America’s Billionaires’ Coup (Part I)

[Modern School]

The Der Spiegel article is reprinted below, with my commentary in italics (unfortunately untransferable to DU. Click the link below and see the entire Der Spiegel article and my comments in italics http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/americas-billionaires-coup-part-i.html). The Guardian article will be reprinted tomorrow, as Part II.

Once Upon a Time in the West
by Jakob Augstein / Der Spiegel (Germany) / August 4, 2011
Hate has become a part of the everyday culture of American politics.
This week, the United States nearly allowed itself to succumb to economic disaster. Increasingly, the divided country has more in common with a failed state than a democracy. In the face of America’s apparent political insanity, Europe must learn to take care of itself.

The “solution” to the debt crisis may actually be the beginning and cause of an economic disaster. It is true that the debt crisis was a fraud and fantasy, used by Republicans to ramrod through spending cuts. But they essentially succeeded. The spending cuts will devastate millions of Americans and exacerbate the real problem with the economy: people cannot afford to pay their living expenses because of slashed wages, unemployment, ballooning mortgage payments and evaporated equity.

The word “West” used to have a meaning. It described common goals and values, the dignity of democracy and justice over tyranny and despotism. Now it seems to be a thing of the past. There is no longer a West, and those who would like to use the word — along with Europe and the United States in the same sentence — should just hold their breath. By any definition, America is no longer a Western nation.

West may have meant “democracy” to some, but they were not paying attention very well. “West” included fascism in Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. West included imperialism and wars of aggression by most Western countries, especially the U.S. Europeans may have once idealized American civil liberties as stronger than their own, but the U.S. still has greater civil liberties than many European countries (even if it has far fewer than a decade ago).

Modern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/americas-billionaires-coup-part-i.html

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