Manufactured Poverty

During the summer of 2020, celebrated tech guru Elon Musk arrogantly tweeted - "We will coup who ever we want, deal with it."

He was referring to the orchestrated removal of Bolivian's president Eva Morales who had nationalized his country's resources for the benefit of its domestic population and in the process, lifted millions out of poverty. Morales also presided over unprecedented GDP growth (highest in South America) during his 14 years in power and enjoyed approval ratings above 60%. Musk, like many authoritarian corporatists wanted everyone to know that world resources are technically the property of the United States, and in this case, his company (Telsa) who's car batteries rely upon Bolivia's Lithium to operate.

Of course, this is just the most recent example of US medeling in Latin American affairs. In fact, a 2005 Harvard Review of Latin America (LaVista) article revealed the U.S. had intervened 41 times during the last hundred years in an effort to control and extract resources, install corporate interests and/or arbitrage currencies to benefit wall street bankers. These cases do not include incidents in which the United States sought to depose a Latin American government but failed in the attempt.

The pattern is clear and well documented; whenever a South American president is elected to install policy that benefits its people (as apposed to foreign corporations) he or she becomes targeted for removal through a systematic process that's been fine tuned over decades of implementation. For further detail and color on the subject, I recommend John Perkins,'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' or Alan McPherson's, 'A Short History of US Interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean'.

So how does this translate to poverty? If it's not glaringly obvious to you by now, let me spell it out. Resource extraction by way of theft and extortion equals less sovereign wealth which translates to a lower supply of money (at a lessor value) which limits opportunity within the general population. To cite another example, a liquidity drain happened during the Great Depression in the United States, albeit, for a short period of time. Lower levels of liquidity also limit the number of resources focused on education which is the root cause of overpopulation and the never ending cycle of poverty. Further, the uneducated poor typically fall prey to the billion dollar drug trade and all of its residual nastiness. Clearly, a relentless cycle that is purposely manufactured, implemented and managed by the 1% who benefit.

If you evaluate South America from the perspective of its natural resources alone, the entire population of every country should be living in middle class comfort. Oil, Precious and Rare Earth Metals, Agriculture and Fisheries can be found in just about every country in large quantities that exceed the needs of the continents low population to land mass ratio. But that's the opposite of what you see down here. Instead, it's crumbling infrastructures, desperation and living conditions that many would consider uninhabitable. Why? Because the Imperial nation that touts its role as the purveyor of freedom and democracy simply won't allow it. After all, an educated and informed public might develop critical thinking skills that generate awareness leading to the termination of these impropriaeties for good. And the Empire simply cant allow that to happen.

“ Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate." Edward W. Said

One final note. None of Musk’s company's are technically profitable and it’s possible they may never reach that level of self sustaining solvency-a simple business concept that is mandatory for every small businessman in the country. Further, each and every one of his company’s relied upon the government to stay afloat through subsidies, grants, exclusive contracts, tax breaks and/or low cost loans. And all the while, he claimed the libertarian label.

Meanwhile, Musk remains one of the world richest individuals worth hundreds of billions in assets. So how does a guy reach this level of wealth with companies that don’t make any money? Welcome to the neo-liberal ponzi of our 21rst century. It’s a system that enables the Federal Reserve to fuel chosen wall street characters with digits they created out of their computers while deflating the value of your savings. And it's the same system that allows these very people to pay minimal to no income taxes.