Alleen Brown — Standing Rock Documents Expose Inner Workings Of “surveillance-Industrial Complex”

Occupy redux. Protesters encounter the might of the corporate state apparatus operating secretly.

Another paradox of liberalism involving where and how to draw lines.

America has not seen this level of intensity since the Vietnam anti-war movement.

The Intercept

Standing Rock Documents Expose Inner Workings Of “surveillance-Industrial Complex”

Alleen Brown

Bill Allison and Sarah Harkins — Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions

Between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. A year-long analysis by the Sunlight Foundation suggests, however, that what they gave pales compared to what those same corporations got: $4.4 trillion in federal business and support. 

That figure, more than the $4.3 trillion the federal government paid the nation’s 50 million Social Security recipients over the same period, is the result of an unprecedented effort to quantify the less-examined side of the campaign finance equation: Do political donors get something in return for what they give? 

Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court suggested the answer to that question was no. Corporate spending to influence federal elections would not “give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” the majority wrote in the landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision. 

Sunlight decided to test that premise....

In its Citizens United decision, the court took for granted that “favoritism and influence” are inherent in electoral democracy and that “democracy is premised on responsiveness” of politicians to those who support them. We found ample evidence of that.

“The appearance of influence or access,” the court said, “will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy.”

It appears that the electorate — who stayed away from the polls this year in droves — might not agree.

Banana republic.

Sunlight Foundation
Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions
Bill Allison and Sarah Harkins

Norman Pollack — Monster Capitalism and the Complicit State

The phrase “close-embrace” to describe the incestuous relationship between business and government in advanced capitalism is by Masao Maryuma, a Japanese political scientist to describe corporate concentration under the blessing and encouragement of government. This is, along with the centrality of war and market expansion, among the most salient integral features of capitalist development in its progression to monopolism, hierarchical class structure, and establishing a full-blown partnership with government: the Corporate and National-Security States merging, with national security concerned as much with protecting the market share and freedom from adverse regulation of the dominant firms in the industrial and financial sectors, as with putatively repelling a foreign foe and protecting the “homeland”. The upshot, fascism without, necessarily, the concentration camp—fascism predicated on the internalized repression of the populace, conditioned to look to the business system as the genius of the nation, its arbiter of taste, its salvation. The trickle-down paradigm follows, as does the moral superiority of those at the top AND the enterprises they lead—conversely, justified class-stratification where the lazy and/or subversive (i.e., those maladapted to the incentives offered by capitalism) fall deservedly into an underclass.

Counterpunch
Monster Capitalism and the Complicit State
Norman Pollack

Yves Smith — Yes Virginia, Obama and the Democrats Are Mussolini-Style Corporatists, Just Like the Republicans

Doh. Anyone didn't get that? Oh, right, the Obama bots and the Third Way/Clinton fans.

Oh, well, at least it is bipartisan.

Naked Capitalism
Yes Virginia, Obama and the Democrats Are Mussolini-Style Corporatists, Just Like the Republicans
Yves Smith

Lars Schall — Secret information: The currency of power

The transcript of the following interview was exclusively arranged for Asia Times Online. An audio file of the interview is published at the German financial web site "Die Metallwoche" here.

Thomas Drake, born 1957, is a former senior executive at the US National Security Agency who blew the whistle on a multi-billion dollar program fraud and cover up as well as the NSA's secret unlawful surveillance program. The US Department of Justice prosecuted and indicted him under the World War I-era Espionage Act in April, 2010, under 10 felony counts including that he "mishandled documents". The case against him ultimately collapsed. He eventually pled to one misdemeanor count for exceeding authorized use of a computer. He is a former airborne crypto-linguist and electronic warfare mission crew supervisor. From 1991-1998 he worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as a management, strategy and technology consultant and software quality engineer. In 2011, Drake became the recipient of the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize and co-recipient of the Sam Adams Award. He holds a Bachelor's and two Master's degrees as well as numerous graduate certificates.

Worse than you thought or even imagined.

Asia Times Online
Secret information: The currency of power
Lars Schall

See also Washington's Blog, Is the U.S. Government Changing the Amount In People’s Financial Accounts and Manipulating Financial Systems with Its Offensive Cyber Capabilities?

Don Quijones — Rent-A-Cop: The Rise of the Mercenary Police State

Alternate title: The Rise of Neo-Feudalism and Neo-Fascism.

Raging Bull-shit
Rent-A-Cop: The Rise of the Mercenary Police State
Don Quijones

Peter Radford — When is a contract a contract?

It used to be comforting to think that the saying “one rule for the rich, another for the poor” was just that: a saying. We could all pretend that America was a land of equal laws, even though we all knew deep down that rich folk can always get away with stuff we can’t.

Now, in these years of crisis, we are exposed to the ugly truth far too frequently. Big business and rich people have one set of laws. The rest of us another. In their laws a contract is inviolate. To break it you have to have extreme extenuating circumstances and/or a well paid lawyer. In our laws a contract is a suggestion. To break it you have to be a creditor who has friends amongst the elite and/or a well paid lawyer.

Real-World Economics Review Blog
When is a contract a contract?
Peter Radford

Juan Cole — Top 10 Ways the US Is the Most Corrupt Country in the World

Americans are not seen as corrupt because we only deal in the big denominations. Steal $2 trillion and you aren’t corrupt, you’re respectable.

AlterNet
Top 10 Ways the US Is the Most Corrupt Country in the World
Juan Cole, Informed Comment

Corpocracy: The Tyranny of Neoliberalism and Detroit's Financial Crisis

Abstract: 
The city of Detroit in 2013 is confronted with a financial crisis so severe that municipal bankruptcy may be the only viable solution. Racial mistrust unfortunately structures the political communication between political leaders in Detroit, the suburbs, and the state. Amid this contentious political climate of racial mistrust, allegations of mismanagement, incompetence, and corruption have been directed at the city of Detroit as causes of the crisis. The aura of racial mistrust makes it extremely difficult for city, county, and state officials to implement an equitable solution to the financial crisis. The most damaging aspect of racial mistrust is the obfuscation of the fundamental cause of the crisis. Building on the arguments of Wendy Brown (2003, 2006), Henry A. Giroux (2004,2005), and Michael C. Dawson (2012), we argue that the fundamental cause of Detroit’s financial crisis is the implementation of neoliberal fiscal and social welfare policies targeting the poor by chief executives and legislative elected officials in Washington D.C. and state capitals across the nation. This paper focuses on the Detroit’s financial crisis, and offers as an example, the policy solutions offered to address the thirty-five year federal government oversight of Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department, to illustrate both the perils and challenges facing citizens and political leaders whom are opposed to the anti-republican nature of neoliberalism. The Detroit financial crisis is not merely an isolated local issue; it is a referendum on the duties and obligations of government toward its citizens. Will federal and state governmental officials become more responsive to the concerns of its citizens of color, or will elected officials continue to implement policies that elevate the political desires of the free market above those of the citizenry and transform American governance from an inclusive representative democracy into a corpocracy.

Corpocracy: The Tyranny of Neoliberalism and Detroit's Financial Crisis

Henderson Butler III and Ron Brown | Wayne State University

(h/t James in the comments)

Radley Balko — 7 Ways The Obama Administration Has Accelerated Police Militarization

There were signs that President Barack Obama might rein in the mass militarization of America's police forces after he won the White House. Policing is primarily a local issue, overseen by local authorities. But beginning in the late 1960s with President Richard Nixon, the federal government began instituting policies that gave federal authorities more power to fight the drug trade, and to lure state and local policymakers into the anti-crime agenda of the administration in charge. These policies got a boost during Ronald Reagan's presidency, and then another during President Bill Clinton's years. Under President George W. Bush, all of those anti-drug policies continued, but were supplemented by new war on terrorism endeavors -- yet more efforts to make America's cops look, act and fight like soldiers....

Indeed, in his first interview after taking office, Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, said that the administration would be toning down the martial rhetoric that had dominated federal drug policy since the Nixon years. "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," Kerlikowske told The Wall Street Journal. "We're not at war with people in this country."

Unfortunately, while not insignificant, the change in rhetoric has largely been only that. The Obama administration may no longer call it a "war," but there's no question that the White House is continuing to fight one. Here's a quick rundown of where and how Obama's policies have perpetuated the garrison state:

The Huffington Post
7 Ways The Obama Administration Has Accelerated Police Militarization
Radley Balko

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell — The arrogance of our vicious guard dogs grows

NSA, for instance, is a secret nation, creating its own laws in secret. These laws are approved by judges in secret, based on secret testimony, and prosecuted and tried in secret with secret evidence....

They are kept secret “for your protection.” Presumably you could be breaking one or more of those secret laws, just by reading this blog. There is no way to know.

Monetary Sovereignty
The arrogance of our vicious guard dogs grows
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

1984 is so 20th century. Now we have the new and improved 1984, and it  is not a novel. Animal Farm, too, has become reality.

Alex Kane — Acquitted! Activist Who Faced 13 Years in Prison for Chalking Anti-Bank Slogans Gets Off Free

No, he did not get off free. This was abuse of power aimed at harassment of the subject and intimidation of others. It also has an economic component in the defendants facing nuisance charges must pay for adequate defense in that the penalty they face is onerous. This is fascistic, pure and simple. Facing down a corporate (fascist) state and winning is not "getting off free."

In addition, this case was yet another instance of the the double standard in application of law. Thousands of protestors and hundreds of activists and whistleblowers have been charged, some prosecuted and a more than a few convicted. Corporate officials? Not so much. The government even admitted its complicity by declaring them off limits. This establishes a precedent of a double standard in the application of the law and creates a privileged class above the law.

Getting off free? I'd call it a travesty of justice.

AlterNet

Acquitted! Activist Who Faced 13 Years in Prison for Chalking Anti-Bank Slogans Gets Off Free

Alex Kane

John Pilger — There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like

The power of truth-tellers like Edward Snowden is that they dispel a whole mythology carefully constructed by the corporate cinema, the corporate academy and the corporate media.

AlterNet
There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like
John Pilger

Constructing the American myth and myth machine.

Ralph Nader — Corporatizing National Security: What It Means

With this in mind, let us not mince words. “Privatization” is a soft term. Let us call the practice what it really is—corporatization.

There’s big money to be made in moving government-owned functions and assets into corporate hands. Public highways, prisons, drinking water systems, school management, trash collection, libraries, the military and now even national security matters are all being outsourced to corporations. But what happens when such vital government functions are performed for big profit rather than the public good?

Look to the many reports of waste, fraud, and abuse that arose out of the over-use of corporate contractors in Iraq. At one point, there were more contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than U.S. soldiers. Look to the private prisons, which make their money by incarcerating as many people as they can for as long as they can. Look to privatized water systems, the majority of which deliver poorer service at higher costs than public utility alternatives. Visitprivatizationwatch.org for many more examples of the perils, pitfalls and excesses of rampant, unaccountable corporatization.

In short, corporatizing public functions does not work well for the public, consumers and taxpayers who are paying through the nose.

Some right-wing critics might view government providing essential public services as “socialism,” but as it now stands, we live in a nation increasingly comprised of corporate socialism.

truthdig
Corporatizing National Security: What It Means
Ralph Nader

Fascism Watch — Thom Hartmann: National Security Should Never Be a For-Profit Industry

The privatized national security apparatus isn’t just wasteful—it’s contrary to the founding principles of our democratic republic.

AlterNet
National Security Should Never Be a For-Profit Industry
Thom Hartmann

The corporate state, aka the market state, aka national security state,aka the surveillance state, the police state, aka fascism, on the march. Mussolini would love it.

First, we had a central bank controlled by the financial industry in the the US sitting on top of a command economy, then a Treasury secretary chosen from the ranks of Wall Street, then a contractor-based military, then a militarized domestic security force directed by a cabinet department, and then a privately-operated surveillance force that has continued the supposedly discontinued Total Information Awareness program run by Iran-Contra figure Admiral Poindexter.

Hope you have either already left or have an escape hatch.

Pepe Escobar — Elite Enrichment and Police Repression: The Sparks That Lead to the Turkish Rebellion

The plan to destroy one of Istanbul's last green spaces is part of a globally tested neoliberal plan to clear the way for economic enrichment at the top.

AlterNet
Elite Enrichment and Police Repression: The Sparks That Lead to the Turkish Rebellion
Pepe Escobar | Asia Time

Reuters — Germany fears revolution if Europe scraps welfare model

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Tuesday that failure to win the battle against youth unemployment could tear Europe apart, and dropping the continent's welfare model in favor of tougher U.S. standards would spark a revolution.

Germany, along with France, Spain and Italy, backed urgent action to rescue a generation of young Europeans who fear they will not find jobs, with youth unemployment in the EU standing at nearly one in four, more than twice the adult rate.

"We need to be more successful in our fight against youth unemployment, otherwise we will lose the battle for Europe's unity," Germany's Schaeuble said.

While Germany insists on the importance of budget consolidation, Schaeuble spoke of the need to preserve Europe's welfare model.

If U.S. welfare standards were introduced in Europe, "we would have revolution, not tomorrow, but on the very same day," Schaeuble told a conference in Paris.

Reuters
Germany fears revolution if Europe scraps welfare model

(h/t Zero Hedge)

Even eurocrat neoliberals are not dumb enough to think that Europeans will accept imposition the market state, pace Hayek. That's only for the US (Reagan, Clinton) and UK (Thatcher, Blair).

Robert Reich — Beware Capitalist Tools

Forbes Magazine likes to call itself a “capitalist tool,” and routinely offers tool-like justifications for whatever it is that profit-seeking corporations want to do. Recently it has deployed its small army of corporate defenders and apologists in the multi-billion dollar fight to keep the effective tax rates of global corporations low.

 

One of its contributors, Tim Worstall, recently took me to task for suggesting that a way for citizens to gain some countervailing power over large global corporations is for governments to threaten denial of market access unless corporations act responsibly.

He argues that the benefits to consumers of global corporations are so large that denial of market access would hurt citizens more than it would help them. The “value to U.S. consumers of Apple is they can buy Apple products,” Worstall writes. “Why would you want to punish U.S. consumers, by banning them from buying Apple products, just because Apple obeys the current tax laws?”



Wortstall thereby begs the central question. If global corporations obeyed all national laws — the spirit of the laws as well as the letter of them – and didn’t use their inordinate power to dictate the laws in the first place by otherwise threatening to take their jobs and investments elsewhere, there’d be no issue.

 

It’s the fact of their power to manipulate laws by playing nations off against one another – determining how much they pay in taxes, as well as how much they get in corporate welfare subsidies, how much regulation they’re subject to, and so on – that raises the question of how citizens can countermand this power.

Beware Capitalist Tools
Robert Reich | Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration

Michael Stephens — This Time Is Indifferent

Yet, revealingly, there are some deficit hawks who are treating the rapid shrinking of the deficit as bad news — and not for the Keynesian reason that this indicates the government is failing to do its part in supporting the economy, as Bernanke stressed in his remarks yesterday, but because the disappearing deficit is easing congressional pressure to pass “entitlement reform” (which, as we’ll see below, does belong in scare quotes)....

For the fauxsterian, the question of whether austerity can be expansionary, or whether economic growth falls off a cliff when countries’ public debt ratios surpass 90 percent of GDP, is really all beside the point. Deficit and debt hysteria have simply been a useful tool for pushing specific legislative changes that may or may or may not be related to the budget balance — changes that might be difficult to pass outside an atmosphere of imminent crisis.

A recent Washington Post column by Steven Pearlstein, “The Case for Austerity Isn’t Dead Yet,” more or less endorses this line. The problem with fiscal stimulus, the column tells us, is that it works: it boosts short-term economic growth, thus easing the pressure to pass “structural reform.”

Multiplier Effect
This Time Is Indifferent
Michael Stephens

Alex Kane — How America's National Security Apparatus -- in Partnership With Big Corporations -- Cracked Down on Dissent

A new report is an eye-opening look into how the U.S. counter-terror apparatus was used to track the Occupy movement.

Counter-terror police officers collaborated with corporate entities to combat protests. Undercover police officers monitored and tracked the Occupy movement. A right-wing corporate-backed group hired a police officer to help protect a conference. These are some of the details revealed in anew report published by the Center for Media and Democracy’s Beau Hodai, along with DBA Press. The revelations are based on government documents the group obtained.

The report, titled "Dissent or Terror: How the Nation's Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street,” is an eye-opening look into how the U.S. counter-terror apparatus was used to track the Occupy movement in 2011 and 2012 and also help protect the business entities targeted by the movement. The report specifically looks at the activities of “fusion centers,” or law enforcement entities created after 9/11 that transform local police forces into counter-terror units in partnership with federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security. The fusion centers devoted a lot of time--to the point of “obsession,” the report notes--to monitoring the Occupy movement, particularly for any “threats” to public safety or health and to whether there were “extremists” involved in the movement.

The documents obtained for the report from government agencies reveal “a grim mosaic of ‘counter-terrorism’ agency operations and attitudes toward activists and other socially/politically-engaged citizens over the course of 2011 and 2012,” writes Hodai. He adds that these heavily-funded agencies indisputably view Occupy activists as “terrorist” threats. Additionally, Hodai writes that “this view of activists, and attendant activist monitoring/suppression, has been carried out on behalf of, and in cooperation with, some of the nation’s largest financial and corporate interests.”

AlterNet
How America's National Security Apparatus -- in Partnership With Big Corporations -- Cracked Down on Dissent
Alex Kane

Soft fascism becoming hard fascism.