We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, September 20, 2010

Munger Says `Thank God' U.S. Opted for Bailouts Over Handouts

by Andrew Frye from Bloomberg

This guy has a lot of nerve telling this to an audience of students many of whom are among the worst victims of the recent collapse of the economy due to reckless and shady bets at the capitalist casino. After bailing out Wall Street and ignoring Main Street, this member (or servant) of the ruling class tells students to “suck it in and cope.” Then he follows up with this statement:
 Now, if you talk about bailouts for everybody else, there comes a place where if you just start bailing out all the individuals instead of telling them to adapt, the culture dies.
Now, what do you think he meant by "culture dies"? I think he really meant "capitalism dies". Because, you see, these people believe that there is no alternative to capitalism. And, of course, without capitalism their entitlement to a large portion of the wealth produced by working people would end along with the power that wealth brings. 

They intend to keep this wonderful system regardless of all other disastrous consequences for working people and the planet. And like his buddy, Warren Buffet, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who is more honest than most of his class, once said,
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
Munger also added another gem:
Germany was unable to stabilize its financial system in the 1920s, and...we ended up with Adolf Hitler.
If you know your history well, you know that the ruling capitalist class in Germany handed power over to the Nazis because their so-called "democratic" institutions were not capable of handling the dissent of working class organizations. Most of them thought they could control the Nazis. In any case, the capitalist class preserved much of their power and profits by collaborating with the Nazis.