p30, p06 Oligarchy's Squeeze Play

Oligarchy's Squeeze Play

by John Taylor, 2020 Mar 08

In 2011 economist Paul Krugman pointed out that calling the wealthy the "one percent" is quite inaccurate. They should be called the one in a thousand. Where does the money of this tiny elite come from? What do the powerful oligarchs do for a living? In view of how events over the past nine years have played out, Krugman's list is prescient.

"Who is in that top 0.1 percent? Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they are corporate executives. Recent research shows that around 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent either are executives in nonfinancial companies or make their money in finance, i.e., Wall Street broadly defined. Add in lawyers and people in real estate, and we are talking about more than 70 percent of the lucky one-thousandth." (Oligarchy, American Style, Paul Krugman, New York Times, November 3, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/oligarchy-american-style.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212)

Sound familiar? This one in a thousand are executives, lawyers and real estate tycoons. Worse, at the very top of this pyramid sit the heirs to even vaster fortunes who own it all, and who never had to earn money in the first place.

When so few rule, they have to know their job, because the one who satisfies the other members of the elite will surely rise above all others. This is done by keeping other oligarchs busy, and offering them hope of even greater fortunes. The one at the summit must provide the skilled and ambitious oligarchs just below with gainful employ and easy money.

Is it any wonder that Donald Trump rose above all others?

Counter-intuitively, his notoriety and incompetence gave him a decisive advantage over other, more placid heirs to mega-fortunes. It attracted Russian money to bail him out and compromise him, then, after his rise to power, laws designed to protect privilege from their rightful due, and bountiful government funding, protect him. Trump precariously surfs the wave of an ever toppling real estate empire perpetually on the brink of bankruptcy, eating up huge loans from the powerful financial sector. His criminal transgressions, even now, provide lucrative employment to an army of influential lawyers -- members in good standing of the oligarchy -- busy fending off lawsuits initiated by victims and opponents.

Why do other oligarchs tolerate him? Stupid question. Free tax cuts permanently transfer ever more money to the top of the heap, into the avid hands of inherited drones and corporate leaches.
And how do the keep the schmucks, the 999 out of a thousand, in line, especially in an age when communication technology displays their shenanigans on everyone's palm? The oldest play in the book, divide and conquer. Keep them scrabbling, stir up outrage about anything and everything; pump up the volume, remove their ability to think straight, delude them until even love and truth fail to move. The ancient Hindu book, the Panchatantra, expresses our vulnerability poetically.

 Until a mortal's belly pot is full,
 He does not care a jot
 For love or music, wit or shame,
 For body's care or scholar's name,
 For virtue or for social charm,
 For lightness or release from harm,
 For godlike wisdom, youthful beauty,
 For purity or anxious duty.
 (Panchatantra, p. 401)

Annual Human Rights Talk in Dunnville

Baha’i Principles Series

Human Rights Day

Our speaker survived cruel persecution by Iranian authorities, who are against followers of the teachings of Baha’u’llah, founder of the Baha’i Faith. She was a lawyer in Iran and a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly in a large Baha’i community. For this she was sentenced to solitary confinement in the notorious Evin Prison.

Featured Speaker: Mrs. Mehri Mavaddat

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

8 PM

Garfield Disher Room,

Dunnville Branch,

Haldimand Public Library

Spirit Level

An important study of the importance of equality. Recall that Abdu'l-Baha called equality before the law a Baha'i principle in Paris. Here is why it is so essential to a divine order.

Happiness has nothing to do with choice

More on the Twin Guardians

More on Equity and Justice

2009 Jan 28, 10 Sultan, 165 BE

A reader kindly pointed out the following passage from a BIC document that responds to the same words of Baha’u’llah on equity and justice that I did in yesterday’s essay, “Justice and Equity, Guardian Twins.” It merits an entire posting, so here is the entire section, “Equity and Justice,” from the paper “Valuing Spirituality in Development,”

(Baha’u’llah wrote that…) "Justice and equity are twin Guardians that watch over men. From them are revealed such blessed and perspicuous words as are the cause of the well-being of the world and the protection of the nations."

Equity is fairness, the standard by which each person and group is able to maximize the development of their latent capacities. Equity differs from absolute equality in that it does not dictate that all be treated in exactly the same way. While everyone is endowed with talents and abilities, the full development of these capacities may require different approaches. It is equity that ensures that access and opportunity are fairly distributed so that this development might take place.

Equity and justice are the twin guardians of society. Equity is the standard by which policy and resource commitment decisions should be made. Justice is the vehicle through which equity is applied, its practical expression in the life of the individual and society. It is only through the exercise of true justice that trust will be established among the diverse peoples, cultures and institutions of an increasingly interdependent world.

The Baha’i Teachings state that the pillars of justice are reward and punishment. Those who act justly deserve reward, whether tangible or intangible, for such behavior. Those who act unjustly are in need of appropriate sanction both to arrest the injustice and to safeguard their own spiritual well-being.

Source: "Valuing Spirituality in Development, Initial Considerations Regarding the Creation of Spiritually Based Indicators for Development," A concept paper presented by the Baha'i International Community to the World Faiths and Development Dialogue, hosted by the President of the World Bank and the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace. London, England 8-19 February 1998, at:  http://info.bahai.org/article-1-8-1-5.html#IV

Baha'i Equality

Governance, Human and Divine; First in a Series on Equality 

By John Taylor; 2008 Dec 4, 11 Qawl 165 BE

The 19th Psalm declares,

  

"The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes." (Psalm 19:7-8, WEB)

 This inspiring vision of power portrays divine authority as a force inherently directed at our happiness, enlargement and enlightenment. Compliance with God's holy law broadens the soul and, like a fusion reaction or perpetual motion machine, it creates more energy than it consumes. It encourages us to reach out to forever and beyond. This is the mirror opposite of human rule, which, no matter how broad and liberal, is inevitably based on the ignorance and limitations of mortal minds.

I just posted on this blog an interview with Abdu'l-Baha (The Era of Independence; An Interview with Abdu'l-Baha http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/era-of-independence-interview-with.html). Although not dated, it was given, I would imagine, towards the end of His stay on earth. In answer to a question as to whether there are leaders in the Baha'i faith, He said no. This is, He said, an "era of independence." He was quoted as saying,

  

"The Baha'is are a community of cooperative servants, they have no leader. Their only leader is God. They have no ordained ministers or priests. Whosoever hears and believes in the principles of this Cause, it is required of him to convey this Message to others."

 

If that was so in Abdu'l-Baha's time, how much more must it be the case today, now that the physical presence of the Central Figures of the Faith among us is gone forever! The egalitarian leanings of the Master are easy to miss; we His lovers tend to be blinded by His charismatic qualities and forget how much He valued equality. This age, in His view, is ruled by a "community of cooperative servants;" this is a wholly new kind of governance, never before seen. It is not to be confused with liberalism, anarchism or libertarianism.

The first known anarchist or "minarchical libertarian" thinker was the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi (370-301 BC), who held that good order results spontaneously when we let go and do not try to govern the world. He was a relativist, teaching that "There is no good or bad, only thinking makes it so," and that world is illusion caused by our senses, experiences and interpretations, and that "illusions are irrelevant to conclude a definite right or wrong way." We do not and cannot know how others feel, and therefore it is arrogant to presume to make decisions affecting them. A famous anecdote of Zhuangzi goes like this:

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"Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling along the dam of the Hao Waterfall when Zhuangzi said, `See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That's what fish really enjoy!'

Huizi said, `You're not a fish -- how do you know what fish enjoy?'

Zhuangzi said, `You're not I, so how do you know I don't know what fish enjoy?'

Huizi said, `I'm not you, so I certainly don't know what you know. On the other hand, you're certainly not a fish -- so that still proves you don't know what fish enjoy!'

Zhuangzi said, `Let's go back to your original question, please. You asked me how I know what fish enjoy -- so you already knew I knew it when you asked the question. I know it by standing here beside the Hao.'" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi>

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Baha'i relativism does not deny the ignorance of mortal men on this count. The difference is that we recognize one Being who does see and know how all beings feel and think, directly and absolutely. That Being, of course, is God. Although unknowable by us directly, God offers His mirror or Manifestation. His great legacy is His Word and Law for each age. Insofar as we unite in this, we will succeed both personally and socially, without leaders or worship of personality. Abdu'l-Baha sets up this ability to come together on our own as a clear measure of truth, both existential and pragmatic.

"It therefore becometh manifest that amity and cohesion are indicative of the training of the Real Educator, and dispersion and separation a proof of savagery and deprivation of divine education." (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, 290)

--

John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

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Another Prisoner of Teheran

Presented by the Baha’is of Dunnville for Human Rights Day


Marina Nemat, Prisoner of Teheran

In 1982 at the age of sixteen, Marina was arrested for student activism by the Revolutionary Guards and tortured in Tehran’s notorious Evan prison. Next Wednesday night she will tell the story in her own words.

Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
8 PM
Garfield Disher Room,
Dunnville Public Library




Marina Nemat's one hour talk given last summer on TVO's program Big Ideas can be seen at:

http://www.tvo.org/podcasts/bi/audio/BI_Full_20080607_MNemat_0x0_40k.mp3


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Paris Printalk, II

Note to those getting email copies of my essays on the Badi' list: I have extensively revised and rewritten yesterday's essay, "Paris Printalk; BPS I." The latest version, as always, is the one on the blog. You can find it at:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/printalk-in-paris.html

Paris Printalk; BPS II, More on our oneness in equality

2008 Oct 25, 9 'Ilm 165 BE

Yesterday we talked about search for truth and ended with the "one central theme" of the principles, the Oneness of Humankind. Before continuing with this principle, a little background.

`Abdu'l-Baha laid out the principles on this autumn day in 1911 Paris to a meeting of Theosophists. This was the second time He had spoken to this organization, and on both occasions Abdu'l-Baha laid out the dozen or so Baha'i principles. The first time was at the Theosophical headquarters in London on the 30th of September (ABL 27-30), which was only the third major talk He had ever given in public. The second talk where He listed several principles was this one in Paris. Afterwards, in America, He spoke several more times to the Theosophists -- the spiritual progenitors of the present "New Age" movement -- but never again listed the principles to them. Instead He laid emphasis on what was probably of more central interest to this group, the nature of the soul and other mystical topics.

Theosophy in the early 20th Century was larger than it is now. There are probably far more Baha'is than theosophists in most of the places Abdu'l-Baha visited. Although originally founded more or less on the Baha'i principle of the oneness of religions, theosophy also holds to doctrines like reincarnation and the transmigration of souls. I have posted on this blog a picture of the symbol of the Theosophical Society that I got from the website of their Washington chapter, at:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/theosophical-society-symbol.html

As you can see, their motto is "There is no religion higher than truth." This seems to be in reaction to the fanatic theologian's presupposition and credo: "Religion is higher than truth." It is significant, then, that this group was honored with hearing for the first time the Baha'i principles, "vitalizing truths" and the "spirit of the age," that in the following passage the Guardian also called part of the "bedrock" of the Faith.

"It was in the course of these epoch-making journeys and before large and representative audiences, at times exceeding a thousand people, that 'Abdu'l-Baha expounded, with brilliant simplicity, with persuasiveness and force, and for the first time in His ministry, those basic and distinguishing principles of His Father's Faith, which together with the laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitab-i-Aqdas constitute the bed-rock of God's latest Revelation to mankind.... -- these stand out as the essential elements of that Divine polity which He proclaimed to leaders of public thought as well as to the masses at large in the course of these missionary journeys." (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 281)

I find it highly significant that the Guardian calls this set of principles a "Divine polity." We shall return to this word "polity" later.

One more background note. Yesterday, discussing the first two principles, I was moved to bring up Plato's metaphor of the cave or den. I came across the following artist's illustration of how some have imagined the cave. I posted it here on the Badi' blog:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/cave-or-den.html

Oneness of Mankind, explicated in Paris, Continued

As Abdu'l-Baha describes the basis of human oneness you can almost see the liberated dwellers of the den coming out, weak eyes hurting, making the glorious discovery of the One in the full, bright light of day, realizing at last that all of us are one.

"The same rain has fallen upon them all, the same warm sun makes them grow, they are all refreshed by the same breeze."

Thinking back on their former animal life in the den, the underlying reason for all that conflict, the chains, the illusions and constant bumping into one another becomes easily apparent. Our animal nature, inherently dark, weakens and blinds us. Now that we have gained our object in life, the only solution is service, compassionate action for others,

"The only differences that exist and that keep them apart are these: there are the children who need guidance, the ignorant to be instructed, the sick to be tended and healed; thus, I say that the whole of humanity is enveloped by the Mercy and Grace of God."

I think it helps to recall that Abdu'l-Baha is speaking to the children of the so-called Enlightenment, an atheist rejection of religion which consummated in the bloody French Revolution, whose rallying cry was "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity." Perhaps because of where He is speaking here, He gives equality before God in this address more attention than usual. For example, as we shall see, He even mentions later on `equality before the law' as a separate Baha'i principle, one of the few if not the only time He does so in a public talk.

This is not to say that Abdu'l-Baha denounces the Enlightenment completely. Later on in Paris Talks he puts the blame for this divorce on the clergy, whose stubborn adherence to supersition and fanaticism forced those who believe in reason to reject religion entirely. And indeed the thinkers of the Enlightenment did settle upon many elements of Baha'i principles, including equality. However, in doing so they forced a collective amnesia as to where the whole idea of equality comes from. Abdu'l-Baha now proceeds to remind the Parisians of equality's origin in ancient scripture when He says,

"As the Holy Writings tell us: `All men are equal before God. He is no respecter of persons.'"

The Master does not give chapter and verse as to which part of scripture he is citing here. A superficial search turned up over a dozen references in the Bible to God as a non-respecter of persons. The very idea of a God of righteousness in Judaism held that this God does not "respect persons," that is, He judges between us equitably, according to merit and not by how much external goods we happen to have gathered. Human judges can be bribed from greed or dazzled by pomp and power, but not a God of righteousness.

"To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress. He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him." (Prov 28:21-22)

The Law of Moses forbids "respecting persons," taking the power and influence of those we judge, or who may be affected by our decisions, into consideration.

"Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." (Lev 19:14-15)

The Apostles and early Christians were very conscious that such an impartial God would not disapprove of any group, no matter who they are, chosen people or not, who did good in the world.

"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, `Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.'" (Acts 10:34-35)

Equality is an inevitable consequence of belief in God. We are all infinitely distant from an Infinite Being.

Surely the day will soon come when Christians on the right wing of the political spectrum will hang their heads in shame for sitting back and letting secular socialists eclipse them in their highest ideal, equality. They will rue their unthinking respect of persons, their support of what helps the rich, unfettered materialistic capitalism, while ignoring the needs and holiness of the poor and underprivileged,

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, `Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors." (James 2:1-9)

I will have much more to say about equality when we reach that principle later on in this address. Suffice to say for now that total universality -- the Divine -- is needed for equality and freedom to co-exist together. This is the unique characteristic of God. Only a divinely created underlying truth could create a oneness powerful enough to enlighten the entire planet at once.

Thus, Baha'u'llah affirms the understanding mentioned above that equality is the expression of the divine law of loving our neighbor as ourselves. But He also extends it further into a view of every human as servant of all. As He says,

"Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth." (Tablets, 167)

Let us continue with this next time...

--
John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
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