Originally published at The Benfell Blog. You can comment here or there.
Dennis Loo was remarkably prescient when he wrote,
Even if somehow the Democrats miraculously win the next presidential election [in 2008], and even if, hypothetically, the Democratic president wishes to curb the radical-right’s agenda, the radical right has entrenched itself so thoroughly and strategically int he government, in the military, in business, and in the media that any moves to curb its power and its agenda will be met with the ferocity of a really pissed-off vampire. Look at how angry and vituperative its practitioners are right now, and they have power!1
There is, of course, more. Hacker and Pierson point to how the extremely wealthy organized and funded lobbyists to convert a republican system of government into oligarchy. Their solution is for progressives to respond in kind, which would mean at least matching the money and sustaining the level of organization of the extremely rich at the same time as the rich are sucking ever more money away from everybody else.2 Setting aside the practicalities of achieving media penetration to create a necessary sense of urgency among people who are exhausted from having to work longer hours just to get by,3 4 I don’t think it is even possible for the numbers to come out on that.
But apart from the suffering of the unemployed, particularly those who fail to find work quickly or those who are over 50,5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Loo points out
that as the New Deal-Keynesian Welfare State is systematically dismantled by the neoliberal state—the political expression of globalization—as privatization takes the place of social programs, as deindustrialization and downsizing and speedups and take-aways proceed, as insecurity of job and livelihood becomes the norm rather than the exception, as the positive incentives, in other words, for normative behavior (jobs and decent pay, and so forth) are increasingly shredded, the state and the corporate world have no choice but to rely more and more heavily upon coercion to ensure cooperation and to forestall rebellion and revolution. coercion itself must be used more, but even coercion doesn’t work in all instances, and sheer terror must be employed given their overweening ambitions for world domination.14
Rational people would, of course, realize that increasing pressure in this manner can only end in an explosion. Loo doesn’t refer to the apocalyptic end times eschatology of some evangelical Protestants but quotes Bruce Prescott’s belief that,
Many [reconstructionists] seem to be biding their time until public sentiment turns decisively against the kind of reforms they are seeking. When that happens, I believe that some, if given the opportunity, will be willing to take up arms and wage another civil war.15
Loo also points to a New York Times article in which an unidentified Bush administration advisor infamously said,
That’s not the way the world really works anymore. We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.16
In that article, Ron Suskind reveals a mindset of destiny. Not only, as Loo observes, did the Bush administration see itself as able to “make reality” but it saw itself as carrying out the will of the god of Abraham. And when we see the irrationality with which the Obama administration continues, extends, and expands Bush administration policy, we can only conclude that the phenomenon of a “faith-based presidency” has carried forward not just across administrations, but between parties.
Indeed, how else can we explain the callousness of Obama administration policy towards the unemployed, that accepts high unemployment as the “new normal,” that doesn’t just enable foreclosure fraud, but uses a phony loan modification program to expedite those foreclosures?17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 This is an administration, which like its predecessor, perceives itself as immune from the consequences of its policies.
This isn’t just reckless, it isn’t just criminally insane; it is a recipe for an extremely violent uprising.
- 1. Dennis Loo, “Defending the Indefensible: Torture and the American Empire,” in Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney, Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips, eds. (New York: Seven Stories, 2006), pp. 108-109.
- 2. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
- 3. Les Leopold, “Why the Idiocy about Unemployment?” Huffington Post, July 9, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/les-leopold/why-the-idiocy-about-unem_b_64… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3186#comment-360
- 4. Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America (New York: Crown, 1970).
- 5. Laura Bassett, “Disturbing Job Ads: ‘The Unemployed Will Not Be Considered’,” Huffington Post, June 4, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/disturbing-job-ads-the-un_n_600… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3236
- 6. Laura Bassett, “Employers Continue to Discriminate Against Jobless, Think ‘The Best People Are Already Working’,” Huffington Post, October 8, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/08/employers-continue-to-dis_n_756… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3236#comment-744
- 7. Laura Bassett, “Are Credit Checks Keeping The Jobless Out Of Work?” Huffington Post, October 25, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/25/credit-checks-keep-the-jo_n_773… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3236#comment-860
- 8. Laura Bassett, “Employers Won’t Hire The Jobless Because Of The ‘Desperate Vibe’,” Huffington Post, December 3, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/03/employers-wont-hire-the-u_n_791… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3236#comment-994
- 9. Laura Flanders, “The Violence of the Broken Economy,” Huffington Post, January 14, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-flanders/the-f-word-the-violence-o_b… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/4297
- 10. Chris Isidore, “Job seekers’ latest hurdle: Credit checks,” CNN, July 22, 2010. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/22/news/economy/credit_checks_for_job_appli… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3236#comment-425
- 11. Annie Lowrey, “‘Too Young Not to Work but Too Old to Work’,” Washington Independent, June 17, 2010. Retrieved from http://washingtonindependent.com/87333/too-young-not-to-work-but-too-old… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3514
- 12. Patrick May, “Americans in their 50s especially hard-hit by recession,” San Jose Mercury-News, September 4, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_15977179?nclick_check=1 Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3514#comment-607
- 13. Motoko Rich, “For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again,” New York Times, September 19, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/business/economy/20older.html?_r=1&hpw Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3514#comment-646
- 14. Loo, “Defending the Indefensible,” pp. 106-107.
- 15. Bruce Prescott, quoted in Loo, “Defending the Indefensible,” p. 108.
- 16. Ron Suskind, “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush,” New York Times, October 17, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?_r=1
- 17. William K. Black and L. Randall Wray, “Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 1: Put Bank of America in Receivership,” Huffington Post, October 22, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/foreclose-on-the-foreclos_… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/4006#comment-895
- 18. William K. Black and L. Randall Wray, “Foreclose on the Foreclosure Fraudsters, Part 2: Spurious Arguments Against Holding the Fraudsters Accountable,” Huffington Post, October 24, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-k-black/post_1115_b_772820.html Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/4006#comment-895
- 19. Ariana Eunjung Cha, “Some judges chastise banks over foreclosure paperwork,” Washington Post, November 8, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/08/AR201011… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-900
- 20. David Dayen, “Grayson Wants Foreclosure Fraud Investigated as Systemic Risk, Calls for National Moratorium,” Firedoglake, October 7, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/10/07/grayson-wants-foreclosure-fraud-i… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-739
- 21. David Dayen, “Harry Reid Calls for Foreclosure Moratorium in Nevada,” Firedoglake, October 7, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/10/07/harry-reid-calls-for-foreclosure-… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-740
- 22. David Dayen, “Donovan’s Folly: HUD Secretary’s Justification for Keeping Housing Market Going Neglects Clear Risks,” Firedoglake, October 17, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/10/17/donovans-folly-hud-secretarys-jus… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-783
- 23. David Dayen, “Banks Breaking into Occupied Homes, Stealing Items (Really),” Firedoglake, December 22, 2010. Retrieved from http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/22/banks-breaking-into-occupied-home… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/4196
- 24. Brady Dennis and Ariana Eunjung Cha, “More judges rule that lenders lack documents, have no right to foreclose,” Washington Post, October 6, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR201010… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-729
- 25. Tyler Durden, “Grayson Sends Letter Demanding Halt Of Illegal Foreclosures, Calls Out ‘Largest Seizure Of Private Property Ever Attempted By Banks And Government’,” Zero Hedge, September 20, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.zerohedge.com/article/grayson-sends-letter-demanding-halt-ill…(zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline,+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero) Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-653
- 26. emptywheel, “Confirmed: Official Administration Policy Is to Continue Foreclosures,” Firedoglake, October 11, 2010. Retrieved from http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/10/11/confirmed-official-administ… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-755
- 27. Amy Goodman, “When Banks Are the Robbers,” October 19, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/when_banks_are_the_robbers_20101019/ Archive at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-792
- 28. Andy Kroll, “Fannie and Freddie’s Foreclosure Barons,” Mother Jones, August 4, 2010. Retrieved from http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/david-stern-djsp-foreclosure-fan… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770
- 29. John Letzing, “Ohio AG sues GMAC, Ally over foreclosure fraud,” MarketWatch, October 6, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ohio-ag-sues-gmac-ally-over-foreclosure… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-728
- 30. Harold Meyerson, “Banks’ foreclosure hustle,” Washington Post, October 20, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR201010… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-793
- 31. Dean Starkman, “A ‘Gate’ Worthy of the Name—’ForeclosureGate’,” Columbia Journalism Review, October 11, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/a_gate_worthy_of_the_nameforec.php Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-761
- 32. Rick Rothacker, “Bank of America gets Friday deadline to halt foreclosures in N.C.,” Charlotte Observer, October 7, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/07/1744210/bofa-gets-friday-dea… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-736
- 33. Yves Smith, “So Much For Bank Claims That Nothing is Wrong with Foreclosures: 4450 Foreclosures Halted In NYC Due to Inaccuracies,” Naked Capitalism, October 24, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/10/so-much-for-bank-claims-that-noth… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-851
- 34. Matt Taibbi, “Courts Helping Banks Screw Over Homeowners,” Rolling Stone, November 10, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/232611?RS_show_page=0 Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/3770#comment-914
- 35. L. Randall Wray, “Right Now, A Complete Collapse Of The Financial System Is Not Out Of The Question,” Business Insider, November 4, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/complete-collapse-not-out-of-the-question… Archived at http://www.parts-unknown.org/drupal6/?q=node/4006