FILM
ON US CAPITALISM OCT. 18. SEE BELOW
OMNI
US CAPITALISM
NEWSLETTER #20. October 14, 2014.
Compiled by Dick
Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology.
(#1 Jan. 30, 2011; #2 August 24, 2011; #3 October 2, 2011; #4 Oct. 29,
2011; #5 Jan. 29, 2012; #6 April 7, 2012; #7 June 8, 2012; #8 July 14, 2012; #9
Nov. 12, 2012; #10 Dec. 27, 2012; #11 Feb. 24, 2013; #12 April 23, 2013; #13,
July 7, 2013; #14 August 28, 2013; #15, Nov. 22, 2013; #16 Feb. 18, 2014; #17,
March 16, 2014; #18, May 6, 2014; #19, Sept. 12, 2014).
What’s at stake: “The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations all could have prevented
[the financial meltdown],” Black tells Moyers. And what’s worse, Black believes
the next crisis is coming: “We have created the incentive structures that [are]
going to produce a much larger disaster.”
[For a general statement of what is at stake
in these newsletters on US Capitalism, see What’s at stake in Newsletter #18.]
My blog: The War Department and Peace Heroes
Newsletters:
Index:
See Citizens United/McCutcheon, Class, Corporate Crime, Corporate
Personhood, Corporations, Economics, Globalization, Go Not to Jail, Greed,
Imperialism, Inequality, Information Control, Lobbying, Marx, Military
Industrial Complex, Monopoly, Occupy, Rapacity, Regulation/Deregulation,
Secrecy, Socialism, Too Big To Fail, US Economic Imperialism, Working Class,
and related topics.
Nos. 13-19 at end.
Contents US Capitalism Newsletter #20
US Capitalism today
Film Shadows of Liberty Showing Oct. 18 at
OMNI, 2p.m.: the arena for public
expression has become a private profit zone. Donations to the filmmaker and OMNI
will be welcome.
expression has become a private profit zone. Donations to the filmmaker and OMNI
will be welcome.
Recent Moyers & Co. Interviews
William
Black, Bank Regulator
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Economist
Jim Hightower, Editor of The Hightower Lowdown
Charles Lewis, Founder of Center for Public
Integrity
Jeff Madrick,
How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged
America and the World
Two films on
the Koch Brothers
Dean Baker,
US Financial Inequality
Fritjof
Capra, Unifying Vision
Watch for
forthcoming newsletter on climate change and US capitalism.
Recent OMNI
Newsletters
FILM
SHADOWS OF LIBERTY:
90 min., reveals truths behind the news media: corporate
control, censorship, cover‐ups.
AT
OMNI THIS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2 to 4 p.m.
OMNI IS LOCATED AT 3274 LEE AVENUE, Block North of
Office Depot and 2 Buildings South of Liquor World.
DISCUSSION
FOLLOWING THE FILM LED BY PANELISTS DEBRA BROWN, SONIA GUTIERREZ, JOYCE HALE,
ART HOBSON, and BEN POLLOCK. The
discussion will end at four, but most panelists will be available for further
talk. See below for information about
the panelists. Moderated by Dick Bennett.
Contact Dick 479-442-4600 for local matters, or Debra Brown about the
film.
Filmmaker
Jean-Philippe Tremblay
takes an intrepid journey through the darker corridors of the American media
landscape, where global conglomerates call the shots. For decades, their
overwhelming influence has distorted news journalism and compromised its
values. In highly revealing stories,
renowned journalists, activists and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news
reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are
shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit
zone. Tracing the story of media
manipulation through the years, Shadows of Liberty poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful
corporations write the news?
FEATURING:
Danny Glover, Julian Assange, Dan Rather, Amy Goodman, David Simon, Daniel
Ellsberg, Norman Solomon, Dick Gregory, Roberta Baskin, Robert McChesney, John
Nichols, Chris Hedges, Kristina Borjesson, and many more.
OFFICIAL
SELECTION: IDFA, Sheffield Doc/Fest, HotDocs, Vancouver Intl. Film Festival,
DOKFILM, Bergen Intl. Film Festival, Canberra Intl. Film Festival, Leeds Intl.
Film Fest, Docs DF, London Intl. Documentary Festival, Open City Documentary
Festival
Film Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SAUborWbPw&feature=c4-overview&list=UU03hWohkXnD212MZ1LRetTA
Debra Brown,
US Outreach Coordinator, Shadows of
Liberty
http://www.shadowsofliberty.org
Debra@docfactory.org, 720-917-4900
MODERATOR
DICK BENNETT
Dick is the
compiler of two book-length, annotated bibliographies on the
corporate-military-executive-mainstream media-US national security state:
Control of Information in the United States and Control
of the Media in the United States.
PANELISTS
Debra
Brown
Debra Brown
is the Outreach Coordinator for Shadows of Liberty and DocFactory, the company
that produced the film. DocFactory was created in 2005 to produce
independent documentary films to bring awareness and inspire change for
important social issues worldwide. Accordingly, Debra works for the filmmaker
to organize grassroots screenings of the film, and engage audiences in
the media reform movement in communities across the country.
Sonia
Gutierrez
Social
entrepreneur, creative, educator, installation artist, idea-generator,
solution-maker, founder of@newdesignschool, principal of@3c21design
Sonia Davis
Gutiérrez completed a BS in microbiology in 1996, and BA in graphic design in
1998, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. While an undergraduate,
she studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain and attended the Universidad de
Salamanca to study art history and graphic design with a Rotary Ambassadorial
Scholarship. In 2002, she completed an MFA in Design and Technology at Parsons
School of Design in New York, New York. In 2003, she returned to Fayetteville
and founded New Design School by 2006, and 3c21 Design in 2007. In May 2009,
she was invited by Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan to lead the Creative
Economy Action Group. In 2013, she was invited and currently serves on the
University of Arkansas School of Architecture Professional Advisory Board. She is now a candidate for the Fayetteville
City Council.
Joyce
Hale
Joyce Hale is
a community activist concerned about water conservation, fracking, chemical
pollution, climate change and public health. She is active in League of
Women Voters on both the state and local levels. She has been a leader in
exposing the harms done to the state by fracking, bringing notable speakers and
films, and arranging forums and public demonstrations.
Art
Hobson
Art Hobson is
retired from the University of Arkansas physics faculty. Most of his
professional life has been devoted to improving science literacy. He spent
a sabbatical at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an
experience that resulted in a book about how to prevent nuclear weapons from
being used. He has published a textbook, now in its fifth edition, that
is used nationally to teach physics literacy to non-science college students (see
here). Look
for Tales of the Quantum Oxford University Press, in
2015.
Ben
Pollock
Ben S.
Pollock has been a journalist in Northwest Arkansas for over 16 years. The Fort
Smith native is assistant director of the University of Arkansas's new Center
for Ethics in Journalism. Previously, his career has been chiefly in newspapers
in Little Rock and here. Pollock is a past president of the National Society of
Newspaper Columnists, for which he currently serves as director of media. He
continues to write for regional media and volunteers his web skills for
nonprofits. He was educated at UA and Stanford University. Online you can find
him at benspollock.com and
on social media.
MOYERS
& CO. INTERVIEWS ON US CAPITALISM
In the early
twentieth-century, “the banking sector was evolving from a business predicated
on lending for production and expansion purposes to one predicated on the
consolidation, distribution, and packaging of capital for its own sake. As making money became more important than
making products, control of America’s direction shifted to a smaller group of
elite financiers.” Nomi Prins, All the Presidents’ Bankers (p. 2).
William
Black, Bank Regulator
Senator
Elizabeth Warren
Joseph
Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Economist
Jim
Hightower, Editor of The Hightower
Lowdown
Charles
Lewis, Founder of Center for Public Integrity
MOYERS
& CO., AETN, OCTOBER 5, 2014
Preview:
Too Big to Jail?
William
K. Black. October 2, 2014
A veteran bank regulator lays bare how Washington and Wall Street are
joined in a culture of corruption. Watch
the full show »
WATCH NOW
Watch Bill's complete interview with William K. Black.
RELATED FEATURES
- Bill
Moyers Essay: Wall Street’s Secret Weapon: Congress
- Full
Show: Elizabeth Warren on Fighting Back Against Wall St. Giants
- Segment:
Why JPMorgan May be Getting off Easy
- Going
Easy on Eric Holder’s Wall Street Inaction
Preview: Too Big to Jail?
October 2, 2014
Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation last week reminds us of an
infuriating fact: Not a single senior Wall Street executive has been criminally
prosecuted for their role in causing the biggest financial disaster since the
Great Depression.
“I blame Holder. I blame Timothy Geithner,” veteran bank
regulator William K. Black tells Bill this week. “But they are
fulfilling administration policies. The problem definitely comes from the top.
And remember, Obama wouldn’t have been president but for the financial
contribution of bankers.”
And the rub? While large banks have been penalized for their role in the
housing meltdown, the costs of those fines will be largely borne by shareholders
and taxpayers as the banks write off the fines as the cost of doing business.
And by and large these top executives got to keep their massive bonuses and
compensation, despite the fallout.
But the story gets even more infuriating, the more Black lays bare the
culture of corruption that led to the meltdown.
“The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations all could have prevented
[the financial meltdown],” Black tells Moyers. And what’s worse, Black believes
the next crisis is coming: “We have created the incentive structures that [are]
going to produce a much larger disaster.”
Learn more about the production
team behind Moyers & Company.
DICK’ S
NOTES
I’ll start at the end of the half-hour interview
The solution to corruption is
the rule of law and stringent regulation.
But the struggle will never end.
Every generation must engage in the endless struggle to curb covetousness.
Our generation that witnessed
the crisis of 2007-2012 failed. Black
begins the interview with thesemi-hopeful example of a court case in
Sacramento, in which a group of debtors were exonerated by the jury, because
the evidence showed the banks guilty of fraud.
But this is a rare case. And the
Sacramento banks and especially bankers were not then prosecuted. In the short inteview, Black cites many cases
of bank/banker felonies in which the banks paid token fines of doing
business, and the bankers continued
their nefarious, lucrative practices.
Black gives Obama, his Attorney
General/Justice Dept., and his Treasury Sec’t. Geithner hit after hit for
supporting this corrupt system of hundreds of thousands of felonies with
guaranteed impunity. That is, the
corruption of the bankers comes from the top of the government, whose leaders
and particularly Obama received billions of dollars from the financial
sector. Obama’s favorite banker was
Jamie Diamond of JP Morgan/Chase, who claimed it was too big to fail and too
big to jai, and he was right.
The Bush II Admin. was just as
bad. But Black does grant that under
Bush I the AG prosecuted many banks and bankers. My notes are unclear here.
September 5, 2014 | Moyers & Company
The Massachusetts senator talks to Bill about taking
on the entrenched political and Wall Street interests that have rigged the game
against the rest of us.
August 28, 2014 | Moyers & Company
In part two of his interview, Joseph E. Stiglitz
says corporate abuse of our tax system has helped make America unequal and
undemocratic. But the Nobel Prize-winning economist has a plan to change that.Watch part one »
August 21, 2014 | Moyers & Company
The Nobel Prize-winning economist explains why
America’s future prosperity depends on tax reform today.
Dick’s
Notes:
President Obama, if you seriously care about THE
PEOPLE of USA, appoint Stiglitz as your economic advisor, listen to his
analysis and advice, and follow them.
His analysis simple, straightforward, coherent—the self-reinforcing
circular movement of money and power in a plutocracy: The corporations buy control of Congress to
enable them to dodge taxes, make enormous profits, and buy Congress.
All explained in his new pamphlet “Reforming Taxation to Promote…”
MOYERS
& Co., AETN July 6, 2014
The
program today was divided into two parts: an interview of Jim Hightower and a
discussion with diverse people about community organizing becoming a movement
and insurgency.
Dick’s Notes:
Moyers opened by describing the US as a modern tyranny of monopolized
economy and a ruling class of 1%. The
Robber Barons have won.
His guest he introduced as an optimistic rebel: Jim Hightower. The people, esp. the middle class, are
becoming aware, and are rising in protest.
E.g., the United Workers Congress (fast food workers, adjunct
professors, etc.)—collaborations are developing.
And they were off and running in an exhilarating dialog.
JH: There was a world protest
against McDonald’s. And there’s
Elizabeth Warren.
Moyers: but also enormous secret
donations via a new “New Deal” determined to destroy the last of what’s left of
FDR’s government for the people.
JH: The People are rebelling. Note
grassroots opposition to fracking in Colorado.
M: Congress is bought.
JH: The People must get in the face of power, and many are. They know 90% of the People have lost income.
M: The Occupy Movement collapsed.
JH: No, it spread—e.g. Occupy Our Homes.
And it changed the presidential campaign’s debate content. There’s a movement now to overturn Citizens United.
M: What do you think of Nader’s new book, Unstoppable?
JH: Welcome, the People need signs of success to join a movement.
[As usual, M. presses his interview to bring out the best in the other,
in this case a contest between Moyers’ taking the role of pessimism (realism?)
versus JH’s optimism.]
In the 2nd very brief section Moyers interviews the group
“Rising Voices for a New Economy” and others that want corporations to pay a
fair share of taxes. Corps. Are now
making record profits and paying record low taxes.
M: how compel them to pay?
RV: by grassroots mass canvassing and exposing by getting in the face of
the corp. tax dodgers, e.g. General Electric.
The People must become an army of principles against the army of greed.
MOYERS
& Co., June 29, 2014 AETN
Interviewee: Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity
Author
of 935 Lies: and the Decline of America
(and The Buying of the President).
From the Gulf of Tonkin to the
invasion of Iraq the US government—i.e. the warrior, war-mongering elite ruling
the country, Dem. or Repub.-- deceived
the public for its own agenda of imperial domination for resources. Together, the White House and all the
relevant agencies of government, their public relations offices, war
contractors, and the mainstream media constitute the greatest propaganda center
in the world, able to finance and orchestrate over 50 invasions and
interventions since the beginning of WWII.
DC now supports more public relations officers than journalists. And the general public is a prisoner in a
theater world designed and manufactured by professional myth-makers to ensure
conformity. No longer is a heavy-handed
police state necessary to control the public majority; information control is
usually sufficient to create a docile population. When that fails the threat of jail or other
kinds of non-lethal violence produces the desired obedience.
The experience of journalist
James Risen illustrates US control of journalism. Risen, in State
of War, disclosed illegal US behavior involved with Iran (the US had disclosed
nuclear information). The government has
threatened Risen with prison if he does not reveal his sources (whistleblowers,
leakers). The hidden truth: the government knows the sources but does not
wish to reveal it knows and thereby expose its spying. By the way, Pres. Obama has used the
Espionage Act against journalists 8 times, more than all former presidents
together. The consequence of all of
these intimidations? National security
reporters have now shrunk to fewer than a dozen.
[I can’t take dictation, so this summary draws
from my own explanatory repertoire. If
you saw the interview, and you see something needing correction, get right back
to me.
I have been studying this
subject since the 1970s, teaching a course at UA and publishing articles and
these two annotated bibliographies: Control
of Information in the United States and Control
of the Media in the United States.)
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In his
introduction to Seven Bad Ideas, Jeff Madrick (Age of Greed)
says that economists could benefit from advice Henry James once gave his
students: "Any point of view is interesting that is a direct impression
of life. You should consider life directly and closely." Madrick's
stance is that mainstream economists rely too heavily on theory that doesn't
hold up in practice. To illustrate and support his position, he explains
seven economic principles that have driven policy since the 1970s and offers
evidence of how they have failed not only the American people but the entire
world. If politicians continue to follow these damaging ideas, he warns, they
could hold the United States back for decades.
Throughout the country, most colleges teach the same conservative economic notions, passing these problematic theories along to the future economists; very few include a course on the development of these theories. Madrick says, "history is rarely a cherished discipline among economists, and case studies are too often neglected." Here, he uses historical examples and data to show government's leading role in innovation, the results of deregulation, flaws in low inflation and austerity economics, and the need for community-mindedness in a successful economy. Readers don't need to be finance specialists to understand Seven Bad Ideas. Industry jargon, when used, is clearly explained and Madrick often provides vivid analogies to make the concepts even more accessible. Dishing up more than just blunt criticism, Madrick offers alternate approaches. If there were an eighth bad idea, it would be ignoring this book. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts
Discover: An intelligent, provocative look at seven
dominant economic notions that drive U.S. policy.
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TWO
FILMS ABOUT KOCH BROTHERS: CITIZEN KOCH AND KOCH BROTHERS EXPOSED
CITIZENS UNITED CONSEQUENCES IN WISCONSIN
Citizen
Koch’ and the Politics of Big Money
A
Documentary on the Koch Brothers’ Influence on Elections
By NICOLAS
RAPOLD JUNE 5, 2014
Photo
A scene from
the documentary "Citizen Koch," directed by Carl Deal and Tia
Lessin.CreditVariance Films
Continue reading the main story Share This
Page
RELATED
COVERAGE
Part of the
impact of “Citizen
Koch”comes from juxtaposing average Americans with the moneyed
interests that grip today’s political process. When we see a Republican in
Wisconsin weighing her dissatisfaction with her party and her stance on
abortion, it’s an inspiring sight of a citizen at work, grappling in good faith
with the situation at hand. It’s a world away from the documentary’s portrayal
of Americans for Prosperity,
the conservative advocacy group funded by the billionaires David and Charles
Koch.
The limits of
what an individual can do in the face of well-financed
opposition are shown throughout Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s film, a jumbled
look at the effects of the Citizens
United Supreme Court case through
the lens of Wisconsin’s recent history. The filmmakers weave together the
attempt to recall Gov. Scott Walker over his aggressive stance on unions and
other issues; glimpses of Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party movement;
and the campaign of Buddy Roemer for the Republican presidential nomination in
2012. But their movie, which starts off shakily, is naggingly diffuse and bumps
up against the problem of recounting the freshly remembered past.
Scattered
throughout are moments that stick out like provocations (such as an excerpt
from a conservative lecture that sounds anti-Semitic), some juicy clandestine
recordings and too many protest sign montages. It’s a hodgepodge that Michael
Moore (whose movies Ms. Lessin and Mr. Deal have produced) and his editors
might snappily dice together, but here the construction falls short.
Koch Brothers
Exposed
Dear Dick
--
Do you
remember when you saw your first Brave New Film?
Wherever it
was, it impacted you, it agitated you, you did something, and today it brings
you to this email where we once again ask you to help impact others.
Thanks to
generous donors who want the truth spread, you can do this at
no cost.
Record amounts of dark money are being spent in this election, providing the Koch Brothers yet another opportunity to buy politicians and destroy our democracy. Americans for Prosperity alone is estimated to be spending at least $125 million – and this is just one tentacle of the Koctopus!
With less
than 39 days until the election we need as many people to see this film
before going to the polls. Over 1,000 of you have already held screenings to
educate your communities on what the Kochs are doing to our democracy.
Now we need a final push!
Together we
can continue to expose the Koch Brothers and fight for real democracy that is
not for sale.
Thanks, Robert Greenwald, President Brave New Films Would you like to screen another one of our films? Check out your options on our Feature Films page. |
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Brave New
Films · 10510 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232, United States
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U.S.
government actions with Wall Street show whose side it is on – and it is not
the side of the common people.
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END US CAPITALISM NEWSLETTER #20
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