Critical Thinking in the Age of Neo-Liberalism: Part II
In Part I of this post, we presented an updated version of the Branded Alphabet and invited people to test their ability to recognize both branded products and high ranking officials in the Biden Cabinet. https://griid.org/2021/06/21/critical-thinking-in-the-age-of-neo-liberalism-part-i/
In the second part, we want to present information on the members of the Biden Cabinet that are part of this media literacy exercise, shown again here below.
Critical thinking is vitally important today, with both of overload of images and messages we are constantly bombarded with. In addition, it is vitally important to think critically about the US political and economic system, which can be accurately described as Neo-liberal. For a solid explanation of what NeoLiberalism is, go to this link. https://corpwatch.org/article/what-neoliberalism
Thinking critically is especially important in this moment, since there are plenty of people that believe with a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic Party majority in Congress, that we can all relax now, because Trump is no longer in charge.
However, we can not simply assume that just because President Biden does not spend hours playing golf or tweeting offensive messages, that things are fundamentally better off for the majority of people living in the US. We can’t afford to get caught up in the spectacle of politics, but must learn to focus on policy and historical facts.
People may have watched the various hearings that were being held earlier this year, hearings to decide on whether or not the Biden Cabinet members shown below would be accepted. Of course, we always need to think about what kind of questions were being asked of the nominees and also what additional information or analysis was provided by the national news media. However, since most members of Congress are bought and paid for by members of the Capitalist class and since the dominant national news sources have internalized the values of those with economic and political power, we want to provide some independent information of the members of the Biden Cabinet. Just look at the revolving door of corporate interests represented in the Biden Cabinet in the excellent resource and visual provide by the Revolving Door Project. https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/personnel/
Secretary of State Antony Blinken – Blinken was a top aide to Biden when the then-Senator voted to authorize the US invasion of Iraq, and Blinken helped Biden develop a proposal to partition Iraq into three separate regions based on ethnic and sectarian identity. As deputy national security adviser, Blinken supported the disastrous military intervention in Libya in 2011, and in 2018 he helped launch WestExec Advisors, a “strategic advisory firm” that is secretive about its clients, along with other Obama administration alumni like Michèle Flournoy. Jonathan Guyer writes in the American Prospect, “I learned that Blinken and Flournoy used their networks to build a large client base at the intersection of tech and defense. An Israeli surveillance startup turned to them. So did a major U.S. defense company. Google billionaire Eric Schmidt and Fortune 100 companies went to them, too.”
Source: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-administration-cabinet-picks-pro-war-hawks
Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen – Janet Yellen, who served as Federal Reserve chair from 2014 to 2018, had raked in millions from speeches to Wall Street firms and other corporate interests. After spending the past four years criticizing the Trump administration’s corruption, some liberals are now arguing that Yellen’s paid speeches aren’t relevant or worth reporting — even though the payouts are sizable and germane to her position as Secretary of the Teasury. Yellen’s financial disclosure shows she made more than $7 million from speaking fees in just the three years after she left her government job. The bulk of the money, $4 million, came from companies and trade groups that have reported lobbying the Treasury Department in the past two years.
Sources: https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/11/18/the-coronation-of-janet-yellin/ https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/01/joe-biden-cabinet-janet-yellen-antony-blinken-lobbying
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin – Austin was until recently, listed as a partner at Pine Island Capital Partners, which is a private equity firm. In addition, Austin has endorsed current Biden positions on US funding for Israel, the subversive war on Venezuela, the continued US occupation of Guantanamo, the use of drone strikes, maintaining roughly 800 US military bases around the world and the proposed 2022 US Defense Budget, which is actually a slight increase from the Trump Administration.
Sources: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/biden-administration-access-sirota-flournoy-austin-pine-island-capital-partners https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/06/15/the-pentagons-untouchable-budget/
US Attorney General Merrick Garland – Garland gave an absurd defense of the extraordinarily generous funding that police departments enjoy because Capitol police officers were attacked by white supremacist Trump supporters on January 6. He told senators during his hearing that he is of the same mind as the current liberal president: “Biden has said he does not support defunding the police, and neither do I.” Garland said he believes “in giving resources to police departments to help them reform and gain the trust in their communities.” In other words, he understands there is deep racism in American society but is unwilling to take the hard steps to dismantle it.
Sources: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/02/corporate-power-amazon-big-law-department-of-justice-biden
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland – Haaland is the first Native American to hold this position. Haaland did announce recently that she would be investigating the historic impact that boarding schools had a Native communities. However, watching this interview with Native organizers who are presenting what the call the Red Deal, which goes much further than the proposed Green New Deal, making Native Sovereignty and anti-colonialism central to Climate Justice. https://www.democracynow.org/2021/4/22/the_red_deal_extended_interview_with
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack – Villsack was Obama’s Ag secretary and before that was himself part of the AgriBusiness sector. Vilsack will perpetuate the unsustainable agribusiness system, which is most reflected in the US Farm Bill.
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo – Gina Raimondo has been a steadfast ally of Wall Street and corporate America throughout her time in politics: as state treasurer, she sold out her state’s pension fund to Wall Street hedge funds, whilst compelling a regime of cuts to benefits for retirees, over strenuous objection from the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and others. A Koch-funded conservative libertarian advocacy group later tried to spread this policy nationwide.
Sources: https://nocorporatecabinet.com/persons-of-interest/gina-raimondo
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/12/gina-raimondo-rhode-island-governor-covid-coronavirus
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm – While Governor of Michigan, Grandholm supported the government bailout of the US automakers, which perpetuated a fossil fuel-based transportation system. Granholm did not really penalize or hold accountable the Enbridge Corporation, despite the Kalamazoo River oil disaster during her tenure as Governor in Michigan. Granholm also has historically supported Line 5 in Michigan.
https://www.fox2detroit.com/video/914443
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain – Klain, along with Rahm Emmanuel, helped craft the Biden-led 1994 Crime Bill, which provided a massive increase in funding for the police and further criminalization of Black and Brown communities.
Source: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/12/bill-clinton-biden-crime-bill-1994-rahm
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas – A Cuban American Mayorkas will be a good soldier in the Biden Administration and perpetuate the continued militarization of the US/Mexican border. Mayorkas is also committed to maintaining current levels of ICE operations, which means the continued arrests, detentions and deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Sources: https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/bidens-border-briefing-tni-feb14.pdf
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/us-mexico-militarized-border-immigration-crisis-rhetoric
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 
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