In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.
I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints.
The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." Major General Smedley Butler.(1881-1940.) As quoted in the 2/10/10 issue of http://www.globalresearch.ca/
The international decline of financial capitalism presents a crossroads for humanity. Awakened from the miasma of the Bush-Cheney years by sudden financial discomfort, Americans and others find themselves potentially bankrupt and enslaved by large financial institutions, who have robbed national treasuries with impunity.
Perhaps the fog of war-mania will also lift, as governments turn to internal spying, political incarceration and martial law to control their angry citizens. South Carolina's legislature is reportedly considering a law to suppress free speech by forcing critics of the U.S. government to register as dissenters. There has been a general use of 911-ism as an excuse to discourage street protests and marches in the U.S. generally. State police organizations increasingly back neo-con candidates.
To those who are currently untouched by the collapse in the American economy, I say, "It isn't over yet." Ancient wisdom dictates that disaster teaches a society compassion and levels the great economic divide which causes greedy domination by the wealthy. The cycle of history. The financial collapse may well take the bloated wind out of the military-industrial complex which has gotten us here.
It will be increasingly important for each person to adopt a daily practice to get through these changes. That practice may include brave activism for social and economic justice despite potential harm. Clinging to the selfish materialism and blind nationalism of the last two decades will not cut it when the whole world is in crisis and one rising force, China, starts calling the shots.
