Re: [Marxism] Trumponomics as professional wrestling

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 1/9/17 2:51 PM, John Reimann wrote:


So, it's not that the Democrats are the answer, but I do think that
Trump's election represents a qualitative change from what we've seen
over recent decades.



We'll see. The one thing I am sure about is that WWIII is not about to 
happen. Comrades really need to read the NY Times article I quoted from. 
In fact, let me post it here:


Jared Kushner, a Trump In-Law and Adviser, Chases a Chinese Deal
By SUSANNE CRAIG, JO BECKER and JESSE DRUCKER

On the night of Nov. 16, a group of executives gathered in a private 
dining room of the restaurant La Chine at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in 
Midtown Manhattan. The table was laden with Chinese delicacies and 
$2,100 bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild. At one end sat Wu Xiaohui, 
the chairman of the Waldorf’s owner, Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese 
financial behemoth with estimated assets of $285 billion and an 
ownership structure shrouded in mystery. Close by sat Jared Kushner, a 
major New York real estate investor whose father-in-law, Donald J. 
Trump, had just been elected president of the United States.


It was a mutually auspicious moment.

Mr. Wu and Mr. Kushner — who is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka 
and is one of his closest advisers — were nearing agreement on a joint 
venture in Manhattan: the redevelopment of 666 Fifth Avenue, the fading 
crown jewel of the Kushner family real-estate empire. Anbang, which has 
close ties to the Chinese state, has seen its aggressive efforts to buy 
up hotels in the United States slowed amid concerns raised by Obama 
administration officials who review foreign investments for national 
security risk.


Now, according to two people with knowledge of the get-together, Mr. Wu 
toasted Mr. Trump and declared his desire to meet the president-elect, 
whose ascension, he was sure, would be good for global business.


Since the election, intense scrutiny has been trained on Mr. Trump’s 
company and the potential conflicts of interest he will face. But with 
Mr. Kushner laying the groundwork for his own White House role, the 
meeting at the Waldorf shines a light on his family’s 
multibillion-dollar business, Kushner Companies, and on the ethical 
thicket he would have to navigate while advising his father-in-law on 
policy that could affect his bottom line.


Unlike the Trump Organization, which has shifted its focus from 
acquisition to branding of the Trump name, the Kushner family business, 
led by Mr. Kushner, is a major real estate investor across the New York 
area and beyond. The company has participated in roughly $7 billion in 
acquisitions in the last decade, many of them backed by opaque foreign 
money, as well as financial institutions Mr. Kushner’s father-in-law 
will soon have a hand in regulating.


The Anbang talks, which have not previously been reported, began roughly 
six months ago — “Well before the president-elect’s victory,” Mr. 
Kushner’s spokeswoman, Risa Heller, noted. That was, however, just as 
Mr. Trump clinched the Republican nomination. While the talks are far 
along, representatives for Mr. Kushner said some points remained 
unresolved. Ms. Heller declined to outline the financial terms under 
discussion.


Mr. Kushner, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has hired 
a leading Washington law firm, WilmerHale, to advise him on how to 
comply with federal ethics laws should he join the White House staff as 
an adviser to the president. The firm has concluded that one potential 
sticking point, a federal anti-nepotism law, is not applicable, though 
not all ethics experts agree. While the law prohibits federal officials 
from hiring relatives for agencies they lead, Mr. Kushner’s lawyers 
argue, among other things, that the White House is not an agency and is 
therefore exempt.


As for conflicts of interest, Mr. Kushner would be required to make 
limited financial disclosures, which could give the public a clearer 
picture of his holdings. And, unlike Mr. Trump, who as president will be 
exempt from conflict-of-interest laws, he would have to recuse himself 
from decisions with a “direct and predictable effect” on his financial 
interests.


Jamie S. Gorelick, a WilmerHale partner who served in the Clinton 
administration, said that while plans were not final, Mr. Kushner was 
taking significant steps to extricate himself from the family business. 
“Mr. Kushner is committed to complying with federal ethics laws, and we 
have been consulting with the Office of Government Ethics regarding the 
steps he would take,” she said.


He will resign as chief executive of Kushner Companies, and though the 
law does not 

Re: [Marxism] Trumponomics as professional wrestling

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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Of course, it is true that Obama led the way to Trump, including both
foreign and domestic policy - from Syria to privatization of public
education. But I think it's also a bit more complex than that. It's a bit
like saying that the neoconservatives didn't represent a real change in US
foreign policy. They did, though, and the disasters they were responsible
for (disasters for US capitalism) and the ones they had planned (especially
an attack on Iran) were why the tops of Corporate America replaced them
with Obama, a president who was much more strategic and who understood that
US capitalism does need allies and cannot just send troops in wherever and
whenever it likes, despite the fact that no force can militarily stand up
to them.

Take the appointment of Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor. There's
a reason he was fired from his last job as intelligence head of the Defense
Intelligence Agency - he was considered too eccentric, to given to
conspiracy theories. See this article

in the New Yorker, for example. Then there are his rants about Islam. All
the serious strategists for US capitalism would be aghast at this sort of
thing because it plays right into the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists.

In general, the tops of the US military tend to be more strategic and
closer to the tops of the US capitalist class and their strategists than
almost any other sector of US society. But there is also a layer that more
resembles "Dr. Strangelove" - the truly crazed elements. Flynn represents
that type.

It's similar with a whole series of other Trump appointments.

There is another point: What Trump has set loose will not be so easily put
back in the bottle. This is especially so as far as "free" trade, and in
particular the TPP. This pact was not only important for economic reasons,
but for strategic ones as far as combating the influence of China in Asia
and elsewhere. Will Trump now be able to sign a TPP? Seems unlikely, and
some of his appointments indicate that he doesn't intend to try.

So, it's not that the Democrats are the answer, but I do think that Trump's
election represents a qualitative change from what we've seen over recent
decades.

John Reimann
-- 
"No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them."
Asata Shakur
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