We must come to understand that the exercise of responsibility is diminishing and in fact becoming organized as irresponsibility. We must hold men of power variously responsible for pivotal events, we must unmask their pretentions - and often their own mistaken convictions - that they are not responsible. Our politics, in short, must be the politics of responsibility.”
C. Wright Mills, The Politics of Responsibility, 1960
"I think that some day historians, in their attempt to make a coherent sense of a diversity of actors and events of our time, may make the case that the most common denominator among the people of power, our Western elite, was not wisdom or virtue or learning or even genuine accomplishments. The most valued characteristic of our system seems to be the willingness of the individual to surrender themselves to the unspeakable— to do whatever they are told to do, say anything that they are told to say, attend whatever institution and join whatever organization that may be required, and to profess anything with fervent conviction that they are told to believe. And to never, ever violate the secrecy and carefully crafted image of the ruling class.
Whether this servile attitude comes from a total lack of character, a sociopathic obsession with power and money, or on the negative side a susceptibility to sexual or financial blackmail, for example, it just a spectrum of a system that has degenerated into a secretive series of schemes, scams, and cons, hidden behind an official mythology of manufactured stories under a blanket of closely guarded secrecy."
Jesse, The Higher Immorality of the Elite, 25 October 2024
"Over the last thirty years, the United States has been taken over by an amoral financial oligarchy, and the American dream of opportunity, education, and upward mobility is now largely confined to the top few percent of the population. Federal policy is increasingly dictated by the wealthy, by the financial sector, and by powerful industries. These policies are implemented and praised by these groups’ willing servants, namely the increasingly bought-and-paid-for leadership of America’s political parties, academia, [corporate media], and lobbying industry.
If allowed to continue, this process will turn the United States into a declining, unfair society with an impoverished, angry, uneducated population under the control of a small, ultra wealthy elite. Such a society would be not only immoral but also eventually unstable, dangerously ripe for religious and political extremism. Thus far, both political parties have been remarkably clever and effective in concealing this new reality. In fact, the two parties have formed an innovative kind of cartel— an arrangement I have termed America’s political duopoly. Both parties lie about the fact that they have each sold out to the financial sector and the wealthy. So far both have largely gotten away with the lie, helped in part by the enormous amount of money now spent on deceptive, manipulative political advertising."
Charles Ferguson, Predator Nation, 2012
According to Mr. Zelensky of the Ukraine, between $75 to 100 billion dollars of the $177 billion in 'aid' that the US government has sent to them is missing and unaccounted for.
To paraphrase George Orwell, war against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.
All that is required to sustain this sort of thing is to keep the paying public distracted by bread and circuses, fear and greed. And hatred of the unknown and of each other with narratives created by those without moral restraint in pursuit of a quick buck, and passed around by those who like to think that they are in with the ruling class, and exceptional.
A story as old as Babylon, and evil as sin.
Stocks slumped hard overnight, but managed to take back much of their losses during the day.
The Dollar continued a slow decline falling back to the 108 level.
Gold and silver continued to rally after their breakout.
Some gold left the Hong Kong warehouses as Asia returns from its lunar new year celebrations.
VIX fell back down to its lower levels as the markets breathed a sigh of relief at the suspension of the looming tariffs and trade wars.
That which is unsustainable will not be sustained, except by increasing fraud and force.
Have a pleasant evening.
