By Sven Åke Bjørke 26 January 2018                                                       

What is neo-liberalism, trumpism, and how do we detrump?

Do you know what neo-liberalism is? It is an ideology with which we all have been indoctrinated for the last generation. Most of us don’t even realize it is an ideology, and are unable to define it. 

“It has played a major role in a remarkable variety of crises: the financial meltdown of 2007‑8, the offshoring of wealth and power, of which the Panama Papers offer us merely a glimpse, the slow collapse of public health and education, resurgent child poverty, the epidemic of loneliness, the collapse of ecosystems, the rise of Donald Trump.”” Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling” Monbiot, The Guardian, 2016

CC From Highmoon’s Cartoon Gallery

Neo-liberalism

Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, two Austrians, originally defined the ideology of neo-liberalism. They perceived social democracy as collectivism, and as being a kind of communism destroying individualism and leading to totalitarianism. In 1947 Hayek founded an organization that would spread the doctrine of neoliberalism – the Mont Pelerin Society. It was immediately supported by conservative multimillionaires from various countries. The Mont Pelerin members formed a transatlantic network of very rich people, journalists and academics, in turn founding a series of neo-liberal “think tanks” in reality propaganda centers – like  the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies, Heartland institute  and the Adam Smith Institute.

Hayek originally meant that governments should regulate competition to prevent the development of monopolies. One of Hayek’s more important apostles, Milton Friedman and his “Chicago boys”, disagreed, claiming that monopoly power is a reward for efficiency. Hayek later agreed. The old-fashioned liberalism wants free enterprise and fair competition and sees monopolies as a serious problem for a free market. The liberal states thus have laws against cartels and monopolies, and often even criminalize efforts in that direction.

Neo-liberalism in a nutshell

Neo-liberalism in a nutshell, is simple: Let the markets rule. Remove everything that restricts the big corporations. Big corporations are big because they are efficient (In contrast to public services). Governments and other institutions that make rules and laws restrict the big corporations and should be dismantled or minimized. All public assets and activities should be privatized. If people do not want to pay for it, it is not worth having.

Products and services many are accustomed to get in a welfare state, you have to pay for in the neoliberal state: health services, education, roads, bridges, clean water,  the judiciary, police protection etc. Everything in the neo-liberal state is owned by private individuals or corporations, and if you want access, you must pay. Tolls for using a road or a bridge or a tunnel are of course on private hands. If you vote for a neo-liberal party, you vote for more tolls, more privatization of schools and health services. It may be a little less tax, at least for the richest.

For neo-liberalists, state and public services are of the evil, and must be done away with. The people with capital decide.  Everyone else and everything else is disposable.

Local communities should compete in attracting big corporations and compete for the few jobs available. Globalization means that if a product or a job is cheaper elsewhere, it must be outsourced. There is no local social contract between a corporation and a community. According to Margareth Thatcher “there is no such thing as society”.

This system was first tried out in Chile in 1973 during the US supported military coup, where the elected president Allende was murdered together with thousands of other victims. Milton Friedman, Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon were some of the powerful people supporting the junta led by colonel Pinochet. Neo-liberalism was subsequently forced on the world through union busting, coup d’états, by exploiting natural disasters and wars. Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Boris Yeltsin and Deng Xiaoping were the most prominent politicians promoting the ideology into practice.

Their slogan was: “There is no alternative.”

The ideology has possibly had some positive effects and “lifted” millions of people in e.g. China out of misery by moving polluting commodity production from the West to Asia

However, the negative impacts have now accumulated, with the rise of oligarchies, plutocracies, increasing inequality, raw exploitation of the poor, increasing frequency of financial crises, pollution, man-made global warming and depletion of ecosystems.

Trumpism

Donald Trump represents neo-liberalism in its extreme forms. The goal of the Trump government seems to be a curious mix of Enron corporation practices, Ku Klux Klan redneck beliefs combined with the ideology  of the extremist Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia, Fossil fuel lobbies’ propaganda and Russia’s KGB/FSB surveillance community. Expressed in a nutshell, the Trumpism story can be summarized in these points:

1. Markets rule and Greed is good. Money is what matters in life
2. Climate change is a Chinese hoax and an international, well-orchestrated conspiracy theory. More CO2 is good for the planet!
3. Nature is unlimited and there to pillage and pollute. It is hubris to even think that we small human beings have in our power to harm the big nature in any way
4. White men are better. Non-white immigrants are the root cause of most problems
5. Vulnerable and poor deserve their fate
6. The 1% RICH deserves their golden towers
7. Anything public or commonly held is sinister and should be attacked. The rich have a right to steal or pay symbolic sums for anything owned in common. Decimate the public sphere and public interests!
8. International law, conventions, laws, regulations and justice are for the losers.
9. Fear: We are surrounded by danger and should only look after our own. Universal human rights are rubbish. The ultimate test for the free nations, is the right for insane youngsters to own military grade assault guns
10. Females’ genitals are there for the grabbing
11. Be rude! Be a bully! Be a racist! Be a plutocrat! Be a xenophobe! Be a sexist! Be a narcissist! Hate minorities! Be ruthless! Split and rule! Polarize! Win at any cost! Don’t care! Honk and drive!
12. Steal, deceive, lie, deny!
13. The winner takes it all. I win when you get screwed
14. Big corporations are always right, especially if they are Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Armaments, Big Sugar and Big Tobacco. Corporations are defined as humans and have the same rights. Monopoly is a reward for efficiency
15. Science is bullshit. Never question your own level of understanding. Never question reliability, origin or validity of your sources. Go for the easy, superficial views. Refuse to build understanding and insight. Always be cocksure when presenting your conspiracy theories and your grand thoughts, while you accuse all others, in particular serious scientists and journalists of being cocksure and just produce fake news. “Dumb ’em down!”. Minimize or remove investments in schools and teachers. Stop teaching science.
16. Pay thousands of “think tanks”, PR-institutes and “trolls” to deceive, confuse and spread doubt and paralysis. Merchants of doubt are heroes. Ensure that independent scientific advice is systematically sidelined. Appoint incompetent persons with conflict of interest to scientific top positions. Undermine protections from hazards at work and home (hazards are just conspiracy theories). Reduce public access to reliable and valid information.
17. Let one determined and effective man decide. Centralize all power in society to a handful of efficient men! Democracy is superfluous. Nations should be run like corporations
18. The quality and security of any society increase with the number of privately owned assault guns, private security companies and surveillance, privatized schools, health care and prisons; profits for the owners increase with the number of incarcerated. They are paid for by the taxpayers, and the system provides access to slave labor in addition. A win-win for the very rich.
19. Happiness is reckless, endlessly growing consumption of stuff. Mountains of garbage, poisonous water and polluted air and soils are signs of wealth.Maximum extraction, endless grabbing and disposing of people, stuff and the planet. Multibillionaires can migrate to Mars if our planet becomes uninhabitable.
20. Through disasters, wars, deceptions and shocks; make people accept public austerity, militarized police and fight each other for scraps.  Creation of high security «green zones» for billionaires, «red zones» for the rest. This has been successfully established in Bagdad, Kabul and elsewhere.
21. Unions and workers’ rights are evil
22. Disasters, genocide and wars are useful tools
23. You are alone in this world, in competition with everybody. Unless you are a millionaire, or very lucky, you are screwed, and deserve it.
24. Keep the richest of the world well organized and connected, keep all others divided and in competition with each other. Support extreme fundamentalist religious groups. They are experts in creating conflicts and fear.
25. This ideology is God’s wish, as expressed in Matthew: The one who has much shall gain more, the one with little shall lose even the little he has. This political ideology will prevail worldwide, because there is no alternative. Any critical voice is fake news.

The other story: The Leap

The neoliberal era has had its time. It is claimed that it has been “useful” as pure liberalism, a negative freedom from something (royal power, nobility, centralized state power), but it is now time to say goodbye to an ideology that is getting more and more obsolete, creating more harm than good.

“Economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment. Here we see how environmental deterioration and human and ethical degradation are closely linked. Many people will deny doing anything wrong because distractions constantly dull our consciousness of just how limited and finite our world really is. As a result, “whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenceless before the interests of a deified market, which become the only rule” (Pope Francis, 2015)

Trumpism is a form of radicalized, far-right extremism, extremely dangerous and contagious.  Detrumping our societies implies that we define what we really want, the opposite of the trump-society.
The rapid depletion of the world’s ecosystems, extinction of species, global warming and accelerating inequalities indicate that just saying No, and take some microscopic steps in the right direction, is not enough.

The notoriously poor governments and the necessity of austerity is a myth created by the multibillionaires.

Hidden under the neo-liberal rhetorical smokescreen of freedom and the free market, the real agenda lies: how to build a world-wide exploitation system where all sectors of society gather to centralize ever more power and accumulate ever more resources in the hands of the 0.1% richest men in the world.

The world is rich. But priority has been given to tax cuts and special privileges for the rich, taking from everybody else. The 1% can no longer be given priority.

Detrump and Leap!

The Leap can be summarized in the following points:

1. Governments must base their decisions on honestly made judgements supported by evidence. Any government must be responsible, accountable, predictable and transparent.
2. Economic activities cannot be harmful to our ecosystems or the prosperity of future generations
3. Public services are beneficial. Appropriate and efficient common infrastructures, waste management and public transport are too important to hand over to the whims of private businesses. Approximate free health and dental care for all
4. Progressive carbon tax on all fossil energy. Abolish fossil fuel subsidies and other kinds of support to fossil energy. Divest! Get out of your addiction to fossil energy as quickly as possible. Devise and promote new green technologies and ensure massive adoption of renewable energy sources. Prioritize non-fossil fuel jobs;
5. Energy democracy: 100% renewable energy produced and owned by local communities within the next 30 years
6. Our political systems must be fully representative, all have a vote, and every vote counts. The outcomes cannot be bought or manipulated.
7. Guaranteed universal, minimum or basic income for all legal citizens. All other social support systems and public benefits with associated bureaucracy, control entities and meaningless  (“bullshit”) jobs and courses are removed.
8. Free education for all. Education must be of high quality. It should be a joyful, motivating process, where collaboration, creativity, research, critical information literacy, discovery and real competence are highly valued. Lifelong learning must be encouraged.
9. Fertility rates must be further reduced by ensuring that women and men have access to education and voluntary family-planning services. Increase outdoor nature education for children, as well as the overall engagement of society in the appreciation of nature;
10. Priority given to investments in sectors that improve quality of life, creating more caring societies.  Important values are: Generosity, hospitality, warmth, decency, empathy, wisdom
11. Establish and develop well-funded and well-managed reserves for a significant proportion of the world’s terrestrial, marine, freshwater, and aerial habitats
12. Prioritize public transport that runs on renewable energy! Pay CO2 compensation when you fly! Reduce your use of plastic. All plastics to be either biodegradable or banned. Reduce your ecological footprint! Promote dietary shifts towards mostly plant-based foods
13. Abolish tax havens. Prosecute tax evaders who steal from all of us
14. Our commons are strictly regulated. Individuals have no right to exploit, foul or destroy what is owned by the community
15. No tax on labor. Tax on consumption, property, financial transactions, fortunes, land and use of commons such as air, water, soil, minerals and other raw material and anything that depletes our ecosystems
16. All human beings are equal for the law. Justice for all must prevail. Corporations cannot have human rights.
17. The subsidiary principle prevails: all decisions are taken at the most appropriate, lowest levels. Power is democratized and decentralized. Democracy means participation and being connected. Everyone must have equal access to relevant information needed for meaningful democratic choices
18. Demilitarize police, cut military expenses, cut arms production, close all military bases and minimize or stop arms exports. Move resources to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution through research, education, journalism and practical implementation and to measures that promote social security for all
19. Ecologically responsible and regenerative agricultural systems
20. Genuine corporate social and environment responsibility. Environment and society before profit. Economic externalities must be internalized: Negative environmental and social side-effects of production and products are the responsibility of the producer, not the public
21. When you take, take care and give back
22. Value everyone, not just the very rich with ”correct” skin color.
23. Stop siloizing knowledge. A more holistic perspectives!
24. Stop fighting each other. Organize in global, collaborating networks.
25. No more small steps. Leap! Organize LEAP groups!

Thanks to the following for good advice and tips:

Gibran Alberto Cruz Martinez, Dagfinn Haavik, Kari Tuseth, Jan Bjørke,  the Wednesday club in Arendal.  Jo Davis

Sources:

Global cooperation, networking, solidarity

The Leap manifesto: Caring for the Earth and one another
The Leap began in 2015 with the launch of The Leap Manifesto: 15 political demands from a coalition of 60 social movement leaders across Canada. It offered an inspiring, big-picture narrative for an energy transition based in principles of justice, human rights, and worker solidarity http://portside.org/2017-08-14/leap-manifesto-world-based-caring-earth-and-one-another

Out of the wreckage
A toxic ideology rules the world – of extreme competition and individualism. It misrepresents human nature, destroying hope and common purpose. Only a positive vision can replace it, a new story that re-engages people in politics and lights a path to a better world. Monbiot, G (2017) Out of the wreckage. A new politics for an age of crisis, Versobooks  http://www.monbiot.com/2017/08/01/out-of-the-wreckage-2/

George Monbiot’s “Out of the Wreckage”: A friendly critique
https://damnthematrix.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/george-monbiots-out-of-the-wreckage-a-friendly-critique/ 

A case for political revolution: The neoliberal project has left us with one choice

No is not enough. Trump the master of disaster
Klein’s new study in shock politics is a warning of the enormous toxic potential of the Trump presidency and a call to oppose it. Refusal needs to turn into resistance
Naomi Klein (2017) No is not enough   https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/22/no-is-not-enough-naomi-klein-donald-trump 

The Leap
Take the leap! Building a world based on caring for the earth and one another  https://theleap.org/

End use of fossil fuels
Canadian activists and artists back Leap Manifesto’s call to end fossil fuel use (The Guardian, 2015) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/15/canada-leap-manifesto-fossil-fuels-naomi-klein

Laudato Si
Pope Francis (2015) Encyclical letter Laudato Si – on care for our common home
Our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Towards a brighter future
Despite turmoil and breakdown in society and new populist leaders that frighten us we are heading towards a brighter future. This time is the last gasp of an age of selfishness and short-sightedness. It’s difficult to see the big picture when we are in the middle of a storm, but a storm will always calm. And in the long run, love always wins Grini, J.H. (2017) Towards a brighter future https://www.gaiainnovations.org/book/

The story of stuff community
We have a problem with Stuff. We use too much, too much of it is toxic and we don’t share it very well. But that’s not the way things have to be. Together, we can build a society based on better not more, sharing not selfishness, community not division. https://storyofstuff.org/

Japan for sustainability
For a Happy, Sustainable Future. Initiatives from Japan. For the World. Human well-being is threatened today by global environmental deterioration, social vulnerability, and economic uncertainty. Our challenge is to consider not only sustainability and future generations on our planet, but also how to make our livelihoods and communities more resilient today.  https://www.japanfs.org/index.html

Change Europe: Vote Green!
Common manifesto for the European Green parties
https://europeangreens.eu/sites/europeangreens.eu/files/2014_Manifesto.pdf

The Great Transition Initiative
An online forum of ideas and an international network for the critical exploration of concepts, strategies, and visions for a transition to a future of enriched lives, human solidarity, and a resilient biosphere. By enhancing scholarly discourse and public awareness of possibilities arising from converging social, economic, and environmental crises, and by fostering a broad network of thinkers and doers, it aims to contribute to a new praxis for global transformation.  http://greattransition.org/

Detrumping

Climate,  environment and science

10 Ways to Be a Better Environmental Steward in 2018
https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-stewardship-examples-2520328397.html

Economists Have Been Lying to Us for Decades

Carl Sagan on Humility, Science as a Tool of Democracy, and the Value of Uncertainty https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/11/09/carl-sagan-science-democracy/

The Very Real Threat of Climate Catastrophe. Christian Parenti discusses the role of both politics and the state in the climate crisis. https://www.alternet.org/environment/christian-parenti-prospect-climate-catastrophe

A Smorgasbord of Solutions for Global Warming
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/a-smorgasbord-of-solutions-for-global-warming/

‘The Battle for Paradise’: Naomi Klein on Disaster Capitalism & the Fight for Puerto Rico’s Future. Corporations are making a killing over Hurricane Maria’s destruction
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/naomi-klein-disaster-capitalism-puerto-rico

Suzuki (2018) We ignore urgent global warnings at our peril https://davidsuzuki.org/story/ignore-urgent-global-warnings-peril/

‘Traitor’ Trump ‘Colludes’ With Putin Over Oil (July 2018)
https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-putin-oil-2587581476.html

Global warming  https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/2-global-warming/

Authoritative sources on global warming  https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/2-global-warming/2-1-authoritative-sources/ 

BioScience (2017) World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/12/1026/4605229

What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse?
https://www.ecowatch.com/avoid-collapse-2520093367.html

It’s Not Too Late: A Climate Change New Year’s Resolution
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02012018/emissions-peak-paris-resolution-2017-year-review-climate-change-global-warming-technology-renewable-energy-evs

Stand up for science. Union of concerned scientists
https://www.ucsusa.org/ 

UCS (2018) Attacks on Science  https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science#.Wkp-TrpFzY8

Sidelining science
Sidelining Science Since Day One. How the Trump administration has harmed public health and safety in its first six months
https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/sidelining-science-from-day-one#.WmxkJKjiaM8

Plastic pollution

Plasticised  

Sailing past plastics

Plastic Junk Litters our Oceans, Killing Sea Life — And it’s Getting Worse

The ocean cleanup project

Quality of life, prosperity, safety

Monbiot (2017) Don’t let the rich get even richer on the assets we all share
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/27/rich-assets-resources-prosperity-commons-george-monbiot

Why Only Degrowth Will Save The World (2023) https://medium.com/the-new-climate/why-only-degrowth-will-save-the-world-2a4b1bf35011 

The Secret to Wealth and Prosperity for Any Society. Making sure parents get to decide when they want to have children is a proven strategy for communities’ well-being.  https://www.alternet.org/personal-health/secret-prosperity-family-planning-cascadia

Monbiot, G (2017) Out of the wreckage. A new politics for an age of crisis, Versobooks  http://www.monbiot.com/2017/08/01/out-of-the-wreckage-2/

Ugo Colombino (2015) Is unconditional basic income a viable alternative to other social welfare measures? Countries give basic education and health care to everyone, and for good reasons—why not basic income?
https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/128/pdfs/is-unconditional-basic-income-viable-alternative-to-other-social-welfare-measures.pdf 

OECD (2017) Basic income as a policy option – substitute of some cash transfer programs
http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/Basic-Income-Policy-Option-2017-Brackground-Technical-Note.pdf

Scott Santens: Basic income for all http://www.scottsantens.com/ 

Overwhelming Evidence that a ‘Guaranteed Basic Income’ Will Work
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/overwhelming-evidence-that-a-guaranteed-basic-income-will-work/

A greener future
https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/6-greener-future/

It’s Boom Times for Billionaires. Around the world, the labor of poor people fuels the rising concentration of wealth.
https://www.alternet.org/economy/its-boom-times-billionaires 

IPS (2018) Wealth Concentration Continues to Increase
http://www.ipsnews.net/2018/01/wealth-concentration-continues-increase/ 

Community, commons, public services

Monbiot, G. (2016) The fortifying commons http://www.monbiot.com/2016/12/15/the-fortifying-commons/

Greener architecture
https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/6-greener-future/6-5-greener-architecture/

Quality education

Quality education – the opposite of charter schools
https://eteachingandlearning.wordpress.com/quality-education/

Why Education Must Come Back to Nature
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/why-education-must-come-back-to-nature/

Governance, law

How We Can Reimagine and Reinvent Our Society in the Coming Year. Let’s say goodbye to top-down revolutions and embrace grassroots action.  https://www.alternet.org/local-peace-economy/we-can-reimagine-and-reinvent-our-society-2018

Let’s Make 2018 the Year We Rise Up and Regenerate!
http://regenerationinternational.org/

Greener law
https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/6-greener-future/6-3-greener-law/ 

Rutger Bregman: Utopia for realists. |  ‘We could cut the working week by a third’

Out of fossil fuel addiction, divesting

New York Takes Giant Step to Divest From Fossil Fuels
https://www.ecowatch.com/new-york-fossil-fuel-divestment-2518904580.html

France Approves World’s First Ban on Fracking and Oil Production (Dec 2017)  https://www.ecowatch.com/france-fracking-ban-2518885658.html

Renewable Technologies

Green technology
https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/6-greener-future/6-1-green-technology/

Solar Capacity Exceeded All Other Fuel Sources Combined in 2017, Study Finds (2018)

Green economy,  transformation

Green economy
https://agreenerfutureblog.wordpress.com/5-green-economy/

Capitalism is losing support. It is time for a new deal  https://medium.com/world-economic-forum/capitalism-is-losing-support-it-is-time-for-a-new-deal-5d0ca7992ad0

Suzuki, D. (2017) Long work hours don’t work for people or the planet https://davidsuzuki.org/story/long-work-hours-dont-work-for-people-or-the-planet/

Resisting  trumpism

As the Trump Administration Continues to Threaten the Planet, This Is No Time to Be Complacent. As the days get darker, we must keep the flame burning.  https://www.alternet.org/environment/trump-administration-continues-threaten-planet-no-time-be-complacent

Hope Trumps Nope: A Blueprint for Resistance https://www.ecowatch.com/naomi-klein-blueprint-resistance-2517475057.html

Trumpism is the personification of deception and fake news production. Train yourself in detecting fake news. https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/5-questions-detecting-fake-news

Fight Harder and Smarter Against Trumpism. While we ensure that lesser evils replace the worst evils, we also have to insist that no matter who is in power, our demands for social, racial, gender, environmental and economic justice be met. https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/fight-harder-and-smarter-against-trumpism

Trumpism

Is Donald Trump fueling a mass extinction of Democracy across the planet?
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/could-donald-trump-trigger-global-democratic-recession 

‘The Trumpification of conservatism’: How a new feud exposes the right wing’s collapse into the depths of white supremacy
https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/the-trumpification-of-conservatism-how-a-new-feud-exposes-the-right-wings-collapse-into-the-depths-of-white-supremacy/

How Donald Trump Was Bailed Out of Bankruptcy by Russia Crime Bosses
The facts read like a B-grade spy novel.
https://www.alternet.org/election-2016/how-donald-trump-was-bailed-out-bankruptcy-russia-crime-bosses

America is in a state of denial — we need to wake up to what Trump truly is

These Are the 3 Pernicious Forces Protecting Trump from Impeachment. Here’s why Trump continues to survive all the scandals and crises of his administration.(2018)
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/these-are-3-pernicious-forces-protecting-trump-impeachment

Paul Ryan’s biggest influence: Here are 10 things you should know about the lunatic Ayn Rand
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/paul-ryans-biggest-influence-here-are-10-things-you-should-know-about-lunatic-ayn

Trump Takes on the World. Trump’s scorn for human rights is making a world where only the rich and the strong will prosper. https://www.alternet.org/human-rights/trump-takes-world 

7 Times Trump Man-Crushed on Putin. Yet the president’s geopolitical bromance goes unrequited  https://www.alternet.org/7-times-trump-man-crushed-putin

Billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer funded group that produced anti-Muslim ads for 2016 election, claims investigative group   https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mercer-funding-trump-anti-muslim-advert-group-claims-2016-election-documents-open-secrets-a8290986.html

Trump, White House officials bounce along to Saudi sword dance
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/20/politics/trump-saudi-arabia-dance/index.html

Here’s How Saudi Arabia Took Donald Trump for a Ride. “Think of the Saudi-Trump relationship as the love affair from hell.” https://www.alternet.org/heres-how-saudi-arabia-took-donald-trump-ride 

Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election (NYT May 2018)

Get Ready for Mueller’s Phase Two: The Middle East Connection
https://www.thedailybeast.com/get-ready-for-muellers-phase-two-the-middle-east-connection

Trump Is a Master Game-Changer, but Not the Kind You May Think. Trump is the perfect cover for the billionares’ plan to change the American game  https://www.alternet.org/culture/another-kind-game-changer

Mapping the Koch Conspiracy
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/mapping-the-koch-conspiracy/ 

Donald Trump Is Forging an America as Greedy, Deceitful and Cruel as Its President  https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/donald-trump-forging-america-greedy-deceitful-and-cruel-its-president

Striking Teachers Are Fighting Back Against Years of Deep and Abiding Disrespect
Arizona, Oklahoma, and Kentucky were inspired by West Virginia. https://www.alternet.org/labor/why-teachers-are-striking

The Real State of the Union: 6 Ways Trump Is Bad for Food, Health and the Environment
Trump has gutted regulations meant to protect our food and ecosystems.
https://www.alternet.org/food/real-state-union-6-ways-trump-bad-food-health-and-environment

The Dumbing Down of America – By Design
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/the-dumbing-down-of-america-by-design/

Yes, America, There is a Class War, and You Just Lost It
http://www.globalpossibilities.org/yes-america-there-is-a-class-war-and-you-just-lost-it/

Koch-Funded Anti-Climate Group Tells Women to Ignore Concerns About Toxic Chemicals. A chemical industry front group defends the freedom of corporations to pollute. https://www.alternet.org/environment/koch-funded-anti-climate-group-tells-women-ignore-concerns-about-toxic-chemicals

US Today (Dec 2017)  “Will Trump’s lows ever hit rock bottom?”  https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/12/trump-lows-ever-hit-rock-bottom-editorials-debates/945947001/

How Big Oil Lost Control of Its Climate Misinformation Machine. One of the longest and most consequential campaigns against science in modern history is becoming more extreme—and turning against its originators  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122017/big-oil-heartland-climate-science-misinformation-campaign-koch-api-trump-infographic

Trump the twitter fan. But who really controls Twitter?
This Saudi prince now owns more of Twitter than Jack Dorsey does
https://qz.com/519388/this-saudi-prince-now-owns-more-of-twitter-than-jack-dorsey-does/

Neo-liberalism

Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/aug/18/neoliberalism-the-idea-that-changed-the-world

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot

Savio, R, (2018) Billionaires, Fiscal Paradise, the World’s Debt, and the Victims, IPS http://www.ipsnews.net/2018/01/billionaires-fiscal-paradise-worlds-debt-victims/

Shock therapy in economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics)

Kapitalismen som katastrof
https://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/bokrecensioner/article11284129.ab

It’s Boom Times for Billionaires. Around the world, the labor of poor people fuels the rising concentration of wealth
 https://www.alternet.org/economy/its-boom-times-billionaires

Can We Stop Pretending to Take Libertarians Seriously, Now?
https://civicskunk.works/can-we-stop-pretending-to-take-libertarians-seriously-now-778d9040f7c5

The oligarchy’s rule of law: From Boris Yeltsin’s Russia to Oklahoma http://exiledonline.com/the-oligarchys-rule-of-law-from-boris-yeltsin%E2%80%99s-russia-to-aubrey-mcclendon%E2%80%99s-oklahoma/

Rutland (2012) Neoliberalism and the Russian transition http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09692290.2012.727844

Billington (1992): The real crimes of China’s ZhaoZiyang http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1992/eirv19n07-19920214/eirv19n07-19920214_022-the_real_crimes_of_chinas_zhao_z.pdf

Do not be fooled! Follow the money trail!
https://ufbutv.com/2017/02/28/do-not-be-fooled-follow-the-money-trail/

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich by Chrystia Freeland – review (Guardian 2013) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/08/plutocrats-rise-new-global-super-rich-review

Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else  https://www.amazon.com/Plutocrats-Rise-Global-Super-Rich-Everyone/dp/0143124064