Review: Shadow Elite
by Janine Wedel
The New 'Flexian'
Transnational Elites
By Ariana Huffington
Huffington Post
My first HuffPost Book Club selection of 2010 is Janine Wedel's Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market. It's a gripping, disquieting book that exposes and explains why it's been so hard to bring about any real change in our country -- why Washington no longer seems capable of addressing the problems our nation faces. Fingers have been pointed at everything from gerrymandering to partisan polarization to the misuse of the filibuster. But, according to Wedel, the real problem is much deeper -- and more disturbing -- than any of these.
As she writes in Shadow Elite, a new "transnational" class of elites has taken over our country: "The mover and shaker who serves at one and the same time as business consultant, think-tanker, TV pundit, and government adviser glides in and around the organizations that enlist his services. It is not just his time that is divided. His loyalties, too, are often flexible."
Wedel dubs this new class of influencers "flexians," and the closed system they've created for themselves the "flex net." She attributes their power, among other factors, to the "embrace of 'truthiness,' which allows people to play with how they present themselves to the world, regardless of fact or track record."
(more...)
email2friend
by Daphne Wysham
As the Kyoto Protocol comes into force this month, a carbon rush is gaining steam in the financial industry. Investors predict that carbon could become one of the largest markets in the world, with a trading volume of $60 billion to $250 billion by 2008.
Supporters assert emissions trading allows the invisible hand of the market to do what the “command and control†approach to regulation of greenhouse gas emissions can not; that is, meet and even exceed expectations of emissions reductions.
Critics charge that carbon trading is a smokescreen: At best, it will represent a 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
.US hegemony rapidly disappearing
US economic and political hegemony has degraded further in the rapidly globalizing world. At the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz has lost control through his own corrupt crony capitalism. But his problems stem as much from Iraq as his current missteps. Globalists who fill the bureaucracy at the World Bank never were comfortable with the US unilateralist coming to their home and Wolfowitz opened the door for their attacks. That the US can no longer control the internal politics at the World Bank is a good indicator of how far its political influence has fallen. 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. Income up for Venezuelan poor
A marketing research group, Datos, reports that the real income of the poorest Venezuelans, 58 percent of the country, have risen 130 percent under President Hugo Chavez. Although inflation is running at 19.3 percent that is lower than the 52 percent average in the early 1990s before Chavez took office.
. What they say
Neoliberal economist Adam Posen recently attacked Germany’s Mittelstand economic sector. These are the middle and small size business’ that employ 70 percent of the German people. Writing for the Peterson Institute for International 
by Cliff DuRand, Center for Global Justice
It is now generally recognized that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is an unmitigated disaster –some say the biggest foreign policy mistake in U.S. history, meaning it even surpasses the U.S. war on Vietnam. At the same time it has helped to lay bare the reality of U.S. imperialism. But lest we think of that as an aberration peculiar to the Neo-cons running the Bush presidency, I want to argue that there are basic continuities between the Non-con view of the role of the U.S. in the world and the Liberal view that has characterized the foreign policy establishment since at least WWII and certainly for the last quarter century. Let me begin by characterizing the Neo-con and Liberal views in the 
by Jerry Harris
.Viet-Nam’s stock markets grows
Viet-Nam’s six year old stock market is undergoing massive growth. Daily trading has gone from half-a-million in 2005 to $50 million a day in December 2006. Listed companies have risen from 30 to 107 and larger state enterprises, including commercial banks, are expected to be listed this year. Market capitalization has reached $14B. However Viet-Nam restricts daily share price movement for any stock to just five percent to protect the market from wild fluctuations and manipulation.
.India’s Muslims lack economic and social equality
India’s Muslim population faces similar social conditions as minorities in the US. They are unable to rent or buy property in many areas and their children are rejected from the better public schools. Literacy rates average 59 percent for Muslims compared to the national average of 65 percent. Average years in school for Muslim boys run only three years compared to the national average of four, and for Muslim girls the average is 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. IMF admits workers income is shrinking
The IMF has stated globalization is driving down the share of national income going to workers. The world labor force increased 400% over the past 20 years with China, India and eastern Europe integrating into the global economy. This has rapidly increased the number of educated workers which the IMF says has the biggest impact in the industrial countries, negatively effecting skilled workers. The IMF contends technology has a bigger impact on the unskilled and is responsible for the growing lack of income among workers in this sector. The IMF’s blame on technology sidesteps the question of who controls technology. Blaming “technology,†rather than how the capitalist class organizes its use, makes lower wages and more unemployment seem like a force of nature or the market. The IMF still defends globalization as increasing the overall pie, stating workers are doing better, they just have less of more. 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
Globalization opens the door on many possible futures. The fundamental changes taking place creates a host of contradictions played out at every level of society, all interlinked and simultaneously affecting one another. The integrative force of global production, finance and technology has qualitatively changed social relations along with culture, politics and the way we see the world and ourselves. Globalization, as a mode of accumulation and wealth has achieved a hegemonic position but its social structure and nationally defined characteristics continue to be formed. This is particularly true of its political expressions and the role of civil society.
Therefore far from a determined and certain future multiple alternatives exist, all dependent on human agency and struggle. On one extreme is the possible collapse of globalization into a world defined by reactionary nationalism, fundamentalist theologies and environmental collapse. Another future may be a long period of relative stability and capitalist transnational hegemony, punctuated by periodic crisis’ that are resolved by the institutional structures that come to characterize the globalist era. The habits, ideas and relations formed during the rise of nation states and 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. Financial independence in Latin America
A new South American development bank may be set-up to rival the US dominated Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The new bank has the backing of Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua and will have a capital base of $7B. Early priorities such as loans for education and health in Bolivia have been identified with further plans to dispense with many of the conditions normally attached to World Bank and IDB lending. An insider from the IDB was reported saying, “With the money of Venezuela and political will of Argentina and Brazil, this is a bank that could have lots of money and a different political approach. No one will say this publicly but we don’t like it.†(FT, 7/23/07, p. 6)
A big factor making the bank possible is the rise in commodity prices and a flood of liquidity allowing countries in South America to build up account surpluses and strengthen reserves. Higher commodity prices have been made possible by the rise of manufacturing in China and its huge demand for industrial inputs. Thus the global growth of third world economies allows countries to cast off 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. Vets get lousy health care
The growing scandal over health care for veterans of the Iraq war needs some historical perspective. Members of the press, Congress and Pentagon all have expressed shock and awe over the horrible conditions that some vets had to live in at Walter Reed hospital and the bureaucratic mess and hassle of receiving treatment. How can America treat its heroes in such a manner, they ask? Unfortunately it's nothing new. Viet-Nam vets got shafted with lousy health care, go back and read Ron Kovack’s well known novel “Born on the Fourth of July,†or just rent the movie. Or how about all the vets suffering from exposure to Agent Orange? For years the Veterans Administration Hospitals refused to treat them for cancer and other effects insisting there were no physical conditions caused by the deadly defoliant. It took years in court to finally force the military to pay attention and give 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. Euro Social-Democrats Warnings on High Road
European social-democrats have supported globalization as the road to better economic development, but are now warning corporations to share the profits. Joaquin Almunia, the European monetary affairs commissioner said workers were not getting the rewards from increased productivity and the situation was unsustainable. Mr. Steinbruck, the German finance minister, said soaring profits are igniting a “crisis in legitimacy…there have been falls in real wages, real incomes, that have been bad for domestic demand and we have suffered from that for quite a long time.â€
Adding to the debate was Franz Munterfering, chairman of Germany’s Social Democratic Party. Referring to hedge funds and private equity groups Munterfering labeled them “locusts.†When criticized he replied, “I have no regret 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
.Third World corporations on world stage
Antoine van Agtmael, former World Bank official head of the Emerging Markets Growth Fund, says new Third World corporations are a better breed than their developed world peers. In his new book, The Emerging Markets Century he lists the 25 emerging multinationals set to dominate the world. Among them are Samsung and Hyundai from S. Korea, Embraer and Aracruz from Brazil, Yue Yuen the athletic shoes manufacturer from Taiwan and Telmex from Mexico. To make Agtmael’s list companies need have a top three market share in enough markets to be global players and be 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. US bars students and loses scientists
Tighter visa laws have keep thousands of potential foreign students from enrolling in US universities and make it difficult for US companies to hire and meet with foreign employees. Some estimates put the loss to the US economy at $30B. On the flip side cuts in government funding of scientific research is forcing many young scientist to leave the US, most going to the UK, Australia and Singapore. Says Xandra Breakefield from Harvard Medical School, “The situation is incredibly bleak, I find myself telling 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
.Abdullah Badawi rejects Clash of Civilizations
The prime minister of Malaysia and chairman of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Conference rejected the well known “clash of civilizations†thesis of Harvard’s Samuel Huntington. Speaking of rising conflicts throughout the Middle East and world Abdullah Badawi said, “They may mobilize themselves along ideological or religious lines. But at heart the conflicts are driven by the impulse for power, territory and resources, and by resistance to this.†He also called on 
by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net
. Transnational capitalists hedge US investments
In November US investors bought a record number of foreign assets ($39.1B) amid fears of the weakening dollar. Wall Street Banks are also profiting from a boom in global business with international revenues growing three times as fast as their US investments. The world’s biggest bank, Citigroup, said its international revenues jumped 34 percent compared to an increase of about 10 percent in the US. For the first time operations in Europe and Asia earned 