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Joseph Stiglitz understands half the US economic disaster when he explains current policy is “no way to run an economy that’s going to work,” “there’s moral hazard everywhere,” and newly-invented and unregulated financial markets have only increased risk, not decreased it.

The Nobel Laureate, former chief economist for the World Bank, and current Columbia university economics professor understands fully that US economic policy is designed to benefit an elite-class of financial market “traders.” He accurately articulates that gambling losses in fraudulent credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations, and leveraged investments/bets without the capital to back their losses are socialized by the TRILLIONS in an unprecedented transfer of wealth from taxpayers to a financial oligarchy. And Mr. Stiglitz understands the consequences of a shattered economy on near-record unemployment in the US most accurately measured at 22%.

Mr. Stiglitz accurately gives a high school-level definition of such an economic system as “not capitalism.” He explains these central points in the 8-minute interview below.

What Mr. Stiglitz may not fully grasp is that the economic system of collusion between political and corporate leaders has a definition of its own: fascism. While the academic definition of “fascism” has some variance, when we combine unlawful wars of invasion, widespread torture including upon American citizens, rendition, “indefinite detention,” and now a Supreme Court ruling that allows these privileged corporations unlimited purchasing power in elections along with a 5-corporation control of “mainstream” media, that’s far more fascist than the American system of design as a constitutional republic with regulated capitalism.

Mr. Stiglitz might be holding back in the interview, however. In his new book, Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, he states that current policies are exactly how to run an economy that is designed to concentrate wealth among an elite class of families, with the unsaid necessity that the elite have representatives who shuffle through revolving doors between benefiting corporations and government policy-making:

This crisis was the result of actions, decisions, and arguments by those in the financial sector. The system that failed so miserably didn’t just happen. It was created. Indeed, many worked hard–and spent good money–to ensure that it took the shape that it did. Those who played a role in creating the system and managing it–including those who were so well rewarded by it–must be held accountable.

Local perspective: Part of my professional duties as a teacher of economics and government is competent adult citizenry. This includes realization that our nation’s policies and money are managed at a broad community level, and these issues have tremendous local impact. Of course, we all want human beings to be individually successful and enjoy their unique, beautiful and powerful self-expressions. Concurrently, we recognize our commitment to local success is strongly dependent upon the success of the community, and that government policy and economics are drivers.

Our status in early 21st Century human history is that we suffer from a long history in government and money of human interrelationship well-described as vicious antagonism. Governments frequently use war as a foreign policy, despite its illegality and dependent upon public ignorance, with horrific consequences. Economic policy is still created within a “Robber Baron” paradigm to concentrate money to an elite few families. For example:

National taxes effect you dearly, especially the tax to pay interest on the national debt currently at over $400 billion every year. This is $4,000 per year for every $50,000 of income. Do the math to understand your household’s tax burden for a monetary policy invented by banks for banks to create our money supply as debt. Your competence in this area contributes to our collective voice to simply shift monetary policy to easily pay the national debt, enjoy full employment, collectively save us over a trillion dollars every year, and finally realize what our brightest American minds have been advocating for centuries beginning with Benjamin Franklin. This would have unprecedented local benefits, and requires collective power to accomplish.
Ending poverty everywhere on our planet would cost just 0.7% of our income and save a million children’s lives every month. This human accomplishment will cause unimaginable joy at our local level.

To consider:

If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in the world. Now the judgment of God is upon us and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools. --Inscription on Dr. Martin Luther King’s statue, Moorehouse College, Atlanta

The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth, there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world on the day of that great revolution. -- poet Federico García Lorca

Along with Mr. Stiglitz’ interview, I leave you with PuppetGov’s 8-minute video, “America’s controlled economic implosion.”

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