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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
42. The hell with humanity! Thankfully, the rich'll be A-OK in floating cities...
Mon Jul 15, 2013, 03:40 PM
Jul 2013
The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles

By Mark Ames, AlterNet
Posted on June 2, 2010, Printed on June 2, 2010

What happens when Americans plunder America and leave it broken, destitute and seething mad? Where do these fabulously wealthy Americans go with their loot, if America isn't a safe, secure, or even desirable place to spend their riches? What if they lose faith in their gated communities, because those plush gated communities are surrounded by millions of pissed-off Americans stripped of their entitlements, and who now want in?

SNIP...

The floating castle is a longtime dream of libertarian oligarchs -- a place where they can live their lives in peace free from the teeming masses of starving losers and indebted parasites and their tax demands. Since they’ve grown so rich off of America, they have enough spare change to fund projects like the Seasteading Institute, run by Milton Friedman's grandson, Patri Friedman, and financed by the bizarre right-wing PayPal founder, Peter Thiel. It couldn't have come a moment sooner for Milton Friedman's grandson, who was best known until recently for running a grotesque advice blog for married swingers, PUA4LTR (Pick Up Advice For Long-Term Relationships). Actually, Patri Friedman ran that pick-up advice blog with his wife--the two of them are apparent big-time cyber-swingers, apparently--posting blog entries saying things like "Why Should Husbands Become PUAs? Because otherwise, your wife will talk like those wives on the blog My Husband Is Annoying."

Both Thiel and Milton Friedman's grandson see democracy as the enemy--last year, Thiel wrote "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible" at about the same time that Milton Friedman's grandson proclaimed, "Democracy is not the answer." Both published their anti-democracy proclamations in the same billionaire-Koch-family-funded outlet, Cato Unbound, one of the oldest billionaire-fed libertarian welfare dispensaries. Friedman's answer for Thiel's democracy problem is to build offshore libertarian pod-fortresses where the libertarian way rules. It's probably better for everyone if Milton Friedman's grandson and Peter Thiel leave us forever for their libertarian ocean lair--Thiel believes that America went down the tubes ever since it gave women the right to vote, and he was outed as the sponsor of accused felon James O'Keefe's smear videos that brought ACORN to ruin.

While Thiel and Friedman are busy cooking up their libertarian dystopia, the Frontier Group investment firm -- an offshoot of the Carlyle Group -- has already entered the realization phase with the Utopia floating castle. Frontier Group, was founded by some of the same big names from the notorious Carlyle Group--the private equity firm that brought together right-wing oligarchs like George H. W. Bush and other top American officials with their billionaire pals in Saudi Arabia like the Bin Laden family, who together raked in enormous profits thanks to the War on Terror that their kids Dubya and Osama launched.

While neither Bush nor the Bin Ladens are principals in the Frontier Group, its founding director, Frank Carlucci, is a name they know well, and you should too. Carlucci ran the Carlyle Group as its chairman from 1989 through 2005, right around the time that the wars started going undeniably bad, and floating castles started to look like a viable plan. But Carlucci's past is much weirder and scarier than most of us care to know: whether it's his strangely timed appearances in some of the ugliest assassinations and coups in modern history, or serving as Carter's number two man in the CIA, and Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense, if Frank Carlucci (nicknamed "Creepy Carlucci" and "Spooky Frank&quot is the founding director of a firm that's building floating castles, it's a bad sign for those of us left behind.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/story/147058 /

In addition to helping keep the Pentagon chubby after the Cold War, Carlucci is/was a big wig in the Carlyle Group.
K&R marions ghost Jul 2013 #1
Checks & Balances are what They've deleted .... orpupilofnature57 Jul 2013 #3
They are systematically deleting the Constitution. nt woo me with science Jul 2013 #44
Maybe next time they're all together you could tell them . orpupilofnature57 Jul 2013 #2
"The money is there to solve these problems -- if our leaders wanted to solve them." Fumesucker Jul 2013 #4
Perhaps, it's just that he-- chervilant Jul 2013 #8
I still believe in the inherent goodness of humankind truebluegreen Jul 2013 #27
"We're Broke!" is the biggest lie of our age. reformist2 Jul 2013 #70
K&R...n/t ms liberty Jul 2013 #5
And, the band plays on... chervilant Jul 2013 #6
Majority of Americans today are brainwashed sheepie, not caring, not understanding and I think RKP5637 Jul 2013 #16
On top of that BobbyBoring Jul 2013 #41
Yep, well said! As we used to say in one of the companies I worked for ... RKP5637 Jul 2013 #68
Yeah, they have a plan to deal with catastrophic climate change and the global resource Warren Stupidity Jul 2013 #7
The Oligarchs Own The Politicians And Control The System For Their Benefit - To Hell With The Proles cantbeserious Jul 2013 #9
and the Corporate controlled M$M enables it through its complicity. watoos Jul 2013 #11
I regard the M$M as the propaganda masters. nt snappyturtle Jul 2013 #23
anti trust laws abelenkpe Jul 2013 #60
k&r for exposure. n/t Laelth Jul 2013 #10
Yesterday was Bastille Day The Wizard Jul 2013 #12
The heads of some CEOs & Board members need to roll, too. CrispyQ Jul 2013 #26
Post removed Post removed Jul 2013 #30
Love that pic corkhead Jul 2013 #56
It reminds me of some bad old days..... AverageJoe90 Jul 2013 #57
Remind me when we left those bad old days? Hydra Jul 2013 #64
The ONLY fights we have made ANY movement to the Left on are LGBT, bvar22 Jul 2013 #72
Oh, I agree Hydra Jul 2013 #73
oops, on second thought... corkhead Jul 2013 #69
Could they at least get WalMart SCVDem Jul 2013 #13
Best post I've seen on DU for awhile - TBF Jul 2013 #14
They stumble with blinders on and fall hook line and sinker for all types of propaganda, becoming RKP5637 Jul 2013 #17
+1 woo me with science Jul 2013 #43
du rec. xchrom Jul 2013 #15
K. & R. Rochester Jul 2013 #18
TPP and TTIP Marblehead Jul 2013 #19
Yeah. Zorra Jul 2013 #20
Eloquent summation of the great demise.K&R nt snappyturtle Jul 2013 #21
K&R. I say we demand and elect politicians willing to pass CCFR, Complete Campaign Finance Reform! Dustlawyer Jul 2013 #22
k/r marmar Jul 2013 #24
Wish I could rec this about a million times CanonRay Jul 2013 #25
Excellent article. The truth is here: CrispyQ Jul 2013 #28
Exactly right. truebluegreen Jul 2013 #29
There IS a method behind their madness Jessy169 Jul 2013 #31
Interesting. RedCappedBandit Jul 2013 #37
Yes I think that is exactly what is going on too. LiberalLoner Jul 2013 #52
I reject this 100% (nothing personal, because I know my opinion is just that...opinion) Moostache Jul 2013 #58
I agree with you on many points Jessy169 Jul 2013 #74
K&R. nt DLevine Jul 2013 #32
K&R woo me with science Jul 2013 #33
Everything the MSM allows us to bicker about is a distraction RedCappedBandit Jul 2013 #36
A few of us recognize this. Enthusiast Jul 2013 #66
Hey billionaires!! How are you going to continue to siphon wealth.... Initech Jul 2013 #34
It's not about the money at that level, they already have far more than they could ever need. Egalitarian Thug Jul 2013 #35
At a certain point, they won't be able to work together to the extent they do now. RedCappedBandit Jul 2013 #39
Exactly. They, as a group, are precisely the wrong people to achieve anything positive. Egalitarian Thug Jul 2013 #40
KnR. Threads such as this are why I continue to come to DU RedCappedBandit Jul 2013 #38
The hell with humanity! Thankfully, the rich'll be A-OK in floating cities... Octafish Jul 2013 #42
Floating castles--otherwise known as Sitting Ducks Demeter Jul 2013 #46
The 1% are delusional Demeter Jul 2013 #45
Parasites are exactly what they are duffyduff Jul 2013 #50
Yup. LiberalLoner Jul 2013 #53
Despite the celebratory messages from the White House and MSM.... bvar22 Jul 2013 #47
^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^ woo me with science Jul 2013 #48
Thanks, but I am deeply ashamed of the World I am leaving to my children and grandchildren. bvar22 Jul 2013 #51
No doubt nolabels Jul 2013 #65
k&r avaistheone1 Jul 2013 #75
Absolutely. K&R. nt. polly7 Jul 2013 #49
. blkmusclmachine Jul 2013 #54
DURec leftstreet Jul 2013 #55
so much for the 3-legged stool SnakebiteSnakebite74 Jul 2013 #59
I wish to God I could argue with you on this, even just a little 99th_Monkey Jul 2013 #61
esponce to 99monkey political_battle Jul 2013 #62
Which "they" are you referring to? 99th_Monkey Jul 2013 #63
Thank you. Kicked and Recommended. Enthusiast Jul 2013 #67
Yet people keep voting for them, voting to empower them. Waiting For Everyman Jul 2013 #71
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