Spectral Evidence in the 21st Century

In the corporatist trans-nationalist resources grab, any failure to meet projected and expected profits places the effected governments of trade agreements and populace in line for a lawsuit to obtain the monies the trans-nationalists consider that they lost and want. This is the core of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) contracts agreed upon in China, the US, Canada and the UK as designed by transnational corporations. No one voted for this, nor were there any referendums, but this is what we get from behind secret, closed door agreements between international corporations and their paid for government PR representatives who collectively are seeking profits from the grass roots internationally no matter how. In short, if expected profits fail to materialize, they can be collected via punitive fines from the unemployed and working poor across the developed world via their governments. What is left of social programs will be ransacked to bail out the transnational corporations that are “too big to fail” or for that matter, suffer less profits. As they now hire the governments, the corporations are now the real law and government and that was once called fascism. Max Keiser would call this a corptocracy or a kleptocracy. The chief aim is utmost efficiency in profit grabbing no matter how. IF the market provides and satiates their enormous appetite, THEN the international working class will be OK; or will they? If their projections fall short, then we are on the hook for that shortfall plus legal costs. This means austerity will be intensified beyond what it already is.

TPP and TAFTA are tied into the huge oil and pipeline projects in Alberta Canada as one of its many interests. They are also interested in the huge Chinese market that could see huge profits. There is tremendous oil lobbying bribes to get governments to heel, despite popular resistance. One of the developments of the 2008-09 sub-prime mortgage driven crash that went globally viral, was the relocation of industry from the US/Canada and UK to Asia where labour is much cheaper. Tens of millions lost jobs and homes in the US and UK, while simultaneously, China's and India's economies exploded into new growth. For the US, Canada and the UK, it was austerity in increasing doses with each tightening of the screw by the IMF and WB, further immisseration the poor and working poor. This has had political ramifications as well with the re-emerging right wing such as the Golden Dawn that is virulently anti-immigrant. Every country hit by post crash austerity has moved strongly against immigrants, unless of course, they are brought over on temporary work visas to work below legal minimum wage for six moth stints. Domestic workers lose out and are directed by the likes of neo-Nazis to target minorities.

It is clear that “too big to fail” corporations now run the planet like a company town, where the boss/owner of the corporation is the law, the bank, the landlord, the store and the armed state, that are all hired by him/her, answerable only to the boss and no one else. Anyone stepping out of line places themselves in the sights that is reminiscent of the anti-terrorist legislation that targets critics, whistle blowers and anyone who supports them as the threat. Thus, anyone who “rants” against these oligarch bosses with substantial proof is labelled a terrorist. These “terrorists” threaten the ability to amass profit by any means possible.

It is also clear that according to market theory of supply and demand, that the only ways to make a profit is to buy cheap and sell dear. If the market can support high costs, even if the supply is artificially manipulated into a deficit thereof, the customer in search of a commodity will pay more if they think the supply is short and that there is a threat of a sell out. Crises of overproduction often tip the scale to cheap commodities and substantially lowered profits. The loss of profit, either by market failure (like that caused by austerity) or a crisis of overproduction, or both, would be a trigger for a lawsuit bailout. The boss of the corporatist company planet would insist on the expected profit, no matter what. For banksters, this would mean derivatives piled on top of derivatives ad inifinitum, It also is done by quantitative easing (QE), backwardization and many other fraudulent practices. But, since resource industries and manufacturers cannot pull these things out of thin air like in the case of a fiat currency where all that is needed is to run the printing presses in order to “acquire value”, they have to use other means. That means now appears through negotiated trade agreements to be “reasonable profit expectations” based on nothing more than the speculation of the corporate bosses equivalent of spectral evidence.

For those who require a little explanation, spectral evidence hails from the medieval days of witch hunts. All that was required to convict someone of witchcraft and heresy, was the witness of someone; sometimes extracted under torture, that the target was in league with the devil and thus should confess and recant or be burnt at the stake. In the dark ages, where plagues were the norm, the death of cattle was often blamed on witchcraft and those malevolent folks who were seen as being witches in league with Satan, were the causes of disease, loss and harm. The unfortunate cattle breeder whose livelihood suffered destruction from a plague would resort to blaming a devilish influence, not being wiser to any other influence. Old crones and other unpopular folk were rounded up and trials were set up in some cases to establish guilt or innocence of witchery. The judges and jurors would have to listen to often fantastic stories without concrete evidence and thus decided cases on what was invisible evidence arising out of the supernatural world's influence. Thus, life and death decisions were based on spectral or invisible evidence. One such test for innocence or guilt of witchcraft was the dipping chair. Accused witches were strapped to a chair on a lever and lowered into the water of a river or lake in a form of water boarding to extract a confession. Alternately, they were bound hand and foot and thrown into the water. If the accused floated, they were a witch and then pulled out and burned at the stake. If they sank and drowned, they were deemed innocent and had found their way to God. None of this served to restore lost property, but helped the church maintain rule by terror in its heyday.

Fast forward to today, where transnational imperialist oligarchs insist on profits no matter what. It is a kind of blackmail. It is the equivalent of the medieval charge of heresy against God. Either hand over what you have for shoddy planned obsolescence, or the oligarch will see to it that you will be sued into oblivion. Don't expect to get anything in return if the latter course is pursued. When the bankster or collection agency hirelings of the oligarch/boss come to collect on the lawsuit for the failure to provide profits, you may well be placed in one of the oligarchs private for profit prisons to work as an indentured slave for the balance of your miserable life in order to maximize the expected profits. Another difference arises that it is not a single culprit, as in the case of a witch, but an entire nation society that will be so charged under such spectral evidence. Indeed, without substantial checks and balances from an independent body, where is the guarantee that they won't sue even if they meet projected profit targets?