If Liz were Queen

“…Members of the elite are now contemplating a sort of ‘final solution’ that amounts to little less a strategy of open warfare - the use of foreign and domestic troops to kill off the poorest of the poor, pure and simple”

“The poverty in places like Citè Soleil is a direct result of the neo-liberal reconfiguration of the Haitian economy that began in the late 1970s - the result of what many Haitians call the “death plan”. The US and the Haitian elite believe that they can manage the consequences of this plan by sending foreign troops to police the neighbourhoods populated by those that suffer the worst of its effects. They think they can control rising levels of poverty by shooting at the poor. The US and the Haitian elite believe that they can manage the consequences of this plan by sending foreign troops to police the neighbourhoods populated by those that suffer the worst of its effects. They think they can control rising levels of poverty by shooting at the poor. In Haiti as in various other parts of the world ( Darfur , Sierra Leone , Somalia …) they use the UN to put out the fire, without considering who started it. They do everything possible to avoid the obvious conclusion - that this poverty, and the violence that accompanies it, is a direct consequence of the neo-liberal plan itself. The only way to reverse it is to put a stop to the plan and undo its effects.

“In places like Haiti and much of Africa, the great imperial powers use the UN as humanitarian fire-fighters, but they never identify, let alone prosecute, the neo-liberal arsonists. They never ask why social divisions have become so intense, why the levels of poverty are now so extreme, why people are so desperate that they prefer to fight, rather than starve.”…” (Excerpted from Interview with Ben Dupuy by Peter Hallward, Feb. 16, 2007)

FYI:   Ben Dupuy is the former Ambassador at large for the president of Haiti and Peter Hallward is a Canadian philosopher who has done considerable work on post-colonialism and Haiti.

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Please read this part again and again and again until it completely soaks in:

They do everything possible to avoid the obvious conclusion - that this poverty, and the violence that accompanies it, is a direct consequence of the neo-liberal plan itself. The only way to reverse it is to put a stop to the plan and undo its effects.

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The “neo-liberal” plan is the plan that was firmly embedded in place by the Reagan Administration over 30 years ago now.  This economic neo-liberal plan is what must be stopped now.  Here are its cornerstones once again.  THIS IS WHAT MUST BE CHANGED.  THIS IS WHAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SHOULD BE DISMANTLING INSTEAD OF PROPPING UP:

CORNERSTONES OF THE FAILED RIGHT-WING ECONOMIC IDEOLOGY

In addition to the healthcare system another system that is broken is the right-wing conservative economic neo-liberal ideology that includes:

1. THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating “free” enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the government (the state) no matter how much social damage this causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment, as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and eliminating workers’ rights that had been won over many years of struggle. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is good for us, they say “an unregulated market is the best way to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit everyone.” It’s like Reagan’s “supply-side” and “trickle-down” economics — but somehow the wealth didn’t trickle down very much.
2. CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply — again in the name of reducing government’s role. Of course, they don’t oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business.
3. DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminish profits, including protecting the environment and safety on the job.
4. PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name of greater efficiency, which is often needed, privatization has mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and making the public pay even more for its needs.
5. ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF “THE PUBLIC GOOD” or “COMMUNITY” and replacing it with “individual responsibility.” Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves — then blaming them, if they fail, as “lazy.”

Around the world, neo-liberalism has been imposed by powerful financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. It is raging all over Latin America. The first clear example of neo-liberalism at work came in Chile (with thanks to University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman), after the CIA-supported coup against the popularly elected Allende regime in 1973. Other countries followed, with some of the worst effects in Mexico where wages declined 40 to 50% in the first year of NAFTA while the cost of living rose by 80%

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AND SPEAKING OF MEXICO: We have all the uproar and ethnic hatred in the US regarding the Mexican immigrants who are in the USA illegally.  Their numbers have increased from under 2 million in 1993 to over 12 million today.

What solution does our Congress offer? Use the taxpayer dollars to subsidize a military contractor to build a fence–a fence (referred to as a ‘wall’ by the residents) that the citizens who live there don’t even want.

AND WHAT IS THE REAL SOLUTION?  The real solution is to treat the root cause which is NAFTA, a trade agreement that impoverished millions of Mexicans an drove them across the border to seek work in order to survive.

NAFTA, and other trade agreements are trade agreements that were written to benefit Wall Street, corporate America and the rich.  They are part of the conservative neo-liberal economic ideology that is devastating our nation and literally robbing from the poor and giving to the rich.  THESE ECONOMIC POLICIES AND ATTITUDES MUST BE CHANGED.

BUT I DON’T REALLY HOLD OUT MUCH HOPE BECAUSE IT IS THE ELITE WHO ARE IN CONTROL OF OUR GOVERNMENT.  YOU ONLY NEED TO OBSERVE THAT OUR CONGRESS HAS A TOTAL OF 263 MULTIMILLIONAIRES.  IF YOU THINK THAT THESE PEOPLE HAVE THE INTERESTS OF ORDINARY AMERICANS AT HEART, THEN  YOU ARE A FOOL. At best, you can hope for generous crumbs from these people.