CNBC Urges "Ways around Congress" in Financial Crisis

Meeting in New York on the occasion of the 63rd session of the U.N. General Assembly, members of the Socialist International (SI) called for the establishment of a World Financial Organization to provide "global stability" and regulate the financial systems of the nations of the world. This will be the inevitable result of the U.S. Congress passing a socialist-style takeover of the U.S. financial sector. This centralization of power will make it easier to integrate the U.S. into a global socialist system.

The SI, which shares the same basic economic goals as international Communism, is an association of 170 political parties and organizations from all continents, including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose Chicago branch has backed Barack Obama's political career from the start. Congressional passage of the "bailout" bill, strongly supported by Obama and Senator John McCain, sets the stage for an Obama White House win on November 4 and even further expansion of the federal government into the economy and other sectors. In short, socialism is coming, and American-style capitalism is on the way out.

A disruption occurred on Monday when the House of Representatives, led by conservatives, defeated the proposed $700 billion takeover scheme. On CNBC on Tuesday, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera brought up the subject of "four ways around Congress," adding, "I know it's a flippant title and those who believe in the checks and balances in the Constitution will probably be upset by the title." One panelist wondered if the Federal Reserve could just intervene on its own.

What they were entertaining was the notion of bypassing Congress and establishing an economic dictatorship in the United States . They thought this was something worth discussing because corporate socialists were demanding it.

I wondered how we had gotten to this time and place, in which television personalities would express open disdain for America 's constitutional system. The exchange between Caruso-Cabrera and her colleagues demonstrated that those who posture as "pro-business" can really be socialists at heart. They are also undemocratic.  

On CNBC, which I thought was pro-business, news analysts frequently complained that the "ideology" of the House Republicans had gotten in the way of the planned takeover of the financial sector. That "ideology" is free enterprise capitalism. 

Over at the "conservative" Fox News Channel, the TV personalities keep referring to this plan as a "rescue," in order to play down the magnitude of the socialist transformation of the U.S. economy. The term "rescue" sounds so much better than "bailout" or "Marxism" or "socialism."

Meanwhile―and this is no joke―Wachovia is still running TV ads on Fox News saying that people who invest in the company get showered with money from the sky as they walk down the street. This is the same company that just sold its failing banking operations.

If the "bailout" passes―and it seems as if the plan is to keep voting until Congress gets it "right"―then the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve will take control of U.S. credit markets. The next phase of the plan is global.

The proposed World Financial Organization (WFO) would "fill up the gap in the existing structure of the financial system by monitoring and regulating private capital flows," its proponents say. Those "private flows" represent capitalism.

The WFO, a long-time dream of officials of the United Nations, could lay the groundwork for a global tax to drain away some of that money for government purposes on a global basis. A proposed "World Tax Organization," which has been on their drawing board for years, would collect and dispense the revenue.

The U.N. has long played host to meetings of the SI and former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was a former vice-president of the SI. This year's meeting, which was held on September 26, included "invited guests" from the United Nations such as Juan Somavía, Director-General of the International Labor Organization; Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Program; and Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The SI proposal is coming to light as libertarian thinker and writer Martin Masse has captured public attention with an article insisting that the proposed federal takeover of the financial sector in the U.S. represents a comeback by Karl Marx, the father of communism, who had proposed government control of capital.

"If he were to rise from the dead today," Masse writes, "Marx might be delighted to discover that most economists and financial commentators, including many who claim to favor the free market, agree with him." He cites commentaries in favor of the "bailout" plan from so-called conservatives at the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal and other places.

The Heritage Foundation endorsed the takeover, even though it admits that "constitutional concerns remain" about the plan and the "centralization of power" is worrisome.

Also consider "conservative" Don Lambro of the Washington Times, who was extremely upset that conservative House Republicans had "cowardly" listened to their constituents and had voted against the plan. "Free-market advocates said that America 's free-enterprise capitalist system rewards success and punishes failure, and government has no business intervening in the marketplace to pick the winners and losers," he said. "That is unarguable when the economy is working as it should, but when entire economic sectors are failing as a result of a credit collapse or a loss of confidence in the nation's banking and other financial institutions, then it is sometimes necessary for government to step in to restore them. This is one of those times."

Indeed, Marx would be pleased.

This is a time when we get to distinguish the fake from the real conservatives.

True conservatives understand that, by capitulating to the political Left, McCain and the Republican Party will be ceding unnecessary ground to Barack Obama and his "progressive" Democrats. In the same way they have tried to strip Sarah Palin of her conservative core values and beliefs, the McCain Republicans are laying the groundwork for their own defeat because they are coming across as "me, too" politicians without the principles they were supposed to be running on.

If they are honest about this debacle, they would have to admit that, of all the Republicans running for president, only Rep. Ron Paul had predicted the crisis that was coming. But they can't admit this because they know in their hearts that their proposed "solution," which amounts to more government, more spending, and more debt, can only make things worse in the long run. And that is why Rep. Paul and so many House conservatives so strongly opposed it. The takeover plan will only postpone the inevitable and leave us with a much bigger government.

Obama's backers in the Democratic Socialists of America are ecstatic and preparing for a complete government takeover in the U.S. "While recognizing the critical limitations of the Obama candidacy and the American political system," the organization said in a statement, "DSA believes that the possible election of Senator Obama to the presidency in November represents a potential opening for social and labor movements to generate the critical political momentum necessary to implement a progressive political agenda."

The DSA cautioned, however, that the Left should not be so involved in the national presidential campaign that it ignores the general election races for the U.S. House and Senate. "We need more progressives in Congress as well as increased Democratic majorities," it said.

With the collapse of the McCain campaign, and the complete mishandling of Governor Palin's candidacy, it looks like a landslide for Obama and his socialist backers. Normally Republican states are now reported to be moving from McCain's column and going for Obama.

The Socialist International, meanwhile, is preparing for a high-level meeting in Mexico on November 17-18, "to discuss an agenda with the urgent world financial situation at its center, following U.S. elections."