Democratic Oligarchs.

Immature and mature forms of HIV [A]

"Like immune-deficient patients, children are wide open to mental infections that adults might brush off without effort." (Richard Dawkins, Viruses of the Mind)

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Although the idea of meme already existed, Richard Dawkins, who coined the term, may have been onto something when he described meme as an infectious agent of the mind.

So, what's the problem I'm addressing? As summarized by SMH's Wright, Ireland and Grattan:

"Mr Swan accused Mr Palmer and other mining bosses Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest of wielding too much power and being a threat to democracy". (See here)

And what's the solution? Let's list the, to me, logical options:

1. Do nothing. This is not such a problem, perhaps some readers would say; or, if those readers concede that is a problem, maybe they would argue that any solution would be worse: so, just leave things as they are;
2. To do nothing is inconceivable, I'd say. We must do something: expropriate their wealth (no money, no power);
3. Tax them good, so they have less money/power: a moderate variant of (2);
4. None of the above.

Peter Hartcher, it seems, is much more imaginative. For him the options above are unthinkable, except for (4): his answer is none of the above. And he offers an innovative solution.

Quoting the authoritative figure of the "Father to Oligarchs", Anatoly Chubais:

" 'The existence of these guys [billionaires/oligarchs] is not the problem,' he [Chubais] told me in 1999. 'There are two real problems. First is the problem of political strength of government'.
" 'The solution is to strengthen the government, and in Russia that is a challenge for the next government and the next president'.
" 'The other problem is not that there are too many oligarchs but too few. We need more billionaires'." (See here)

So, those are Hartcher's premises: there is a problem, and we need to do something.

But this is his solution: the problem democracy faces when some people have too much economic power can be solved by having even more people with too much economic power. We need more billionaires! These new billionaires would be, presumably, nicer, more civically minded, than the previously existent billionaires.

In this he coincides with Bronte Capital's theory, which I summarized a few weeks ago:

"If billionaire A pushed public opinion and the government in the direction her vested interests pointed; well, perhaps then billionaire B could push public opinion and the government in the opposite direction."

There is only one teeny weeny little question I don't see these guys asking: what the fuck would stop billionaires A and B from colluding and gaining control of government? Oh, I see: billionaire B is a nice guy.

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So, there: we give up democracy in exchange for an enlightened oligarchy, trusting that the nice billionaires will push things in the right direction.

And we'll do that based on the expert advice of Anatoly Chubais:

"We were perfectly aware that we were creating a new class of owners. The privatisation was not a question of ideology or some abstract values; it was a question of a real, political daily struggle. (...)
"We did not have a choice between an 'honest' privatisation and a 'dishonest' one, because an honest privatisation means clear rules imposed by a strong state that can enforce its laws. In the early 1990s, we had no state and no law enforcement." (See "Father to Oligarchs", above)

In other words, for Chubais, the looting of public property was a reasonable price to pay. In exchange, one gains political support and on top deprives one's political enemies of positions of authority. If one becomes dependent upon our new allies and screws the livelihoods of pretty much everybody else, it is still a  reasonable trade-off.

Undoubtedly, in Chubais's case, the personal advantages he might have gained did not play any role in his choices, so we can safely follow his advice. (See also  here, here, and here)

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Now you see why this particular meme of the "democratic oligarchs" is indeed a disease of the mind. A potentially deadly disease for which immune-deficiency is quite common, it seems.

Image Credit:
[A] Diagram of the immature and mature forms of HIV. Wikipedia.

The CIA Goes Green (!?)

A few weeks ago, I mentioned this statement by the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey:

"Australia runs as a meritocracy. We earn rewards based on merit and effort".

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One of the richest Australians, billionaire Clive Palmer, was quoted today by ABC News in these terms:

"Queensland businessman Clive Palmer has accused green groups of being funded by America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
"Mr Palmer has referred to a paper produced by environmental group Greenpeace which calls for action to stop the expansion of the Queensland coal industry.
"He says it is tantamount to treason.
" 'This is a serious matter indeed because it goes to the political independence of all Australians', Mr Palmer said". (See here)

The Fairfax Media Online (Brisbane Times):

"While brandishing a copy of the report this afternoon, Mr Palmer said it was the result of a CIA conspiracy involving the US-based Rockefeller Foundation.
" 'This is funded by the CIA,' he said.
" 'You only have to go back and read ... the report to the US Congress that sets up the Rockefeller Foundation as a conduit of CIA funding'.
" 'You only have to look at the secret budget which was passed by Congress last year - bigger than our whole national economy - with the CIA to ensure that'.
" 'You only have to read the reports to US Congress where the CIA reported to the president that their role was to ensure the US competitive advantage - that's how you know it's funded by the CIA'." (See here)

Updated on 21-03-2012: Fairfax Media video link.

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You be the judge, or see here for more comedy-grade political debate.

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Oh, man! You've gotta love this march:

Update:
21-03-2012.  The comedy continues!

Asked last night about Palmer's comment, federal opposition leader Tony Abbott, the man whose self-professed place is not to defend some of the richest people in Australia, said:

" 'He's a larger-than-life character and I think when he says that the Greens want to stop the coal industry he's absolutely right - of course the Greens want to stop the coal industry,' Mr Abbott told Channel 10". (See here)

I can't blame him for that, though: Palmer is known of his donations to the QLD and federal opposition.

Still reading from ABC News:

"A CIA spokesman has told the ABC via email that the claims are wrong.
" 'Simply put, these allegations are false,' he said". (See above link)

And who is this unnamed spokesman? -one might feel tempted to ask the ABC journalist. I guess he can't be named: that would be top secret!

But the fun doesn't stop there, no siree Bob!

Drew Hutton, an environmentalist and QLD Green big-wig named by Palmer, is considering to sue Palmer for defamation:

"Queensland Greens founder Drew Hutton plans to sue billionaire Clive Palmer, saying the mining magnate has accused him of treason. (...)
"The Greens were being funded by 'an offshore political power' and that was tantamount to treason, Mr Palmer said. (...)
" 'Treason is a capital offence in many countries,' Mr Hutton said. 'As a proud Australian, I am disgusted by these bizarre and dishonest allegations'." (See here)

So, what's the fun in that? Well, Palmer himself has initiated his fair share of law suits. (See here and here)

Just to celebrate, click once more the YouTube link above!

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25-03-2012. I'm one of Annabel Crabb's biggest fans. The ABC Online's political writer, now apparently back to Fairfax Media's stable, is great fun to read.

Her pieces are always witty and, frankly, I often end up laughing my ass off with them.

But she is also perceptive. She notes that we don't hear much about BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata these days.

She's right. We don't hear much about these 3 "behemoths", and least of all from federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, who's focused on Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest and Clive Palmer.

At one hand, that's understandable: the 3 Aussie gazillionaires have their own way of making themselves the centre of attention.

But is there more to it than that? "That's because they [BHP Billiton's Marius Kloppers, Rio Tinto's Tom Albanese, and Xstrata's Mick Davis] got what they wanted", says Annabel.

She might be onto something here. See my observation:

"Of course, you don't expect Swan to acknowledge the ministry he's a part of exemplifies the inordinate level of influence those vested interests exert, do you?" (here)

Maybe I should have added unmentioned to the "those vested interests" bit.

Europe: Baled Out (?)

Upon news that private Greek government bondholders agreed to have their holdings reduced by up to 74% of their face value, it appears the requirements for the second Greek bailout were fulfilled.

Stockmarkets around the world seemed subdued, however:

Dow Jones  +14.08 (+0.11%)
FTSE 100   +27.76 (+0.47%)
Dax        +45.67 (+0.67%)
Cac 40      +9.12 (+0.25%)
(See here)

Have we seen the last of this slow motion train wreck? Maybe.

Business Spectator/AAP:

"The agency that oversees financial derivatives [ISDA] says a massive debt relief deal for Greece constitutes a so-called credit event, meaning it will trigger payouts on bond insurance [CDS].(…)
"That means holders of credit default swaps on Greek bonds will be able to claim insurance payments as a result of Greece's decision to force its debt holders into a bond swap." (See here)

In the Greek case, these payouts are estimated at US$3.2 bn.

At one hand, this averted Robert Peston's scenario. (See here)

At the other hand, the debts of other European nations, like Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland are similarly covered by CDS (altogether, some US$2.7tn in CDS in circulation).  And after Greece, it is not inconceivable that a nation could trigger a credit event. (See here)

Baled Out!

Greece 'Closes in' on Debt Swap as Deadline Looms.

That's the title both BBC and Bloomberg's were showing.

As of writing this (5:15am Australian time), the BBC news item (8 March 2012) had been last updated  at 16:52 GMT. (See here)

Frankfurt and Paris were up.