NAOMI KLEIN: Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy

[yurbud]

I think Obama has a long term view and is maneuvering the pieces to neuter Wall Street's ability to harm the rest of us.

But we need to apply as much heat as possible to DC so the Wall Street execs are more afraid of us than they are of any reforms Obama proposes. They should see us as a pack of frothing wolves that Obama is barely keeping from jumping the wall of their gated community and tearing them to shreds.

And frankly, that's how politicians should see us to. They should fear their constituents more than they hope for jobs as hedge fund managers, CEOs, board members, lobbyists, or other corporate leaches when they leave office.

Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy

February 08, 2009 By Naomi Klein
Source: The Nation

Watching the crowds in Iceland banging pots and pans until their government fell reminded me of a chant popular in anti-capitalist circles in 2002: "You are Enron. We are Argentina."

Its message was simple enough. You--politicians and CEOs huddled at some trade summit--are like the reckless scamming execs at Enron (of course, we didn't know the half of it). We--the rabble outside--are like the people of Argentina, who, in the midst of an economic crisis eerily similar to our own, took to the street banging pots and pans. They shouted, "¡Que se vayan todos!" ("All of them must go!") and forced out a procession of four presidents in less than three weeks. What made Argentina's 2001-02 uprising unique was that it wasn't directed at a particular political party or even at corruption in the abstract. The target was the dominant economic model--this was the first national revolt against contemporary deregulated capitalism.

It's taken a while, but from Iceland to Latvia, South Korea to Greece, the rest of the world is finally having its ¡Que se vayan todos! moment.

The stoic Icelandic matriarchs beating their pots flat even as their kids ransack the fridge for projectiles (eggs, sure, but yogurt?) echo the tactics made famous in Buenos Aires. So does the collective rage at elites who trashed a once thriving country and thought they could get away with it. As Gudrun Jonsdottir, a 36-year-old Icelandic office worker, put it: "I've just had enough of this whole thing. I don't trust the government,I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties and I don't trust the IMF. We had a good country, and they ruined it."

http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20512/

[bvar22]

1. I have my pitchfork and torch ready.

No Immunity because someone has a "D" after their name.

"I don't trust the banks, I don't trust the political parties and I don't trust the IMF. We had a good country, and they ruined it."

[Joanne98]

2. I'm ready! Let's do it!!!!!!

There's new student protests in Bulgaria!

Bulgarian students, eco-activists and pensioners undertook new protests in front of the houses of the parliament, starting Wednesday at 11:00 AM.

The slogan of the renewed protests is "stop stealing". Student organizations will present a draft strategy for public control over the government.

MP's within the building will also be asked to come out and show themselves in order for the crowd to see how many of them actually show up to the work they're paid for with taxpayer money.

The protesters' main demand is for the resignation of the whole government. During their previous protests they had warned that they will start civil insubordination if it isn't met.

Police presence at the protests is lower than the previous few times. Provocateurs among the protesters also seem to be absent /bnn/

http://www.bgnewsnet.com/story.php?lang=en&sid=23730

[yurbud]

3. this sounds like a good idea.

[applegrove]

4. I so wish Naomi Klein was for the bailout. I love her writing but I want to be

on the same side as her.

[yurbud]

6. Naomi is dealing with facts, Obama with politics. The political reality is if he called it like it

is, and did what was really necessary, he'd be killed.

He's dancing between raindrops, trying figure out what will help us that the wealthy will tolerate without unleashing their flying monkeys on us.

If he can't get enough done, the public may get ahead of him and demand more.

[robertpaulsen]

5. Coming this June to America

Jobless in America: Stories from the Frontlines of the Economic Crisis

By Nicholas von Hoffman, The Nation. Posted February 10, 2009.



At the current accelerating rate of layoffs, we will be called on to deal with a catastrophe by the end of June. And at this time next year, the nation could be suffering 6, 7, even 8 million more Americans without jobs in a society singularly ill equipped to take on a disaster that many of the people in power thought could never happen.

snip

'There will be a revolution'

I was a successful senior writer/instructional designer with more than twenty years of hard-earned experience, and I lost my job on November 19. I worked for BBDO, an advertising agency whose primary customer in the Detroit area is Chrysler. I had a good salary, good healthcare for my family, benefits like a 401(k) and paid time off. That's all gone now, and my family and I are struggling with the realities of this new situation we find ourselves in.

The managers and politicians are only focused on their next quarterly earnings or their next re-election bid and don't seem to understand that the loss of my job doesn't only affect me and the ones I love--it affects every business my family and I come into contact with. How and where will I and millions of others find jobs like the ones that have been lost? With no job, how can I afford to buy a new American vehicle or TV or shoes for my son or food for our next meal?

The people that we've elected, and those entrusted with this nation's corporate and financial assets, better get it together fast because soon those questions will be resonating a million times over, and the noise from the masses may well topple the walls surrounding their gated communities and country clubs and rattle their gilded cages. We were told, Work hard, play by the rules, and pay your taxes and you will get ahead--you will have the so-called American Dream. That's a damn lie, and I for one am mad as hell about it. God help those in charge should I and the millions of other people like me (our numbers seem to be growing exponentially by the day) reach a point of desperation and no return. There will be a revolution and no redemption for the people who caused this mess.

Joris B. Rapelje
Clinton Township, Mich.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/126122/jobless_in_america:_stories_from_the_frontlines_of_the_economic_crisis/?page=4

[DCKit]

7. Hey Joris, where can I buy an American made TV? Or food, for that matter? n/t