PARADIGM SHIFT OCCURRING?
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Hegemony : “Political and economic control exercised by a dominant class, and its success in projecting its own way of seeing the world, human and social relationships as ‘common sense’ and part of the natural order by those who are, in fact, subordinated to it.” – Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought
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So here we are. And it’s not a pretty picture, is it? All the graft, corruption, theft, fraud, bubbles in land prices, resource depletion, debt and warmongering coming home to roost: all of it perfectly legal and institutionally sanctioned.
Then there’s the second level of social disintegration: the massive amount of poverty-induced crime stemming, as a spin-off, from the abovementioned ‘legalised’ robbery: petty theft; violence; drug-related and other anti-social behaviours.
We do bother to lock up perpetrators for these misdemeanors because there are laws against such petty social crimes, and we feel a little safer when these people are off the streets; in America particularly.
But we’re unprepared to revisit first principles, and there are no laws against the plutocracy siphoning off the people’s rent. It is they who should be behind bars and their lock-up keys sent moonward.
And so it is that the people’s right to their rent doesn’t head up any Bill of Rights. We’re constantly assured by proponents we don’t need any Bill of Rights which bothers to account for the economic rent owed to the community.
It all went wrong when the powers that be somehow managed to convince us we ought to dispense with the idea of a quit rent from time immemorial payable both for the occupation of leasehold or freehold land. Revenue must come from taxes upon us, they said – and we were foolish enough to believe them.
The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying, “This is mine”, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes, might not anyone have saved mankind by pulling up the stakes, filling in the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) “Social Contract”
The legal system has become hopelessly enmeshed and complicit. With some notable exceptions*, it acceded to this monumental corruption. The churches went for it in a big way, too, because it reduced or exempted charges on their lands, and the study of economics fell in with this grand play by hiding the reality of economic rent from rigorous analysis.
We fell for this – the world’s greatest con trick – hook, line and sinker, even seeing to it that any charges remaining on land or real estate (now incorrectly deemed to be ‘private property’) fell at the closest level of government, so we can simply pop down to the Town Hall and complain about them. This usually gets the support of big money and leads to such results as the property tax ceiling which wrecked California (commonly known as Proposition 13).
Mario Cuomo is about to try his hand at wrecking New York State by the same means, and Congressman Silver wants to do likewise for the city of New York. I’m sure they’ll succeed, because gross stupidity rules at this particular time in history.
Don’t fret, however …. be not solicitous, folks! There’s good news. Charles Hugh Smith says we should relax and go with the flow, a necessary major paradigm shift is upon us, and I believe he may be right.
Tom Shadyac’s pretty relaxed about this enormous transformation, too.
I’d like to think we’re about to have the next of the “Great Religious Awakenings” Mason Gaffney believes may be underway. The churches certainly need it, because they’ve forgotten their preferential option for the poor by having sold out to wealthy benefactors.
Seen in this light, the depression shouldn’t frighten us at all. Sit back, fasten up, and enjoy the ride, folks …. we’re in the early stages of a sorely needed paradigm shift.
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The earth, therefore, and all things therein, are the general property of all mankind, from the immediate gift of the creator
….there is no foundation in nature or in natural law why a set of words upon parchment should convey the dominion of land. – William Blackstone (1723-1780) “Commentaries”
I find it very difficult to disagree with the principles of Henry George …. I believe in the taxation of land
values only. – Justice Louis Brandeis (US Supreme Court)
This plan is as old as dirt, Welcome to Ted s Gulag Premier state of last resort?
Your quotes in the article are not for wisdom of our leaders but for the pleasure of their ears, At state dinners. I don’t believe our pseudo leaders have read any of these quotes, if they have they say them at state dinner, and everyone nods, and finds it pleasing to their ears, when the land & housing Ponzi goes bust, they always set up their security goon state and order contractors to contain the social dysfunction they created in order to implement and retain their ill gotten gains, theft Dom, and their new world order to track everyone and everything, it’s a good thing the Victorian budget is in the black, so they can give socialist grant seed money in the law & order sell-out, lets not go to the root of the problem, which is these players carved-up with their neoliberal economics all the social housing that see’s housing as a transaction and a market not a human right. Now that its all pear shaped, and nobody wants the overpriced Mc Mansions, you start ringing up all your mates in the industrial security complex to build Gulags.
Do we need to see headlines like this Tomorrows headlines RBA Steven’s heads roundtable with DMT clockwork elves to consult on interest rates?
Money Magazine lift out- Top Money masters consults DMT clockwork elves on how to save ponzi economy, their Reply ‘do like us, we build things’ You should build infulstructure!
The next great awakening according to the elite is something like ‘Wake-up and smell the Neoliberal garbage this system is as old a dirt, Wake up the slaves, it’s time they sleep & now they are trying to sell us a soft Depression,
If it is the Great awakening, Harold Camping trying to conjure god out of his place
Did not convince me, he sent me back off too sleep as his millerite prophecy, I had no false hope knowing many Old time howling Prophets had said, ‘1890 should about wrap things up’ many of the burnt over district prophets tried to shake the heavens snorting their tabernacle roofs and scaring their sheep? But Philo said-: ‘Any attempt of scripture to prophesy, the end of days is a Narcistic attempt to try and have God conform to man’s schedule’-scripture is metaphor-subject to a deepening understanding as man matures- Worship can never be irrational-God insists man offer the first fruits-that fruit must be creative reason.
I heard Ayn Rands quote, there is no such thing as community’, And indeed their was not when this philosophy after infighting split the Tory community of the party & she was turfed out of office at the next election, so much for applying a maxim for the market economy, which see’s self interest at the expense of community triumph, and oft corse you gotta be a seed money socialist to go along to get along in the now society, as long as you have privatised Glossy logo’s that portray you as an independent capitalist venture, just get your ticketing equipment and all your other stuff like race tracks paid by government debt on your taxpaying children, who cannot even get into first home buyers market.