Wall Street Bosses Run AmericaStephen Lendman They manipulate markets for self-enrichment. Grand theft is official Wall Street policy. Government officials wink, nod, and permit the grandest of grand larceny to persist. Financial giants recycle their executives in and out of Washington. They strip-mine economies for profit. They buy politicians like toothpaste. Whatever they want they get. They do it at the expense of government of, by and for everyone equitably and just. On October 2, 15 financial lords met with Obama. They did so at the White House. They gave him their marching orders. They came to assert their demands. Theyre uncompromising. Theyre ruthless. They want business as usual continued. They want more than ever. They want more bailouts. They want bail-ins. They want personal bank accounts, pensions and other assets looted. They want more crushing neoliberal harshness. They want America thirdworldized. They want it looking like Greece. Budget and debt ceiling debates conceal their ugly agenda. Whats ongoing is a longstanding orchestrated swindle. Bipartisan complicity supports it. Social America is on the chopping block for elimination. Another grand bargain plans it. Expect it once current theatrics end. Obama expressed support for deeper Medicare and Social Security cuts. Hes on board for weakened social protections overall. Partisan warfare is more subterfuge than real. Both parties fundamentally agree. They want New Deal/Great Society policies entirely ended. Wall Street bosses demand it. They want to feed more aggressively at the public trough than already. They want money gotten used to make more of it. They want it stolen from ordinary people to make doing so easier. Obama and congressional leaders are their hired hands. Theyre complicit. Theyre on board to eliminate unnecessary social programs. He want them entirely eliminated. Theyre dismantling them incrementally. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and public pensions are prime targets. Planned death is by a thousand cuts. Its the new normal. Its by letting Wall Street profiteers control these programs. So-called creeping normalcy is defined as a way to make major changes seem normal and ordinary. Class war in America has been ongoing for decades. Its worse now than ever. It benefits business and rich elites. It does so at the expense of most others. Middle class America is targeted for elimination. Bipartisan complicity plans it. Obama capitulated to Republicans on preserving tax cuts and other benefits for rich elites. He gave trillions of dollars to Wall Street crooks and other corporate favorites. Profiteers benefit hugely from ongoing imperial wars. Main Street Depression conditions persist. Bipartisan complicity plans much worse ahead. Militarism, favoritism, waste, fraud and other rewards benefit Wall Street and other special interests. They do so at the publics expense. Let em eat cakes defines official policy. Ordinary people are increasingly on their own sink or swim. Wages no longer keep up with inflation. Benefits steadily erode. High-paying manufacturing and service jobs offshored to low wage countries. Automated production claimed more. So-called free markets arent fair. They work best for those who control them. Growing numbers of others lose out entirely. Technology driven productivity increasingly pressures workers to toil longer for less pay and fewer benefits. Marx was right explaining capitalisms contradictions. They reflect an anarchic, ungovernable system. Todays monster is far worse than he imagined. Powerful monopolies and oligopolies control production, commerce and finance. Wall Street and other corporate bosses demand increasing amounts of surplus from pressured workers. Theyre looting America. Theyre wrecking it. Theyre sucking it dry for profit. Predatory capitalism is too corrupted, malignant and broken to fix. Institutionalized inequality reflects it. America is more hypocrisy than democracy. Its a kleptocracy. Criminal gangs pose as political parties. Theyre complicit with corporate crooks. Theyre war criminals. Theyre serial liars. Theyre scoundrels of the worst kind. Americas real crisis isnt government shutdown, saidPaul Craig Roberts. Its not the debt ceiling. Its looting America. Its wrecking the economy. Its offshoring good paying jobs. Its lowering the tax base in the process. It did so by transferring Americas wealth and overall well-being to China and other low wage countries. It did it by permanent imperial wars. They inflate annual spending. Larger deficits followed. Theyre too large to be closed, says Roberts. Money printing madness sustains things as long a possible. What cant go on forever, wont. Dollar debasing doesnt work. Gold and silver prices reflect it. Wall Street and Washington rig markets to keep them from going higher. Illegal naked short selling is done to do so. It constrains prices even when physical demand is increasing. It bears repeating. What cant go on forever, wont. Given irresponsible financial/economic policies, expect eventual gold and silver prices to explode. Another crisis, says Roberts, is the absence of intelligence among economists and policymakers. Dont worry, they said. Offshoring jobs doesnt matter, they claimed. A New Economy with better jobs is coming. Monthly payroll data explain otherwise. High paying/good benefit jobs are disappearing. Low paying/poor or no benefit jobs replace them. America is being hollowed out in the process. Its being strip-mined of its material wealth and resources. Its being suffocated. Its being thirdworldized. Its headed toward dystopian backwater status. Plans are to force feed greater austerity. Its to replicate Greece harshness. Its to make America a ruler serf society. Its to crush trade unionism. Its to crack down hard on nonbelievers. Its to make America more than ever unfit to live in. Its to create more severe crisis conditions than now. Its to do so for greater profits and control. Ending whats ongoing requires replacing duopoly power with responsible governance. It requires rebuilding the nations industrial base. Its ending imperial wars. Its disbanding Americas empire of bases. Its strengthening social protections too vital to lose. Its putting money power back in public hands where it belongs. Its making the privately owned and controlled Fed really federal. Its prohibiting banks too big to fail from existing. Its ending corporate personhood. Its replacing kleptocracy with real democracy. Its running free, fair and open elections. Its getting money entirely out of politics. Its curbing corporate power once and for all. Its empowering people over money. Its making crime no longer pay. Its prosecuting crooks in the suites. Its protecting human and civil rights. Its mandating universal healthcare and public education. Its reinvigorating organized labor. Its reinstating progressive taxes. Its making everyone pay their fair share. Its guaranteeing a minimum life sustaining income. Its abolishing poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and inequality. Its ending favoritism. Its getting rogues, rascals and other miscreants out of government. Its substituting truth and full disclosure for managed news misinformation. Its replacing media scoundrels with responsible ones to do so. Its consigning Wall Street and other corporate crooks to the dustbin of history. Its establishing government of, by and for everyone. Its making America what it never was before. It better happen soon or else. Roberts calls todays situation dire and discouraging. At this time, he says, collapse seems the most likely forecast. Perhaps rebuilding from ruins will change things, he hopes. Perhaps intelligent life exists elsewhere. Perhaps its on other planets. Perhaps itll replace what doesnt exist on earth. Perhaps its the only hope for survival. There may be no other way. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.His new book is titled How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War.Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ 