This is another long winded article pointing out that the majority of
Americans have no government. Biden is better than Trump, but only
because he appears to be sane. But neither Biden nor Trump are
leaders. Both are Lackeys, both are owned by factions of the "filthy
rich" Ruling Class.
I often wonder...well, maybe not often...but where did the expression,
"filthy rich" come from?
All the rich people I know, which is not many, seem to be about as
clean as us common folk.
Carl Jarvis
On 11/13/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Meet the Filthy Rich War Hawks That Make up Biden's New Foreign Policy Team
"I expect the prevailing direction of U.S. foreign policy over these last
decades to continue: more lawless bombing and killing multiple countries
under the cover of "limited engagement," - Biden Biographer Branko Marcetic
by Alan Macleod
November 13th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
After triumphing in a bitterly contested presidential election, all eyes
are
on President-Elect Joe Biden and who he will choose to run his new
administration. For much of October, media spent their time dissecting the
news that, despite living a lavish billionaire lifestyle, Donald Trump paid
only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. In contrast, little was
made of Biden's self-published tax documents. This is surprising because
the
returns show that he is rich. Filthy rich.
The 77-year-old Delawarean likes to paint himself as a man of modest means.
"I entered as one of the poorest men in Congress, left one of the poorest
men in government - in Congress and as vice-president," Biden said during
the Democratic presidential nomination process. And while that was
technically true, since leaving the White House, he and his wife Jill have
amassed a fortune of more than $16.7 million. For comparison, the median
net
worth of U.S. households is $97,300. His tax returns show that he received
over $900,000 from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2019. "When I
left the United States Senate, I became a professor," at the Ivy League
institution, he told the country in March. Yet records show he has not
taught even a single class during his time there.
Speaking engagements make up the majority of his earnings, where he is
often
paid princely sums for minutes' work. For example, his tax returns show
that
he was paid over $134,000 for a talk in Fort Lauderdale, FL in January
2019.
In this sense, he is following in the footsteps of the likes of Hillary
Clinton, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush, who command enormous sums for
public appearances - a practice often condemned as little more than payoffs
for "good behavior" while in office.
The Bidens' Total Earnings: 1998-2019
Source | Forbes
Biden is no stranger to the rich and powerful. He kicked off his
presidential campaign last year with a dinner for ultra-rich patrons at a
Manhattan hotel, insisting that "nothing would fundamentally change" if he
were elected, reassuring them that he would never demonize the rich and
that
they were not at fault for growing inequality. "I need you very badly," he
concluded.
Building Back Better?
The former vice-president's team is also looking to be made up of extremely
wealthy individuals as well. His transition task squad has been, in his
website's words, crafted to ensure they "reflect the values and priorities
of the incoming administration," and includes executives from Lyft, Amazon,
Capital One, Uber, Visa, and JP Morgan.
One name being strongly floated for a cabinet position is former mayor of
Chicago Rahm Emanuel, a move being met with vocal opposition from the left.
Emanuel's first tour of duty in the White House came under President Bill
Clinton, where he was one of the key architects of the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a deal that decimated manufacturing in the
Midwest,
hobbled union power, and sent well paying blue-collar jobs to Mexico. In
2016, Trump constantly brought up NAFTA as a weapon to attack Hillary
Clinton, winning him votes (and states) across the region. Emanuel also
pushed through welfare "reform" bills that sharply reduced benefits for the
poor and worked with Biden on the now-infamous 1994 Crime Bill, a key
accelerator of mass incarceration. He then left politics to pursue a
lucrative career in finance - something that quickly netted him a reported
$16 million fortune - before returning and becoming President Obama's
advisor and enforcer.
Mass Incarceration to Plan Colombia: Biden's Role in the War on Drugs
Former VP Joe Biden has a sordid history of opposing progressive criminal
justice legislation and played a central role in the war on drugs.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Sep 28
Biden's war room
Many of the president-elect's potential picks for foreign policy positions
-
including Susan Rice and Michele Flourney - have onlookers worried. "With a
Biden administration, we can expect a continuation of the Middle East wars
and possible escalations in places like Syria. Biden could be better than
Trump on Iran and Yemen, but judging by his potential cabinet picks, that
should not be expected without significant pressure from antiwar activists
and lobbyists in Washington," Dave DeCamp, assistant news editor of
AntiWar.com told MintPress. "His administration will likely be more
successful than Trump at expanding the empire, with a more diplomatic and
coherent approach at building alliances to face Russia and China."
Rice, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and National
Security Advisor under Obama, has amassed a fortune of around $40 million.
After leaving office, she was given a spot on the board of Netflix, being
paid $366,666 as a base salary. On top of that, she was given $2.3 million
worth of the company's stock. However, it is her husband, former ABC News
executive producer Ian O. Cameron (whose father was a super-wealthy
industrialist), who is the prime source of her wealth. She was a key driver
in U.S. action in Libya, and also successfully lobbied Obama to place
harsher sanctions on North Korea and Iran.
Susan Rice Biden
Ambassador Rice speaks in front of an Israeli missile battery in Tel Aviv
during an 2014 visit to Israel. Photo | US Embassy Tel Aviv
Flournoy, meanwhile, was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2009 to
2012 in the Obama administration under Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon
Panetta. After "serving the country," she received lucrative consulting
contracts, joined corporate boards, and began her own security think tank,
WestExec Advisors. By 2017, she was making a reported $452,000 annually.
"Certainly the possible selection of Michele Flournoy and other WestExec
advisors people is concerning," Biden biographer Branko Marcetic told
MintPress.
This isn't just because of their corporate/financial ties, though of course
that's alarming - can we be sure that people whose private sector career
involved leveraging their government experience and contacts to help
multinationals secure favorable business conditions will have their
intentions calibrated toward good policy and not to their private sector
career?"
"Biden claims he wants an end to the Yemen conflict, but again, words are
only so much. It's highly likely that he will have Michele Flornoy as his
Secretary of Defense who was one of the voices that stated that weapons
should continue to be sold to Saudia Arabia (during the Yemen conflict),
under certain conditions, as they have a right to protect themselves. This
speaks volumes," said Mariamne Everett of the Institute for Public
Accuracy.
Rice and Flournoy, she added, were vocal supporters of the disastrous Iraq
War, which does not bode well for those concerned with peace.
Marcetic agreed, noting that, while in office, Flourney was "a major
liberal
interventionist hawk who not only wants U.S. troops deployed all over the
world, but has also publicly advocated for the U.S. to majorly exploit its
fossil fuel reserves for global dominance," something which would be a
"disaster for containing climate catastrophe."
Biden's Foreign Policy Team Hints at War with China, Conflict with Russia
An analysis shows Joe Biden's potential foreign policy would closely mirror
that of the Pentagon under President Trump.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Mar 31
Back in the game
The recycling of old faces (many of them considerably richer than before)
into the new administration suggests that there will be few breaks from the
past on policy, and more in the way of continuation. Biden himself has
largely acknowledged this, tweeting, "When I'm speaking to foreign leaders,
I'm telling them: America is going to be back. We're going to be back in
the
game." To many suffering under U.S. sanctions or hiding from U.S. bombs,
these words will likely not comfort them. DeCamp suggested that there will
be no great difference in policy between Trump and Biden administrations:
Despite Trump being painted as an 'isolationist,' his administration has
actually expanded NATO, shored up the support of some Asian countries to
counter China, and significantly increased Washington's military footprint
in the Pacific. Biden will continue this as he made clear in recent phone
calls with Asian leaders and his tough talk on China's claims to the South
China Sea during the last presidential debate."
Michele Flournoy Afghanistan
Flournoy meets with Afghan Army personnel during a tour of the Kabul
Military Training Center Aug. 7, 2010. Photo | DVIDS
Everett offered a similar analysis, suggesting that, with pro-Israel
zealots
like Rice advising him, the Biden administration would "expand" on what
Trump had done in Palestine as well. Meanwhile, for Latin America, his
foreign policy team intends to revive the so-called "anti-corruption
drives"
of the Obama era, which ultimately overthrew an elected government in
Brazil
and paved the way for the ascendency of far-right figure Jair Bolsonaro.
Marcetic suggested that Biden would attempt to rejoin many of the
international treaties and organizations that the Trump administration had
undermined or pulled out of, including NATO and the Paris Climate
Agreement.
I expect the prevailing direction of U.S. foreign policy over these last
decades to continue: more lawless bombing and killing multiple countries
under the cover of "limited engagement," continuing genocidal sanctions
against countries like Iran and Venezuela, ongoing treatment of Latin
America as an American fiefdom, and militarism and conflict continuing to
be
the dominant organising principle of U.S. foreign policy, rather than, say,
co-operation and stopping climate change," he added.
Independent journalist Caitlin Johnstone recently mockingly wrote that
Biden
will have "the most diverse, intersectional cabinet of mass murderers ever
assembled." If representation is important, it is because it helps assure
that people from all walks of life will have a seat at the negotiating
table. However, judging by Biden's wealthy picks, it appears that yet
again,
no one will be representing the great majority of working-class Americans.
