News & Analysis
Elites Strike Back Via Roosevelt Institute: Government Isn't Bad; It's Essential
Stiglitz: The Invisible Hand is Invisible Because It Isn't There ... Americans have had it drilled into them that government is bad, but a new narrative is surfacing. Last Thursday, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick kicked off the Roosevelt Institute's new flagship initiative, Rediscovering Government, at an event in New York City, declaring, "There is no economy without government. There is no America without government. Government doesn't have a role; it is integral." In a keynote address, Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Joseph Stiglitz also argued that healthy societies have strong governments and that his research has shown that "the reason the invisible hand often was invisible was that it wasn't there. – New Deal 2.0 is the blog of the Roosevelt Institute
Dominant Social Theme: FDR strikes back again. Freedom is so ... yesterday. Government is integral to our well being. The narrative must change.
Free-Market Analysis: The power elite is starting to get serious. At first the alternative media was nothing but a tiny nuisance, like a buzzing gnat. Later on, it was seen as an easily confused entity and numerous false flags were launched to mix up the message of smaller government and more freedom.
These false-flag mechanisms are still being promoted, of course. We write about them in a separate article in today's edition, focusing on public banking and OWS. But apparently, attempting to sow confusion is not enough. Now a full-on pro-government campaign is being launched from one of the elite's crown-jewel think tanks – the Roosevelt Institute (see excerpt above).
This campaign, bluntly trumpeted by the Roosevelt Institute, is evidence of how far the alternative media freedom movement has come. The elites that evidently and obviously want to run the world now feel a necessity to launch a frontal attack on the 21st century's "freedom meme."
Unlike elite memes (that consolidate power via fear-based globalist promotions), the freedom meme is a spontaneous one and has likely been causing the same kinds of problems in the modern era that the Gutenberg Press caused the elites 600 years ago when it helped ignite the Renaissance and then the Reformation.
The power elite that exercises control over the world's central banks needs government in order to continue to press for world government. The power elite rules via mercantilism, from the shadows in the modern era.
No government, no mercantilism. And thus the need for a formal initiative to boost an unusually frank dominant social theme: Government is good. Here's more from the article:
Stiglitz says that "most Americans don't realize that we are no longer the country of opportunity that we think of ourselves, that America today has less equality of opportunity than any of the other advanced industrial countries." He points out how many like to say that our economy is doing well because GDP is growing, but that "if you're going to be judging how well an economy is doing, clearly I think the key metric that one wants to focus on is what is happening to the living standards of most citizens."
He says that most Americans don't realize how bad we're doing, including the fact that "the median income of a full-time male worker today is the same as it was in 1968," and "if you look at median household income it is the same today as it was a decade and a half ago."
How did our society get to a place where government has taken a back seat and where people are wary of government control? Stiglitz thanks the conservatives who have successfully touted false ideology about markets over the past 40 years. While they like to blame the government for inequality, Stiglitz notes that not even Adam Smith thought markets were anything beyond efficient.
"Nobody ever said that they were fair, that they would lead to a distribution of income that was socially acceptable." Furthermore, he says, "Many of the aspects of our inequality are a result of market failure. People who don't have health insurance when they get sick wind up in extreme poverty and they can't get health insurance because of a whole set of market failures."
He says it's "striking that in spite of the fact that there is no intellectual basis for what you might call a 'Smithian' view that unfettered markets lead to efficiency," conservatives have marched ahead with this idea. So why was there so much economic growth after World War II? Stiglitz says one reason is "the legacy of the Roosevelts, the legacy that government made a difference."
One hardly knows where to start here. US dominance after World War II was a function of decimating every other country on the planet. Only the US industrial plant was intact. US post-war dominance had little or nothing to do with the statist and authoritarian programs that Roosevelt imposed.
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War began the US slide toward Leviathan. Woodrow Wilson continued it and FDR advanced the big government meme aggressively. Today, the US's joblessness and general economic malaise is a direct result of taxes, regulation and monopoly central banking.
One is tempted to feel sorry for the Roosevelt Institute – on a purely theoretical level. It's hard to argue for an "ism" anymore. Communism, socialism, fascism – these were all compelling in their day but have been discredited by hard experience and ongoing information on the Internet about the Way the World Really Works.
The elites now have a considerable uphill battle. They are trying everything – economic depression, authoritarian laws ... and now outright pro-government promotions. But a narrative, once it gets going on a global scale, is hard to change. We venture the elites are about a decade too late when it comes to re-establishing a pro-government narrative.
Conclusion: What we call the Internet Reformation is a powerful force. It took the elites centuries to recover from the advent of the Gutenberg Press. There are likely at least decades to go before they recover from the damage that the Internet has done to elite memes.
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 04/12/12 07:42 PM
Hi Abu Aardvark,
All systems revolve around the central system of money creation and distribution, right? We are all a part of that . . .
Why would you ask me if I was into forcing people? Of course not. Go into our ARG . . . it's all there. I wear my heart on my shirtsleeve.
And thanks for your help in me coming to terms with even talking about violence. It's normally off limits for me.
"In the opening scene of the movie [Slumdog Millionaire], a title card reads: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 Million Rupees. How did he do it? Four answer choices are presented: (A) He cheated, (B) He's lucky, (C) He's a genius, and (D) It is written." (answers . yahoo . com)
I'm actually following, myself. What? Not quite sure. All I know is that it is written . . . in code.
Click to view link
And it's Weebley, Agent Weebley . . . Agent Of Peace.
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Posted by amanfromMars on 04/12/12 01:39 PM
Zero Hedge comes up trumps again, AA ... ... Click to view link
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/12/12 12:46 PM
'I'm glad we got that aired and sorted, AA. Thanks.'
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Yeah, thank you too.
By the way, I don't know how things are going on Mars these days, but just in case you're on planet Earth over the weekend when, all of a sudden, TSHTF:
'Map Of The Dead: How To Survive The Zombie Apocalypse'
Click to view link
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Posted by amanfromMars on 04/12/12 12:22 PM
I say yes and you say no gets us nowhere fast, AA. Time to move on and agree to disagree if we have different perspectives.
However, the following from yourself is incorrect and misleading …. "Oh, and please note that there ARE feedbackers here advocating violence as a solution to any problem.
Hint ... YOU did:
"you might like to realistically revise and reconsider what THEY would definitely fear the most, and which would wrest control permanently from them ... ... . and that is destructive physical personal harm. Anything else would be welcomed by them for it is easily countered and defeated, but cut off the heads of mortal snakes and they die to never rise again"" ……. for did I not make a very specific point in saying that violence is not a solution to anything ……. "it is always an effective ready option which presents new possibilities and difficulties which are easier to overcome,…" which is no solution to anything. For solutions one must get right to the root/heart of any problem.
And in Great Game play is problem solving made a tad more difficult than it could be, because invariably, for understandable reasons of personal security, do Bosses of Bosses like to remain relatively anonymous and virtually unknown, and thus does the System provide Active Global Memes and Media Moguls with Puppets for the World's Stages and Sub-Prime Political/Politically Incorrect Soap Operas, and those actors are just doing as they are told so they are not really worth engaging with, for they are no vital source of Original Power and Control?
I'm glad we got that aired and sorted, AA. Thanks.
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/12/12 10:45 AM
"Abu: you used a computer to type in your comments, so don't give me that story about being "off the grid." You are in the system, like it or not."
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Come on, Weebley. There's a water supply grid, electricity, medicine, food, money, etc. One might even speak of a 'legitimacy-grid' - kept alive by consent of the ruled, i.e., voting.
I'm not saying I'm totally off the 'system' already. And I'm not trying to persuade others to follow my example. I just try to live a decent life, doing what I think is right, not harming others in the process. And yet, as time goes by, I do recognize evermore people doing pretty much the same thing. Human Action meets the Hive-Mind, or so it would seem.
I'd like to see it happening faster and more extensive, of course, but I don't see myself in a position to FORCE others to go my way.
Do you?
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/12/12 10:15 AM
"just so much prevarication and a terrible excuse for doing nothing"
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To suggest that not cooperating with their enforcers and minions, not voting, disconnecting from their grids, getting more self-reliant, rejecting their 'money', their 'news-media', their education system, their fear- and warmongering - in short: leaving the 'matrix' behind as much as possible - amounts to 'prevarication and a terrible excuse for doing nothing' seems strange to me, to say the least.
They got tens of thousands of nuclear warheads, biological and chemical weapons (which they may be immune to), drones, weather weapons, vast underground facilities ...
Click to view link
... and whatnot. You know all this. And yet you suggest 'we' might consider marching off to inflict 'destructive physical personal harm' to them?
To whom, exactly? At what price? To what end?
Oh, and please note that there ARE feedbackers here advocating violence as a solution to any problem.
Hint ... YOU did:
"you might like to realistically revise and reconsider what THEY would definitely fear the most, and which would wrest control permanently from them ... ... . and that is destructive physical personal harm. Anything else would be welcomed by them for it is easily countered and defeated, but cut off the heads of mortal snakes and they die to never rise again"
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Posted by amanfromMars on 04/12/12 09:03 AM
Passive resistance does have its place and space, AA, but is seen as by some as being for pussies and never ever an effective agent of necessary rapid change.
And is ... . "How would you try to remove the enforcers of your suggested violent overthrow from THEIR rule of force in the aftermath?
Gee, how about not voting as one alternative? Deny them their simulated legitimacy, as but one example.
Don't buy their stuff, don't use their 'money'. Disconnect from the grid, opt out, free your mind ... " just so much prevarication and a terrible excuse for doing nothing and/or not knowing what to do in such situations which are mirrored quite nicely in this tale which the mainstream media are not telling ... ... .. Click to view link
In the end, what you give is what you get ... . and that doesn't bode well for many, but they do surely deserve their just desserts all the same. It is only natural and fair, is it not.
Oh, and please note that there is no one here advocating violence as a solution to any problem, but it is as well to mention that it is always an effective ready option which presents new possibilities and difficulties which are easier to overcome, because of the crooked nature of the delivery by parading leading lights which media identifies as being instrumental in ordering conflict and mayhem in whatever cynical spinning disguise it might be dressed up in.
Ignorant foot soldiers just carrying out orders are not responsible and accountable. That burden is for others to try and avoid paying the proper price for, ... .. lifelong.
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 04/12/12 09:01 AM
I thought long and hard last night about answering spiritsplice, thinking he was some sort of spirit "slice," but erred on the side of caution and did nothing with his comment. But after seeing Abu Aardvark's comments and amanfromMars' comment, I feel that nihilism and Human Inaction are self-defeating behaviours. We are all "acting" here.
Abu: you used a computer to type in your comments, so don't give me that story about being "off the grid." You are in the system, like it or not.
amanfromMars: you wonder why I am stuck in the moment, once again? Agent Pete 8 gave it to me last night ( Click to view link ) plus you and Metaflorist ( Click to view link ) gave it to me again today.
No-one can control what 83% of the population's perceptions will be when they find out enmasse that they are in this Crying Game ARG. An easy MetaMorph into the new "system" or ARG is most advisable for the people at the top, as they have successfully sidelined themselves, making everyone fight each other, rather than the real enemy. But not for much longer.
So when I finally say I to my little dog, Quiche La DelKey the words I am supposed to say, it will rain Cats as well as Dogs in places I know not what.
Some Slumdog in this world may seek out the one who spoons out people's eyes and say those immortal words:
Shut up. The man with the Colt .45 says shut up.
Click to view link
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/12/12 07:56 AM
"Abu Aardvark, you might like to realistically revise and reconsider what THEY would definitely fear the most, and which would wrest control permanently from them ... ... . and that is destructive physical personal harm. Anything else would be welcomed by them for it is easily countered and defeated, but cut off the heads of mortal snakes and they die to never rise again."
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In the long run we're all dead, Sir. In my view, fear of death seems to be the main impetus behind many ills. The 'need' to compensate this fear with a strive for control (over others?) might be one, the manipulation of this fear as a tool to rule others might be another one.
You too may try to 'throw out the bums' by advocating and/or initiating force, of course, but I would ask you about the same points as I did with feedbacker 'spiritsplice':
Please elaborate on a more detailed scenario as to how, exactly, you would try to remove the contemporary elite with means of force - I mean, who is making the death-lists? Based on what criteria? Established by whom? Would you kill 'only' the 'top-elite'? Enablers? Which ones? Politicians? Military leaders? Religious leaders, Corporation executives? Where do you stop? Who would be doing the killing? How?
And after the big extinction ... WHAT?
How would you try to remove the enforcers of your suggested violent overthrow from THEIR rule of force in the aftermath?
Gee, how about not voting as one alternative? Deny them their simulated legitimacy, as but one example.
Don't buy their stuff, don't use their 'money'. Disconnect from the grid, opt out, free your mind ...
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Posted by amanfromMars on 04/12/12 06:21 AM
Err, regarding ... . "Anyway, I strive for freedom - the freedom to live and do as one sees fit, as long as one doesn't harm others in the process. In order to approach this end, I decided - to the best of my ability - to deny 'them' what they seem to desire most: control." ... . which is most admirable but as it is nothing at all effective which can be realised without superior man power, Abu Aardvark, you might like to realistically revise and reconsider what THEY would definitely fear the most, and which would wrest control permanently from them ... ... . and that is destructive physical personal harm. Anything else would be welcomed by them for it is easily countered and defeated, but cut off the heads of mortal snakes and they die to never rise again.
And it does so encourage any others, except those who would be worthy of such a final solution, and who would be thinking* to imitate the folly which resulted in the drastic action, to move on into safer fields of power and control.
*If the honest truth be told there, would that be a case of not thinking, should imitation be the lusty fools' goal.
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/12/12 05:18 AM
'Deny them control? Right, you deny them.by paying your taxes and getting your permission card to drive, by paying rent on your house and car every year, by doing what you're told.'
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Well, since you know nothing about where I live, if and how much taxes I pay, whether or not I own or drive a car, own a house or pay rent for a house or car, etc., I wonder why you would want to attack these obvious straw men instead of enlarging upon your tenet that the 'only way you can throw out the bums is with the only thing they understand, force'.
Why don't you elaborate on a more detailed scenario as to how you would try to remove the contemporary elite with means of force ... and, maybe, how you would try to remove the enforcers of your suggested violent overthrow from THEIR rule of force in the aftermath?
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Posted by spiritsplice on 04/11/12 07:39 PM
Deny them control? Right, you deny them.by paying your taxes and getting your permission card to drive, by paying rent on your house and car every year, by doing what you're told.
This reformation stuff is a smokescreen. It is a club for non action. Talk all you eant, read articles and forward them to all your friends. When 2030 comes and the downward spiral continues, then tell me about what good these people waking up did us.
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/11/12 06:59 PM
"The violence against the people has been raging for decades, but it has been one sided, them killing us (... ) and you think more talking will make a difference (... ) No, people are not waking up, this is a carefully crafted elite meme. And it is working, it is keeping people from taking any action. It is akin to telling people to "write your congressman" or "work within the system". It doesn't work, it has never worked. Your historical ignorance is mind blowing."
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As it happens, I subscribe to the Daily Bell's concept of the 'Internet Reformation'. In fact, I've seen a couple of dozen summers, and never have I witnessed as many people waking up as during this last decade of unprecedented, digital mass truth-telling. You may want to contemplate this specific notion while you marvel at my historical ignorance:
Click to view link
Anyway, I strive for freedom - the freedom to live and do as one sees fit, as long as one doesn't harm others in the process. In order to approach this end, I decided - to the best of my ability - to deny 'them' what they seem to desire most: control.
You may try to 'throw out the bums' by advocating and/or initiating force - good luck with that one, by the way - while others may wonder why this suggestion is so much in line with what the elite seems to wish for.
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Posted by spiritsplice on 04/11/12 03:38 PM
" Colonists in 1776 had less cause for revolution than Americans have today. It is an historical fact that those on the side of Independence felt that securing respect for Unalienable Rights merited the use of deadly force if an appeal to Reason failed.
I certainly agree.
The systematic violation of the Principles underpinning the Unanimous Declaration justifies the employment of whatever means are necessary for justice to prevail."
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Posted by spiritsplice on 04/11/12 03:16 PM
Excuses and pandering on all counts. The violence against the people has been raging for decades, but it has been one sided, them killing us. The American revolution... hell any revolution, was not won by appealing to logic or educating people. This has been tried over and over and over in every country for hundreds of years. The relative freedom we had was the result of gunfire from Washington, not some propagamda campaign to wake people up. While we talk, they kill, jail and seal... .and you think more talking will make a difference.
You know who else shows up in comments sections? People that keep the bitchers passive, that convince them to turn the other cheek when a baton hits it. They work for government also.
No, people are not waking up, this is a carefully crafted elite meme. And it is working, it is keeping people from taking any action. It is akin to telling people to "write your congressman" or "work within the system". It doesn't work, it has never worked. Your historical ignorance is mind blowing.
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Posted by oldman67 on 04/11/12 02:38 PM
The constitution clearly defines the purpose of government and it is not to take control of and interfere in our daily lives.thos ewho have read, the declaration of Independence, the Constitution with its Bill of Rights as well as Patrick Henery's famous speech realize that conditions in the colonies were in many ways similar to conditions in America today.Every warning from our founders, both in their letters and quotes went unheeded.We can't fix stupid but we can fix ignorance.
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Posted by Abu Aardvark on 04/11/12 01:42 PM
spiritsplice: "The only way you can throw out the bums is with the only thing they understand, force"
AA: Not for me. Apart from the more obvious reasons for not encouraging force, it would give them the desired pretext to strike back with ... more force. In fact, there's a reason why any major demonstration in the West is infiltrated by governmental agent provocateurs who try to instigate violence.
Gee, I've even heard of agent provocateurs in feedback sections of certain websites ...
spiritsplice: "There will never be any sort of mass awakening of the population"
AA: Not true. Mass awakening IS happening as we speak. I hope you don't want me to send you links to prove this point.
spiritsplice: "the common man doesn't want freedom, he wants to be told he is being kept safe, he wants entertainment, he wants orders on how to think and how to love"
AA: Really? Does "the common man" WANT that, or is he brainwashed 24/7 to BELIEVE that in order NOT to wake up?
Reply from The Daily Bell
Excellent on all counts.
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Posted by spiritsplice on 04/11/12 11:38 AM
It is one of the sides they play, the conservative Christian crowd and their like. These are the same people who want strip searches "for safety reasons" and yet decry nudity, sex, drugs, etc.
The only way you can throw out the bums is with the only thing they understand, force. There will never be any sort of mass awakening of the population, the common man doesn't want freedom, he wants to be told he is being kept safe, he wants entertainment, he wants orders on how to think and how to love. This will never change. Liberty is a human abberation of history. The superior man (as Mencken called him) will always be a freak, an outsider, an anomaly of the species.
While I desire freedom for all, people make it clear everyday they want nothing to do with freedom amd will fight to protect their chains and cages. If the superior men and women wait for the masses to change, they will die waiting.
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Posted by Agent Weebley on 04/11/12 10:33 AM
How about a Sevenstone doughnut . . . right in the heart of Sheffield, UK.
Click to view link
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Posted by amanfromMars on 04/11/12 10:14 AM
Hi, Abu Aardvark,
Regarding "And how, exactly, are 'we' supposed to 'throw the elites off the boat'?" is it only a matter of time before an oppressed opposition realise they have to copy cat the establishment and start targeting prominent leading presidential and prime ministerial figures personally in the field, leading those fields which are causing the conflicts and which need to be altered and stopped. Pretty soon then do followers and supporters start to realise the error of their ways and the consequences of their actions.
And it eliminates all that expensive collateral damage too, when precision takes over from a scatter gun/carpet bombing approach to conflict resolution, but I would never recommend it whenever intelligence engaged can always find a solution for practising a beta program.
However, whenever that novel futuristic intelligence option is not made available to many, is the age old primitive decider the more likely course of executive extreme prejudice action more to be expected from the more sophisticated of the hit and martyrdom brigades if running is not a viable alternative. At least then would the innocent peoples of the world not suffer the folly of fools to the extent that they do so now.
You know it makes perfect sense too.
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