We start this week's show with a radio adaptation of the 2004 film by author and investigative reporter, Dan Briody, The Iron Triangle - The Carlyle Group Exposed, on one of the largest private equity firms, with assets running into billions of dollars. This looks at the group's shady history, including blatant conflicts of interest between serving US politicians and their family members who were simultaneously working for Carlyle.
We continue with a radio adaptation of the 2011 movie Ethos, which looks at the bigger picture of the interaction of corporations with politics, focusing on the 20th century. It includes segments on politicians, banking and the media, noting the capture of the US financial system by a private cartel. It also looks at the concerted 'public relations' campaigns by corporations to promote consumer culture and notes their effects in public life - how an engaged US populace was cowed by the great depression and gradually dumbed down to become the passive consumers of the late 20th century, who acquiesced in the face of the doctrine of perpetual war for perpetual peace. After replaying Dwight Eisenhower's warning against the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex it looks at the Carlyle Group as a case study of the revolving door in US between the military, corporations, and government. It examines the War on Terror both in the context of endemic war profiteering by the Iron Triangle, and in the context of the financial elite's ambitions to create a totalitarian New World Order, such as one in which everyone is chipped. Its somewhat puzzling conclusion is that responsible consumer spending can change the system. Huh? Thanks to Dan Briody and Pete McGrain for such great movies. ★ Start a Discussion about this episode (Login Required)
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