| t Redford and James Caan were right on the money. | | | | approve the new federal bankruptcy law which does |
| Back in 1975 my fiancée prodded me to see | | | | nothing but shift the burden of individual misfortune |
| two movies. Little did I know back then these two | | | | from the financial giants to the citizenry. |
| cinema releases were very foretelling about our | | | | This was never meant to be. Bankruptcy laws were |
| nation’s future. | | | | historically designed to give people and families a |
| In Three Days Of The Condor, Robert Redford, | | | | second chance. Now, one can lose their home |
| played a maverick CIA technician on the death list of | | | | because of credit card bills. |
| the agency he serves. Cliff Robertson played the | | | | These recent changes in the bankruptcy laws, a |
| agent-in-charge of the CIA hit. The two argue next to | | | | conspicuous lack of anti-takeover activity within the |
| the New York Time Building about whether an | | | | Justice Department, the unprecedented rise of the |
| American army would ever invade the Middle East | | | | financial services industry, the political inaction in |
| over oil. | | | | reference to Chinese product dumping in the U.S., the |
| In the immediate post Watergate and Vietnam era it | | | | benign response to illegal immigration, and allowing |
| seemed unlikely this scenario would ever emerge in | | | | massive job outsourcing, are all clear examples of the |
| our lifetime. It was easy to dismiss the likelihood of that | | | | how corporate domination, sanctioned by our |
| occurrence to Tinsel Town fantasy. | | | | government, is stealing American jobs and ruining the |
| And then we have the movie Rollerball starring James | | | | lives of millions who fall in the middle class. |
| Caan. | | | | The rise in the price of oil and gasoline has far |
| Other than its futuristic depiction of some national | | | | exceeded the increase that one would expect under |
| sports frenzy that was a cross between the NFL, | | | | normal demand and supply conditions. |
| NHL, and WWF, the only thing significant about the | | | | This gouging has lined the pockets of the large oil |
| B-rated movie was its description of how America | | | | companies at the expense of the average citizen. |
| was governed in this future setting. | | | | And one must ask, “why the decrease in gas |
| In the movie America, and the world economy for that | | | | prices just before the congressional elections”? |
| matter, is dominated and controlled by a few large | | | | Corporatism has now given way to |
| global corporations. Corporate interests were the | | | | “neo-corporatism”. |
| name of the game and all other societal needs and | | | | Famed economists Philippe Schmitter and Gerhard |
| wants were subjugated. | | | | Lehmbruch described modern neo-corporatism as the |
| Three decades later, we find our nation in the Middle | | | | extracting of economic benefits from the citizens at |
| East with 135,000 troops and I don’t think | | | | large and then dividing these spoils among those social |
| anyone would debate the fact that large corporations | | | | and private institutions sanctioned by the government |
| are dominating our lives like never before. | | | | to engage in such activity. |
| This is not to suggest that Hollywood producers are | | | | The American public is now feeling that its own |
| soothsayers or swamis. If that were the case, | | | | government has given way to the economic interest |
| don’t watch the movie Soylent Green and two | | | | of the large corporations at their expense as |
| cheers for the American farmer. | | | | corporate power continues to concentrate in fewer |
| But at times Hollywood has a way of taking the pulse | | | | hands. |
| of the nation, peering into the future, and then trying to | | | | Even traditional allies within our own hemisphere are |
| predict and project it through media. | | | | now rejecting modern American corporatism as an |
| In reference to Rollerball, that takes us to the whole | | | | economic model and a way of life where citizen |
| concept of “Corporatism”. | | | | welfare is subordinated to the corporate state. |
| Corporatism, as defined by Webster’s is | | | | Castro and company have found “new |
| “the organization of a society into industrial and | | | | life” in this resounding theme as far left |
| professional corporations serving as organs of political | | | | communist leaning Latin leaders such as Hugo Chavez |
| representation and exercising control over persons | | | | and Tabaré Vázquez, among others, |
| and activities within their jurisdiction”. | | | | are winning elections based on this new |
| More recent and pungent examples of Corporatism | | | | anti-Washington platform. |
| would be the use of public housing authorities to | | | | They are carrying their message to American’s |
| “condemn” private property for | | | | own backyard as demonstrated in New York City six |
| commercial use. The U.S. Supreme Court recently | | | | months ago. |
| upheld the notion that private developers, in concert | | | | Hollywood needs to do a few more movies to see |
| with local and state government, can seize private | | | | what the next 30 years will bring. |
| homes to build commercial facilities. | | | | Maybe they should be dubbed in Chinese just to play it |
| Large credit-card companies lobbied Congress hard to | | | | safe. |