nebris | Dylan Ratigan: 10s of trillions of dollars being extracted from country; we have a "bought Congress"

by Gaius Publius on 8/11/2011 06:23:00 PM

This rant is getting a lot of play, and it deserves to. This is the long version. Note that the Dem and Repub spokes-folks both illustrate his point that the party focus muddies the waters — by muddying the waters.

By the way, Dylan Ratigan has a background as a business-press reporter and analyst for Bloomberg News and CNBC. This stuff, he knows cold.

Whatever else you think of the non-partisan Ratigan and the rest of his ideas, there are three important take-ways here, three themes and phrases to hold firmly in memory:

■ "Extraction" — "Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the U.S.A." Memorize that word; it's excellent framing. "Extraction" = looting. And it nicely mirrors what oil and gas companies do; they're properly described as the "energy extraction" industry.

■ "Bought Congress" — That should be the branding, first, last, and always. "Bought Congress" is exactly right, and again, it's perfect framing.

■ Mindless party focus as distraction — Ratigan says Republicans want to "burn the place to the ground" to get power, and Obama / Dems want to kick the can down the road to protect their 2012 power-maintenance opportunity. In other words, both parties are corrupted by power; neither wants to solve the nation's problems. And the inter-party fight obscures the problem — in my view, on purpose.

Think about it. If we the peasants are made to care if the 2nd son of the duke, or the 4th son, is the one to inherit the reins of our servitude, and we get hooked into rooting for one against the other — what are we not noticing? (Hint: Our servitude.)

This doesn't mean that party activity is meaningless; but it's best to understand what we're dealing with. Obama's not about Hope; Republicans aren't about Freedom; and the Tea Party is just populist enough to make them tempting coalition partners, in my opinion. (For what its worth, my own thoughts on political parties in America are summarized here. )

Whatever your thoughts, it's great to see this stuff. Ratigan here is not much different from Ed Schultz, as Schultz calls out Barack Obama for lack of involvement in the war raging in the states, Wisconsin and Ohio in particular.

It's the start of the next phase, I think, as thinking people react to their losses in the last one.

GP