The story behind “Sell Freedom, Buy Control”
The way to appreciatie how I arrived at my conception of “Sell Freedom, Buy Control” is to study two things that happened in the early 1970s:
Firstly, in 1971 Nixon closed the Gold Window. The US economy had started to hit certain fiscal limits. The monetary system was trying to tell us that we might be nearing the buffers. The evidence of problems was there for all to see.
Secondly, the book “Limits to growth” was published in 1972. It told of the dangers of presuming infinite growth in a finite world. It sold millions of copies and had the potential to shape both policy and expectations of people in the developed world. What ever happened to those concerns about our limitations?
The backlash was formidable. The extent of propaganda aimed at demolishing the idea of resource limits was matched by the sheer extent of economic manipulation to support a more upbeat narrative.
The US subsequently embarked on a re-structuring that essentially involved it extracting tribute from the rest of the world (rather than growing benignly / organically). Tying in Western Europe and Japan to a fiat money mirage kept the illusion going. It bought 30-40 years of apparent peace and stability. It also provided the basis for a fundamental re-structuring of wealth and class relations; all operating covertly.
Since 2007 the house of cards is starting to topple; meanwhile the bilking of the system is just becoming more overt, if you just know how to look for it.
David Harvey’s “A brief history of Neoliberalism” is a great primer on the economic & social warfare aspect of the current crisis, showing how the 70s marked a turning point
David Strahan’s “Last Oil Shock” covers the resource issues and the extent of insider / political manipulation that has been happening for the last 30-40 years to hide the impending problems from the public.
Taken together a credible narrative of our times unfolds.
For a more jovial (but no less powerful) summary, Rob Newman’s History of Oil is a truly eye-opening account of the 20th Century, and what may be in-store for the near future:
This is the story of our times. But it is one that the media refuses to tell.
