As I we reading the post above from the Washington Post in which they detailed the events surrounding the downfall of one term mayor of Washington DC and Democrat Adrian Fenty I stepped back from the "transaction" of this scenario and looked for the pattern within which this should be placed.
Here we have a Black, Democratic mayor of a city with a large population of economically under-deployed Blacks who are the "rank &; file" and an overlay of "progressive who are Black" activists that seek to retain the appearance of "control" over the political institutions. The activists claim these "rank & file" Blacks as their protectorate. The "rank & file" see this overlay as their "voice" for they are "voiceless". (note: I chose not to use the word "disenfranchised" because it is not an accurate term here. "under-deployed" is a more accurate term)
Since I am far more familiar with the political machinations of Atlanta and Philadelphia than I am of Washington DC and Baltimore in reading this article the face of Atlanta's "Domestic Economic Hit Men" came to mind. These are the progressive activists who in the name of protecting the interests of "the least of these Blacks" in Atlanta ran Grady Hospital - the hospital of last resort in Metro-Atlanta as a political patronage machine. When the hospital was near economic collapse about 4 years ago they made an indictment against the state for the "racism" which had them sitting by and not offering money as "poor Black people risked losing their access to health care" if the hospital was to close.
When a hospital rescue plan was develop in which the entity would be turned into a "corporate non-profit hospital" they doggedly stood opposed to this plan. It took away the politically appointed board and proposed to replace them with a diverse group of individuals, particularly those who could raise funds from corporate donors.
The flow of corporate dollars into Grady had frozen up because to do so was to "put good money in after bad". After two years of new management - the fund raising exceeded the goals. The hospital's future was no longer in doubt.
As "permanent activists", however, the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were intent on finding something to attack.
- The new CEO of the hospital received a $200,000 bonus in pay in support of his having exceeded the fundraising targets. With this taking his compensation to over $600,000 per year the activists noted how much indigent care could have been paid for with this sum of money. They argued that this new scheme was merely an attempt to use the hospital as a sieve to channel money directed toward the hospital into the hands of the high-paid, corporate-loyal hospital administrators. They mentioned nothing about the new financial health of the facility, night and day from when they had control
- When Grady's new board decided that they wanted to get out of the kidney dialysis business and thus would close several clinics around the metro-area, allowing the array of private clinics that are paid by Medicaid to provide these services - again the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were powered back into action.
In summary the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" are a group of "poverty ideologues" who's attention is directed at the last remaining vestiges of economic activity in their domain of control and seek to put their imprint upon the entity with the goal of "controlling the money" and "eliminating the exploitation" of the least of these.
The "Domestic Economic Hitmen And The 'Rust Belt' "
Every time I present the facts that I have imparted from my research which says "the Rust Belt was created by forces more than 'greedy corporations who moved overseas'", the forces of organized labor and the political machines in these places ALSO played the part in the ultimate demise - I get attacked for not following the popular line of thinking. Just like the tale of "The Southern Strategy" and "Reagan went to Philadelphia Mississippi to send a message to Black people" - if you stray off the beaten path because the facts don't support this tales OR there were far more powerful forces that make these functionally irrelevant to our present conditions - you should expect to be attacked as a consequence of not going with the flow.
In the case of modern day Washington DC - it is experiencing an economic revitalization. Its once dilapidated communities are being recapitalized. The problem is that there are two "foreign groups" that are apparently making the most headway - White Americans and Ethiopian immigrants.
The ill-fated Mayor Fenty, it seems, did not 'defend' the interests of the Black "least of these" community within the District. Instead of assuming a stance of "racial protectionism" in defense from market forces he made the mistake of taking a "post-racial" line which says "my job is to revitalize the city not pander to provincial racial interests within.
Fenty ultimately made the mistake of buying into the notion that in grading a "level playing field" and then allowing market forces take place on the newly smoothed surface that old claims of unevenness and advantage would be sublimated. Boy was he wrong.
Please note the two points of irony. The "Progressive who is Black" often uses the term "Post-racial" as an indictment against White America. In as much as THEY told us that racism is over per their willingness to vote for a Black president - those who make such an indictment pointed to various racial incidents (and/or promoted all criticism of the president as being motivated by racial hatred) as proof that Blacks were correct to be skeptical. These same people did not factor in the organic Black racialism that still remained. It is assumed to be INFERIOR to the racialism coming from Whites - you see.
In addition the meme of the "level playing field" was shown to be merely a tool to bash one's adversary over the head. Similar to the call for "diversity" - both are used as calls to this adversary who holds the power position to "strive toward a higher order of human connectedness" and "realize the world that we share together". When this "domestic economic hitman force" is asked to be the diversify-ee they expresses their EQUAL HUMANITY and show resistance and intolerant just like those who stood against them in the past.
The critical difference is that the "Domestic Economic Hitman" has the grand indictment of "Slavery and Jim Crow Oppression" as his cover. He argues that since his interests have been so up-ended as documented by history - this modern day attempt to protect what little he has from being over run by other "tribes" is merely an attempt to prevent those who have ADVANTAGE from "When Affirmative Action Was White" from carrying this advantage though to another interval of time.
Of course - the fact that they treat their brothers in the African Diaspora - the Ethiopian immigrants - as a threat as well - would seem to deflate this claim. The "Domestic Economic Hitman" has no more need to be intellectually pure than does the White conservative that he battles against. Both are equally inclined to cherry pick history to support their narrative.
When it comes to the Rust Belt region of the United States (Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, etc) he is unable to accept that his constant work as a "counter-balance" to the corporatists, while having short term benefit in salary and working conditions for the "sellers of labor" against the "exploitation" put forth by the corporate "consumers of labor" - his lack of a sense of balance ultimately pushed these "consumers of labor" to seek out a far less hostile place to base their production works.
With the departure of his long time adversary the "Domestic Economic Hitman" had to find some other center of economic activity in his domain of control to "struggle" against.
With so many of the corporate powers having departed - he because to turn his sights toward the GOVERNMENT. The notion of "social justice entitlements" owed to every member of America - per the "national contract" that we had as our bond triggered the "Domestic Economic Hitman" to focus more doggedly upon taking over the upper rungs of government. With control over local governments in hand, he set forth to take over county governments, then states, then more thorough control over the Federal government.
You see - while this corporate capital was able to "vacate" from his local domain of control , going away toward a district that his taxes and regulation were not in force - by taking NATIONAL control - there would be no where for these corporatists to run to. Running off to a "right to work state" in the South would be nullified because the federal government has control over all interstate commerce. Packing up his domestic US operations and moving them to China, India or Guatemala would be neutralized as the federal government also controls all trade treaties.
When Democratic Corporatists like President Clinton began to support "free trade agreements" and "fast track approvals" the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were up in arms. They saw that "NAFTA" and "GAAT" and trade agreements with Columbia as a threat to their desire to have monopoly control over the US labor monopoly and the import rules.
The "Domestic Economic Hitman" is unaware of the fact that he is merely a monopolist who seeks to use the very same tactics that are used by "corporate monopolists" - CONTROL the inputs to a process and create scarcity and the prices that are extracted from a process can be kept artificially high.
The corporatist uses an abundance of labor to keep his salary payouts low.
The labor monopolist uses controlled access of labor to starve the demand for labor and thus attract a higher payout. Failing this he uses legislation to dictate a salary floor for labor (minimum wage/ living wage).
The Domestic Economic Hitman Fires Upon Anything That Moves Within His Domain
With his adversaries having reacted to the attacks by the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" against anything that is economically alive in his domain of control - MOVING their operations after the plant has reached the "end of life" - the "Domestic Economic Hitman" sought to control other institutions within, having lost a significant portion of the private sector.
He shifted toward building up an overlay of federal subsidies and programs that would flow into his community. In the past one's labor activity drove the resources the family would receive in support of their standard of living. If you didn't work there was no safety net to catch you. In the new world of activism - the nation of people was to show that they equally valued all people by using the federal government to build up a safety net in which everyone was guaranteed never to fall below a minimum standard.
The biannual political motion of the activist was successfully switched toward electioneering. By getting more favorable people into Congress who would fortify these federal programs as a guaranteed entitlement due to one's American citizenship - and then TAXING the wealthy - the location of the corporate production (having vacated to "right to work states" became irrelevant.
It is critical to understand - since this ideology made WORK LESS RELEVANT THAN ENTITLEMENT - it mattered not that the plant that was once in Detroit Michigan is now in Tennessee, free from labor union strong arming. As long as the federal taxation overlay extracted the economic productivity from this union-free center of production and applied it where necessary based on the assured entitlement - the functional effects of the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were accomplished.
The Impact Of Abstracting Work & Competency Development From One's Standard Of Living
In the economic "yin and yang" of life one move begets a response in kind. The hollowed out factories which I saw with my own eyes recently in Detroit has trigged "idle minds" in this and other places. Having separated work activity from the resources applied to one's standard of living - a class of permanently "under-deployed" Black males was created. (I know some of you were wondering if I was going to tie all of this back together. :-) ) (Again I refuse to use the term "economically disenfranchised as this makes the case that there was an overt conspiracy AGAINST these Black males. In truth they are victims of 'unintended consequences' and 'benign neglect' BOTH stemming from the domination of an ideology that molests economic and societal/cultural truth.)
In a follow up to this post I will channel the "Domestic Economic Hitman" on his willingness to accept a lower wage rate for the under-deployed If doing so would:
The "Domestic Economic Hitmen And The 'Rust Belt' "
Every time I present the facts that I have imparted from my research which says "the Rust Belt was created by forces more than 'greedy corporations who moved overseas'", the forces of organized labor and the political machines in these places ALSO played the part in the ultimate demise - I get attacked for not following the popular line of thinking. Just like the tale of "The Southern Strategy" and "Reagan went to Philadelphia Mississippi to send a message to Black people" - if you stray off the beaten path because the facts don't support this tales OR there were far more powerful forces that make these functionally irrelevant to our present conditions - you should expect to be attacked as a consequence of not going with the flow.
In the case of modern day Washington DC - it is experiencing an economic revitalization. Its once dilapidated communities are being recapitalized. The problem is that there are two "foreign groups" that are apparently making the most headway - White Americans and Ethiopian immigrants.
The ill-fated Mayor Fenty, it seems, did not 'defend' the interests of the Black "least of these" community within the District. Instead of assuming a stance of "racial protectionism" in defense from market forces he made the mistake of taking a "post-racial" line which says "my job is to revitalize the city not pander to provincial racial interests within.
Fenty ultimately made the mistake of buying into the notion that in grading a "level playing field" and then allowing market forces take place on the newly smoothed surface that old claims of unevenness and advantage would be sublimated. Boy was he wrong.
Please note the two points of irony. The "Progressive who is Black" often uses the term "Post-racial" as an indictment against White America. In as much as THEY told us that racism is over per their willingness to vote for a Black president - those who make such an indictment pointed to various racial incidents (and/or promoted all criticism of the president as being motivated by racial hatred) as proof that Blacks were correct to be skeptical. These same people did not factor in the organic Black racialism that still remained. It is assumed to be INFERIOR to the racialism coming from Whites - you see.
In addition the meme of the "level playing field" was shown to be merely a tool to bash one's adversary over the head. Similar to the call for "diversity" - both are used as calls to this adversary who holds the power position to "strive toward a higher order of human connectedness" and "realize the world that we share together". When this "domestic economic hitman force" is asked to be the diversify-ee they expresses their EQUAL HUMANITY and show resistance and intolerant just like those who stood against them in the past.
Of course - the fact that they treat their brothers in the African Diaspora - the Ethiopian immigrants - as a threat as well - would seem to deflate this claim. The "Domestic Economic Hitman" has no more need to be intellectually pure than does the White conservative that he battles against. Both are equally inclined to cherry pick history to support their narrative.
When it comes to the Rust Belt region of the United States (Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, etc) he is unable to accept that his constant work as a "counter-balance" to the corporatists, while having short term benefit in salary and working conditions for the "sellers of labor" against the "exploitation" put forth by the corporate "consumers of labor" - his lack of a sense of balance ultimately pushed these "consumers of labor" to seek out a far less hostile place to base their production works.
With the departure of his long time adversary the "Domestic Economic Hitman" had to find some other center of economic activity in his domain of control to "struggle" against.
With so many of the corporate powers having departed - he because to turn his sights toward the GOVERNMENT. The notion of "social justice entitlements" owed to every member of America - per the "national contract" that we had as our bond triggered the "Domestic Economic Hitman" to focus more doggedly upon taking over the upper rungs of government. With control over local governments in hand, he set forth to take over county governments, then states, then more thorough control over the Federal government.
You see - while this corporate capital was able to "vacate" from his local domain of control , going away toward a district that his taxes and regulation were not in force - by taking NATIONAL control - there would be no where for these corporatists to run to. Running off to a "right to work state" in the South would be nullified because the federal government has control over all interstate commerce. Packing up his domestic US operations and moving them to China, India or Guatemala would be neutralized as the federal government also controls all trade treaties.
When Democratic Corporatists like President Clinton began to support "free trade agreements" and "fast track approvals" the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were up in arms. They saw that "NAFTA" and "GAAT" and trade agreements with Columbia as a threat to their desire to have monopoly control over the US labor monopoly and the import rules.
The "Domestic Economic Hitman" is unaware of the fact that he is merely a monopolist who seeks to use the very same tactics that are used by "corporate monopolists" - CONTROL the inputs to a process and create scarcity and the prices that are extracted from a process can be kept artificially high.
The corporatist uses an abundance of labor to keep his salary payouts low.
The labor monopolist uses controlled access of labor to starve the demand for labor and thus attract a higher payout. Failing this he uses legislation to dictate a salary floor for labor (minimum wage/ living wage).
The Domestic Economic Hitman Fires Upon Anything That Moves Within His Domain
With his adversaries having reacted to the attacks by the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" against anything that is economically alive in his domain of control - MOVING their operations after the plant has reached the "end of life" - the "Domestic Economic Hitman" sought to control other institutions within, having lost a significant portion of the private sector.
He shifted toward building up an overlay of federal subsidies and programs that would flow into his community. In the past one's labor activity drove the resources the family would receive in support of their standard of living. If you didn't work there was no safety net to catch you. In the new world of activism - the nation of people was to show that they equally valued all people by using the federal government to build up a safety net in which everyone was guaranteed never to fall below a minimum standard.
The biannual political motion of the activist was successfully switched toward electioneering. By getting more favorable people into Congress who would fortify these federal programs as a guaranteed entitlement due to one's American citizenship - and then TAXING the wealthy - the location of the corporate production (having vacated to "right to work states" became irrelevant.
It is critical to understand - since this ideology made WORK LESS RELEVANT THAN ENTITLEMENT - it mattered not that the plant that was once in Detroit Michigan is now in Tennessee, free from labor union strong arming. As long as the federal taxation overlay extracted the economic productivity from this union-free center of production and applied it where necessary based on the assured entitlement - the functional effects of the "Domestic Economic Hitmen" were accomplished.
The Impact Of Abstracting Work & Competency Development From One's Standard Of Living
In the economic "yin and yang" of life one move begets a response in kind. The hollowed out factories which I saw with my own eyes recently in Detroit has trigged "idle minds" in this and other places. Having separated work activity from the resources applied to one's standard of living - a class of permanently "under-deployed" Black males was created. (I know some of you were wondering if I was going to tie all of this back together. :-) ) (Again I refuse to use the term "economically disenfranchised as this makes the case that there was an overt conspiracy AGAINST these Black males. In truth they are victims of 'unintended consequences' and 'benign neglect' BOTH stemming from the domination of an ideology that molests economic and societal/cultural truth.)
In a follow up to this post I will channel the "Domestic Economic Hitman" on his willingness to accept a lower wage rate for the under-deployed If doing so would:
- Keep them busy and thus out of jail?
- Have them doing productive pursuits that build up personal competencies and community enterprise
Today the macro-theories that are in place in these centers are ultimately counter to the interests of competency development and local management of human resources per the need to control as many variables as possible as if you OWN THEM.
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