Stay Focused: "Follow The Money"

Follow The Money

Dear V,

Thanks for your email.

You may have read Hofstadter's landmark essay, 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics." 

If not, I recommend it.

"The Paranoid Style In American Politics" 
Richard Hofstadter
paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/paranoid-style-in-american-politics-by.html

"Plutocracy Triumphant"

Cartoon Compendium

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/05/plutocracy-triumphant.html

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts: Plutocracy, Economic Inequality & Collapse Of Conservatism

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/03/compendium-of-best-pax-posts-on.html

"Politics And Economics: The 101 Courses You Wish You Had"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/01/politics-and-economics-101-curricula.html

I am a keen believer in "following the money" and applaud your willingness to ignore "the conspiratorial sidelights" in favor of the main attraction.

In the late '80s, while working in Nicaragua, local journalists used the phrase "ideological diversionism" to describe the many seductive detours one could make, thus losing The Thread. (The first time I saw reference to diversión ideológica was in a brief article accompanying a photograph of water-skiing elephants.)

Often, what mere mortals interpret as financial conspiracy is standard operating procedure for movers and shakers.

Federal Reserve Bank Investigator Carmen Segarra Fired For Holding Banks Responsible

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/fed-banking-investigator-carmen-segarra.html

Taibbi: $9 Billion Whistle Blower At JPMorgan. Financial Thuggery At The Top

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/11/taibbi-9-billion-whistle-blower-at.html

The Bank Of America: Too Crooked To Fail

Matt Taibbi

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/06/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-by.html

American Banking: A New Mafia In Three Piece Suits. Bank Of America Spearheads The Thuggery

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/american-banking-new-mafia-in-3-piece.html

Pax tecum

Alan

PS: And sometimes... following the money does lead to conspiracy.

Teddy Roosevelt: "Malefactors Of Great Wealth... Are Curses To The Country"

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/teddy-roosevelt-malefactors-of-great.html

On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 12:21 PM, V wrote:

Hello Alan,

 

Thanks for sending your thoughts.  I did see some episodes of the Borgias, and I can imagine that the Catholic Church was not very happy about the series. I do not know enough about church history to judge the accuracy. I have often heard conspiracy theories about the fate of John Paul I.  I do not subscribe to most conspiracy theories. The belief that conspiracies are everywhere shows a paranoid mind. Every once in a while there is a conspiracy, however. I would look more to Goldman Sachs than to the Borgias in that regard.

 

V