Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - Interview with Amy Goodman

[Rajiv]

Kevin Phillips is the author of American Dynasty and American Theocracy and was a GOP strategist in the Nixon administration.

Kevin Phillips is extremely important for helping us make sense of the convergence of food prices, Peak Oil, climate change, and global commodity speculation.

Redid for you tube

Part - I (10 min)

Part - II (7 min)

[Nervous Drake]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

.

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

It really makes you think: why is there such a global coordinated effort to keep the direness of our situation under wraps? Why isn't this being discussed? Is there not a single person in our system of government willing to stand up and say "Wait a minute, we should probably tell the people what is going on here, and I don't care what you say or think, this is the right thing to do."

It just makes me feel all the more uneasy about the whole thing.

You should be nervous, Drake, because there is no one like you ask about, and there will not ever be until something momentous FORCES a change in the US government.

I take it that most of you here are younger than I am, which only suggests that I have been around longer to watch things as an outsider to politics, as I suppose most of us are: outsiders.

Nothing has changed since I was 21 except my perceptions of what has been happening, i.e. I have perhaps become a bit less ignorant of what goes on. All of you younger guys are way of ahead of me when I was whatever is your age.

I believe there are honest people who go into politics with a notion of "I can make things better." If they convince the voters of that, then somewhere between election night and the day they are sworn in or within hours thereafter, something changes forever with regard to their being an outsider, and I truly suspect there is a change in whatever was their previous honesty. After election into US offices there are TWO things important to politicians: they own well being and getting re-elected until they either fail, are forced to quit, find a better gig, or decide they have gotten all the loot they need. Only if one--that would be those who vote--buys into the lip-service put out by politicians does one find hope in what they say. Of course, you guys here are getting smart enough to know that they are only saying those things that will get them votes, right? Any time you spend listening to them over your lifetime could be time better spent--even if only playing video games.

Roosevelt died when I was almost five just at the beginning of his fourth term. Truman got into office by virtue of Roosevelt's death and ran for re-election once. Eisenhower was probably someone who never set out to be president, but got it because he was popular. Nixon, Kennedy, Reagan, first Bush, B. Clinton and H. Clinton and Obama and McCain are all egomaniacs. Johnson was just a wheeler-dealer politician who ended up president and chose not to run for a second elected term. Bush, the second, as far as I can tell is not an egomaniac, but more like a popular enough person who was putty in the hands of the political sculptors (Bush 2 I don't believe is smart enough to be an egomaniac). Gore was an egomaniac groomed by his father to be president. Carter was an egomaniac. Ford got to be president by chance. Agnew was a crook. Quayle was an idiot. Cheney is probably as crooked as any snake that has ever slithered across America. These, as I see it, are the types of people who have ended up running the USA over my lifetime. Only good I have seen for mankind was the fall of the USSR--to whatever degree that can be attributed to US leadership and the removal of the yolks born by those of black skin color whether by Kennedy/Johnson. Everything thing else that might seem good for America or mankind I would attribute to illusion. Actually I believe if guys like Kucinich or Paul were electable then you could probably see a change in America, but look how far they didn't go.

So you guys keep on hoping that somebody will change the US political system so that its purpose of providing a level playing field for all Americans will come to past.

I am probably the slowest learner here in that I only stopped believing something could change when I was 63 Y/O. Up until then I always held out hope. Not to have hope is burdensome, and I am not sure but were I again younger, and devoid of my observations, I would not still have hope. Nevertheless I tell you I believe you are hoping for a fantasy to think anything is going to change in US politics during your lifetime--which I hope, if you do, will be long, unless something external forces a change in how American politics operate.

[Verrocchio]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Goodman

Kevin Phillips is the author of American Dynasty and American Theocracy and was a GOP strategist in the Nixon administration.

Kevin Phillips is extremely important for helping us make sense of the convergence of food prices, Peak Oil, climate change, and global commodity speculation.

Redid for you tube

Part - I (10 min)

Part - II (7 min)

Rajiv, the message "...this video is no longer available" appeared after I clicked the play button (on both vids).

[Rajiv]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Goodman

Seems to be working for me right now

[Nervous Drake]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

.

[World Traveler]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

I was a teen-ager in 1960's and a young adult in 1970's. So I remember that era well.

The reason the young people of that day could rebel and not worry too much about their future ("live for today" to quote a popular song) was that prosperity was taken for granted, as was the fact that the U.S. had the richest economy in the world at that time. So when you got tired of being a poor hippie, if you wanted, you could just "drop back in" and get a decent job with decent wages (even blue collar paid well then). Major layoffs and downsizings were rare.

Over the course of my lifetime, I've seen the U.S. become a much less egalitarian society, in terms of jobs, wages, and access to education. The rich are much, much richer now than in my youth, and the lower 50% of the wage scale have a much harder time keeping up, let alone getting ahead. Debt also is a much bigger issue today, since wages have not kept up with prices.

[sadsack]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

You should be nervous, Drake, because there is no one like you ask about, and there will not ever be until something momentous FORCES a change in the US government.

I take it that most of you here are younger than I am, which only suggests that I have been around longer to watch things as an outsider to politics, as I suppose most of us are: outsiders.

Nothing has changed since I was 21 except my perceptions of what has been happening, i.e. I have perhaps become a bit less ignorant of what goes on. All of you younger guys are way of ahead of me when I was whatever is your age.

I believe there are honest people who go into politics with a notion of "I can make things better." If they convince the voters of that, then somewhere between election night and the day they are sworn in or within hours thereafter, something changes forever with regard to their being an outsider, and I truly suspect there is a change in whatever was their previous honesty. After election into US offices there are TWO things important to politicians: they own well being and getting re-elected until they either fail, are forced to quit, find a better gig, or decide they have gotten all the loot they need. Only if one--that would be those who vote--buys into the lip-service put out by politicians does one find hope in what they say. Of course, you guys here are getting smart enough to know that they are only saying those things that will get them votes, right? Any time you spend listening to them over your lifetime could be time better spent--even if only playing video games.

Roosevelt died when I was almost five just at the beginning of his fourth term. Truman got into office by virtue of Roosevelt's death and ran for re-election once. Eisenhower was probably someone who never set out to be president, but got it because he was popular. Nixon, Kennedy, Reagan, first Bush, B. Clinton and H. Clinton and Obama and McCain are all egomaniacs. Johnson was just a wheeler-dealer politician who ended up president and chose not to run for a second elected term. Bush, the second, as far as I can tell is not an egomaniac, but more like a popular enough person who was putty in the hands of the political sculptors (Bush 2 I don't believe is smart enough to be an egomaniac). Gore was an egomaniac groomed by his father to be president. Carter was an egomaniac. Ford got to be president by chance. Agnew was a crook. Quayle was an idiot. Cheney is probably as crooked as any snake that has ever slithered across America. These, as I see it, are the types of people who have ended up running the USA over my lifetime. Only good I have seen for mankind was the fall of the USSR--to whatever degree that can be attributed to US leadership and the removal of the yolks born by those of black skin color whether by Kennedy/Johnson. Everything thing else that might seem good for America or mankind I would attribute to illusion. Actually I believe if guys like Kucinich or Paul were electable then you could probably see a change in America, but look how far they didn't go.

So you guys keep on hoping that somebody will change the US political system so that its purpose of providing a level playing field for all Americans will come to past.

I am probably the slowest learner here in that I only stopped believing something could change when I was 63 Y/O. Up until then I always held out hope. Not to have hope is burdensome, and I am not sure but were I again younger, and devoid of my observations, I would not still have hope. Nevertheless I tell you I believe you are hoping for a fantasy to think anything is going to change in US politics during your lifetime--which I hope, if you do, will be long, unless something external forces a change in how American politics operate.

JN:

Perhaps Santayana ("Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.") and Socrates ("The unexamined life is not worth living.") would tentatively approve . . .

I.e., as (IIRC) Ben Franklin once coined: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

We may be approaching a new cusp in the history of this nation. The ultimate crapshoot, to continue the logic of the aphorism, is that the "mother" is fertile at this time and place . . . given global population demographics, this "opportunity for fertility" may not necessarily reside within the US.

Just as the US, rising to geopolitical pre-eminence, dragged the immolated carcass of Europe from the holocausts of WWI & WWII, so too may we ultimately have to depend on a foreign "benefactor" for long-term survival. . . .

At least, as a pre-boomer, your generation will escape whatever ultimate verdict history bestowes upon the generation subsequent to yours . . .

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

If the people placed in positions of power across the world were truly crooks, swindlers, and ego maniacs, we would have a world full of that. These are our leaders whether we like it or not. Corporations and government dictate to us our lives, and most choose to follow them.

In no way am I denigrating your concerns. I think if one looks around we do have a world full of crooks, swindlers and egomaniacs that are in the highest positions of elected government. I surmise that if someone who is elected seems honest, then probably no one is looking closely enough at that individual. I think you better get control of how you live your life. Despite whatever legal burdens society places on all of us, we still have the opportunity to control much in our lives, or that is how I see it.

Correct me if I'm mistaken but it feels to me like the situation we are in now has not occurred for about 100 years. I'm not sure how old you are but this could be a true turning point in the history of the world. If this is my grandiose imagination running wild then I apologize, but when it seems that the best investment is gold and that everything else is prone to fall within the next 4 years, the situation has to be pretty dire.

I'm one of the relatively few here who has filled out my Profile, so you or anyone could know to whom you are writing--everyone should consider filling out theirs. In my experience it is a different circumstance in which we now find ourselves, but being no serious student of history, I doubt that it is truly unique. Actually, my hope is that the situation is yet to get pretty dire, because it is only going to be through something dire that will bring about needed change in how American politics operate and thus produce an effect hopefully for the better thereafter for all of us.

My daddy lived through the depression and as best I could tell he was no worse for it. Actually he probably was better off in that it made him tougher than he might have been otherwise. He was born in 1900. I wish I had an imagination that allowed me to believe that things will necessarily be worse four years from now. They may be or they may not be. Gold may or may not be the place to be, and if one is sure everything else is prone to fall, there are ways to play the markets to the short side.

I think the best way I can learn from the past is the music from the 60s and 70s. There is a lot of heart and individuality in a lot of the music from that era. The problems they faced then are the problems we face now. I wonder, in the 60s and 70s, if the problems we face today seemed as dire as the problems faced in that era?

I think the 60's and 70's were a "chip shot" compared to anything that might be considered hard times unless one was on the black end of the racial strife or a grunt in Viet Nam who didn't come back. How many places in the world right are people said to be surviving at some level on $0.50 to $2/day? We in America perhaps even at the worst level that exists are better off than that in my opinion.

I was employed by the Navy for four years--a certain pay check, then a resident for three years--a certain pay check plus GI educational allowance, then worked for two other surgeons with a certain pay check until one night they fired me, then on my own for 11 years years (not always certain what I would earn), and then worked for a university for 4-5 years with always some certain basic pay. I never knew anything I would compare to real hardships, though getting fired one night and being on my own from that moment on did disrupt my sleep for at least a night.

If I worked now for someone else I would work my ass off to insure that I was too valuable to my employers for them to consider letting me go. I personally cannot imagine anyone not having some degree of education that should be of value to their employment, and if one doesn't have at least that on their side, I really don't know what they should do--in my opinion they fucked up already.

Whatever is the answer to the problems that may lie ahead, I am hard pressed to figure the answer lies in the music from the 60's and 70's, but I am not very imaginative.

[The Outback Oracle]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

I once, a long time ago in my younger days, found myself on the executive as Vice-Prsident of a regional 'farmers' association here in Australia. Don't get me wrong i wasn't important. We were reasonably idealistic about representing our farmers at the National conference. However what i found was that, no sooner had we arrived, than we were forced to do deals with other representatives from other regions, in order to get some of our ideas through. In the process we did some deals to support some proposals that would surely have been opposed by our rank and file members.
So, we were 'honest', we had nothing personally to gain, did our best by our members, but we still managed to corrupt the process in some ways.
I must say it was the end of my days of representing anybody in any organisation. Henceforth i stuck to local P&C and kids swimming clubs!

[Shakespear]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

being no serious student of history, I doubt that it is truly unique.

This is a sad of affairs for the majority and some. Sad because without knowing it WELL one has no idea where one is and where one may be headed. Being an engineer I found this out very late in my life.

IMHO I think we are in a unique point in history. We are about to experience the loss of a cheap energy source that is driving the global economy thanks to US knowhow. Lets hope that the same knowhow will figure out a way to solve this problem because the years ahead will be anything but calm if we don't.

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

I once, a long time ago in my younger days, found myself on the executive as Vice-Prsident of a regional 'farmers' association here in Australia. Don't get me wrong i wasn't important. We were reasonably idealistic about representing our farmers at the National conference. However what i found was that, no sooner had we arrived, than we were forced to do deals with other representatives from other regions, in order to get some of our ideas through. In the process we did some deals to support some proposals that would surely have been opposed by our rank and file members.
So, we were 'honest', we had nothing personally to gain, did our best by our members, but we still managed to corrupt the process in some ways.
I must say it was the end of my days of representing anybody in any organisation. Henceforth i stuck to local P&C and kids swimming clubs!

Outback,

That is a good micro-example of what might really be happening politically when one considers going further up the ladder of power in nations. There is no information as valuable to understanding as that which might be expressed by insiders. Probably the more concerned the insider about his or her own welfare, the less likely is such information to be shared. Thanks for putting up the personal example.

I've yet to see an admitted banker share any inside information on iTulip, and I think elected politicians aren't spending time here, so as always we shall continue in our ignorances.

[FRED]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

Outback,

That is a good micro-example of what might really be happening politically when one considers going further up the ladder of power in nations. There is no information as valuable to understanding as that which might be expressed by insiders. Probably the more concerned the insider about his or her own welfare, the less likely is such information to be shared. Thanks for putting up the personal example.

I've yet to see an admitted banker share any inside information on iTulip, and I think elected politicians aren't spending time here, so as always we shall continue in our ignorances.

EJ writes in:

There are hundreds of iTulip members who are professionals in the finance and banking industries. You see posts – insider information – from them all of the time but don't know it. They cannot identify themselves because that will put their jobs and careers at risk, and we will never identify them. But you can tell by the quality and content of their posts who they are.

Mostly the insider information you get here comes from my interviews with insiders. They are sometimes identified but more often are not.

[Nervous Drake]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

.

[Spartacus]

Re: Kevin Phillips: Bad Money - interview with Amy Good man

EDIT: to bring this back on topic, who / which country are you nominating?

back to the off topic:
history seems to put the same types of idiots in the right places in the right times to get itself repeated ... you might think he (history) has a morbid, if repetitive, sense of humor.

Also, the unlived life is not worth examining.

JN: Perhaps Santayana ("Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.") and Socrates ("The unexamined life is not worth living.") would tentatively approve . . .

I.e., as (IIRC) Ben Franklin once coined: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Please ... He would have said that, wouldn't he? I mean, just LOOK at that hair.