away and nothing happens maybe
a slap on the wrist.
Now we have Worldcom. And with Enron many felt that America,
in particular the SEC and the Treasury Department, had learned
their lessons. Apparently not, and with the pending bankruptcy
of Worldcom, it is the poor, ordinary people who will suffer
with massive layoffs 17,000 people worldwide and
stocks in 401(k)s now almost worthless. Gallingly nothing is
likely to come out of this new financial and capitalistic debacle.
Again the big shots will hide their millions, face the public
for a few uncomfortable days, and retire to enjoy their ill-gotten
wealth laughing all the way to the bank.
Crony capitalism is alive and well and it is aided and abetted
by an administration that has consistently turned a blind eye.
Remember, these big companies have financed both Republican and
Democratic Parties, pay high-flying lobbyists and have contributed
millions more to "pet projects" and foundations that
give new meaning to the term "money laundering." The
behavior of these corporate big shots and their counterparts
in high political office is nothing short of corruption and somebody
needs to go to jail.
The feeble, lame and insipid comments from the Bush Administration
and feigned indignation from people like Senator Joe Lieberman
and others, is nothing short of political arrogance. The sad
thing is that Americans, side-tracked and focused on the possibility
of a new terror attack, drummed into their collective consciousness
day after day, night after night, by Administration officials,
the media, and every kind of "expert" to jump out of
the woodwork, allow these and other happenings that undermine
American democracy and quality of life, to slip past in the mix.
It was Sun Tzu who said that in chaos there is opportunity and
that those who know how to create chaos and capitalize on it
will be the victors. Perhaps the old Chinese sage commander was
right after all.