Kamis, 26 September 2013

.KRISIS EKONOMI DUNIA YANG BELUM TERATASI....MENIMBUKAN KESULITAN BAGI KAUM MENENGAH DAN BAWAH...DIMANA REAL INCAOME MEREKA MENYUSUT... DAN SEMAKIN TERSINGKIRKAN..??>> AMERIKA SEBAGAI BIANG KAPITALIS...JUGA MSIH MENGHADAPI KESULITAN UNTUK KELUAR DARI KRISIS...YANG BERKEPANJANGAN..??>> LALAU INDONESIA...AKAN DIGAGAS MENJADI BEGIAN DARI BUDAYA AMERIKA YANG HEDON.... DENGAN BERBAGAI PENETRASI BUDAYA...DAN TEKANAN EKONOMI DAN POLITIK....AMERIKA...???>>> SAYANGNYA PEMIMPIN NEGARA RI INI TELAH MENJADI PEMBEO..DAN PENJILAT DAN BANCI-BANCI....TAK MEMEILIKI IDEALISME..DAN JIWA PEJUANG...??? MEREKA SUDAH JADI BUDAK2...BODOH DAN JAHAT TERHADAP BANGSA DAN RAKYATNYA SENDIRI...??? MEREKA TELAH BANYAK MENJADI PENGKHIANAT BANGSA...??>>>.... In its lightest form, crony capitalism consists of collusion among market players. While perhaps lightly competing against each other, they will present a unified front (sometimes called a trade association or industry trade group) to the government in requesting subsidies or aid or regulation.[3] ....>>> The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved..>>> More direct government involvement can lead to specific areas of crony capitalism, even if the economy as a whole may be healthy. Governments will, often in good faith, establish government agencies to regulate an industry. However, the members of an industry have a very strong interest in the actions of a regulatory body, while the rest of the citizenry are only lightly affected. As a result, it is not uncommon for current industry players to gain control of the "watchdog" and use it against competitors. This phenomenon, known as regulatory capture, has a long history....>>> Anyway-........ how about real personal income less government personal transfers on a 5-year basis (the red line)? Notice that the red line only popped briefly above 0% into "growth" in late 2012 as those who could declared income in 2012 before the 1013 tax increases kicked ....>> ...None of these charts is remotely expansionary. We can further question broad-based measures of expansion such as GDP statistically: in economies with high income/wealth inequality such as the U.S., the top 5%'s expansion of income and wealth creates an illusion that the entire workforce is doing better when the opposite is true. If you doubt this, please examine this chart of income disparity. Note that the vast majority of income increases have accrued to the top 5%: ...>>> Krisis ekonomi ini sangat memukul AS, dan pengaruhnya yang paling dramatis akan terjadi disana. Pemulihannya sangatlah lemat. Pada kenyataannya, tingkat penciptaan lapangan kerja adalah lebih sedikit daripada tingkat pertumbuhan populasi, apalagi untuk bisa menutup 8 juta pekerjaan yang hilang semasa krisis. Selama kuartal ketiga 2011, ada 1226 pemecatan massal, yang melibatkan 184.493 buruh. Inilah yang dimaksud dengan pemulihan baru-baru ini....>> AS sendiri hampir bangkrut dan tidak mampu membayar utang publik sebesar 14.3 trilyun dolar AS pada Agustus 2011, ketika administrasi Obama pada menit-menit terakhir membuat perjanjian baru untuk menaikkan limit utang mereka. Krisis ini menyebabkan perpecahan yang terbuka dan pahit antara kaum Republikan dan Demokrat, yang mewakilkan lapisan-lapisan kelas kapitalis yang berbeda. Sampai baru-baru ini, tidak ada yang berbicara mengenai utang AS yang besar. Tetapi sekarang ini telah berubah, semenjak agen rating Standard & Poor’s mengumumkan pada Agustus 2011 bahwa ia menurunkan rating kredit AS ke AA+ dari AAA. Moody’s mengatakan mereka juga sedang mempertimbangkan menurunkan rating kredit AS, dengan merujuk pada kemungkinan yang semakin meningkat bahwa AS tidak akan mampu membayar utang obligasi mereka. >>> Menurut pihak kepolisian dan dinas pariwisata, masalah gagalnya Lady Gaga tidak akan berpengaruh pada citra Indonesia di mata dunia internasional. Argumen ini sangat lemah melihat pengaruh Lady Gaga di dunia....>>> Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta adalah nama lengkap Gaga sebelum terkenal seperti sekarang ini. Begitu menjiwai tradisi Warholian, teman senimannya berkomentar tentang wajahnya yang susah dibedakan apakah dia seorang laki-laki atau perempuan. Gaga ini justru senang dengan anggapan tersebut, karena pesannya tersampaikan. Pesan tentang isi dan tradisi budaya pop Amerika yang semakin merasuk ke dalam bangsa-bangsa di dunia....>> di bidang gerakan sosial-politik, pengagum Warholian ini memperjuangkan kaum homo dan lesbi di Amerika. Kuatnya pengaruh Gaga terhadap para fansnya maka di kongres Amerika, Gaga mempunyai suara untuk membuat hukum pro perkawinan sesama jenis yang diumumkan Presiden Obama. Indikator ini menunjukkan sejauh mana kekuasaan publik Gaga dalam memengaruhi kebijakan suatu negara dan mengubah citra Amerika. ..>>>

Perspektif Dunia 2012. Bagian III (Krisis Kapitalisme Amerika Serikat)

Friday, 10 August 2012 
http://www.marxist.com/world-perspectives-2012-draft-3-ba.htm 
Amerika Serikat hampir bangkrut dan tidak mampu membayar utang publik sebesar 14.3 trilyun dolar AS pada Agustus 2011, ketika administrasi Obama pada menit-menit terakhir membuat perjanjian baru untuk menaikkan limit utang mereka. Krisis ini menyebabkan perpecahan yang terbuka dan pahit antara kaum Republikan dan Demokrat, yang mewakilkan lapisan-lapisan kelas kapitalis yang berbeda.

Eropa dan Amerika

Bila Yunani jatuh, maka masalah yang segera mencuat adalah menyebarnya penularan (contagion) ini ke negara-negara lain. Irlandia, Portugal, Spanyol, dan Italia akan jatuh seperti kartu domino. Bank-bank akan berjatuhan, dimulai dari bank-bank Yunani dan Cypriot, dan kemudian menyebar ke sistem finansial Inggris dan Amerika, yang kedua-duanya rapuh. Keruntuhan ekonomi Eropa akan mengirim gelombang tsunami ke lautan Atlantik, menekan dolar AS dan mengancam ekonomi AS.
Inilah mengapa AS mengikuti krisis Eropa dengan sangat khawatir. Mereka menekan Eropa untuk merapikan rumah mereka, tetapi dengan nyamannya melupakan rumah mereka sendiri. AS menderita ”Attention Deficit Disorder”, dan juga menderita krisis pertumbuhan, tingkat pengangguran yang tinggi dan krisis politik yang dalam.

Amerika menuntut Jerman untuk menyelamatkan Eropa dari krisis. Jerman harus memotong pajak. Mereka harus meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi. Mereka harus mengirim lebih banyak uang ke Yunani. Mereka harus memimpin stimulus fiskal yang terkoordinasi di seluruh Eropa. Jerman harus melakukan ini dan itu. Tetapi siapakah Amerika yang menyuruh-nyuruh Jerman?

Sekretaris Bendahara AS Timothy Geithner memperingatkan bahwa kegagalan EU untuk menyelesaikan krisis Yunani akan menjadi ancaman serius bagi perekonomian dunia. Geithner menghadiri pertemuan antara menteri-menteri keuangan Eropa dan para bankir utama Polandia, di mana ia menggurui mereka seperti layaknya seorang kepala sekolah menggurui anak-anak kecil. Setelah itu dia mengatakan bahwa negara-negara Eropa ”harus menyadari bahwa mereka harus melakukan lebih” untuk menyelesaikan krisis ini.

Ya, kata Eropa, tetapi siapa yang harus membayar ini? Hanya ada satu jawaban: Jerman dan Prancis, atau lebih tepatnya, Jerman. Mereka yang membual mengenai Marshall Plan untuk Yunani sekarang harus mengeluarkan uang mereka. Tetapi lebih gampang berbicara daripada berbuat. Ini segera mengedepankan masalah-masalah politik yang tidak dapat dengan mudah diatasi.

Analogi dengan Marshall Plan tahun 1948 tidaklah tepat. Setelah Perang Dunia Kedua, AS menyelamatkan kapitalisme Eropa dengan suntikan kapital yang besar melalui Marshall Plan. Tetapi sekarang kondisinya sangatlah berbeda. Pada tahun 1945, AS memiliki 2/3 emas dunia di Fort Knos, dan oleh karenanya dolar AS sangat kuat seperti emas. Tetapi saat itu AS adalah kreditor (pemberi utang) terbesar di dunia, sekarang AS adalah debitor (peminjam utang) terbesar. Alih-alih memberikan bantuan ke Eropa, Obama memohon Eropa untuk menyelesaikan masalah mereka dengan sendirinya, atau pemulihan ekonomi AS yang rapuh akan sangat terancam.

Terlebih lagi, ketika Marshall Plan diimplementasikan, ekonomi kapitalis dunia sedang memasuki fase kenaikan yang berlangsung selama 3 dekade. Hari ni tidak ada satupun faktor tersebut yang eksis. Jerman sekarang adalah kekuatan yang memimpin Eropa, tetapi ia tidak memiliki cadangan ekonomi yang tak terbatas seperti AS pada tahun 1945. Walaupun ia adalah ekonomi yang kuat, dia tidak cukup kuat untuk menanggung beban dari defisit Yunani, Irlandia, Portugal, Spanyol, Italia, dan yang lainnya. Terlebih penting lagi, Eropa dan dunia tidak sedang memasuki fase kenaikan, tetapi sebaliknya sedang memasuki era resesi yang baru dan periode kesulitan ekonomi dan program penghematan yang berkepanjangan.

Amerika Serikat

AS sendiri hampir bangkrut dan tidak mampu membayar utang publik sebesar 14.3 trilyun dolar AS pada Agustus 2011, ketika administrasi Obama pada menit-menit terakhir membuat perjanjian baru untuk menaikkan limit utang mereka. Krisis ini menyebabkan perpecahan yang terbuka dan pahit antara kaum Republikan dan Demokrat, yang mewakilkan lapisan-lapisan kelas kapitalis yang berbeda.

Sampai baru-baru ini, tidak ada yang berbicara mengenai utang AS yang besar. Tetapi sekarang ini telah berubah, semenjak agen rating Standard & Poor’s mengumumkan pada Agustus 2011 bahwa ia menurunkan rating kredit AS ke AA+ dari AAA. Moody’s mengatakan mereka juga sedang mempertimbangkan menurunkan rating kredit AS, dengan merujuk pada kemungkinan yang semakin meningkat bahwa AS tidak akan mampu membayar utang obligasi mereka.

Pemerintahan AS sekarang anggarannya defisit $1.5 trilyun, yang memaksanya untuk mengeluarkan surat-surat utang. Utang publik $14.3 trilyun adalah peningkatan tajam dari $10.6 trilyun ketika Obama memangku jabatan presiden pada Januari 2009. Kebanyakan adalah utang publik, sementara sisanya dipegang oleh rekening pemerintahan AS.

Ini bukanlah pertama kalinya Kongres memungut suara untuk menaikkan limit utang, memberikan akses utang kepada pemerintah. Semenjak 2001, Kongres Amerika telah menaikkan limit utang ini 10 kali. Semenjak Mei, pemerintahan federal AS telah melakukan perubahan-perubahan pengeluaran dan akuntansi, dan juga penerimaan pajak yang lebih tinggi daripada biasanya, untuk bisa terus beroperasi. Ketua US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, telah mengatakan bahwa kebangkrutan AS alan menyebabkan ”krisis besar”. Ini adalah pernyataan yang kurang tepat. Kebangkrutan AS akan menjadi skenario kiamat di dalam pasar uang dunia.

Walaupun kedua partai Republik dan Demokrat membela kepentingan kelas kapitalis, mereka berbeda pendapat mengenai bagaimana cara membela sistem ini. Partai Republik ingin pemotongan-pemotongan yang dalam. Obama siap menerima program pemotongan, tetapi ingin menyenangkan kelas pekerja dengan meningkatkan pajak terhadap kaum kaya. Tetapi ini bertentangan dengan kaum Republikan di Kongres, yang berada di bawah pengaruh kaum fanatik Tea Party yang tidak menginginkan pajak sama sekali. Pada akhirnya mereka terpaksa tiba pada satu perjanjian dengan menaikkan batasan utang, seperti yang telah mereka lakukan sebelumnya. Tetapi perjanjian ini terikat pada 1 trilyun dolar pemotongan yang sekarang telah terpicu oleh kegagalan ”Super Committee” untuk setuju mengenai pemotongan yang lebih dalam.

Sampai sekarang, dolar masih bertahan karena ia masih dilihat sebagai tempat yang aman di saat ketidakstabilan finansial dan moneter dunia. Tetapi bila defisit AS terus berlanjut, kepercayaan terhadap nilai dolar akan jatuh, dan ini akan mengakibatkan penjualan mata uang dolar AS besar-besaran dan jatuhnya nilai dolar AS dengan cepat. Federal Reserve percaya bahwa kemungkinan resesi di AS pada tahun 2012 adalah 50/50. Menurut ekonom AS, Travis Berge, “Akal sehat mengatakan bahwa situasi ekonomi AS yang rapuh tidak akan dapat menaham goncangan yang datang dari seberang lautan Atlantik. Kebangkrutan utang negara Eropa dapat menenggelamkan AS ke resesi kembali.” Inilah mengapa AS sangat khawatir mengenai Yunani dan masa depan euro. Sampai sekarang, perhatian dari pasar uang telah terkonsentrasikan ke Eropa. Tetapi runtuhnya euro akan segera mengungkapkan kelemahan mata uang dolar AS.

Dari Wisconsin ke Wall Street

Krisis ekonomi ini sangat memukul AS, dan pengaruhnya yang paling dramatis akan terjadi disana. Pemulihannya sangatlah lemat. Pada kenyataannya, tingkat penciptaan lapangan kerja adalah lebih sedikit daripada tingkat pertumbuhan populasi, apalagi untuk bisa menutup 8 juta pekerjaan yang hilang semasa krisis. Selama kuartal ketiga 2011, ada 1226 pemecatan massal, yang melibatkan 184.493 buruh. Inilah yang dimaksud dengan pemulihan baru-baru ini.

Pertumbuhan ekonomi yang ada datang dari peningkatan eksploitasi dari para pekerja yang masih ada. Ekstrasi nilai surplus absolut dan relatif terus meningkat belakangan ini. Dalam kata lain, buruh bekerja semakin lama dan semakin keras untuk gaji yang semakin sedikit. Ini meningkatkan GDP dan laba. Tetapi ini tidak menciptakan lapangan kerja. Tingkat pengangguran resmi adalah 9 persen, tetapi angka yang sebenarnya kemungkinan besar dua kali lipat. Jutaan sudah tidak lagi masuk hitungan karena sudah tidak lagi mencari kerja. Ada 5 penganggur yang mencari kerja untuk setiap pekerjaan yang tersedia. Ini tidak termasuk mereka yang sudah menyerah dalam mencari pekerjaan. 14 persen rakyat sekarang bergantung pada tiket makanan (food stamp) dan tingkat kemiskinan AS mencapai rekor tertinggi.

Pada saat yang sama, Fortune 500 List menunjukkan bahwa pada tahun 2010, tingkat laba perusahaan-perusahaan Fortune 500 meningkat 81 persen. 500 perusahaan dan subsidiari mereka menghasilkan pendapatan $10.8 trilyun, meningkat 10 persen dari tahun 2009. Ini dari total GDP sebesar $14.7 trilyun. Ini berarti 500 perusahaan ini menghasilkan 73.5% dari GDP AS. Begitu terkonsentrasinya kekayaan di Amerika. Top 10 perusahaan Fortune 500 memperkerjakan lebih dari 4 juta pekerja.

Semua ini menjelaskan menurunnya dukungan terhadap Obama dan Demokrat pada pemilihan mid-term. Ada kekecewaan  yang semakin besar, dan ini menemukan ekspresinya secara praktikal. Protes-protes massa di Wisconsin menunjukkan bahwa ada sesuatu yang berubah di Amerika. Protes-protes ini bukan sesuatu yang biasa. Biasanya orang-orang hanya berdemo satu hari dan lalu pulang. Tetapi terinspirasi oleh peristiwa-peristiwa di Mesir, protes-protes ini membesar, dengan puluhan ribu orang di jalan-jalan Madison, didukung oleh para pemadam kebakaran dan sejumlah polisi yang bersolidaritas. Banyak dari para polisi ini yang mengenakan tulisan ”polisi mendukung buruh” di punggung mereka.

Di antara slogan-slogan yang terdengar adalah ”Berjuang seperti rakyat Mesir” dan ”Dari Kairo sampai Madison, Buruh Bersatulah”. Pada bulan Oktober 2010, AFL-CIO mengorganisir demo buruh di Washington DC. Ini adalah demonstrasi buruh nasional pertama semenjak tahun 1981. Para pemimpin buruh ini ingin mengubahnya menjadi demo pro-Demokrat, tetapi ini tidak menemukan gaung di antara buruh.

Lalu, AS digoncang oleh demo-demo “menentang keserakahan korporasi”. Protes-protes ini, yang diorganisir secara spontan oleh Gerakan Okupasi Wall Street, mulai membuat khawatir kaum borjuis. New York Times Sunday Review menulis editorial (8 Oktober, 2011) yang cukup menarik untuk dikutip:

“Pada saat ini, pesan dari protes ini adalah: kesenjangan pendapatan sedang menghancurkan kelas menengah, meningkatkan jumlah orang miskin, dan mengancam terciptanya selapisan pengangguran yang mampu dan dapat bekerja. Di satu pihak, para demonstran, yang kebanyakan dari mereka adalah kaum muda, sedang memberikan suara kepada generasi yang kehilangan kesempatan …

“Namun, demo-demo ini lebih dari pemberontakan kaum muda. Masalah-masalah yang dihadapi oleh para demonstran ini hanyalah satu ilustrasi dari berbagai cara di mana ekonomi ini gagal bekerja untuk kebanyakan rakyat Amerika. Mereka benar ketika mereka mengatakan bahwa sektor finansial, dengan para regulator dan pejabat-pejabat terpilih berkolusi. Mereka memompa besar balon kredit dan lalu meraih laba besar darinya, dan balon kredit ini lalu meletus dan merampas dari jutaan rakyat Amerika pekerjaan mereka, pendapatan mereka, simpanan mereka, dan rumah-rumah mereka. Dan setelah mereka melewati masa-masa yang sulit ini, rakyat Amerika juga kehilangan kepercayaan pada pemulihan.

Kegeraman awal ini telah diperparah dengan bail out dan para pejabat yang lapar akan uang-uang kampanye dari Wall Street, sebuah kombinasi beracun yang telah membuktikan kekuasaan ekonomi dan politik dari bank-bank dan para bankir, sementara rakyat jelata Amerika menderita.

Adalah sebuah mitos bahwa rakyat Amerika secara alamiah adalah reaksioner. Mari kita ingat apa yang tertulis di Kitab Suci: ”Karena yang pertama akan menjadi yang terakhir, dan yang terakhir akan menjadi yang pertama.” Ini adalah dialektika murni! Justru karena buruh Amerika lebih terbelakang secara politik dibandingkan buruh-buruh Eropa maka mereka akan dapat melompati mereka.

CNBC berkoar bahwa para demonstran ”mengibar-ngibarkan bendera-bendera aneh mereka” dan ”bersekutu dengan Lenin”. Sayangnya penilaian ini agak prematur. Para demonstran – setidaknya kebanyakan dari mereka – belumlah bersekutu dengan Lenin. Tetapi mereka sedang belajar dari pengalaman. Dan sejumlah pukulan dari pentungan polisi mengajarkan mereka lebih mengenai karakter dari negara kapitalis daripada membaca Negara dan Revolusi.

Walaupun buruh Amerika tidak memiliki partai buruh massa, mereka juga tidak membawa beban kepemimpinan reformis yang menggunakan otoritasnya untuk mencegah majunya kaum buruh, seperti di Eropa dan tempat-tempat lain. Mereka masihlah segar dan tidak memiliki prasangka-prasangka refomis dan Stalinis seperti buruh Eropa. Buruh Amerika dapat berkembang sangat cepat ketika mereka mulai bergerak.
Ini dapat terlihat di gerakan Okupasi. Represi polisi yang kejam yang dihadapi oleh gerakan Okupasi di Oakland juga ditemui dengan betapa takutnya kelas penguasa AS terhadap potensi revolusioner dari gerakan ini. Satu indikasi dapat terlihat dari seruan pemogokan umum untuk merespon represi polisi yang brutal, sebuah langkah positif ke arah yang tepat, yang menunjukkan kesadaran insting dari kaum muda untuk membentuk hubungan dengan buruh yang terorganisir. Ini adalah pertama kalinya dalam 70 tahun gagasan pemogokan umum satu kota didiskusikan secara terbuka oleh sejumlah lapisan gerakan serikat buruh di Amerika Serikat.

Gerakan Okupasi pada kenyataannya hanyalah pucuk dari gunung es. Kekalahan undang-undang anti-serikatburuh melalui referendum di Ohio pada bulan November 2011 adalah satu lagi indikasi. 60% suara yang menolak hukum ini merupakan kemenangan besar bagi serikat buruh, yang menggunakan sumber dayanya untuk mencapai kemenangan ini. Ini menunjukkan mood yang sedang berkembang di antara buruh AS.

Marx dan Engels mengedepankan perspektif partai buruh untuk pecah dari partai-partai borjuis. Pembentukan partai semacam ini akan menjadi satu peristiwa bersejarah di Amerika Serikat. Bahkan bila partai ini dibentuk di atas program reformis, ini akan menjadi magnet yang akan segera menarik ke dalamnya buruh-buruh yang terorganisir dan tidak-terorganisir, kaum muda, orang-orang kulit hitam, Latino, kaum perempuan, dan para penganggur. Di bawah kondisi krisis sosial, partai buruh Amerika dapat bergerak ke kiri dengan tajam, dan segera berkembang ke arah sentrisme (sentrisme di sini dalam kosakata Marxisme adalah kondisi politik di antara reformisme dan revolusi, bukan antara Kiri dan Kanan).
Translation: Militan (Indonesia)


Apa Hikmah di Balik Pembatalan Konser Lady Gaga?
Musa Maliki ; Dosen Hubungan Internasional
di Universitas Al-Azhar Jakarta dan UPN Veteran Jakarta
SUMBER :  SINAR HARAPAN, 30 Mei 2012
http://budisansblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/apa-hikmah-di-balik-pembatalan-konser.html

Konser Lady Gaga telah dibatalkan oleh manajemen pusat Amerika. Pupus sudah harapan para fans Lady Gaga. Ada bebepara poin penting yang akan ditafsirkan oleh banyak orang, baik di level nasional maupun internasional. Poin yang cukup mengkhawatirkan dari gagalnya konser Lady Gaga adalah bertambah buruknya citra demokrasi sekuler Indonesia di mata dunia internasional.
Setelah kontroversi dan perdebatan yang cukup panas, akhirnya pihak Lady Gaga sendiri yang membatalkan konser tersebut. Hal ini menguak kebenaran bahwa dunia saat ini melihat bangsa ini sudah tidak aman dan dalam kondisi kekerasan (berdasarkan kasus-kasus kekerasan sebelumnya). 
Citra buruk di mata dunia membuat grup musik U2 ikut-ikutan membatalkan konsernya. Lady Gaga dan U2 adalah seniman kelas dunia yang sangat populer, cukup berpengaruh secara politik dan berprestasi nomor wahid di bidang musik dan sosial-politik.
Menurut pihak kepolisian dan dinas pariwisata, masalah gagalnya Lady Gaga tidak akan berpengaruh pada citra Indonesia di mata dunia internasional. Argumen ini sangat lemah melihat pengaruh Lady Gaga di dunia.

Dengan kuatnya pengaruh Lady Gaga baik di AS maupun di dunia, citra Indonesia yang secara khusus dipromosikan oleh diplomasi publik kita telah gagal. Apa pun yang akan dijual dan dipromosikan Indonesia di dunia internasional akan mengalami begitu banyak hambatan, khususnya menyulitkan para diplomat kita yang bertugas di luar. Menurut salah satu sumber Kementerian Luar Negeri, mereka sudah mulai kesulitan apalagi yang harus dipromosikan dari Indonesia dengan citra buruk dalam negeri.

Dampak dari pengaruh Lady Gaga yang menjatuhkan citra Indonesia; 
pertama, pengaruh Lady Gaga terhadap media internasional seperti CNN, Reuters, BBC, Hollywood Reporter, USA Today, ABC News, Sun Star Australia, atau Herald Sun. Saat ini Gaga menempati urutan teratas selebritas yang paling banyak diincar media-media tersebut. 
Gerak-geriknya sudah pasti dimuat di media-media tersebut. Selain memperoleh sumber dari manajemen Gaga, Media internasional tersebut juga menampilkan foto-foto keberingasan gerakan Islam (FPI) dalam menyuarakan penolakannya. Semua media internasional yang memberikan ketidakamanan Indonesia akan membuat para investor dan pengunjung berpikir ulang untuk pergi ke Indonesia.

Kedua, tidak hanya media internasional, Gaga memiliki 50 juta lebih penggemar di Facebook dan 20 juta lebih follower di Twitter sudah pasti cukup berpengaruh di dunia internasional sama dengan Presiden Obama. Popularitasnya sering kali mengalahkan isu-isu global seperti kemiskinan atau kriminalitas internasional (KONY). Para penggemar yang mengidentifikasikan dirinya seperti Gaga secara tidak langsung melihat Indonesia adalah negara tidak aman bagi mereka.

Ketiga, di bidang seni, pamor dan pengaruh pemikirannya begitu cepat melesat dengan menyabet lima Grammy Award. Hal ini merupakam prestasi seni yang luar biasa. Seninya tidak hanya lagu pop yang dangkal. Gaga sangat dipengaruhi tradisi avant-garde budaya populer Amerika, Andy Warhol. Sejak 1950, dia adalah ikon perkembangan seni populer (massal) Amerika.

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta adalah nama lengkap Gaga sebelum terkenal seperti sekarang ini. Begitu menjiwai tradisi Warholian, teman senimannya berkomentar tentang wajahnya yang susah dibedakan apakah dia seorang laki-laki atau perempuan. Gaga ini justru senang dengan anggapan tersebut, karena pesannya tersampaikan. Pesan tentang isi dan tradisi budaya pop Amerika yang semakin merasuk ke dalam bangsa-bangsa di dunia.

Menolak Gaga artinya menolak budaya pop Amerika. Hal ini melukai masyarakat Amerika, khususnya para seninan dan artis Amerika. tindakan mereka adalah penghinaan terhadap budaya Amerika. Persepsi warga Amerika yang sebelumnya begitu positif, seperti dalam beberapa acara keindonesiaan yang digelar oleh Dubes Dino Patti Djalal menjadi tampak sia-sia.

Keempat, di bidang gerakan sosial-politik, pengagum Warholian ini memperjuangkan kaum homo dan lesbi di Amerika. Kuatnya pengaruh Gaga terhadap para fansnya maka di kongres Amerika, Gaga mempunyai suara untuk membuat hukum pro perkawinan sesama jenis yang diumumkan Presiden Obama. Indikator ini menunjukkan sejauh mana kekuasaan publik Gaga dalam memengaruhi kebijakan suatu negara dan mengubah citra Amerika. 
Oleh sebab itu persepsi pemerintah dan kongres Amerika pun akan berubah terhadap Indonesia. Pemerintah Amerika akan kembali memperketat keamanan di Asia Tenggara, seperti penempatan tentara di Australia dan Singapura. Misalnya dengan menggunakan lembaga HAM untuk menekan Indonesia.

Bagi kita fenomena Gaga ini sebenarnya merupakan peluang yang baik. Pertama, Gaga bisa dijadikan lokomotif bagi bangsa ini untuk becermin setelah kasus-kasus kekerasan sebelumnya terjadi. Apakah benar bangsa ini konsisten dengan dialog, HAM, persamaan, toleransi, dan demokrasi? Ternyata bangsa ini memang tidak pernah belajar dari sejarah.

Setelah sekian banyak kejadian kekerasan dan batalnya konser Gaga, walaupun kita semua mati-matian bersuara tentang demokrasi dan dialog, tapi Barat (orientalis) dan masyarakat internasional justru semakin yakin apa yang mereka pikirkan (bayangkan) tentang Indonesia (Timur). Ini seorang menegaskan kesan barbar, tidak beradab, irasional, brutal, emosional, tiran, urakan, dan suka kekerasan, non-demokratis (lihat perilaku FPI). Indonesia (Timur) dalam hal ini masih perlu dididik, diajari, dan "disekolahi" Barat (Said, Orientalism, 1979). Dengan seperti itu, maka kolonialisasi terus langgeng di bumi Indonesia.

Kedua, rangkaian kekerasan yang berujung pada kegagalan Lady Gaga bisa menjadi pemicu penguakan kembali kasus-kasus HAM lama. Bagi bangsa Barat seperti Amerika, banyaknya kasus pelanggaran HAM di Indonesia yang memang sudah masuk dalam forum UPR PBB ini bisa dimanfaatkan sebagai "kartu as" Amerika untuk menekan Indonesia. Misalnya, jika kepentingan Amerika di Papua dihambat atau dirugikan, maka Amerika bisa menekan Indonesia atas nama HAM. Oleh sebab itu, kasus seperti Timur Leste bisa jadi akan terjadi di Papua.

Indonesia memperoleh sorotan tajam di dunia internasional, khususnya masalah keamanan seperti untuk berwisata dan investasi. Realitas ini tidak mungkin dibendung sebab interpretasi publik internasional tidak mungkin dibantah hanya dengan ucapan kepala polisi atau segelintir pihak pemerintah di media nasional.

Sebutan negara auto-pilot dan failed state serta kritik masyarakat Internasional di forum HAM PBB tidak menjadikan pemerintah Indonesia membaik, tapi justru semakin menjadi-jadi, khususnya dalam pembangunan infrastruktur dan BBM yang semakin tidak jelas.
 
Harapan untuk mendapat pemimpin yang progresif dan tegas disuarakan oleh tokoh nasional dan cendekiawan seperti Syafii Maarif, Bahtiar Effendy, Anis Baswedan, dan Yudi Latif. Mereka berharap pemilu ke depan menjadi suatu reformasi sejati secara legal untuk menjadi bangsa yang sejajar dengan bangsa lainnya. Apakah harapan ini menjadi kekuatan positif untuk meman(?) berubah? Marilah kita terus berharap dan terus optimistis. ●
Diposkan oleh di

The Recession That Never Ended: 2008 -2013 (and Counting)   (August 26, 2013)
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug13/recession-never-ended8-13.html

 The reality is that the recession never ended for 95% of U.S. households, and by many 
metrics the recession has deepened.
 
If you want to claim the 2008 recession ended, you have to find a metric that reflects "growth." For instance, gross domestic product (GDP), which has expanded since 2009. 

 But as Lance Roberts, Gordon T. Long and I discuss in Is the US in a Recession? 
(43 min. video, 52 slides), this metric of "growth" is suspect on a number 
of counts.
For example, does this chart of full-time employees relative to the population
look expansionary?
 Or how about this chart of median household income, which adjusted for inflation
is down 7.2%?




Or how about real personal income less government personal transfers on a 5-year 
basis (the red line)? Notice that the red line only popped briefly above 0% into "growth" 
in late 2012 as those who could declared income in 2012 before the 1013 tax increases
kicked 



 
None of these charts is remotely expansionary. We can further question
broad-based measures of expansion such as GDP statistically: in economies 
with high income/wealth inequality such as the U.S., the top 5%'s expansion 
of income and wealth creates an illusion that the entire workforce is doing 
better when the opposite is true.
 
If you doubt this, please examine this chart of income disparity. Note that the 
vast majority of income increases have accrued to the top 5%: 




In other words, huge leaps in the income and wealth of the top 5% mask the decline 
of income and wealth of the bottom 95%. Average all wealth and income and it 
appears that the economy is expanding to the benefit of all, when it fact only the 
top 5% have escaped the recession; the recession never ended for the 
bottom 95%.
 
An even better way to create an illusory expansion is to simply not measure 
trends that would reveal a deepening recession. For example, what percentage 
of student loans are purposefully taken out as a substitute for income, i.e. used to 
pay basic living expenses rather than education? Anecdotally, there is plentiful 
evidence that a great many people are signing up for one class at the local community 
college in order to get a student loan to live on.

Is it any wonder that student loan default rates are soaring? The people taking out 
student loans just to get by have no means to make payments once the loan money is consumed.

Is an economy of people obtaining student loans they have no way to service as the only available means to keep themselves off the street a healthy economy? 

Correspondent B.C. recently sent some statistics on housing and the Millennial Generation's jobs/work/earnings prospects. (For example, household_formation)

Age 20-34:
Headship rate: 36% (percentage who are heads of households)
Full-time employment: 44%
Unemployment: 8-13%
Persons per household: 2.72
Participation rate: 76% (the number of people who are counted as participating
in the economy)
How many people 34 and under qualify for a non-subsidized home mortgage? 
That is, how many qualify under traditional rules (income = 3 X mortgage payments, 
20% down payment in cash, etc.) How many people in this age group can possibly 
qualify for a conventional mortgage when only 44% have full-time jobs?


Is an economy in which people in their 30s cannot find full-time work or afford 
to buy a house a non-recessionary economy?
 

The reality is that the recession never ended for 95% of U.S. households, 
and by many metrics the recession has deepened. The trick is to not measure
those metrics; what isn't measured doesn't exist, especially recession.


Are you in the New York City region? Meet other OfTwoMinds Like-Minded 
people (via Meetup) interested in building social capital and exploring the alternative
ideas presented here. Check it out! (Thank you, Neil T. for establishing this Meetup.)  


Today’s crony economy is killing the middle class

By on

Of 2 minds cc
The only people who have seen their real incomes increase under this president have been the top 5% of earners. Those with large investment portfolios have seen their assets grow – or perhaps more accurately, have watched them inflate –  while most of America has seen its income reduced over the last 5 years. Adjusted for inflation the average household in America makes less than 2008. Quite a bit less.
Crony capitalism has much to do with this. Those who have connections in government game the system for their benefit reaping rewards from the unwashed and often unknowing cubical serfs who populate the American landscape. (Or at least used to.)
(From Real Clear Markets)
Never has it been so good to be invested in a vastly expanding federal government — either to distribute or receive federal subsidies. Never has it been so lucrative to work in banking or on Wall Street. And never has it been so bad to try to find a decent job making something real.

The Recession That Never Ended: 2008 -2013 (and Counting)

By on

Of 2 minds cc
The recession (depression) never ended for most people. Those who have access to the financial markets, which have been inflated by the Federal Reserve have done well. The average family in the USA however now operates with 7% less than it did in 2008.

Remember the “green shoots” in 2009 which the Fed promised were just below the surface waiting to pop out? And “Recovery Summer” in 2010? Yeah, those were great. The administration thought that if they could just will it, economic recovery would soon be on the way. If they could just jawbone the economy enough. After all they were applying every Keynesian “solution” in the book on top of all the wishful propaganda. How could they miss?

But they did.

I know people getting by on unemployment, and odd jobs, and whatever else they have to do. These are people who were once solidly in the middle class. I know many families with adult children living at home and families which have taken in parents who could no longer pay the bills. Chances are you know families like this too. There’s a good chance that you are in such a family.

The Great Recession lingers and lingers and lingers, and we’ve almost become used to it.

It’s no coincidence that the system of crony capitalism has expanded greatly since the beginning of the recession. It is both a cause and effect of the continued economic downturn. As government has taken over more of the economy the “haves” have been able to cozy up to the government. To partner with government. To buy the government. To encourage increasingly closed markets which benefit them, and so hurt the majority of Americans who would benefit greatly from freer markets and prices

Times are good for GE, and Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan. They are senior partners in the economy and they have access to the Fed window. For many Americans however, just having access to this month’s rent is a blessing.
(From Of Two Minds)
In other words, huge leaps in the income and wealth of the top 5% mask the decline of income and wealth of the bottom 95%. Average all wealth and income and it appears that the economy is expanding to the benefit of all, when it fact only the top 5% have escaped the recession; the recession never ended for the bottom 95%.

Tags

Nick Sorrentino

About Nick Sorrentino

Nick Sorrentino is the co-founder and editor of AgainstCronyCapitalism.org. A political and communications consultant with clients across the political spectrum, he lives just outside of Washington DC where he can keep an eye on Leviathan.

Crony capitalism is a term describing an economy in which success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials. It may be exhibited by favoritism in the distribution of legal permits, government grants, special tax breaks, or other forms of dirigisme.[1] Crony capitalism is believed to arise when political cronyism spills over into the business world; self-serving friendships and family ties between businessmen and the government influence the economy and society to the extent that it corrupts public-serving economic and political ideals.
The term "crony capitalism" made a significant impact in the public arena as an explanation of the Asian financial crisis.[2] It is also used world wide to describe virtually any governmental decisions favoring "cronies" of governmental officials. In many cases, the term is used interchangeably with corporate welfare; to the extent that there is a difference, the latter might be restricted only to direct government subsidies of major corporations, excluding tax loopholes and all manner of regulatory and trade decisions, which in practice could be much larger than any direct subsidies.

Crony capitalism in practice


Transparency International's overview of the index of perception of corruption, 2010
In its lightest form, crony capitalism consists of collusion among market players. While perhaps lightly competing against each other, they will present a unified front (sometimes called a trade association or industry trade group) to the government in requesting subsidies or aid or regulation.[3] 

Newcomers to a market may find it difficult to find loans, acquire shelf space, or receive official sanction (like the Medallion System of the Taxicabs of New York City created during the Great Depression) to sell their product or services; in technological fields, they may be accused of infringing on patents that the established competitors never assert against each other. Distribution networks will refuse to aid the entrant. In spite of this, some competitors will succeed when the legal barriers are light, especially where the old guard has become inefficient and is failing to meet the needs of the market. Of course, some of these upstarts may then join with the established networks to help deter any other new competitors. Examples of this have been argued to include the keiretsu of post-war Japan, the print media in India, the chaebol of South Korea, and the powerful families who control much of the investment in Latin America.

However, crony capitalism is generally associated with more virulent government intervention. Intentionally ambiguous laws and regulations are common in such systems. Taken strictly, such laws would greatly impede practically all business; in practice, they are only erratically enforced. The specter of having such laws suddenly brought down upon a business provides incentive to stay in the good graces of political officials. Troublesome rivals who have overstepped their bounds can have the laws suddenly enforced against them, leading to fines or even jail time. Even in high-income democracies with well established legal systems and freedom of the press a larger state is associated with more political corruption (including crony capitalism).[4]
States often said to exhibit crony capitalism include the People's Republic of China; India,[5] especially up to the early 1990s when manufacturing was strictly controlled by the government (the "Licence Raj"); Indonesia; Argentina;[6] Brazil; United Kingdom, especially in the 1600s and 1700s;[7] Malaysia; Israel;[8]Russia;[9] the United States; and most ex-Eastern Bloc states. Wu Jinglian, one of China's leading economists[10] and a longtime champion of its transition to free markets, says that it faces two starkly contrasting futures: a market economy under the rule of law or crony capitalism.[11]

In 1957, Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited wanted to change their Memoranda of Association in order to allow the company to make contributions to political parties in India. The matter went to Bombay High Court. Justice MC Chagla and Justice ST Desai ruled allowing the change but with obiter. In their judgement the judges said that : “The very basis of democracy is the voter and when in India we are dealing with adult suffrage it is even more important than elsewhere that not only the integrity of the representative who is ultimately elected to Parliament is safeguarded, but that the integrity of the voter is also safeguarded, and it may be said that it is difficult to accept the position that the integrity of the voter and of the representative is safeguarded if large industrial concerns are permitted to contribute to political funds to bring about a particular result…Before parting with this case we think it our duty to draw the attention of Parliament to the great danger inherent in permitting companies to make contributions to the funds of political parties. It is a danger which may grow apace and which may ultimately overwhelm and even throttle democracy in this country.”[12]

Cronyism in sections of an economy


More direct government involvement can lead to specific areas of crony capitalism, even if the economy as a whole may be healthy. Governments will, often in good faith, establish government agencies to regulate an industry. However, the members of an industry have a very strong interest in the actions of a regulatory body, while the rest of the citizenry are only lightly affected. As a result, it is not uncommon for current industry players to gain control of the "watchdog" and use it against competitors. This phenomenon, known as regulatory capture, has a long history.

A 1824 landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned a New York State-granted monopoly ("a veritable model of state munificence" facilitated by one of the Founding Fathers, Robert R. Livingston) for the then-revolutionary technology of steamboats.[13] Leveraging the Supreme Court's establishment of Congressional supremacy over commerce, the Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 with the intent of regulating railroad "robber barons". President Grover Cleveland appointed Thomas M. Cooley, a railroad ally, as its first chairman and a permit system was used to deny access to new entrants and legalize price fixing.[14]

The military-industrial complex in the United States is often described as an example of crony capitalism in an industry. Connections with the Pentagon and lobbyists in Washington are described by critics as more important than actual competition, due to the political and secretive nature of defense contracts. In the Airbus-Boeing WTO dispute, Airbus (which receives outright subsidies from European governments) has stated Boeing receives similar subsidies, which are hidden as inefficient defense contracts.[15] Several companies received expedited no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina and Iraq war reconstruction purportedly due to having cronies in the Bush administration.[16]

Gerald P. O'Driscoll, former vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, stated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became examples of crony capitalism. Government backing let Fannie and Freddie dominate mortgage underwriting. "The politicians created the mortgage giants, which then returned some of the profits to the pols - sometimes directly, as campaign funds; sometimes as "contributions" to favored constituents."[17]

Creation of crony capitalism in developing economies

In its worst form, crony capitalism can devolve into simple corruption, where any pretense of a free market is dispensed with. Bribes to government officials are considered de rigueur and tax evasion is common; this is seen in many parts of Africa, for instance. This is sometimes called plutocracy (rule by wealth) or kleptocracy (rule by theft).

Corrupt governments may favor one set of business owners who have close ties to the government over others. This may also be done with racial, religious, or ethnic favoritism; for instance, Alawites in Syria have a disproportionate share of power in the government and business there. (President Assad is an Alawite.)[18] This can be explained by considering personal relationships as a social network. As government and business leaders try to accomplish various things, they naturally turn to other powerful people for support in their endeavors. These people form hubs in the network. In a developing country those hubs may be very few, thus concentrating economic and political power in a small interlocking group.

Normally, this will be untenable to maintain in business; new entrants will affect the market. However, if business and government are entwined, then the government can maintain the small-hub network.

Raymond Vernon, specialist in economics and international affairs,[19] wrote that the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, because they were the first to successfully limit the power of veto groups (typically cronies of those with power in government) to block innovations.[20] "Unlike most other national environments, the British environment of the early 19th century contained relatively few threats to those who improved and applied existing inventions, whether from business competitors, labor, or the government itself. In other European countries, by contrast, the merchant guilds ... were a pervasive source of veto for many centuries. This power was typically bestowed upon them by government". For example, a Russian inventor produced a steam engine in 1766 and disappeared without a trace. "[A] steam powered horseless carriage produced in France in 1769 was officially suppressed." James Watt began experimenting with steam in 1763, got a patent in 1769, and began commercial production in 1775.[21]

Anarchist anthropologist David Graeber's book Debt: The First 5000 Years provides an even broader perspective: For as far back as we can see in the historical and archaeological record, argues Graeber, people with wealth and power, typically a monarch and cronies, have written the rules to benefit them at the expense of others. The situation would deteriorate for common folk until it was interrupted by a peasant revolt. Then the cycle would start over again.

Political viewpoints

Critics of capitalism including socialists and other anti-capitalists often assert that crony capitalism is the inevitable result of any capitalist system. Jane Jacobs described it as a natural consequence of collusion between those managing power and trade, while Noam Chomsky has argued that the word "crony" is superfluous when describing capitalism.[22] Since businesses make money and money leads to political power, business will inevitably use their power to influence governments. Much of the impetus behind campaign finance reform in the United States and in other countries is an attempt to prevent economic power being used to take political power.
Ravi Batra argues that "all official economic measures adopted since 1981...have devastated the middle class" and that the Occupy Wall Street movement should push for their repeal and thus end the influence of the super wealthy in the political process, which he considers a manifestation of crony capitalism.[23]

Socialist economists, such as Robin Hahnel, have criticized the term as an ideologically motivated attempt to cast what is in their view the fundamental problems of capitalism as avoidable irregularities.[24] Socialist economists dismiss the term as an apologetic for failures of neoliberal policy and, more fundamentally, their perception of the weaknesses of market allocation.

Laissez-faire economists[25] oppose crony capitalism as well[26] disparaging governmental favors[27] as incompatible with a true free market.[28] Laissez-faire advocates criticize the term as an ideologically motivated attempt to cast what is in their view the fundamental problem of government intervention or “investments” as an avoidable aberration; free-market advocates refer to governmental favoritism as "crony socialism",[29] "venture socialism"[30] or "corporatism, a modern form of mercantilism"[31] to emphasize that the only way to run a profitable business in such systems is to have help from corrupt government officials.[32] Even if the initial regulation was well-intentioned (to curb actual abuses), and even if the initial lobbying by corporations was well-intentioned (to reduce illogical regulations), the mixture of business and government stifle competition,[33] a collusive result called regulatory capture. In his book The Myth of the Robber Barons, Burton W. Folsom, Jr. distinguished those that engage in crony capitalism—designated by him "political entrepreneurs"—from those who compete in the marketplace without special aid from government, whom he calls "market entrepreneurs" who succeed "by producing a quality product at a competitive price"[34]

See also

References

Vernon, Raymond (1989), "Technological Development", EDI Seminar Paper 39, ISBN 978-0821311622

Notes

  1. ^ Helen Hughes (Vol. 15 No. 3 (Spring, 1999)). "Crony Capitalism and the East Asian Currency and Financial 'Crises'". Policy [1]. Retrieved 2012-07-22. "Japan’s dismal performance in the 1990s and the East Asian collapses of 1997 indicate that dirigisme can only boost economies in the short run and at high cost. It breaks down in the long run (Lindsey and Lukas 1998)."
  2. ^ Kang, David C. (2002). Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00408-4. "Focused only on explaining successful outcomes, the conventional model provided no analytic way to explain the 1997 crisis. Countries previously regarded as miracles now were nothing more than havens for crony capitalists (p.3)"
  3. ^ "Uber vs. Washington, D.C.: This Is Insane". July 10, 2012. Retrieved July 11, 2012. "a fight over a new competitor to the District's (often horrible) taxi service offers something I haven't seen in a while. Not routine retail-level corruption, nor skillful top-level favor trading, but instead what appears to be a blatant attempt to legislate favors for one set of interests by hamstringing another."
  4. ^ Hamilton , Alexander (2013), Small is beautiful, at least in high-income democracies: the distribution of policy-making responsibility, electoral accountability, and incentives for rent extraction [2], World Bank.
  5. ^ "Govt Patronises Crony Capitalism Again". June 19, 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Peronism and its perils". The Economist. June 3, 2004.
  7. ^ http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1213&context=facultyworkingpapers
  8. ^ The shakshuka system: A view from 2009
  9. ^ "Having it both ways". The Economist. May 20, 2004.
  10. ^ "Keeping an eye on business". The Economist. May 27, 2004.
  11. ^ Jinglian, Wu (June 2006). "The road ahead for capitalism in China". The McKinsey Quarterly.
  12. ^ Gandhi, Gopalkrishna (August 9, 2013). "Our 'Jai Hind' is feeble". Hindustan times. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  13. ^ Styles, T.J. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. ISBN 978-0-375-41542-5. "Property requirements for suffrage under New York's constitution of 1777 hardened the culture of rank into law. Two distinct levels of wealth were required to vote, one for state assembly, and a second and higher level for the state senators and governor... [this suffrage scheme fostered] mercantilism, which in the state empowered private parties to carry out activities thought to serve the public interest. The standard reward for such an undertaking was a monopoly—just what Chancellor Livingston sought when he offered to meet a most pressing public need, the need for steamboats...Livingston maneuvered...the monopoly through the legislature ("a veritable model of state munificence," as legal scholar Maurice G. Baxter writes—that gave him the right to seize steamboats the entered New York waters from other states. But Livingston had overreached. With so many inventors and investors interested in the steamboat, the monopoly on served to limit its adoption. The new technology was simply too important for the monopoly to remain unchallenged. (pp.39-42)"
  14. ^ Lee, Timothy (August 3, 2006). "Entangling the Web". The New York Times. Retrieved December 13, 2011.
  15. ^ "Pulling Boeing Out of a Tailspin". Business Week. December 15, 2003. Retrieved December 13, 2011. "A national treasure, once No. 1 in commercial aviation, Boeing has become a risk-averse company stumbling to compete in the marketplace and dependent on political connections and chicanery to get government contracts. Boeing needs a strong board and a rejuvenated corporate culture based on innovation and competitiveness, not crony capitalism."
  16. ^ Dreier, Peter (3-1-2006). "Katrina and Power in America". Occidental College. Retrieved July 22, 2012. "Three companies—the Shaw Group, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR, a subsidiary of Haliburton, whose former CEO is Vice President Dick Cheney), and Boh Brothers Construction of New Orleans—quickly scooped up no-bid ACE contracts to perform the restoration. Bechtel and Fluor (also with close GOP ties) also reaped huge contracts. The Department of Defense has been criticized for awarding Iraq reconstruction contracts to Haliburton and Bechtel without competition (Broder 2005)"
  17. ^ O'Driscoll Jr, Gerald P. (September 9, 2008). "Fannie/Freddie Bailout Baloney". New York Post.
  18. ^ Syrian Businessman Becomes Magnet for Anger and Dissent "Like Mr. Ezz in Egypt, he has become a symbol of how economic reforms turned crony socialism into crony capitalism, making the poor poorer and the connected rich fantastically wealthier."
  19. ^ "Raymond Vernon Dies at 85". The Harvard University Gazette. President and Fellows of Harvard College. September 23, 1999. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  20. ^ Vernon (1989)
  21. ^ Vernon (1989, p. 8); see also Watt steam engine and James Watt
  22. ^ "Black Faces in Limousines:" A Conversation with Noam Chomsky from Chomsky.info accessed on June 5, 2009
  23. ^ Batra, Ravi (11 October 2011). "The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Coming Demise of Crony Capitalism". Truthout. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  24. ^ Robin Hahnel. "Let's Review". "IMF officials Michel Camdessus and Stanley Fischer were quick to explain that the afflicted economies had only themselves to blame. Crony capitalism, lack of transparency, accounting procedures not up to international standards, and weak-kneed politicians too quick to spend and too afraid to tax were the problems according to IMF and US Treasury Department officials. The fact that the afflicted economies had been held up as paragons of virtue and IMF/World Bank success stories only a year before, the fact that neoliberalism’s only success story had been the Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC's) who were now in the tank, and the fact that the IMF and Treasury department story just didn’t fit the facts since the afflicted economies were no more rife with crony capitalism, lack of transparency, and weak-willed politicians than dozens of other economies untouched by the Asian financial crisis, simply did not matter."
  25. ^ "Did Congress kill the Twinkie? The tariff tale behind the Hostess demise". Retrieved 2012-Nov-23. "When Hostess had to cut costs to stay in business, it picked unions, not the sugar lobby, to fight. “These large sugar growers ... are a notoriously powerful lobbying interest in Washington,” writes Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute in a 2007 report. “Federal supply restrictions have given them monopoly power, and they protect that power by becoming important supporters of presidents, governors, and many members of Congress.”"
  26. ^ Thomas Beaumont (September 3, 2011). "Sarah Palin Addresses Iowa Tea Party Rally, Keeps 2012 Talk Alive". Retrieved 2011-Nov-26. "Sarah Palin accused Obama and leaders in Washington of coddling corporations, at heavy cost to the taxpayers..."I want all of our GOP candidates to take the opportunity to kill corporate capitalism that is leading to this cronyism that's destroying our economy," Palin said"
  27. ^ Nicholas D. Kristof (Oct 26, 2011). "Crony Capitalism Comes Home". Retrieved 2011-Nov-27. "some financiers have chosen to live in a government-backed featherbed. Their platform seems to be socialism for tycoons and capitalism for the rest of us...featherbedding by both unions and tycoons...are impediments to a well-functioning market economy."
  28. ^ John Stossel (2010 (copyright)). "Let's Take the "Crony" Out of "Crony Capitalism"". Retrieved 2011-Nov-26. "The truth is that we don't have a free market — government regulation and management are pervasive — so it's misleading to say that "capitalism" caused today's problems. The free market is innocent. But it's fair to say that crony capitalism created the economic mess."
  29. ^ Andrew C. McCarthy (September 17, 2011). "The Solyndra Fraud". Retrieved 2011-Nov-26. "The Solyndra debacle is not just Obama-style crony socialism as usual. It is a criminal fraud...Why so much pressure to give half a billion dollars to a doomed venture? The administration insists it had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that Solyndra’s big backers include the George Kaiser Family Foundation. No, of course not. George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil magnate, just happens to be a major Obama fundraiser who bundled oodles in contributions for the president’s 2008 campaign. Solyndra officers and investors are said to have visited the White House no fewer than 20 times while the loan guarantee was being considered and, later, revised. Kaiser, too, made several visits — but not to worry: Both he and administration officials deny any impropriety."
  30. ^ Jim DeMint (Tuesday, September 27, 2011). "Venture socialism: Obama agenda is about shoveling cash to cronies". Retrieved 2011-Nov-28. "Government officials rushed $535 million to Solyndra because the Obama administration was determined to make the company the centerpiece of its green agenda regardless of the law of supply and demand. ...using the brute force of government to force liberal preferences into the economy. Mr. Obama calls them “investments,” but this is really venture socialism"
  31. ^ Ben Shapiro (2011 (copyright)). "There's No Such Thing as "Crony Capitalism"". Retrieved 2011-Nov-26. "This "crony capitalism," Sarah Palin said, is "not the capitalism of free men and free markets." But...her terminology...is dead wrong. The fact is that there is no such thing as "crony capitalism." In reality, it is corporatism, a modern form of mercantilism. Corporatism is based on the notion that industries comprise the economy like body parts comprise the body — they must work in concert with one another, and they must take central direction."
  32. ^ Thiessen, Marc A. (November 14, 2011). "Crony Capitalism Exposed". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 13, 2011. "Insider trading is illegal — except for members of Congress [who] are free to legally trade stock based on nonpublic information they have obtained through their official positions as elected officials — and they do so on a regular basis. On Sunday night, CBS News’ “60 Minutes” looked into this form of “lawful graft.” The “60 Minutes” story exposed, among others, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for participating in a lucrative initial public offering from Visa in 2008 that was not available to the general public, just as a troublesome piece of legislation that would have hurt credit card companies began making its way through the House (the bill never made it to the floor)...The report was based on an explosive new book by Peter Schweizer that will hit stores on Tuesday. It’s called “Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison.”"
  33. ^ John Stossel (2010 (copyright)). "Let's Take the "Crony" Out of "Crony Capitalism"". Retrieved 2011-Nov-26. "Which are more likely to be hampered by vigorous regulatory standards: entrenched corporations with their overstaffed legal and accounting departments or small startups trying to get off the ground? Regulation can kill competition — and incumbents like it that way."
  34. ^ Burton W. Folsom, Jr.. "Myth of the Robber Barons". Retrieved 2011-Nov-28. "The author, Burton Folsom, divides the entrepreneurs into two groups: market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs. The market entrepreneurs, such as Hill, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller, succeeded by producing a quality product at a competitive price. The political entrepreneurs, for example, Edward Collins in steamships and the leaders of the Union Pacific Railroad in railroads, were men who used the power of government to succeed. They tried to gain subsidies or in some way use government to stop competitors."

Further reading

External links


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