Federal (state) loans provide 90% of all student loans, while the share of private loans, though small, is gradually growing.

As of 2017, borrowers over 60 years of age have an average of about $33,800 in educational loans, which is 44% higher than in 2010. The total amount of student loans to older persons increased by 161% between 2010 and 2017. In all other age groups, growth was markedly lower.

STUDENT LOANS, DESIGNED FOR PEOPLE OVER 60 YEARS

Those pensioners who do not pay their student loans on time, the state can cut pensions and other social benefits. In 2015 alone, such measures were taken against 40,000 people over 65 years of age (362% more than 10 years before). Especially hard for those who took out a loan for their own education, but, for one reason or another, did not succeed and did not get a well-paid job.

In General, the total debt of Americans over 60 years in 2017 amounted to $615 billion-this includes credit cards, car loans, other personal loans and student loans. This figure is 84% higher than in 2010.

DEBTS ON STUDENT LOANS

The debt problem was compounded by the fact that after the 2008 financial crisis, the US Federal reserve sharply lowered base rates, which made loans much more affordable. However, the growth of supply in the labor market at the same time was not enough for people to be able to successfully settle and repay debts.

USA: EDUCATION IN DEBT AND FOR A LONG TIME

That’s why parents in the US have to work longer and longer, postponing retirement to Fund their children’s education and help them pay off loans.

In the United States in the field of education built a system that combines the worst features of capitalism and socialism:

WHY THE YOUNGER GENERATION IN THE UNITED STATES CHOOSES SOCIALISM

on the one hand, it is an absolutely socialist model in which the state guarantees loans to citizens for training, on the other — wild capitalism, with inflation and obvious cartels of educational organizations that de facto plunder both the population and the state.

The option offered by American socialists-free college for all (free education for all) — in American realities, most likely, will become the following: private universities will directly take money from the budget, and take them more and more — by analogy with American private companies from the military-industrial complex.

The capitalist option of solving the problem: to increase competition, to remove state guarantees, to break the cartels — now in the United States will not be popular, although it would be much more effective.

The post DEBT PRESS AMERICAN EDUCATION first appeared on Global Policy.

As soon as Lukashenko started talking about clearing the information field of the country, the Polish think tank Eurasian States in Transition (EAST) proposed seven measures, which fully coincide with what the President proposed and what the officials picked up.

EAST acts as a gasket to make censorship for Western organizations (and for Russia) look not as an initiative of the authoritarian regime (a formal ally of the Russian Federation), but as the activities of civil society (supposedly the opposition).

EAST’s proposals resonate with long-standing plans:

1. To clean up television from the predominance of Russian content, to make mandatory 30% of channels without Russian participation, to allow channels of anti — Russian States to enter the country-it has been done for a long time, if you clean up even more, then there will be nothing Russian there at all, and it is written immediately after the start of broadcasting of anti-Russian channels of Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

2. To remove the Russian news block is still zero and increased after the Godfather and the Dad.

3. Censoring Russian content from dubious content, by which Belarusian nationalists understand both mysticism with Ren-TV, and any Patriotic programs about the Russian army and politics — again, censorship of Russian channels is increasing every year, there is nothing new.

4. To continue to clean the Belarusian TV from the Russian language, to promote movu, vyshyvanka, Latin, churches-has been done for a long time and not only through TV, with complete disregard for the fact that Belarus is a Russian-speaking country, and movu children first learn at school, like English, German or Chinese.

5. To facilitate the registration of non-state media and websites, to make it even easier for Belarus to receive resources related to Poland, the Czech Republic, Britain and the United States — since 2014 they have already appeared and are successfully gaining an audience, there are no Pro-Russian Belarusian websites.

6. Training course “anti-Russian fakes” and misinformation of the Kremlin on the model of Germany, France, the Baltic countries, nachna from schools and ending with the officials — for this purpose in schools was introduced the subject of STEP (a school of active citizen), where it promoted the nationalist interpretation of events, but Belarusian officials have long been instructed to stay away from the Russian colleagues.

7. Dialogue with independent journalists (with ties to Britain and the United States), the creation of A public coordination Council in the field of mass information — Lukashenka has just taken initiatives on new control and evaluation bodies for the media, and anti-Russian journalists and officials have been closely communicating for a long time.

This Polish-Belarusian plan involves Stripping the Belarusian information field from Russia and has already been implemented by about 50%. Next will be the integration of the Belarusian media in the NATO information force and the swing of Russia through the left forces and liberals through various channels.

EAST was created as a “response to Russia’s interference in the us and Eastern European elections” and has ties to prominent figures of the Democratic party. The staff of the EAST often appear in the Belarusian media, allegedly by the opposition naviny.by, radio Svaboda tut.by before the newspaper of Lukashenka’s administration “SB Belarus today”.
Outside Belarus, they appear in the Polish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Estonian media as experts in the fight against Russian influence.

The post POLAND HELPED LUKASHENKO TO DEFEND BELARUS FROM RUSSIAN CULTURE first appeared on Global Policy.

– Recently, the Forsa Institute conducted a survey, which showed that the majority of German citizens have a positive attitude to the construction of the Nord stream — 2 gas pipeline. In General, 73% of respondents have a positive attitude to the project, while only 16% believe that Germany could do without it. Why Germany is so keen on the “Nord stream — 2”?

– “Nord stream-2” is, in fact, the Royal gift of Germany from Ukraine. In this case, Russia and Germany in the current political situation simply implemented this economic project. And they implemented the mobilization of this project for the simple reason that Ukraine discredited itself as a transit country. And discredited both in terms of reliability and in terms of contractual capacity. The proceedings in Stockholm and the absolute politicization of the process of negotiations on the further use of the Ukrainian gas transportation system have been booming all over the world in the last five years. All these things have updated the implementation of Nord stream 2 and enabled Germany to become a key player in the European gas market, as most of the Russian gas will be distributed through the German market — through German exchanges, through German oil and gas companies.

That’s what we are talking about and that, in fact, so concerned about the States – the economic strengthening of Germany

Moreover, the support of the Germans for this project is very clear, since Germany receives economic preferences against the background of the implementation of such a project and Russia’s political support in the European Union. First, preferences in the form of gas prices, which are clearly lower (and this is clear from the statements of German officials) than the price on the European market as a whole. And the second point is the issue of additional economic dividends that Germany receives in the form of participation in the project itself. Not only Germany, but also those countries that take part in it. By and large, these are jobs: loading of metallurgical steel enterprises, orders and contracts with service companies. Don’t forget, any modern pipeline is and telemetry, and it is connected and IT-sector. It should be understood that this is a technologically complex project, and not only large oil and gas companies are interested in its implementation, but also a number of companies that are involved in the process of its creation, in the process of its operation.

– The results of the same survey showed that 90% of German respondents believe that trump’s threats to the Nord stream-2 are based solely on economic interests — the desire to sell American liquefied gas to Germany. How realistic are these plans of the United States?

— There is nothing unreal, the whole question is the price and volume. There are very strict economic laws, and no one will go to any preferences in favor of political agreements. Therefore, the American liquefied gas will be purchased, but in small volumes. If the States cannot offer a sufficiently competitive price, then it will be a political curtsey. As it was when Angela Merkel agreed to build another, useless, LNG terminal in Germany. But again, it will be a gesture, not a real economic or business project. The volume of purchases of liquefied gas from the United States will be minimized, and this should be regarded only from the point of view of the polites in relations between the countries.

– The US has one last chance to block the gas pipeline: the introduction of sanctions against companies that physically lay pipes or participate in the financing of construction. German foreign Minister Haiko Maas said that the exit of Western companies, including German concerns, will not lead to the curtailment of the project. In this case, Russia is implementing it alone. Will Russia be able to finish the construction of the gas pipeline on its own?

– Now Gazprom is in the process of searching for loans, we are talking about six billion euros. But we must understand that there is no problem for Russia to enter the foreign borrowing market. And the profitability of the Nord stream-2 will allow you to return the borrowed funds quickly enough. In March, “Gazprom” has placed in London bonds for 750 million euros at 2.5%, and test a sovereign loan of one billion euros was under 3%. In principle, I think it will not be difficult to find 6 billion euros in foreign markets to complete this project.

As for laying pipes on the bottom, who does not want to earn? I think that, firstly, there will be willing, and secondly, there will be legal loopholes that will allow the implementation of such a project under another jurisdiction or in some other way. Because formally the building permit is granted, and no one will withdraw it — all the formal procedures are completed.

The biggest problem of the “Nord stream-2” is still not at sea, but on land. This is a question of completion of the EUGAL gas pipeline on the territory of Germany, that is, by what time it will be completed. And this is the normative regulation of the functioning of both the “Nord stream -2 “and the branches — ORAL from the” Nord stream — 1 “and EUGAL from the”Nord stream — 2”. It is here that problems may arise: arbitration, courts, blocking by the European Commission, in fact, legislative bureaucratic obstacles for the use of gas pipelines by 100%, that is, for pumping 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year through Germany. For example, Romania, as the President of the EU Council, recently submitted a new version of amendments to the EU Gas Directive, which may affect the projects implemented by Gazprom for the construction of the Nord stream — 2 offshore gas pipeline and the continuation of the Turkish stream to European countries.

– That is, the construction of Nord stream 2 will necessarily be completed?

— Yeah. But the main problem for Ukraine is not in the completion or unfinished construction of the Nord stream — 2, but inside the country. This is a question of transformation of Naftogaz of Ukraine and its transition to work according to European rules, norms and, accordingly, the creation of conditions for the preservation of transit in the largest possible volume. We are talking, first of all, about the normative part. Ukraine must meet all the conditions for the division of Naftogaz, for the creation of an independent operator, which must be certified by the European Commission. In other words, a structure that will be able to assume all obligations for the transit of Russian gas from January 1, 2020 should be absolutely ready for operation.

Further-contractual work (that in Ukraine is completely failed). Contractual work with Gazprom and European companies. And with European companies-in two directions. The first is the possibility of attracting investments or management partners, to which the Europeans, in principle, are ready. But they want to understand very clearly the economic reasons for inclusion in such projects: if there is a policy of minimizing the volume of transit, it will be wasted money. And the second is the contractual work on changing the point of gas transmission, respectively, the use of the Ukrainian route, and not the Northern direction. But it also requires interest. Europe should understand the economic reasons for the work on the Ukrainian route.

– European countries are divided: some are against the Nord stream-2, others are for, others are hesitant. Who and what did not please the Nord stream — 2?

— Satellites of the USA: Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, partially Moldova are against. And their statements are purely political. Poland, which contracts American gas and says that it will be 30% cheaper than Russian. A very controversial statement from the point of view of economic expediency of such decision. If this is an anti-Russian position, then we are again talking about politics, the economy is simply not there. Because any country, normal, European, seeks to diversify sources, that is, the more sources of income you have, the more you have room for maneuver on the price.

– Germany warned that in case of sanctions against Nord stream 2, no one will guarantee transit through the Ukrainian GTS. What does it mean for Ukraine?

– The Germans say that they are ready to guarantee transit. That is, they give an indirect hint that they are ready to contract for the supply of gas along the Ukrainian route and lobby for this issue. Ukraine considers itself the navel of the earth, the center of gas transit, but this is not so. Therefore, obtaining the support of the same Germany is important for Ukraine. For Germany, this is also interesting from the point of view of the system of a certain counterweight, so as not to become completely dependent on the implementation of the Nord stream — 2.

But again, if Ukraine tries to remain politically under the influence of the United States and at the same time receive lobbying efforts from Germany, then it will not be possible to sit on two chairs. Here it is necessary to be defined very accurately where there is Ukraine in this system of political coordinates. If it continues to go in the Wake of US foreign policy, then I am afraid that we should not count on Germany’s support — it will be purely formal.

If Ukraine wants to receive certain economic dividends and support from the major players of the European Union, primarily Germany and France (and possibly Italy, which in principle will not object to have a reserve source of Russian gas not only on the “Turkish stream”, but also on the Ukrainian route), then it just needs to determine its foreign policy priorities. Otherwise, you can just stay at the broken trough, as in the famous fairy tale.

– Ukraine has begun test operation on natural gas exports. Why this is done?

– Option two. First, when ” Naftogaz will be divided, and will operate an independent operator, of course, will be able to so-called “virtual reverse”, that is, replacement schemes. These are purely technical issues.
And the second option. That policy, which is actively implemented and will probably continue further in case of Poroshenko’s repeated victory in the elections. This is an opportunity to export Ukrainian gas after gas prices inside the country will be brought to the level of European (that is, the conditions for non-discrimination will be met, which is spelled out in the Association Agreement with the EU), and 30% of the shares of “ukrgasvydobuvannya” will be put up for sale.

– Ukraine produces enough gas to export it?

— No. But can simply further reduce its consumption. Today, Ukraine already covers two-thirds of its gas needs-have survived! – not because of energy efficiency, but because of reduced consumption. The population with” communal ” consumes about 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year, the industry consumes 10 billion cubic meters. The tendency to reduce the number of cities using Central heating is quite high. The transition to the private small boiler corny firewood, straw and dung is also quite high. Further reduction of the industry — no growth drivers are expected. So we can get to zero fast enough. In Ukraine, the construction industry and metallurgy are still quite large consumers of gas in the industry, the chemistry has already “blown away”.

I do not rule out that our own gas will be exported and imported at the same time. This is a free market, and, relatively speaking, private companies that produce five billion cubic meters of gas in Ukraine want to be able to export it freely.

The post NORD STREAM – 2: A ROYAL GIFT TO UKRAINE FOR GERMANY first appeared on Global Policy.

The change in us rhetoric to a more belligerent one is caused by the need to justify more aggressive political mechanisms of American expansion. Due to the increased capabilities of the BRICS and SCO countries, the range of opportunities for the US has significantly narrowed. It is no longer possible to conduct a blurred non-concentrated expansion, as the resistance of the vassals made the activity of competitors dangerously dangerous. Now it is possible to push through the economic decisions necessary for the USA only by very strong pressure. In this situation, energy becomes one of the types of American weapons – along with military, financial, information and intelligence-diplomatic influence. Such an addition is required by the United States in order to strengthen the limited capacity of these instruments.

The United States has openly admitted that it no longer intends to pretend to be peacekeepers and from now on its domination will be established by all available means, including energy blackmail. Political support for economic violence in the form of arguments about the” uncivilized behavior ” of some countries is surprising for its poor quality: the Minister of energy uses such childish language to justify his right to put other countries in a corner for wrong behavior, which is explained by something other than a sharp drop in the intellectual capabilities of the current American elite, it is not possible.

Terms like “don’t behave like civilized members of the community”, “will be punished,” and “it’s unacceptable” are more of the vocabulary of bad educators or school teachers than of politicians of a state claiming world hegemony. For an ideological hegemon, it is necessary to use ideological arguments rather than the lexicon of school obedience coercion. The United States has no more arguments, or rather – no more those who are able to invent them. And because they will rape the world simply without arguments. About than all and warned openly.

In principle, as a weapon, you can use anything – with a special desire

Energy is no worse than a gymnastic dumbbell, which can be hit on the head, or pens, which can be poked in the eye. Even relationships of affection or trust can be turned into weapons. If you see the world solely as a battlefield, then the accompanying tools are without exception. Another thing, what is a worldview in itself is a sign of a very angry and losing in the relations of the subject. But when the subject is not up to the choice, he goes to all, taking care of the impression.

To use energy as a weapon. it is necessary to control a huge mass of additional parameters. It is necessary to control the world’s money and the prices of raw materials, own financial system and their own vassals, world trade routes and the level of armaments of your opponents. You need to be able to maintain influence on the state of the minds of the enemy population, the ability to suppress conflicts in the elite, to solve their problems not by robbing vassals, but by matching them and your benefits.

But the possibility of the US such total control on the outcome. In absolute terms, they are large and may even rise temporarily as US GDP, but in relative terms they are melting steadily. That was the reason for the outright violence of the United States to justify this violence with the simplest formulations.

The most unpleasant thing for the United States, to which they do not want to pay attention – is the inevitability of a response suppressed their environment. Any effect always generates a reaction. If all relations are reduced in the logic of war, having altered the formula of Clausewitz, saying that politics is a war carried out by other means, then any war is aggression, to which resistance is gradually unfolding.

USA today

No initial victory, no matter how bright they may seem, do not lead to the final victory, if after each of your attack, the enemy holds regrouping forces and means and reinforces the mobilization of not wanting to obey. This is the strategy when the initiator of the war with his actions from victory to victory approaches strategic defeat. It creates an environment that, by resisting, acquires qualities that contribute to the suppression of aggression. The us energy wars with the world are the worst political decision possible. And the fact that they have taken this decision speaks of a very exhausted potential for war. We are facing a total mobilization. Hitler used it when the war was already lost, and the fighting was in the suburbs of Berlin. The result was a red banner over the Reichstag and suicide in the basement of the Reich Chancellery. Of course, in the United States believe that they are a special case of Hitler it is not an example. But Hitler thought so about Napoleon. The lack of the ability to learn from history is the main symptom of inevitable defeat.

Well, the cherry on the cake is, of course, the fact that we again see double standards of American behavior in the world – they can use energy and, specifically, gas as a weapon, and the same Russia – it can not do, and it is supposedly necessary to punish. With a fright can do so only star-spangled cowboys – is not clear. It’s like before the battle the commander of one of the armies says to his opponent- ” we can use all kinds of weapons, including guns, tanks and machine guns. And you can only bows and boomerangs.” Not so bad, right? But, in any case, Perry need to say thank you – on war, means, on war. We continue to fasten the Eurasia gas pipelines with steel clips into a single whole and further-from Korea to Germany.

The post USA: ENERGY AS A WEAPON OF PRESSURE first appeared on Global Policy.

It is no coincidence that, according to a study by an independent nonpartisan group called the Public Campaign, in recent years 30 of the most important American corporations have spent more money on lobbying politicians than on Federal taxes. This feature is the basis of democracy in the style of fascism-shifter…

The onset of democracy in the style of fascism – сhangeling

Wednesday will mark the anniversary of the first democratic elections in the United States, held in 1789. During the second half of the last century, the United States turned from a people’s democracy into a democracy in the style of fascism-a shifter. Democracy in the style of fascism-shifter a new American system, as proclaimed by the Fathers of the Constitution of the American ideals are clearly contrary to modern real us policy.

ENDGAME. PROJECT GLOBAL ENSLAVEMENT

The United States government can, of course, convince us all that it provides freedom and protection from injustice to every citizen. But, in fact, this government reveals all the most basic features of the fascist state: a one-party government, extreme economic inequality, a totalitarian police regime at home and militarism abroad, a very large-scale use of propaganda.

Political philosopher Sheldon Wolin (Sheldon Wolin) made a ruthless analysis of how the United States is increasingly becoming a totalitarian state. The US lives politically, creating a deceptive impression of a multi-party state. But don’t believe it. In fact, there is only one batch in the US. And this ruling party is a corporate-type party.

Elections offer the population two options for a single pre-prepared program: free market, neoliberal capitalism. Such a program is designed for the benefit of one elite at the expense of the majority: privatization of social services, freezing of salaries, unjustified dismissals and reduction of social security programs are strongly supported.

Adoption of the system in the style of fascism-Changeling in America did not require such strict policy measures, like voter fraud, the use of force to quell the unrest and violence. As a rule, fascism-shifter based on a policy of soft power and the illusion of choice.

The American state forces its citizens to choose between individuals, but not between real political alternatives. For example, all three candidates having the highest chances of becoming the next President of the United States inherited their political status through family: Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Hillary Clinton.

Of the last 36 years, the Bush and Clinton clans can collectively occupy the White House for as long as 28 years. The gradual disappearance of ideological differences between the political positions of the main parties reflects the decline of the national democratic system.

In America, on the contrary, corporations have a strong influence on the state, although also in favor of a rich minority. It is no coincidence that, according to a study by an independent nonpartisan group called the Public Campaign, in recent years 30 of the most important American corporations have spent more money on lobbying politicians than on Federal taxes. This peculiarity is the basis of democracy in the style of fascism-a shifter: coercive measures of rigid statehood were replaced by a hidden coup, which led to a seemingly soft, imperceptible dictatorship of corporations.

The 400 richest Americans have more wealth than most of the combined 150 million Americans. It’s very simple: the US has proved that the free market and free elections simply cannot coexist. Electoral contributions from corporations become votes; thus, the poor are marginalized in the political process. Money becomes freedom of speech-and a gag in the mouth of the poor.

How can capitalism and democracy coexist if the former seeks to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few and the other seeks to share power and wealth among the members of the majority?

Organized greed always defeats unorganized democracy

Fascism of the 20th century perceived relations between people from the point of view of social Darwinism. The theory was to elevate the status of supposedly racially superior individuals and systematically weed out the weak. Historian William L. Shearer described in his works how Hitler outlawed trade unions, the right to strike and collective bargaining. German worker in the Third Reich was no different from the” industrial slave”, subordinate to his master-employer no less than the medieval peasants, dependent on their masters.

And the Republican and democratic groups of the United corporate party, which rules America, have just destroyed the trade unions and, at the same time, very “democratically” promoted and approved the idea of corporate welfare. In the system of democracy in the style of fascism-a shifter, the richest man in the United States, Warren Buffett, pays a real tax rate, which is several times lower than that paid by his Secretary. Like all fascist regimes in history, income in the US is considered private and individual, while losses and public debt are a public, public burden.

Domestic financial policy in the Spanish, Italian, German fascist regimes was based on the nationalization of production facilities and aimed at protecting the interests of the rich, politically influential elite. In the US, financial processes that allow the elite to strengthen its economic and political privileged status have been achieved in the opposite way, that is, through privatization. Private jets, private medical care, private elite schools and private security of property and people. Therefore, we should not be surprised that the elite American politicians, regardless of the faction, always see the regime of austerity and privatization as an unshakable basis for their financial policy.

The only question where there are no differences at all between the American fascist regime and the fascist regimes of the past is foreign policy burdened with a huge military budget. In 1933, Nazi Germany’s military expenditure was 2% of the national budget; by 1940, military expenditure was 44%.

Today, the US spends more on its military needs than the entire world combined. The United States expanded its military presence through 662 bases located around the world, according to data released by the Department of the Interior’s structural report on foreign bases in 2010.

The US is hiding behind self-defence to justify its military incursions. Similarly, Germany justified its military operations by the need to protect its racial superiority. Self-defense through assault or assault for self-defense? It does not matter, the result is still the same: excessively inflated armed forces that kill hundreds of thousands of people abroad, bring the nation itself to bankruptcy, because their maintenance costs billions.

Tools of fascism of the 20th century were obvious and frankly terrible: from public executions at Franco to references in Italy Mussolini

In 1945, President Truman ordered American bombers to drop two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly killing 140,000 people. A terrible sight discovered after the clearing of the stone debris was shown on TV in American homes and responded to the public with an unprecedented political scandal. Charred bodies and destroyed Japanese family made us experts on the development of political strategies to create a more subtle weapon of mass destruction: sanctions.

In our time, American weapons have evolved perversely; new weapons are invisible and insidious, but no less deadly: they are either economic sanctions or drones or something like that.

Many Americans believe that drones (drones) and sanctions are a point and humane weapon. It is difficult to imagine more far from truth self-deception. All studies and reports agree that the guided missiles and drones have killed more children than terrorists. In addition, the UN believes that half a million Iraqi children died because of the sanctions of bill Clinton.

More innocent people have died from American sanctions than from all the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons ever used by humanity.

And at home, the Americans have to face another threat, which is becoming increasingly aggressive militarized: it is a growing police lawlessness. The most important criterion by which the emergence of a fascist regime can be determined is the state persecution of groups or persons on the basis of their social status or race. Today, the main attacks of the American police state are directed at Muslims.

Contrary to popular opinion, after the September 11 attack, right-wing radical terrorists, including white supremacists and Jewish extremists, killed many more people in the United States than people motivated by Muslim radical ideologies.

According to data at the disposal of the FBI, Muslims have committed only 6% of the total number of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States in recent decades. After September 11, the threat posed by the domestic Muslim community was deliberately exaggerated in order to spread the myth of the War on Terrorism. The results are well known: constant wars abroad, financed by corporations and costing many billions of dollars, and the gradual destruction of 200 years of civil freedom in the United States.

Without any doubt, American Muslims are exposed in their homeland fascist control system, not inferior in its debug even the East German spy network Stasi. The researcher Arun Kundnani proved that the FBI has one agent for every 94 Muslims living in the United States, which is very close to the Stasi figures (one agent for every 66 citizens).

In East Germany, the Stasi wanted people under their control to feel the oppressive power of surveillance and surveillance, because the emerging fear supported the political power of the Party. In America, the option of this tactic-style fascism-the shifter is to the vigilance of the public were euthanized, and the constant, pervasive control was invisible. There is also a very thin wall at risk, blocking the right of society to be free from government claims: the American government understands the potential risk of systematically restricting this right, so it prefers to observe its objects behind the scenes and under cover.

By actively developing a government program to improve covert surveillance of citizens, the Obama government finally strengthens the right to control Americans and, at the same time, deprives the public of the right to control their own government.

Propaganda is an indispensable tool for the establishment of democracy in the style of fascism-a shifter. Sheldon Wolin shrewdly observed that in the United States propaganda is represented by highly centralized media corporations, while in Nazi Germany it was exclusively under the strict control of the state. Thus, the illusion of a “free press”remains in America.

The American propaganda machine is extremely sophisticated

BEFORE OUR VERY EYES FAKE WARS AND BIG LIES FROM 9/11 TO DONALD TRUMP

It is not based on radio messages, speeches or leaflets distributed by the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda and public Education, on gross censorship, or on the open persecution of a free press by a Politburo. Propaganda carried out by order of “one percent” (super elite), invisible, but at the same time, almost ubiquitous. It relies not only on government brute force, but also on pop culture, Hollywood movies, mainstream art, and, of course, the media.

After all, the media form our speech, our language or semantic images. Subsequently, these images will determine our actions. Our speech is the logical core through which the public perceives the surrounding reality. Therefore, the one who controls the sources of our language and our speech also controls the sources of the collective consciousness of the society in which we live.

The corporate elites who run the editorial Board in the media control all of these sources. In 1983, the year 90% of American media was owned by 50 companies. Today, the same share belongs to 6 information giants. And that’s scary, because it only means one thing: six corporations across the country decide and dictate what to read, listen and watch to the American people.

Democracy in the style of fascism-Changeling – this is when you, of course, still recognizes freedom of speech, but the administration did not pay attention to you. “Imagine the press as a huge keyboard that the government can play on,” Joseph Goebbels, a Nazi propaganda Minister, once said.

In the Soviet Union, people were aware that only state propaganda could be read in Pravda, so they learned not to remember what they had to read. Many Americans believe that the WSJ, New York Times, CNN – reliable sources, despite numerous evidence to the contrary. How can we forget the high-profile articles published in these Newspapers about non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, how can we forget the unconditional support given by these Newspapers to the catastrophic invasion of Libya or the idea of supplying weapons to the Syrian rebels who later founded the Islamic State? And this is only an incomplete list of the constant lies preached by these seemingly reliable Newspapers.

The advantage of American propaganda is that it creates the appearance of impartiality, allowing the presence of different opinions only in minor matters. But when it comes to these functionally important for the privileged classes of corporate issues like tax inequality, or war for the enrichment of the elite, mass media is characterized by remarkable unanimity. Instilling that” socialism“,” Marxism “and” communism ” are prohibited items, the ruling elite has successfully outlawed any mention of class reforms and democratic choice.

In the terminology of the fascist shifter, corporations are people. Drones are flying machines controlled from a distance. Torture is enhanced interrogation. Conquest is liberation.

Unlike traditional fascism, the American system of control does not seek to mobilize the population, but to lull its vigilance

As Noam Chomsky pointed out, American propaganda works at a very deep level of suggestion, its behavioral and value models are fully accepted by the population, sometimes even subconsciously, its presence within society is never captured.

Life, as living from moment to moment, in a state of democracy in the style of fascism-shifter consists of alternating States of boredom, stress and acute consumer distraction. Americans are increasingly immersed in reality shows and sensor technology only to escape reality.

Americans voted for American Idol finalists more actively than for any candidate in any presidential race. Separation from reality is increasingly replacing reality itself. History has shown that elections in a distorted electoral system can not lead to the correct, opposite to the system itself, the result. 226 years have passed since the first democratic elections in America. Today, real democracy has finally died, and its place was taken by fascism-a shifter.

The post DEATH OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY first appeared on Global Policy.