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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"The Origins of the Overclass" by Steve Kangas
IMHO, this ought to be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the workings of the National Security State, and the unholy alliance between our government and the Plutocrats. I used to post this piece semi-regularly on DU1, and once or twice on DU2, but it seems to me - in light of the current NSA controversy - it might be useful to post it again.
This piece is somewhat dated - Steve Kangas died in 1999 - however, the history he outlines of the confluence of Big Business/Wall Street is still valid as a primer to understanding the origins of what is happening today, when private contractors are collecting data for the NSA.
The wealthy have always used many methods to accumulate wealth, but it was not until the mid-1970s that these methods coalesced into a superbly organized, cohesive and efficient machine. After 1975, it became greater than the sum of its parts, a smooth flowing organization of advocacy groups, lobbyists, think tanks, conservative foundations, and PR firms that hurtled the richest 1 percent into the stratosphere.
The origins of this machine, interestingly enough, can be traced back to the CIA. This is not to say the machine is a formal CIA operation, complete with code name and signed documents. (Although such evidence may yet surface and previously unthinkable domestic operations such as MK-ULTRA, CHAOS and MOCKINGBIRD show this to be a distinct possibility.) But what we do know already indicts the CIA strongly enough. Its principle creators were Irving Kristol, Paul Weyrich, William Simon, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Shakespeare, William F. Buckley, Jr., the Rockefeller family, and more. Almost all the machine's creators had CIA backgrounds.
During the 1970s, these men would take the propaganda and operational techniques they had learned in the Cold War and apply them to the Class War. Therefore it is no surprise that the American version of the machine bears an uncanny resemblance to the foreign versions designed to fight communism. The CIA's expert and comprehensive organization of the business class would succeed beyond their wildest dreams. In 1975, the richest 1 percent owned 22 percent of Americas wealth . By 1992, they would nearly double that, to 42 percent the highest level of inequality in the 20th century (my note: obviously it's gotten even worse in 2013).
How did this alliance start? The CIA has always recruited the nations elite: millionaire businessmen, Wall Street brokers, members of the national news media, and Ivy League scholars. During World War II, General "Wild Bill" Donovan became chief of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. Donovan recruited so exclusively from the nations rich and powerful that members eventually came to joke that "OSS" stood for "Oh, so social!"
Please take a few minutes to read the whole piece. It's a bit of historical knowledge that everyone ought to be aware of.
Thanks,
sw
KoKo
(84,711 posts)From your post...
"How did this alliance start? The CIA has always recruited the nations elite: millionaire businessmen, Wall Street brokers, members of the national news media, and Ivy League scholars. During World War II, General "Wild Bill" Donovan became chief of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. Donovan recruited so exclusively from the nations rich and powerful that members eventually came to joke that "OSS" stood for "Oh, so social!"
THINK ABOUT the ELITES of AMERICA these days........above says much about it.
ms liberty
(8,574 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)The section on the media is absolutely essential, should not be missed.
Thank you, sw.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)coldmountain
(802 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Rich people didn't get rich by doing things to help the rest of us.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Thanks for the kick!
glinda
(14,807 posts)ReRe
(10,597 posts)... to Mars and back. I pity the "unknowing" if they pass this by for whatever reason. All brings back memories. I knew something was fishy in this country back in the early 80s and started my own little research. Ha, I say little, I studied the stacks and bibliographies for about four years. This refreshes it all. Answers so many questions. Explains everything that is going on today and how they did it. If this reads like Greek to anyone, please take the time to read it. If you don't have time, bookmark it and promise yourself to come back to it. Thanks, sw, for running this again.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Thank you!
AzDar
(14,023 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,527 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)eShirl
(18,491 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)He KNEW what was really going on. I so wish that more people were familiar with his work. In my mind, he's required reading for anyone who really cares about the state of our country.
There's a line from the book, They Thought They Were Free, by Milton Mayer, that has always haunted me: "Resist the beginnings" and "Consider the ends." Principiis obsta and Finem respice. (http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html)
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Thank you for the K&R.
hay rick
(7,611 posts)Absolute classic. The internet like it was supposed to be...
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Thank you for weighing in.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Richard Mellon Scaife was the guy who paid for the Arkansas Project.
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)There is a huge amount of money to be made in the National Security State. Those with the money will do all they can to perpetuate it - not just perpetuate it but expand it, because there will be ever more money to be made.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)You and I saw these connected turds bring us Vietnam for profit. They've been pretty much at it, nonstop, since.
So...they got the files on everybody... which helps in business and politics, as well as war.
Thanks to Manning, Assange and Snowden, the BFEE's out of the bag.