2005.4.10=7[#100]:4703.3.2[#60+1/60]: [Brazil] Hakka Sch., . 1)US Nazism? 2)US Finance/China's Rise..

[Brazil] http://www.nationbynation.com/Brazil/Geo.html http://www.v-brazil.com/information/ Clear cool turning mild: Up 7:55 for 8:15 NKH "Winter Sonata, drive to Hakka School for Taiwan official newspaper, 10am again "8 duan jin" and "Rumba" 12 steps (Mei more corporative), noon Jung's soup+rice & vegetable dumbling. Drive to 3 newspapers through Mission Bl then trying around Miss.SJ Hi to home, emails & oiled fish rice, blog now 2:23pm. BookTV rebroadcasting 4.1=5 John Lukacs's talk on "Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hatred": http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=5678&schedID=340 Finish emails now at 6:20pm, after walked quickly to house and checked with B. who came out to meet me: the sprinkler timer Mei bought needing longer wirer to be used but since no grass was planted not needed. Leaving for o.h. soon. Mom tel. over bath. Finish here at 7:28pm. To o.h., dinner, documents a while, SJ newspaper longer, bed12:20. 1) US Nazism? "Democracy and Populism : Fear and Hatred", John Lukacs: http://tinyurl.com/5atkv "" From Publishers Weekly A prolific historian and theorist of international relations, Lukacs (The Hitler of History) offers a compact view of political change in Europe and the United States from the Napoleonic Wars to the present, with a particular focus on his area of expertise, WWII and the decades just before and after. For him, Western democracy as we have known it may have already begun to follow a course similar to that of Nazi Germany, where demagogic populists seized power, took control of the media and brainwashed their way through subsequent "elections." Lukacs derides familiar models of modern politics that pit liberals against conservatives; true conservatives, who stress aristocracy and traditional authority, have (he argues) been in decline since at least 1870. Instead, modern history shows a steady increase in popular sovereignty, in the power of public opinion and in the appeal of aggressive nationalism, which tends to control that opinion given a chance—with the aid of mass media. Lukacs decries the "devolution of liberal democracy into populism" and "popular nationalism," especially but not only under George W. Bush. He also decries gay marriage, television, contemporary feminism, "permissiveness" and American "decadence." His hauteur, fast pace and frequently cantankerous asides may impede what is otherwise a thoughtful warning from a very knowledgeable source. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description: A highly esteemed historian reflects on the dangerous descent of democracy into populism—particularly in the United States This intensely interesting—and troubling—book is the product of a lifetime of reflection and study of democracy. In it, John Lukacs addresses the questions of how our democracy has changed and why we have become vulnerable to the shallowest possible demagoguery. Lukacs contrasts the political systems, movements, and ideologies that have bedeviled the twentieth century: democracy, Liberalism, nationalism, fascism, Bolshevism, National Socialism, populism. Reflecting on American democracy, Lukacs describes its evolution from the eighteenth century to its current form—a dangerous and possibly irreversible populism. This involves, among other things, the predominance of popular sentiment over what used to be public opinion. This devolution has happened through the gigantic machinery of publicity, substituting propaganda—and entertainment—for knowledge, and ideology for a sense of history. It is a kind of populism that relies on nationalism and militarism to hold society together. Lukacs’s observations are original, biting, timely, sure to inspire lively debate about the precarious state of American democracy today. "" 2) USA Finance and also China's Rise: (1) US "Economic Tsunami" Imminent? "Mike Whitney: 'The economic tsunami, just months away'", by Mike Whitney; Contributed by megsdad on Friday, April 08 @ 10:15:37 EDT: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=20632&mode=nested&order=0 "" "If the world's central bankers accumulate fewer dollars, the result would be an unrelenting American need to borrow in the face of an ever weaker dollar - a recipe for higher interest rates and higher prices. The economic repercussions could unfold gradually, resulting in a long, slow decline in living standards. Or there could be a quick unraveling, with the hallmarks of an uncontrolled fiscal crisis." -- New York Times editorial I know, from reading the comments on this web site, that many Smirking Chimp readers believe as I do, that the economic tsunami planned by the Bush administration is probably only months away. Many of us have watched helplessly as the national debt has increased 3 trillion dollars while the dollar has continued its predictable decline. At present, the dollar has fallen a whopping 38% since Bush took office, due entirely to the massive $450 billion tax cuts Bush gave away to his constituents. At the same time, myriad laws have been passed (Patriot Act, Intelligence Reform Bill, Homeland Security Bill, National ID, Passport requirements etc) anticipating the need for greater repression when the economy takes its inevitable nosedive. Regrettably, that nosedive looks to be coming sooner rather than later. The administration is currently putting as much pressure as possible on OPEC to ratchet up the flow of oil another 1 million barrels per day (well over capacity) to settle down nervous markets and buy time for the planned bombing of Iran in June. "" (2) "The Invisible Hand (of the U.S. Government) in Financial Markets"; GLOBAL REAL ESTATE MARKETS FORUM: * Realty Reality *: Editorial, by Robert Bell [[ Chairman of the Economics Department, Brooklyn College, N.Y., is the author of seven books, including: Beursbedrog (The Stock Market Sting), De Arbeiderspers, Amsterdam, 2003; Les peches capitaux de la haute technologie (The Capital Sins of High Technology), Seuil, Paris, 1998; Impure Science, Wiley, N.Y., 1992 ]]; Financial Sense; April 3, 2005: http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/reality/2005/0403.html ""Summary: The U.S. government is manipulating all major U.S. financial markets—stocks, treasuries, currencies. This article shows how it is possible and how it is done, why it is done, who specifically is doing it, when they do it, and where they get the money to do it."" (3) "US Economic Decline and the Rise of China: Riding the Dragon, Soaring on the Eagle", by DAN SMITH [[ Col. Daniel Smith, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, is Senior Fellow on Military Affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby in the public interest and a commentator for Foreign Policy in Focus. He can be reached at: dan@fcnl.org ]]; April 5, 2005: http://www.counterpunch.org/smith04052005.html "" Once upon a time, creditors exacted "a pound of flesh" from those who, having borrowed money at high interest rates, found themselves unable to repay loans on time and in full. John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (EHM), appearing on PBS television's NOW on March 4, 2005, described a modern twist in this vicious circle at the level of nation-states. Since World War II, the United States has deliberately manipulated the economic and political life of developing countries to create a new global imperium based on massive indebtedness as the basis for exacting many pounds of flesh. Posing as a friendly expert, the EHM advises countries to contract with large U.S. companies to build massive projects financed by loans from international financial organizations, justifying the projects as critical for improving the lives of ordinary citizens. But the loans are so large and the interest rates so high that the money cannot be repaid, and common people's lives get more, not less, desperate. Opposition by individual elected officials in victimized countries can trigger "accidents" (assassinations), and collective rejection or default may trigger military action. According to Perkins, the price for self-preservation, both personal and national, is to fall in behind U.S. "leadership." ""