CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—This story is nuts. I personally am on record disagreeing with those on both sides of the aisle who’ve been claiming that the Epstein scandal was going to lead to mass arrests of extremely powerful people in Washington, because the swamp protects itself. We see that today clearer than ever. Whatever happened in that prison cell today, it made some nasty swamp monsters very happy.
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In the age of runaway “financialization”, American capitalists treat the economy, and the people who depend on it, here and abroad, as their own private game, a rigged game in which they also control practically all the chips. This is a form of extreme “socialism for the rich,” with the wins going to the top 0.0001% manipulatng the markets, while ordinary citizens absorb all the risk and certainly all the losses.
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OSCAR GRENFELL—Risen claimed CNN had demonstrated that “Assange met with Russians and world-class hackers at critical moments, frequently for hours at a time.” In reality, the “Russians” that Assange is alleged to have met were prominent reporters and producers from the well-known RT news network. Contrary to the impression cultivated by CNN and Risen, the “world-class hackers” had nothing to do with Russia. They were two German citizens and computer experts, Andy Müller-Maguhn and Bernd Fix, who have been publicly associated with Assange and WikiLeaks for the best part of a decade.
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ERIC ZUESSE—Any nation’s armaments-industry is especially crucial to that given nation’s aristocracy (the controlling owners of their international corporations); and, so, the fall-off in the arms business was deeply problematic for international capitalists — especially for the people whose wealth depends largely upon America’s arms-manufacturers, the international corporations whose only markets are their own and allied governments (which governments America’s and its allied aristocracies control). Therefore, any capitalist nation’s aristocracy is heavily invested in and controls that given nation’s ‘defense’ (or, more typically, invasion) industry.
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PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—The cleaning lady joins her husband in having no health insurance. Simply cannot afford $400 a month for less than decent coverage.. the deductible alone could choke a horse! They did get some for the baby, thank goodness. She, however, was not so lucky. Had a stomach attack a few months back. Between the emergency room, the tests and the specialist, cost her $2000 bucks, money she did not have.
