The American Dream is alive but it does not travel well.

Posted by: Now’s the Time | May 19 2020 10:30 utc | 3

Not only does the headline “The American Dream is Alive and Well” need to be repeated ad nauseam but also the narrative it promotes, of the immigrant family that succeeds through sheer hard work and dedication and nothing else – no help from government subsidies or relatives already in the country, no dependence on bank loans that help start a business or put teenagers through college, no discrimination whatsoever – has to be hammered constantly over and over, even when everyone can see that the story template no longer has any legs if it ever had any.
For all the sophisticated techniques and tools of propaganda that the likes of Edward Bernays and his followers in the PR industry bequeathed to the US, the elites and their mass media lackeys can’t even get the repetition to look and sound more than banal and one-dimensional.

Posted by: Jen | May 19 2020 10:58 utc | 5

The American Dream was always someone else’s nightmare from day one and today it is the planet’s nightmare. It is the propaganda the rulers believe about themselves promoted as Universal Truth. And yes, it must be repeated ad nauseum, thin as tissue and dissipating in the face of reality like a vapor.

Posted by: blindpig | May 19 2020 11:24 utc | 7

b,
It might be helpful to write a take down of Trump’s threatening letter to the WHO. Trump makes many allegations of Chinese and WHO duplicity, etc.
We need ammunition against the US propaganda campaign.

Posted by: Richard | May 19 2020 11:29 utc | 9

@11.
Whilst you wait on B to do that for you, which parts in that short letter do you yourself think Trump is lying about?

Posted by: Skeletor | May 19 2020 11:45 utc | 11

As an aside that is nonetheless relevant, dealing as it does with issues of the responsibility that banks have for the mess in this world, I recommend watching the TV series, “Devils”, described here on Wikipedia:
Devils (TV series)
https://tinyurl.com/yb8cbwsq

Plot
London, 2011. The Italian Massimo Ruggero is the head of trading at the banking giant American New York – London Bank (NYL). While the financial crisis is raging across Europe, Massimo is making hundreds of millions thanks to speculation. His mentor is Dominic Morgan, the American CEO of NYL and the closest thing to a father Massimo has ever had. He fully supports it, the talented trader seems to be the first choice in the run for vice-CEO. But when Massimo is unwillingly involved in a scandal that sees his ex-wife implicated as an escort, Dominic denies him the promotion, instead choosing the old school banker Edward Stuart.
Massimo is amazed: his father turns his back on him. Convinced that he has been set up, Massimo is determined to bring out the truth, but when Edward suddenly dies, Massimo realizes that something bigger is at stake. With the help of his team and a group of hackers, Massimo will discover the plot hidden behind apparently unrelated events such as the Strauss-Kahn scandal, the war in Libya and the PIIGS crisis. Finding himself in front of the Devils who pull the ropes of the world, Massimo will have to choose whether to fight them or join them.

The series is well-written and well-acted. If you have access to it (I get it off the Internet, but it does not appear to be available in the US market yet), it’s well worth watching. It is in some ways better than “Deep State”, the spy series that was on a season or two ago. It has already been renewed for a second season.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 19 2020 12:02 utc | 13

I wonder what America would have become if sociopaths like Allen Dulles hadn’t relocated to Nazi braintrust after WWII. maybe it was inevitable that we would become the 4th reich.
David Talbot’s book The Devil’s Chessboard should be required reading for all Americans.

Posted by: lizard | May 19 2020 12:56 utc | 15

We all know these main stream media outlets do little more than pump out propaganda to the ignorant masses who need someone to tell them what they want to hear.

Posted by: Linda Amick | May 19 2020 12:59 utc | 17

The American Dream died in 1969 – the last year of the post-war miracle in the USA. For the following five years, the country continued to flourish, but at a clear slower pace. With the oil crisis of 1974-5, the American Dream definitely died, albeit some indicators (e.g. real wages) still showed some improvements.
1978 was the last year real wages showed significant growth in real terms in the USA. After that, came the great stagnation of the neoliberal era (1978-2008), 30 consecutive years of frozen earns for the American working classes. This era is not marked by a slow down in consumption, though. On the contrary: consumption continued to rise, but, this time, it was mainly debt-fueled. Americans wages stagnated, but they didn’t want to give up their hyperconsumption privileges, so they contracted debt after debt.
As the timeline shows, it is a myth neoliberalism begun in the USA only with Reagan’s election in 1980. Most neoliberal reforms begun during Jimmy Carter’s second half of his lonely term (1978-1980). It was Jimmy Carter, for example, who hired (nominated) Paul Volcker to the Fed. Other essential Acts that paved the way to neoliberalism were also passed during Jimmy Carter’s later part of the reign.

Posted by: vk | May 19 2020 13:22 utc | 19

Maybe they read that ‘meowmeow’ crack and decided to sing along…

Posted by: Joshua | May 19 2020 13:42 utc | 21

“As the timeline shows, it is a myth neoliberalism begun in the USA only with Reagan’s election in 1980. Most neoliberal reforms begun during Jimmy Carter’s second half of his lonely term (1978-1980)…” vk @21
This is equally true of the UK and “Thatcherism” the foundations of which were established under the Labour Callaghan government.
Reagan and Thatcher simply capped a movement which had been gathering momentum during the seventies. Other early indications of the way that things were going were the Pinochet coup and the use of Chile as a test bed for neo-liberalism and the Tory manifesto of 1970 in the UK, which led to a provocation of Unions, characteristic of all these neo-liberal regimes.

Posted by: bevin | May 19 2020 13:47 utc | 23

Christian J Chuba @20
Yep! We can all build personalized web portals for each other!
On that note, most Open Source developers know that the best motivation for software development is having an itch to scratch, or as Plato said “Necessity is the mother of invention.” This is why Google doesn’t want Huawei banned from using their products. The principals at Google know that their Android OS, for example, is really just a trivial graphical shell on top of Linux and that a few talented programmers could produce something better over a long weekend if they really wanted to. The only thing that keeps a competitor to Android OS from coming into being is that it is good enough and nobody has the need to replace it. Forcing Huawei to replace Android OS is the same as shooting Android OS in the head. Since Huawei has to create a replacement, why would they stop their development at “Just as good” when “Much better” is not so big an additional step? Or worse, what if Huawei goes so far as to make their replacement “The best we can”? That would not be good news for Google, and Google’s principals know it.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 19 2020 13:49 utc | 25

After assuring the head of the Federal Reserve that he will prevent the economy from falling (= he will inject money without limit into the pockets of big Capital), a wave of purchases is unleashed on Wall Street that reaches more than 90% of listed companies

https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1262415794631303175

THE DELIGHTS OF NEOLIBERALISM: The polarization between a very rich minority and a rapidly impoverished majority prevents the economy from recovering through consumption

https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1262414892683886597

THE WORSE, THE BETTER: As tens of millions of people lose their jobs (and health protection) in the US, speculation on Wall Street skyrockets to all-time highs

https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1262413328095367170

Half of the US population is out of work

https://twitter.com/Amor_y_Rabia/status/1262308892287152129

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 19 2020 14:05 utc | 27

“The American Dream Is Alive And Well…”
That sounds like a distorted echo.
Could it be that the same writers who came up with:
“This is extremely dangerous to our democracy …”

Posted by: Cascadian | May 19 2020 14:14 utc | 29

Here are some links to charts showing how the upward mobility rates of countries around the world. I cannot vouch for their veracity, but upward mobility rate of the US is horrid.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries/
US is 27th right below Lithuania, but above Spain.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/these-are-the-10-countries-with-the-best-social-mobility/
This one a based on previous, but adds a graph on how many generations it would take a person born poor to reach the median income. In the US, takes five generations. Is a generation 20 or 30 years. Fundamentally it seems Americans will never leave the class they are born in.
Hmmm…too many links to post all of which indicate that US upward mobility is in the proverbial toilet.

Posted by: Erelis | May 19 2020 15:07 utc | 31

@ Christian J Chuba | May 19 2020 13:01 utc | 20

I heard some politician suggest that while many of the jobs will never come back that people can learn to code. We need drug testing for our politicians. I ‘code’ and I’m wetting my pants. It’s not because I think that it’s so easy I an be easily replaced but but we still need demand. If everyone is losing their jobs … terrifies me.

Speaking as a software developer as well, it’s also obvious that the attempts to train people to become “coders” (that word is always a sign someone is huffing Silicon Valley investor hype fumes) is, at its most malicious, a means to break the high salaries we enjoy as programmers, and at its least malicious, an attempt to fix economic outcomes for workers in a way that’s ignorant of the fallacy of composition – what exactly do people think will happen to programmer salaries if every programmer has to compete with an influx of coal miners, fast food workers, and so on? Even assuming most people get filtered out and wash away, you still have more people competing for relatively fewer jobs. The “learn to code” initiatives of Google and Facebook and other tech giants are in the same vein. With remote work becoming a necessity, it wouldn’t surprise me if tech companies just start to give the jobs to the lowest bidders – people in Vietnam, India, Pakistan, who have lower costs of living and are more used to getting fucked in the ass. They could phrase it as “disrupting” the labor market, making it more “flexible” and “efficient” by making us use “smart auctions” that give jobs to lowest bidders with adequate credentials.
Here, as usual, the only answer is more solidarity, and unfortunately, solidarity is hard to come by in the tech sector. But what’s waiting for us is nothing compared to what’s waiting for the workers who were already precariously employed and now just got thrown out on their ass by the system. How are the newly unemployed going to react to permanent job loss, in the absence of any kind of adequate safety net, and in the face of two right-wing political parties hellbent on taking away anything but the most paltry and minimal social safety net? Maybe we now have to deal with the fact that our relations of production – wage labor, the accumulation of capital through the exploitation of it – is at odds with our forces of production, which no longer need masses of workers to exploit to guarantee an adequate standard of living for all. Maybe what we need is to seize the forces of production, hold them in common, and ensure that no one goes hungry or homeless or without adequate medical care. Maybe the social system that has existed for the last two or three hundred years is decrepit and needs a revolution to topple it. I wouldn’t know, but it’s been looking that way for a while. We’ll see how the labor market absorbs the newly unemployed and whether or not workers band together to fight for their collective interests. A lot of conditioning would need to be undone, but I seem to recall that in a flood, Pavlov’s dogs dropped all theirs. Certainly, revolutions have been won under more dire circumstances.

Posted by: fnord | May 19 2020 15:49 utc | 33

i liked the george carlin quote.. thanks @26 daniel…
somewhere along the line i realized if you aren’t dreaming or imagining, you aren’t living… people that stop dreaming of the possibilities in life, stop living… so dream on!

Posted by: james | May 19 2020 16:00 utc | 35

@ 36 fnord.. nice response to christians post.. thanks.. he only way is towards some type of major revolution.. not sure if it is gonna happen though..

Posted by: james | May 19 2020 16:05 utc | 37

What they are suggesting is, that people should keep on dreaming!

Posted by: padre | May 19 2020 16:31 utc | 39

What was known as the American Dream died several generations ago with the escalation of the Vietnam War which caused Nixon to abandon gold and begin the burial of America’s Industrial Capitalism with the Financialization of the economy. The Macro process can easily be seen as it unfolded by once again looking at Shadowstats GDP Chart, which depicts the last great burst of energy for American Industry as it emerged from the Volker/Fed induced Recession only to be staggered by the first of many Wall Street/Money Power Fraud-induced crises, which by 1990 led to the continual contraction of the Outlaw US Empire’s economy and the fundamental basis on which the American Dream was posited. That Dream was premised on the promise of continual upward mobility and long-term financial security, neither of which have existed during the 21st Century. The fundamental reason for the Dream’s demise is as stated above–the Financialization of the economy and its Parasitism to engorge itself and itself alone. The Outlaw US Empire will continue to waste away as long as such Parasitism continues.
Longtime readers will know I’ve explored the various ways to alter the current paradigm. The Corruption’s so deep and pervasive that only a mass upheaval resulting in the total reconstruction of the existing arrangements will solve the problems and allow for a renewed positive path forward. Currently, I see two relatively ignorant blocs seething at each other instead of the powers that oppress them both. Destroying that Machiavellian Divide must occur prior to any attempt to oust those in power. IMO, it will take a Hot War to do that.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2020 16:56 utc | 41

@ Richard Ong | May 19 2020 16:44 utc | 44
Mr. Ong —
You might want to test the waters over at Foxnews.com.
I’m sure you’d feel a lot more at home, and they would certainly welcome your expressions of hatred toward anyone who is not, well, you.

Posted by: AntiSpin | May 19 2020 17:26 utc | 43

The American Dream and Interdimensional Portals: a love story:
The Warp Speed Push for Coronavirus Vaccines: A convergence of corrupt special interests are rushing to push untested and incredibly dangerous vaccines on the public before anyone has time to realize what is really happening or stop it
So, it seems the American Dream is alive and well – all it needs is a little push.

Posted by: vk | May 19 2020 17:43 utc | 45

The Dream has long turned into a Nightmare for many Americans. Besides, even when it was indeed a dream, it came at the expense of a Nightmare for billions in the world.

Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | May 19 2020 18:11 utc | 47

Some US people here, even those who want to change things for a better outcome, comtinue thinking in the old industrisl paradigm in which we have based the Western capitalist system during the last centuries.
You must understand that unlimited growing in not possible anymore, the people are losing its purchasing power, thus continue producing industrial goods has not sense with such panorama in view, whether they are produced in China or in the US.
The problem here is that most of the jobs are lost forever, and, without preadvice to reciclate, the people is being robed of whatever cash exist out there so as the rich people can purchase for the new business in the new technological paradigm. They always count with beforehand information from their lobbyist in government. We, on the contrary, realize only when one day go to the bank and find it closed and our savings evaporated, as happened in the USSR.
The money of the Russian people did not evaporate, it was stolen, along their public assets to form a new class of oligarchs.
This is the world that is being unleashed before our eyes while we are locked, count the number of industrial workers on terrain…and this is mining!

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 19 2020 18:13 utc | 49

@Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 19 2020 18:13 utc | 50
I am seeing that the link embeded above does not work properly, I will post it through the Twitter account I found it, to see if then…
https://twitter.com/EstulinDaniel/status/1262448662585782278

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 19 2020 18:22 utc | 51

The assertion “The American Dream Is Alive and Well” is an illusory truth.

Posted by: bjd | May 19 2020 18:26 utc | 53

Posted by: vk | May 19 2020 17:43 utc | 45
So, it seems the American Dream is alive and well – all it needs is a little putsch. Fixed it for you.

Posted by: Stonebird | May 19 2020 18:48 utc | 55

The USA is dead. If the so called elites don’t believe it then I invite them to witness the ramifications of their creation. This touches everyone.

Posted by: So | May 19 2020 19:15 utc | 57

The London Review of Books has a blog-Culling the Herd-A Modest Proposal- by Eli Zaretsky that deals with just this subject:
“…The large-scale slaughter now unfolding in America was not set in motion overnight. The herd had to be prepared. One place to start is with the response to the uprisings of the 1960s. Any herd has to have its rebellious instincts curbed. Most urgent was suppressing the African-American population, since they had been the spearhead of the revolt. Almost immediately, the leaders were murdered: Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and countless others. But state-sponsored murder is labour-intensive and unprofitable. A more effective means was mass incarceration. There are currently more than two million Americans in jail, and about 40 per cent of them are black.
“Also important in managing a herd is to destroy all forms of critical thinking, in particular anything that challenges the supremacy of private property. The multitude was taught to react with instinctive, even ferocious, negativity to any idea that could be described as ‘socialist’ or ‘communist’. Not only did this render the herd more submissive, it created a feeling of narcissistic superiority that helped its members accept the drastic loss of long-established rights. The master class, which had lived in fear of herd uprisings until it quelled the rebellions of the 1960s, was amazed at how easily the herd gave up the belief that it was entitled to jobs, housing and good schools. Also helpful, as with poultry and cattle, was the use of drugs (heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine). Most fundamental, however, was convincing the masses that they had little or no right to medical care…”

Posted by: bevin | May 19 2020 19:29 utc | 59

I am from stingrays bikes and sissy bars
I am from the smell of fresh rain on fresh suburban streets
I am from Mayberry RFD and leaving it to beaver
I am from a country where everyone was a believer.
I am from duck and cover
I am from the death of John and Martin and Bobby
I am from the death of the dream
I am from riots and grief and the search for the dream thief
I am from a man on the moon and the world’s moment of wonder
I am from Woodstock and choices and the sound of new voices
I am from ‘nam
And Nixon
And the death of the dream
I am from wall street and all of their schemes
I am from consumption and greed and the rape of a planet
I am from zeros and ones
And the compression of life to a few random bits
I am from scared white men not seeming to fit
I am from 9/11 and the death of a dream
I am from oligarchs and all of there schemes
I am from endless wars and ended dreams
I am from the least best and brightest
I am from narcism, cronyism and a nation divided
I am from the turning point of man
I am from covid and climate and remote control death
an automatic world that knows of your every breath
I am from earth
I am from man
and I don’t know what to do
I am from the death of the dream

Posted by: Joe Ryan | May 19 2020 19:39 utc | 61

Look at the history of the term.
James Truslow Adams has coined the word “American Dream” in his book The Epic of America in 1931. In the time of the great depression.
The time John Steinbeck described deep misery of mass population in his books: Grapes of Wrath, Mice & Men ( 1937 & 1939).
2020 is “the best of the time and worst the time” again. That is the dreaming time, really.

Posted by: arata | May 19 2020 19:57 utc | 63

LOL, LOL.
b or someone should put the list side-by-side with the list on the “Coming collapse of China” news reports. That would be humorous.

Posted by: d dan | May 19 2020 20:16 utc | 65

The crash of the “hard landing” vs the “well and alive” list:
source: comment #313 by Godfree Roberts
https://www.unz.com/article/objections-to-an-independent-investigation-of-china/
1990. China’s economy has come to a halt. The Economist
1996. China’s economy will face a hard landing. The Economist
1998. China’s economy’s dangerous period of sluggish growth. The Economist
1999. Likelihood of a hard landing for the Chinese economy. Bank of Canada
2000. China currency move nails hard landing risk coffin. Chicago Tribune
2001. A hard landing in China. Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas
2002. China Seeks a Soft Economic Landing. Westchester University
2003. Banking crisis imperils China. New York Times
2004. The great fall of China? The Economist
2005. The Risk of a Hard Landing in China. Nouriel Roubini
2006. Can China Achieve a Soft Landing? International Economy
2007. Can China avoid a hard landing? TIME
2008. Hard Landing In China? Forbes
2009. China’s hard landing. China must find a way to recover. Fortune
2010: Hard landing coming in China. Nouriel Roubini
2011: Chinese Hard Landing Closer Than You Think. Business Insider
2012: Economic News from China: Hard Landing. American Interest
2013: A Hard Landing In China. Zero Hedge
2014. A hard landing in China. CNBC
2015. Congratulations, You Got Yourself A Chinese Hard Landing. Forbes
2016. Hard landing looms for China. The Economist
2017. Is China’s Economy Going To Crash? National Interest
2018. China’s Coming Financial Meltdown. The Daily Reckoning.
2019 China’s Economic Slowdown: How worried should we be? BBC
2020. Coronavirus Could End China’s Decades-Long Economic Growth Streak. NY Times

Posted by: d dan | May 19 2020 20:27 utc | 67

the american dream is taking hydroxychloroquine, but purely as a prophylactic measure. the american dream wants to assure you that it is doing justfine, never better in fact.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 19 2020 21:08 utc | 69

The American dream is more alive and well than the Russian, Chinese, French, etc, it’s still more magnetic, energetic and true, still attracting new devotees and converts, still extending throughout the world’s consciousness, meanwhile…Russia and China supporting ‘alternative’ media comments on ‘mainstream’ (isn’t it just professional?) media, oh how cynical.

Posted by: Ukie | May 19 2020 21:41 utc | 71

“The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 19 2020 22:19 utc | 73

Walden Bello puts the dying American Dream into the global perspective as he surveys the political potentialities as we emerge from COVID-19 crisis. What direction from the crisis the Politics of Emergence takes will be key. IMO, the possibilities for change within the EU are far riper than within the Outlaw US Empire since at present it appears nobody wants to try and lead the Movement Sanders initiated.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2020 22:40 utc | 75

karlof1 #41

Longtime readers will know I’ve explored the various ways to alter the current paradigm. The Corruption’s so deep and pervasive that only a mass upheaval resulting in the total reconstruction of the existing arrangements will solve the problems and allow for a renewed positive path forward. Currently, I see two relatively ignorant blocs seething at each other instead of the powers that oppress them both. Destroying that Machiavellian Divide must occur prior to any attempt to oust those in power. IMO, it will take a Hot War to do that.

Thank you karlof1, can I meekly suggest that we follow the Chinese system of redistribution as implemented in the 1940’s. See Ten Mile Inn: Mass movement in a Chinese village by Isabel Crook and David Crook. I recall it was first published in 1962 and later editions etc.
This is part of my concept of restoring the American Dream and social sustainability to the people of that fair land. Of course it will have contemporary adaptations but the wheel has been invented in China.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 19 2020 22:49 utc | 77

[clearly hood spelling did not make the list]

Posted by: ptb | May 19 2020 23:06 utc | 79

Posted by: fnord | May 19 2020 15:49 utc | 33 attempts to train people to become “coders” is…malicious, a means to break the high salaries we enjoy as programmers, and at its least malicious
Not to mention that trying to turn people who aren’t “engineer-minded” in the first place will produce a bunch of “coders” who suck rocks are software.
When I attended Lane Community College back in the ’70’s to learn computers and programming, most of the class I was in consisted of divorcees who wanted to get a higher paying job than whatever their previous education permitted (so did I except 1) I wasn’t a divorcee and 2) I long had an interest in computers.) Most of them struggled with the mental discipline that programming requires.
Today I view the software industry as a disaster, with software that is inefficient, unreliable and insecure. I remember Ted Nelson, a tech guru back in the ’80’s, saying at the West Coast Computer Faire that there was no acceptable software on the market. That hasn’t changed in the last thirty-five years.
So imagine what happens when companies start hiring people even more brain-dead at software design than the idiots at Microsoft. Civilization will probably collapse.
“Here, as usual, the only answer is more solidarity, and unfortunately, solidarity is hard to come by in the tech sector.”
It’s hard to come by anywhere. This isn’t the late 1800’s when labor movements had to be gunned down by corporate mercenaries in pitched battles. Everyone thinks their lives are “good enough” or are afraid of getting buried any deeper than they already are. Rocking the boat is no longer an American predilection.
“Maybe what we need is to seize the forces of production, hold them in common”
Are you familiar with the Situationist International and the Paris uprising in 1968? Look them up. I think that was the last attempt to achieve those goals in history. Replicating that today is highly improbable, at least in this country.
“Certainly, revolutions have been won under more dire circumstances.”
I’d need a citation on that. Very few “revolutions” have ever been won in history – most have been crushed – and those that did win turned into oppressive nightmares within a generation.
What’s the answer? Well, I’ve suggested that before here.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 19 2020 23:23 utc | 81

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2020 16:56 utc | 41 The Corruption’s so deep and pervasive that only a mass upheaval resulting in the total reconstruction of the existing arrangements will solve the problems and allow for a renewed positive path forward. Currently, I see two relatively ignorant blocs seething at each other instead of the powers that oppress them both. Destroying that Machiavellian Divide must occur prior to any attempt to oust those in power. IMO, it will take a Hot War to do that.
Agreed.
As I’ve said in the past, the US Empire will only fall when one or both of two things occurs: 1) a massive economic collapse (maybe that’s what’s happening now, but it’s not certain – yet); and/or 2) a major defeat in a war – and by “defeat”, I don’t mean the US just pulls out and quits, I mean a defeat where the US loses a significant portion of its military assets. The problem with the latter scenario is that it probably means nuclear war, which would mean 100-200 million dead Americans and the loss of most of the 50 Major Metropolitan Areas.
But then there’s the problem of exactly who is going to structure the new system. History is not kind to those who have tried. Maybe the notion of doing so is the actual problem. Maybe allowing a new system to “evolve” is the better approach – however costly it might be in the interim, or “Interregnum”.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 19 2020 23:31 utc | 83

Most Americans are asleep and certainly many are dreaming.
I suppose this is a bit of damage control. Many are awakening and are not happy about the reality they see. Coordinated messages like this are intended to lull them back to sleep.
No doubt it works.
RSH@82
Revolutions that succeed are driven by the more powerful elite. Revolutions that are crushed are those driven from the bottom or a less powerful competing elite .

Posted by: Kay Fabe | May 20 2020 0:27 utc | 85

The American Dream – You have to be asleep to believe it. _ Carlin.

Posted by: Kristan hinton | May 20 2020 1:05 utc | 87

Joe Ryan @ 62
Thanks for this.

Posted by: suzan | May 20 2020 1:39 utc | 89

d dan @ 66
Yes I remember reading Gordon Chang’s The Coming Collapse of China in…………………2001
Fools,puppets, predictions, broken clocks yadda yadda yadda. I’m sure Chang was appreciated in certain exclusive circles.

Posted by: Sad Canuck | May 20 2020 1:48 utc | 91

This is click-bait stuff.
While I am no fan of Trump I find the discussion of the corruption being laid bare pretty intresting:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/phone-calls-between-quid-pro-joe-biden-and-ukraines-poroshenko-leak-explicitly-details
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/04/02/doj-says-fbi-not-trustworthy/

Posted by: jared | May 20 2020 2:42 utc | 93

All the talk of peace & love during the 60’s aborted cultural revolution was a sure indication of a lack of peace & love. Same is true for talk of the “American dream”. This is no longer the “new world”. Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” was just Hollywood fantasy. This pandemic has laid bare the lie of traditional self-reliance dogma and the rags-to-riches myth. Our survival depends on deep structural change that is vigorously resisted by the elite class. The aristocracy was not defeated by the American Revolution. It has returned with a vengeance as predicted by de Toqueville in the 1840’s, and it is more powerful than it ever was. It is also frightened because the numbers of the peasantry are so much larger than ever in history. The aristocrats have to compromise with the masses, they can’t be enslaved. The peasantry is armed and dangerous and the potential for social conflict increases. The people are dissatisfied and restive precisely because the American dream no longer works and there is no leadership.

Posted by: jadan | May 20 2020 2:47 utc | 95

Thanks for the Walden Bello article, karlof1, and for letting us in on the end of the virus video – you are to be applauded for your energy expended finding us these positive alternatives to business as usual. This from Mr. Bello is clearly true:

…the subjective element, the psychological critical mass, is there. It is a whirlwind that is waiting to be captured by contending political forces. The question is who will succeed in harnessing it…

I’d like to suggest that please, it has to be somebody young – not just for star appeal but because the old have really failed to step up with the sincerity the situation demands. And I say this as an oldie myself. There’s enormous potential out there, and I will just say that it even doesn’t have to be outside of either of the geriatric parties that such leadership comes – take New Zealand as an example. The chief asset of their current Prime Minister is that she is young, was even pregnant with her first child when she ran for the office. And with that asset she provides a compassionate nature – showed most definitely when the tragedy in Christchurch occurred – the mindless slaughter of so many ordinary people who happened to be moslem. And she showed herself able to connect with folk during this pandemic as well. These are important attrtibutes for someone in leadership, along with, I’d say flexibility – a willingness to work with other young leaders and take counsel from older ones (but not be led by them).
It doesn’t take a superman or superwoman to fill this role. In fact it’s better to have somebody who needs a good team around them. That’s why I thought a Native American would be good as they do have community and community values already. Gosh, we don’t have to expect wonders given what options are currently presented!

Posted by: juliania | May 20 2020 3:18 utc | 97

Posted by: jared | May 20 2020 2:51 utc | 97 even Lebanon is honoring US sanctions against Iran
I wouldn’t make too much of that. “Lebanon” is nothing without Hezbollah (or more precisely the 40% of the population which is Shia), and Hezbollah isn’t going to honor any sanctions on Iran. Iran’s exports to Lebanon in 2017 were a paltry $89 million. They’re 33 down on the list. From another article from this month:

According to Iran’s trade data for the previous year, among the mentioned countries, the UAE ranked second among Iran’s top trade partners and Iraq was the fourth while Oman was ranked 18th, Qatar 34th, Kuwait 39th, Syria 41st, and Lebanon 62nd, Jordan 63rd and Bahrain 88th.

Iran did $22 billion in trade with the Arab countries, with Iraq accounting for $9 billion.
So I doubt Iran cares what the Lebanese government does in that regard. Lebanon is caught between the US and Israel on one side, and Iran and Syria on the other. So given the precariousness of their situation, they obviously hedge their bets by kowtowing to US policies that are irrelevant to them. They complain about Israeli overflights, but do nothing about it. Without Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, they would be an Israeli kibbutz and they know it.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 20 2020 4:39 utc | 99