It seems that most people these days are willing to criticize the USA yet at the same time there are many who forcefully maintain that despite its flaws the USA and the Western system represents the best hope for humanity…. that we must support the Empire because every other alternative is worse…. that there is a rising tide of even greater barbarism welling up against us on every side.
Well, this is where I disagree. I am NOT pessimistic about the future and I do not find it necessary to double-down in support of the current thoroughly corrupt and morally bankrupt global power structure. I am actually full of optimism and hope for the future of our global human family!
Since 1990 and the fall of the USSR the western corporate/financial oligarchy was given carte blanche to create the world according to their own designs. Their own propaganda told a story of what they stood for: democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, prosperity, abundance, environmental sustainability, social justice, and all that good stuff we still hear preached about on the mainstream news. With the fall of the “evil empire” (global communism led by the USSR) there was nothing holding these dreams back. So what happened?
1. Aggressive militarism. Without the USSR to deal with the West engaged in numerous wars against small nations that were unwilling to be dominated by the interests of the corporate oligarchy. I’m talking about Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Libya, Syria, and other regime change wars, not to mention various ATTEMPTS at regime change and countless overt manipulations and violations of national sovereignties through election fraud around the world. The “Open Society” of George Soros and the CIA’s own NED (National Endowment for Democracy) went to work with a vengeance! They operated specifically on behalf of the corporations and billionaire oligarchs that funded them.
2. Economic blackmail. Through a super-charged neo-colonialism the West was able to achieve a chokehold over developing nations. Western credit would fund development but only if these nations agreed to shape their economies according to the needs of western corporations. These are the familiar “IMF Conditionalities” that destroyed social safety nets, cracked down on labor, obliterated common sense environmental safeguards, and opened up markets for western goods. The aim was total freedom for capital, and much less freedom for people. That was the neo-liberal recipe known as the “Washington Consensus” for developing economies. Essentially it meant that smaller nations would never be able to become self-sufficient and would remains debt-slaves to the West forever. Those nations that resisted were faced with isolation and economic sanctions and blockades. We know the names and how they are vilified by western media: Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Serbia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, now Russia and soon China.
3. Wealth concentration. The promise was that capitalism combined with liberal democracy would be the final form of human government that would succeed in uniting the world and providing peace and prosperity for all. It would be the “End of History” because it would prove itself better than any other alternative form of social organization. What is not included in this narrative is the reality of Class Conflict. It is the basic fact proven time and time again throughout history that the ownership class NEVER gives concessions to the laboring class unless they are FORCED to make concessions. The primary “freedom” that stands supreme within this system is freedom for the wealthy and powerful to accumulate capital at the expense of the powerless. Therefore the result of the primacy of corporate interests over the last thirty years is the massive wealth inequality that afflicts the world today, reaching levels higher than prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Competition and the love of money is the foundation of the Western system. Capital attracts capital and larger piles of money inevitably absorb smaller piles. This ever-INCREASING inequality is just more dry tinder waiting for the spark of revolution.
4. Global debt and inflation. Over the last thirty years we have seen the US Dollar consolidate supremacy over the global economy. The vast majority of nations, even if they have their own currencies, are subservient to the USD. They are now in debt and that debt continues to grow, with the USA itself in the lead as one of the primary debtor nations. With all this debt, who are the creditors? For the most part the creditors are the very same billionaires that control major banks and multi-national corporations. The nation of China is an exception, but this is also their Achilles heel, and they are actively unwinding their position as creditors holding (primarily) US debt. Western billionaires and institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, on the other hand, continue to bleed small debtor nations dry. Throughout the global South in Asia, Africa and South America, debt repayments to the West make up significant portions of their GDP and their interest payments continue to rise. As long as corporate interests rule the world the debt problem will not get better, it will only get worse. As debts rise so will the printing of money and the inevitable rise of inflation. These trends, combined with the obstinacy and greed of the ruling class, will make sure that the negative effects are directed at the working poor all over the globe. They are creating the crisis but we will be expected to pay for it.
This is just a brief overview of where we stand today, and I for one have seen enough. It’s clear to me that the liberal vision promoted by our very own ruling class is merely a smokescreen to disguise their true motives and intentions. The western ruling class is a corporate oligarchy and their true agenda is an endless pursuit of wealth and power. They care nothing about the interests of the vast majority of humankind and they care little for the earth itself. Because the system was designed to serve the interests of sociopaths we need to rise up and destroy the whole fu**ing thing. The idea that this is the best option we have and we must double-down in support of it is an insult to human creativity, an abhorrent display of cowardice and bootlicking subservience, and a depressing example of the lack of imagination that is another product of capitalism itself.
We must dare to invent the future!
Peter Goodgame
August 11, 2022
New Horizons 