The Underworld of Banksters

[Photo: Bankster Get Out of Jail Free card (Mike Licht).]

By Gary Brumback, PhD

Editor's Note

“Follow the money” is a truism of capitalism, for the belief is that there is no stronger incentive than money. In a capitalist society, when it comes to power, this is largely, though not completely, true. Power is more complex than this – witness the issues of sexual harassment and rape that seems anathema with high status males , which reinforces the issues of power more than sex. However, in a society where wealth is valued over all social values then those who control the money are their own locus of both power and corruption. Brumback and many others refer to this class as “banksters.” From funding wars to laundering dirty money from all sources is an international, and intersectional network of financiers. The last global crash (the sources of which not only remain unfixed, but wealthier than ever) revealed the skeletons of this system as it stretches across oceans from continent to continent. There are few curbs on the banksters, but controls are possible – and necessary – if we are ever to achieve justice and environmental survival.

Category: Capitalism, Corporate - Corporatization, Gary Brumback | Comments Off

1 May 2018

Commercializing Peace?

[Graphic: Commercialization infographic from Energy.gov]

By Gary Brumback, PhD

Editor's Note

Commercializing peace is an oxymoron for commercialization means “the process of managing or running something principally for financial gain (Google Dictionary). Does this mean that peace becomes one of the saleable products of corporations? Can nations purchase different brands of peace from different corporations? While I believe that we need to have enforceable frameworks of “corporate social responsibility”, the current efforts are primarily advertising and public relations. In fact, that is where the budgets for these types of community involvement often reside. They are written off as business costs (or more cynically, “the costs of doing business”). Most of us have heard of “greenwashing” – the corporate sponsoring of (often fake) environmentally “friendly” projects. In this article Gary Brumback introduces “blue washing” or the cleansing of actions under the UN’s blue flag. He also discusses specific case studies that are good fodder for further discussions with friends, relatives, and co-workers – or those (sometimes argumentative) forums that some of you may participate in.

Category: Gary Brumback, Globalization - Corporatization, Lies Damn Lies - Propaganda, Peace | Comments Off

15 April 2018

Inside the War Industry

[Graphic: “Federal Budget Showdown”. RJ Matson, Roll Call. 194880)]

By Gary Brumback, PhD

Editor's Note

As we watch the GOP construct a budgetary scenario that will place the social safety net on the chopping block it is important to consider the sacrosanct elephant in the room – the “defense budget” and the parasite of the military industrial congressional complex. Just two days ago Trump blithely shot off more than 100 missiles at (vacated) supposed chemical weapons facilities inside of Syria. Each of those (“new” and “smart”) missiles costs in the vicinity of over $1 million a piece ($1.41 million in 2011). The infrastructure of the country is built around this cancerous growth which is continuously promoted as critical to the very existence of the country. In fact, Trump is making good on his campaign promise to reinflate the defense budget. (Don’t be surprised if the military starts buying gold toilet seats in the near future.) While the GOP sets its agenda of eviscerating the social safety net to balance the budget, peace and social justice activists point to the true consumer of our budget – the “defense” budget.

There has always been a huge logical failure in the assumption that war is good for the economy, but that assumption has become increasingly off the mark in a globalized economy. While war “stimulated” the economy in the past, it did so through deficit spending (stealing from the future). At that time (basically WWI through Vietnam) the government was borrowing from itself and the money went into US military manufacturers and contractors. With the advent of contemporary globalization the bulk of military jobs and production were offshored – just like the rest of US manufacturing – and the money borrowed has also largely been offshored (primarily loans from China and Japan). Therefore, and economic stimulation from war footing is muted at best and definitely worsens the financial stability of the country while filling the coffers of the extremely wealthy. Moving to a peace orientation is critical to our financial survival, and as Dr. Brumback notes, activists must understand the war complex in order to make substantive change.

Category: Gary Brumback, Government, Militarism, Peace, Private Military Contractors, The .01%, War and Conflict, Weapon Systems | Comments Off

3 April 2018

The Leaning Ivory Towers of America’s Corpocracy

[Photo: Leaning Tower of Pisa kick down by Ravindra Gandhi.]

By Gary Brumback, PhD

Editor's Note

The insidious intrusion of corporate America runs up and down the entire US educational system – starting with K-12 where corporations offer free “instructional material” for cash-strapped schools. There has been a dual campaign to destroy public education on one hand, and use the schools K-U as the training fields for corporate America. Within the schools themselves, particularly in higher education, the transformation from educational organizations to educational businesses is virtually complete. The “business model” cannot work for environments where providing for needs and services are a priority. “Just in time” education, and “open entry open exit” does not serve students well – not even in the short term. Material and skills are provided out of context and there is no effort to provide strong foundations for student learning. Yet in higher education, which has also had radical decreases in public funding, catering to local business and industry brings in money, and increasingly whole schools shift to the business “customer.” The issues the Gary Brumback raises are important, and reflective of huge issues in American education.

Category: Corporate - Corporatization, Gary Brumback | Comments Off

7 January 2018

Corporate America Unmasked

[Photo: Corporate greed. Cartoon found at Jesse’s Cafe Americain]

By Gary Brumback, PhD

Editor's Note

There is something terrifying that the American public hates the Congress, but has a growing love affair with the corporations and wealthy whose interests are being served by those same politicians. There is a concept that applies to this apparent cognitive paradox – doublethink. Doublethink was coined by George Orwell in his dystopian novel, 1984. It is the holding of contradictory thoughts without any sense of discomfort. Orwell’s doublethink goes an order of magnitude past the psychological concept of “cognitive dissonance.” With cognitive the holder feels discomfort at the contradiction(s) and therewith ensues an array of responses to reduce the dissonance. However, with doublethink we move into the realm of “belief” and “faith” and therefore out of the realm of “fact.” In this article, Gary Brumback is attempting to counter doublethink with fact. The goal of such efforts is to break the belief of the back of reality. In my own teaching I frequently attempted to move students from the realm of belief which is an uncritical (an unexamined) acceptance to a state of cognitive dissonance where a more conscious process of active thinking was possible. Can fact counter belief?

Category: Gary Brumback, Globalization - Corporatization, Hegemony | Comments Off

UncommonThought

Since 2002

The Underworld of Banksters

Commercializing Peace?

Inside the War Industry

The Leaning Ivory Towers of America’s Corpocracy

Corporate America Unmasked