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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
12. Here's some new job openings perfect for those who like to look after them.
Mon Oct 6, 2014, 08:09 PM
Oct 2014


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 /

Those who can afford it know they can trust Frank "Carlyle Group's Man in the Congo" Carlucci with their floating freaking assets.
Oh, thank god! I was getting worried about them for a bit. smirkymonkey Oct 2014 #1
Here's some new job openings perfect for those who like to look after them. Octafish Oct 2014 #12
Let them live on their libertarian castles, they'll end up like the kids in Animal Farm. Dont call me Shirley Oct 2014 #27
Do not let the label "video game" fool you DonCoquixote Oct 2014 #37
Those will be very easy targets to hit. hifiguy Oct 2014 #50
But hey, if you work hard - you too can be a billionaire! Rex Oct 2014 #2
I know it, right? Octafish Oct 2014 #13
We will always owe the company store. Rex Oct 2014 #35
+1 woo me with science Oct 2014 #42
Yeah. Things could always be worse. Octafish Oct 2014 #59
It's a vacuum now. orpupilofnature57 Oct 2014 #3
Who stepped in to fill the void with dollars? The Washington Greenrefs. Octafish Oct 2014 #58
+1000 !!!! orpupilofnature57 Oct 2014 #63
I don't understand economics or physics that well, but it seems to me logosoco Oct 2014 #4
Well hey now, I'm starting to think this whole "trickle down" thing NuclearDem Oct 2014 #5
Oh, I feel the trickling down. progressoid Oct 2014 #45
How are they supposed to survive on a paltry 2.29 trillion? LeftofObama Oct 2014 #6
You already are...The $32 Trillion Hidden Offshore Needs IRS Attention. Octafish Oct 2014 #38
So "trickle down" should kick in real soon now. Just be patient. 20-30 more years, tops. Trust us. Scuba Oct 2014 #7
Oh, I am so stealing that.... daleanime Oct 2014 #19
Possibly the end to the greatest middle class democracy in history and the rhett o rick Oct 2014 #8
That's quite something to ignore. nt woo me with science Oct 2014 #43
Oh, now you've done it! KamaAina Oct 2014 #9
For balance: ''Who Rules America?'' Octafish Oct 2014 #11
Wow. Excellent resource. woo me with science Oct 2014 #40
You deserve a big thank you for all the great data and articles you post. THANK YOU!! rhett o rick Oct 2014 #48
So? daleanime Oct 2014 #18
We used to have a poster who reposted from WSWS constantly. KamaAina Oct 2014 #24
For that? daleanime Oct 2014 #25
He must have made some other faux pas. KamaAina Oct 2014 #46
Looks to me like America JEB Oct 2014 #10
Let's put them in the 99-percent tax bracket. It's a fate worse than death for the greedhead. Octafish Oct 2014 #57
That's a lot of loot. JEB Oct 2014 #60
Thank you for the heads-up, JEB! Octafish Oct 2014 #61
When is the ship of state going to capsize and will the captains of industry go down with the ship? xocet Oct 2014 #14
Once they git AWLL of it-- it'll be trickle-down city! johnnyreb Oct 2014 #15
Damn, just missed the top 400...... Uben Oct 2014 #16
K&fuckingR.... daleanime Oct 2014 #17
K&R. We must hold both parties accountable for this, and we need a revitalized union. liberal_at_heart Oct 2014 #20
When do we break out the pitchforks and torches? Initech Oct 2014 #21
Wow, that's a lot of moolah to leave behind! Major Hogwash Oct 2014 #22
Yes but you can have a lot of buildings and maybe an small city flamingdem Oct 2014 #23
Whoop-dee-doo! Major Hogwash Oct 2014 #29
Mine might be a shack flamingdem Oct 2014 #30
I'd like to have 1 very large flourescent sign on mine. Major Hogwash Oct 2014 #32
I'm there! Sounds like a party flamingdem Oct 2014 #33
Oh, man, can't have a drum set up in it. Major Hogwash Oct 2014 #34
These billionaires all suffer from severe mental and emotional illness, Sociopathy/Psychopathy. Dont call me Shirley Oct 2014 #26
Sick folks, eh? RobertEarl Oct 2014 #28
Sociopaths are highly functioning people often charming and able to delegate authority. Dont call me Shirley Oct 2014 #41
That floating castle thing may not be such a bad idea Duer 157099 Oct 2014 #31
My first thought is: Pirate submarines LongTomH Oct 2014 #53
Shiver me timbers, hifiguy Oct 2014 #54
time to kill the greenspan FICA CAP NOW, they can fucking pay SOMETHING. pansypoo53219 Oct 2014 #36
Hope and Change! woo me with science Oct 2014 #39
Kick n/t Oilwellian Oct 2014 #44
I wonder what the graph will look like after 100 more years of this librechik Oct 2014 #47
United States of Oligarchy, woo me with science Oct 2014 #49
This is probably a significant underestimate. hifiguy Oct 2014 #51
".....doing absolutely nothing" is too right! LongTomH Oct 2014 #55
I'm sure that if you ask them, they'll tell you that they need more. notadmblnd Oct 2014 #52
Bipartisan oligarchy. Bipartisan corruption. woo me with science Oct 2014 #56
Since I have you on ignore Ichingcarpenter Oct 2014 #62
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