America's Ruling Class: The People Who Brought You TARP, Bailouts and Trillion-Dollar Deficits

If you like the photos for this story, you can see the rest from this set here...

---

Authored by Dr. Pitchfork.

If there is one article you must read this Winter, it is Angelo Codevilla's "America's Ruling Class -- And The Perils of Revolution."  With good reason, it has been likened to Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto," but it turns Marxoid class theory on its head:  the real enemy of the People are not the capitalists, but the politicians, the bureaucrats, the corporate insiders and their apologists in the media.  Our class enemies are the people behind TARP and all the ongoing bank bailouts.

Indeed, Codevilla begins his essay with the bank bailouts, describing how the politicians, the bankers and their media shills, all pushed for the passage of TARP, even while the People themselves adamantly opposed it.

As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors' "toxic assets" was the only alternative to the U.S. economy's "systemic collapse." In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Many, if not most, people around them also agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars in ways unprecedented in America. They explained neither the difference between the assets' nominal and real values, nor precisely why letting the market find the latter would collapse America. The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one.

In September and October of 2008, it made little difference whether your representative or senator were a Democrat or a Republican.  The "ruling class" had decreed that the banks would be bailed out.  What you thought or wanted didn't matter.  (It still doesn't.)

What Codevilla's essay provides is a conceptual framework for understanding our current situation.  In brief:

• America is divided between a "ruling class" and a "country class"

• The "ruling class," regardless of party affiliation, share what Codevilla calls "a presumption to dominate"

• The ruling class shares, above all, an orientation towards -- and often a direct dependence upon -- the government

• It is not wealth that distinguishes the "ruling class," but the power and privilege they have through their connection to government

• Nor do achievment and ability distinguish them:  successful members of the "ruling class" speak the right language ("political correctness"), recognize the correct shibboleths and show a disdain for those they rule or exploit

• The "ruling class" dresses its agenda in moral and intellectual superiority, often citing "scientific" evidence for support, but their real agenda is POWER

• The "country class" (the rest of us) are largely religious, hard-working, family oriented and share a fundamental belief in fairness and equality

• But the "country class" is also culturally and geographically diverse

• The "country class" lacks obvious coherence as a group or a "class" (in the usual sense), and has thus far been unable to translate its numerical superiority into political power and influence

• Nonetheless, direct and open conflict between the "ruling class" and the "country class" is likely inevitable, just as the outcome of that conflict is uncertain.

The solution is simple.  Vote them all out in 2010 and 2012.  Except Ron Paul.

---

If you like the photos for this story, you can see the rest from this set here...

---

Comments

[Wil Martindale]

Baron's and serfs. Welcome to the Neo-feudal world order of corporate fascism.
But let us not forget the political correctness of "social justice" for all classes, both Serf and Politico ...
http://letthemfail.us/archives/5104

[DailyBail]

i enjoyed reading your piece wil...very well done...

[Dr. Pitchfork]

Likewise, wil. Have you read Codevilla's essay? I think it helps explain why we've been using terms like "socialist," "fascist," "corporatist," "corporate communist" and such like: All of them describe people and businesses who depend on the government and use it to bend the rest of us over the table. (Please, Goldman Sachs, give us another...) Codevilla's essay isn't without its faults -- it's a deliberate simplification, with simplicity and clarity privileged over nuance -- but it helps explain a lot. And it helps explain who the enemy is -- without getting caught up in Left and Right, liberal and conservative, or Dem and Repub.

[DailyBail]

james...i've read 1/2 of the codevilla article...i'll get to the rest tomorrow...it's very interesting reading...

[mark mchugh]

Thanks Doc,

The old man used to say, "It's not about money, it's about power. Money's just how you keep score."

If you ask me though, the label we should be using here is "sociopaths". I'm not kidding. These people have no sense of duty, remorse, shame or accountability. They're not like us.

Vote 'em all out!

[Wil Martindale]

Unfortunately, spectator.org is blocked here where I work (apparently it isn't deemed appropriate by the management ruling elite) but I will check it out back at the hacienda.
Likewise I recommend the August Review and David Rivera's piece at the Modern History Project. I can't quite swallow all the Illuminatti / Zionist references ar MHP, but it's otherwise quite revealing.
Thanks guys and keep up the good work!
-Wil
http://www.augustreview.com/
http://www.modernhistoryproject.org/mhp/ArticleDisplay.php?Article=FinalWarning

[Dr. Pitchfork]

Wil,

I'll check out the other essays. The beauty of Codevilla's essay, however, is that it doesn't require a "conspiracy" of Illuminati or whatnot to explain what happens. Instead, it's a form of class theory: certain people share certain common traits, collective interests and have the institutional apparatus at their disposal to serve those collective interests, etc. Throughout history, ruling classes have had a grip on the reins of power (of course), but that grip is maintained by a collective worldview or ideology that holds things together. In other words, a true ruling class doesn't have to "conspire" at all -- they already know what they are supposed to do and in fact believe in what they're doing. (And it doesn't hurt that they can enrich themselves at the expense of others, either.)

Mark,

Agreed. Just about anyone who aspires to public office (we know who the exceptions are) is guaranteed to be a sociopath. The problem is, that the sociopaths have an enormous group of people (a harem, if you will) who are willing to service them with "news stories" and "analysis" for their crimes. Take Ezra Klein, for instance. He doesn't even know he's being used, but instead thinks he's being reasonable in, say, writing about the Blinder-Zandi paper. Ol' Ez doesn't have the first clue about what's going on, but he's willing to give his fellow members of the ruling class the benefit of the doubt (Princeton, "chief economist," ...).

[mark mchugh]

Yeah,

And the sad part is anyone who criticizes these ivory tower twits is dismissed as "anti-education."

I know your Ivy-league and I'm sure you're proud of it, as you should be, but Geez it certainly seems like the economic professors at these schools are shills (Siegel & Ibbotson are two that always spring to mind). How valuable can an education from them be?

Look at things like youtube at Wikipedia - If we really wanted to make people smarter, we could do it for cheap using tools like that. So are we trying to make people smarter, or trying to subsidize the ivory tower crowd?

[S. Gompers]

"In other words, a true ruling class doesn't have to "conspire" at all -- they already know what they are supposed to do and in fact believe in what they're doing. (And it doesn't hurt that they can enrich themselves at the expense of others, either.)"

Hence what I have said before that it is not really a conspiracy when multiple administrations will get on tv and tell you exactly what they have planned (MWO, NAU, U.N., NAFTA, GATT, FTAA, etc.). The list really goes on and on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CWBTL33MpA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLlQxVpeHHs

Blow up the top left picture...

http://digg.com/comedy/Conspiracy_Theory_13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5cqh26CC0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bKwH3kJew4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF-obJ8lYWc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1etgsNU46s4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqYLCx83TMg&feature=related

[S. Gompers]

Great work Dr. Pitchfork

[DailyBail]

here's that photo gomp...damn it's awesome...

http://www.shof.msrcsites.co.uk/cons.jpg

[S. Gompers]

Thanks.

[Z]

Since you two are so clever...who is the man, who is the dog, and who is the talking sheep? Think about it...then give me your lame answer.

[Z]

Is the conspiracy the missing birth certificate?

[Sagebrush]

The man is the ruling elite.

the dog is the government.

The sheep are the dumb ass American People headed for a shearing cause they are too stupid to trample the man and the damn dog into hamburger.

[S. Gompers]

Very astute Sagebrush, by now, some have forgotten the question.

[Z]

The old goat?

[S. Gompers]

Goats require little attention, as they are very independent by nature, King of the mountain and all.

Sheep have very short attention spans...

They probably did not cover that in your talking points memo, or you simply forgot.

[john]

Bill Clinton meets N Korea leader

Former US President Bill Clinton has met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during an unannounced visit to the country, state media have reported.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8182716.stm

[john]

Paulson Gets Lehman to Up Bondholder Payout

http://www.hedgefund.net/publicnews/default.aspx?story=12141

[snip]

John Paulson has been successful in getting Lehman Bros. to up its payout to 24.4% to senior bondholders in its bankruptcy distribution, according to a new plan filed in court Wednesday.

[DailyBail]

nice find on the paulson link...i'll be posting it...thanks...

[red porch]

It's a good thing to know it's someone else's fault, I gots nothin' to do with it...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eeYt1gOHtiQ/TMoksLDnZbI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/FTvQGztFras/s1600/v57B+Feudalism+more.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eeYt1gOHtiQ/TR-dthHaKSI/AAAAAAAAAbY/ynSvqjEeu0Q/s1600/v150+By+choice+by+chance.jpg