[Peace-discuss] Chomsky talk

[C. G. Estabrook]

Chomsky: Dire Straits for United States

Lexington Community Education welcomed Noam Chomsky as a guest speaker  
at Lexington High Sept. 19.
	• By Jonathan Pickering
	• September 21, 2011



Monday night in the Lexington High School auditorium, a packed house  
of residents enjoyed a rare visit from one of the 20th Centuries  
greatest thinkers: Dr. Noam Chomsky.
Touring to support the recent paperback release of his 1999 book,  
"Profit Over People: Neo-Liberalism and Global Order," Chomsky, a long- 
time Lexington resident, treated the hometown crowd to a spirited  
lecture concerning America's current socio-economic state and how we  
got here.

Neo-Liberalism
Chomsky began his lecture by framing neo-liberalism -- a market-driven  
approach to economic and social policy focused on private enterprise  
-- as having failed in Third World countries such as Argentina and  
Brazil, countries that only recently managed to pull themselves out of  
Third World status through what Chomsky described as “more  
democratically-based ideals.”
Chomsky then warned of the dangers of what he called, a “recent  
revival of neo-liberal policies in the US that, characteristically,  
have been very harmful.”
“From 1980, US incomes have stagnated or declined where wealth  
accumulation is going into very few pockets unlike other  
industrialized nations," he said. "It's huge wealth in roughly one- 
tenth of 1 percent of the population. Since about 1980, markets have  
become deregulated to support this ideal and we now see the  
consequences.”
Chomsky noted the collapse of the auto industry and housing market as  
key elements in this downfall. “These are the consequences of adhering  
to neo-liberal rules and we are enduring the crisis of neo-liberalism  
like many third-world countries," he said.

Global Order
Shifting back to Latin and South American countries, Chomsky mentioned  
that the change from Third to First World status for countries like  
Brazil, Argentina and most recently, Bolivia was, “quite spectacular  
in terms of a historical point of view, that the turn-around happened  
in such a short period.”
Chomsky sited the rise of unions and inclination to shrug off the rule  
of other countries influences such as the United States and United  
Kingdom as one of the main causes behind this self-empowerment,  
mentioning that these burgeoning economic powers have, “plenty of  
potential with rich resources.”
Chomsky blamed the downfall of many of these Third World Latin  
American and South American countries over the 20th Century on the  
white-elites who virtually own the country of interest, but don't care  
about the goodwill of its inhabitants.
Relating Sept. 11, 2001 to a 1973 upheaval in Chile supported by the  
Nixon administration, where hundreds of thousands of Chileans were  
killed when they unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the corrupt regime  
leading the country and which South American's refer to as the  
original "9/11," Chomsky was clear in pointing out that although this  
event was an atrocity on a larger scale that had more impact of lives  
and the economic-social structure of the world, this event, and many  
like it, aren't examined as turning points in a global market even  
though their impacts warrant them as such.
This selective look at history and market trends was one of the main  
reasons behind America's decline of the early 21st Century, according  
to Chomsky, who argued America has been on this path since the height  
of its power immediately following World War Two in 1945.

The American Decline
Speaking about America's current socio-economic state, Chomsky said  
“the mood of the country is depressed, upset, with very little hope  
which makes it a very dangerous situation. ... Compared to the Great  
Depression, objectively the Great Depression was worse, but  
subjectively, today's crisis is more detrimental to America.”
Chomsky said major cause of American decline -- outsourcing jobs  
overseas -- "is self-inflicted” and “great for profits, but awful for  
our country.”
What Chomsky called “Financialization” (the concentration of wealth to  
a small percentage of the population) is the other major cause of  
America's decline since WWII.
“The concentration of wealth means concentration of political power  
which equates to instituting policies that add to those in power and  
in-turn marginalize the rest of the population economically and  
politically,” he said.
Discussing the current political landscape in America, Chomsky added,  
“elections are essentially bought" and policy can be gleaned from  
looking at campign financing.
"Experience and seniority are gone from politics," he said. "Now, you  
have to pay to get into political positions. This has created a  
vicious cycle that hurts the country.”

'Two Dark Clouds'
Chomsky ended his speech by painting a dismal view of the American  
future, saying that “two dark clouds” loom over our heads as Americans.
The first is the idea of nuclear war. "The threat is severe and, in  
many ways, getting worse," said Chomsky.
The second “dark cloud” is the threat of environmental catastrophe,  
which Chomsky believes in exacerbated by, “principal deniers of global  
warming and other environmental issues” in American politics.
Chomsky noted that Bolivia, a country just pulling itself out of years  
of political upheaval and incredible strife, leads the world in  
dealing with these global environmental concerns.
“Strikingly, the US, the richest country in the world, is way behind,”  
said Chomsky. “Worse, we are practically to the point of dragging our  
feet.”
Chomsky left the audience with a dire thought towards the future of  
our American society when he stated: “When I think about the legacy we  
are leaving our children and grandchildren, it's not a pretty picture,  
to put it mildly.”

http://lexington.patch.com/articles/chomsky-dire-straits-for-united-states
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