Protecting the Status Quo

When the Kings of Finance come together to plot world domination the police state rolls out in full force. Budgets are never too pinched to allow 50 police officers from Milwaukee to be sent to Pittsburgh for security purposes at a G 20 event.

Perhaps we should open our ears to the protesters. We’re in the Great Recession, unions are being busted daily, unemployment is rising, and more and more are going without health insurance. But nonetheless, a battalion of security must maintain order as the status quo concocts their global economic schemes.

Dan Bice, of the Journal Sentinel (always a tool of the status quo), favors sending the officers to Pittsburgh. No, there’s no real thought offered as to why this should be. No contextual reasoning established as to why Milwaukee needs to do this. It just should.

We’ve got money for this? We always find more money for The Haves.

The police have nothing better to do right here in Milwaukee?

Update:

Dave commented that Pittsburgh is paying for this excursion. But that still doesn't explain why Milwaukee must send 50 officers to Pittsburgh. Nor does it make sense that Pittsburgh is footing the bill for this summit. Pittsburgh like many cities across the country is furloughing and laying off workers, and seeking pay freezes from those that remain. Again, money is available to support the playgrounds and adventures of the well-connected, while everyone else must sacrifice.

Updated update:

I have now been informed the G 20 is "kind of a big event" and is also being partially picked up by the Federal government. Again, the tab, the cost, of this event is only part of the problem with summits such as this one of the G 20. And, it's considered a big event because those holding it tell us they are very important and doing very important work. The G 20 exists to basically crack open "emerging" markets. Allowing wage suppression (by finding new, cheaper labor) and the introduction of new bodies to the hyper-consumptive lifestyle.

The G 20 and groups like them are part of the reason the world economy has crashed. They've maintained policy control and voice by a select few. (With the orders being primarily given by the G 7.) Sadly, relatively few whom have caused this crisis have faced any consequences. So, as long as the same old financiers, bankers, business leaders, and privileged government officials continue to sell the same old snake-oil that blew up the world economy there will be plenty of us whom will continue to call them out on their lopsided policies and media-criticism immunity.

It's not merely that this organization exists, they are holding a summit, and there are costs involved. It's that the mission and outcomes of this organization don't represent those most in need, nor their, broader, "worker" constituency. Hence my original comments about the police having better things to do here at home, my critique that nothing about the G 20 was placed in any context in the original article - explaining who they are, what their mission is, what they've accomplished, or any criticisms of the group. For people in Milwaukee to have an opinion and to decide whether it's good for the police to be allowed to go there, they should have some background information presented to them about what's actually going on there. More of a discussion of what (the event) the police are being asked to secure, rather than just an exercise in the best use of police time.

OK. That's my last on the G 20. They exist, the summit will go on, and the world will go on. I'd just like to see more time and money be directed to actual initiatives and programs that directly benefit workers and the needy around the globe. Rather than those, like the G 20, that just use that idea as a beard, continuing to follow the flawed trickle-down model, where we continue to give breaks and bonuses to the rich, with the hope that it will reach everyone else.

For Further Reading:
Attac France on the Stiglitz Report
Casino Capitalism As Usual
Stimulate or Die