TRIBE

The wealth of billionaires worldwide increased by $2.2 trillion in 2024, with the ten most richest increasing their wealth by greater than $100 million/day. Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, says that "it's not about the money, it's about the power" -- specifically, the power over elections and policies. That power steals the voices and votes of the population, and blocks policies that could be helping people. More in Collins' article about the Davos Economic Forum, in his article "World leaders at Davos need to tax millionaires like me. The fate of our planet and democracy depends on it."

buzz-2-12-25-Chuck-Collins

Thomas Fazi joins Steve once again, this time to explore the current geopolitical landscape under Trump 2.0 and the absurdity of an American empire that creates enemies out of thin air to justify its ongoing military and economic interventions.

The conversation touches on the implications of austerity measures on the working class and the irony of billionaires like Elon Musk advocating for cuts to government spending while enjoying the benefits of public funding via massive subsidies.

With a touch of sarcasm, Thomas & Steve critique how the political elite manipulate narratives to maintain control and distract from the real issues facing ordinary citizens. They remind us of the need to critically examine the intricate relationship between power, propaganda, and the everyday lives of people.

Thomas Fazi is a “journalist/writer/translator/socialist.” who lives in Italy. He is the co-director of Standing Army (2010), an award-winning feature-length documentary on US military bases featuring Gore Vidal and Noam Chomsky; and the author of The Battle for Europe: How an Elite Hijacked a Continent – and How We Can Take It Back (2014) and Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World (co-authored with Bill Mitchell, 2017). His articles have appeared in numerous online and printed publications. Find links to his articles on his Substack.

Lions & Lambs with Thomas Fazi

Suit Up

You can watch this performance on video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYO3rDHkDYc

Viridescent Fog

I made this track October 27th 2024 a few days before the election. I sat on it because it felt like some anti American hater shit but now that we're all where we're at presently... I feel comfortable dropping it. 

Lyrics:

[Noam Chomsky]
Societies differ, but in ours ... the major ... decisions over what happens in the society... decisions over investment and production, and distribution, and so on... are in the hands of a relatively concentrated network of... major corporations and conglomerates and investment firms and so on...they are also the ones who staff the major executive positions in the government, and they are the ones who run the media... 

[Me]

American dream not as close as it seems
Wall to wall morons, opportunist's scheme 
A man in a land designed by elite
A man with a vision who came from humble means.

I'll miss the sticks, but we escaped
My origins lookin' way more hostile everyday
I'm feelin' pretty strange I know you relate 
We'll scapegoat the other to pass off the blame. 

Anger is an understatement, 
These algorithms got me 
Wound up, and agitated...
I'm aggravated. 

Walkin' round the park giving toddlers dirty looks...
Aura's pretty hot got the joggers lookin' shook

American dream not as close as it seems
Content locked, without a pot to hold my steam
Too proud for hand outs, too proud to steal
Wake me up when opportunity is real. 

[Guitar solo] 

Consider this a true 90's kid with 
Nightmares of suicide bombs and terrorists 
Make it make sense? ...
Yeah never mind, I figured out the math like manufactured consent.

The narrative was told to you, was sold to you
You questioned it they scolded you, you know it's true
I never stopped to think about the lives we lost, 
Lila Lipscomb's screams haunt my thoughts.

15 years old eternally scrolling
Clicked on a thread, Travon was dead 
( Directors note* with pics of the corpse leaked by broward contry sherrifs office.. thanks reddit... )

The first thing that popped, in my teen-aged head 
He looked just like my younger brother lifeless and red. 
And that was the day my pride went away
Every scandal since cemented hate
The land of the great...
This backwards FUCKING place...

[Noam Compsky]

And their the ones who have to be in the positions to make the decisions...
They have an overwhelmingly dominate role in the way life happens...
Within the economic system, by law, and by principle, they dominate.
The control over resources and the need to satisfy their interests imposes very sharp constraints on the political system and the ideological system. 

When we talk about manufacturing consent who's consent is being manufactured?

(Directors Note* For our daft/foolish listeners, the public... the public's consent is being manufactured. It's brainwashing via corporate propaganda)

THANKS FOR LISTENING CHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILDREN!

Cooked Dreams

Sound collage DJ set of Bernie Sander's Oligarchy Tour juxtaposed with tyrants.

Authoritarianism DJ Set

Communism & Oligarchy; Dreams, Control, and What Power Really Looks Like in 2025

ElevenLabs_Part_2b(i)_Communism_&_Oligarchy

Written in 1908, long before modern dystopian classics, Jack London unleashed The Iron Heel, a startlingly prescient novel that resonates with unnerving power today. Immerse yourself in an America where wealth consolidates into an unchecked, authoritarian oligarchy, systematically dismantling democratic norms and crushing dissent.
If you're grappling with the shifting landscape of power, the erosion of liberties, and the battle for truth, The Iron Heel is not just a classic—it's a critical lens for understanding our present.

I am producing this audiobook in serial fashion. Stay tuned for the next installments.

TheIronHeel-Forward

This discussion presents a discussion about the bookoligarchy "Foundations: Their Power and Influence" by Rene A. Wormser (https://amzn.to/3ZEaI45), originally published in 1958. The book, written by the general counsel for the Reece Committee, details the committee's investigation into large, tax-exempt foundations like those created by Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford. Wormser argues that these foundations, particularly through their "social science" endeavors and intermediary organizations like the Social Science Research Council and Institute of Pacific Relations, exerted undue influence on education, foreign policy, and social thought, often promoting a "collectivist" or "liberal" agenda. The text also highlights the intense opposition faced by the Reece Committee during its investigation, suggesting a concerted effort by these powerful entities to resist scrutiny and maintain their influence. Wormser contends that while foundations can do good, their unchecked power and lack of accountability, particularly in politically sensitive areas, pose a significant threat to American society and its traditions.

Foundations - Their Power and Influence

Oligarchy by Patrick Levien KI Projekt
Dive into a powerful anthem that exposes the raw truth of a world ruled by greed and corruption. "Oligarchy" is a bold, unapologetic call to action, blending hard-hitting lyrics with a passionate cry for justice. From the shadows of elite power to the struggles of the oppressed, this song rages against corrupt systems, war profiteers, and media lies. With an electrifying chorus chanting for democracy, it’s a wake-up call for humanity to rise, resist, and reclaim hope.  Will you stand against the oligarchy? Listen now and join the fight for a better future!

Oligarchy - Patrick Levien Projekt

This discussion covers Webster Griffin Tarpley's evidence that Venice, originating as an oligarchic maritime power, engaged in piracy and controlled global trade through strategic ports, developing an Aristotelian philosophical network to influence European thought. This Venetian "Party" is depicted as manipulating events like the Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, later transferring its influence to Britain. The British oligarchy, through figures like Lord Palmerston and Edward VII, is accused of orchestrating global conflicts, including World War I, and destabilizing nations through agents like Mazzini and economic warfare tactics, exemplified by the 1931 sterling default. The texts also contend that British intelligence actively undermined American interests, notably during the Korean War, to maintain its global dominance.

Against Oligarchy

We are living in a tumultuous time.  Art should reflect this.  This track starts melancholy, as what we are witnessing and experiencing is quite sad and nonsensical.  It moves into action, as I believe, at some point, all will have to fight for what is right and just.  The reflection at the end was again, melancholic, mourning the fact that the fight needed to happen at all.   “No price to pay…..the bill comes due.”

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

The Bill Comes Due

This song laments the rise of neoliberalism and neofascism in America, and how the avarice and greed of oligarchs enables and perpetuates the military-industrial complex and destruction of the planet by climate change under the guise of patriotism. Originally written in July 2016 on the eve of Trump's first presidency, the song seems more relevant now than before. 'Glass' refers to trinitite that was found at Trinity, the site where the Manhattan Project tested the nuclear bomb; the nuclear explosion turned the sand to glass. 'Sand' also refers to climate change inevitably turning the planet into an uninhabitable dust bowl, evoking an image of the greed and arrogance of the military industrial complex continuing to bomb a dying world into oblivion. Trump is the angry orange sun, his greed casting a shadow across the country, the MIC and oligarchs are the beasts who thirst for fire and ash. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Glass and Sand

An angry orange sun slowly rises behind black smoke in the east
A long dark shadow creeps across the land
The world can't help but stare; they stare in disbelief 
With eyes fixated on them, captivated by the beasts
Who thirst for fire and ash, hellbent on glass and sand

We're far from where we need to be
I'm afraid that we're much too far
Now that the smoke snuffed out
The light of the North Star 

Here we are

How could we let it come to this?
Choose between neoliberal or neofascist
All these corporate stuffed-suit politicians
Run amok waving flags of blind ambition
Boast the bombing of peasants for paltry profit
Sending innocents to lie in early coffins
When you lay your head down at the end of the day
Can you tell me, where will the children play?

We're far from where we need to be
I'm afraid that we're much too far
Now that the smoke snuffed out
The light of the North Star 

Here we are

Glass and Sand

What if corporations aren’t greedy—they’re just unregulated animals in the ecosystem? Not evil. Not broken. Just doing what they were designed to do. A lion isn’t morally bad for hunting prey. It’s doing what it’s built to do. Same with corporations. They’re built to pursue growth. Profit. Survival. They will extract, expand, and devour until something stops them—not because they’re evil, but because they’re functioning exactly as designed. So the question isn’t why are corporations so greedy? The question is: Why did we build a system with no balancing force, no accountability, and no consequences when harm is done?


It’s Not About Greed. It’s About Design.

The streets, bars, and restaurants are all empty  
The warden’s fat on his government contracts  
Long since taken the Blacks, off-whites, Browns, and Jews  
They’ve turned their attention to brown-haired white dudes  

First, they took the ones they called illegal  
Plain against that unwritten agreement  
Says, “Come to the land of opportunity  
Work for pennies in the fields and service industry  
So their kids might someday have it as good as me”  

Next, it was the scientists and professors  
Those who gave their lives to try and save  
People and the planet from danger and disease  
The teachers of fallacies found in our history  
Turns out they’re only useful when a people are free  

After all the universities were cleared  
Began to bag those who flew the rainbow flags  
To celebrate themselves with joy and pride  
After years spent trapped in bodies and the closets where they’d hide  
World’s empty & ugly—them again, outta sight  

Now the streets, bars, and restaurants are all empty  
The warden’s fat on his government contracts  
Long since taken the Blacks, off-whites, Browns, and Jews  
They’ve turned their attention to the brown-haired white dudes  

Yesterday, they took Morgan Wallen  

He was one of those who thought they’d never come for you  
Even when his neighbors were taken, it was covered in the news  
Perhaps in prison, he can pivot from country western to the blues  


"Morgan Wallen" (Live at Alligator Alcatraz)

Raging against wealth inequality. Opens with the statistic: The world is on track for 5 trillionaires within a decade while 733 million people lack sufficient calories globally. Verses detail the obscenity: Billionaire wealth grew $2 trillion in 2024 ($5.7 billion per day), Wall Street bonuses hit $47.5 billion, the top 10% own 67% of wealth while the bottom 50% own 2.5%. Oxfam GBWorld Socialist Web Site Meanwhile, 13.4% of children live in poverty, child poverty more than doubled after the expanded Child Tax Credit expired, Black children experience poverty at three times the rate of white children. Firstfocus
Heavy, aggressive rap verses with screamed chorus: "FIVE TRILLIONAIRES! While we can't pay rent! / FIVE TRILLIONAIRES! Our wages ain't been spent! / From the bottom to the top, there's a class war / And they're winning it while we're dying poor!" References the June 2024 Kenya protests where youth rose up against tax bills targeting the poorest; Bangladesh where 400+ students were killed protesting job quotas. Human Rights Watch Bridge lists the names: Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg—and asks "What do we do with the enemies of humanity?" Leaves the question hanging ominously.

Five Trillionaires

Got songs to record this week. (7/24) Been dealing with my depression but I have been writing songs still.  Hoping to record this week.  I have started working on my third album, Trial and TError.  

Diary of the Damned is now on SoundCloud (one skit need to be added still), hoping to have it ready soon for Spotify and others!

Underground rapper from Ontario.  I like to tell stories with my music a lot of which are true stories unfortunately.  I’m a lyricist first and foremost so you won’t find any mumble rap here, sorry if that’s the trend.  I’m too old for that haha.

Hier findest du Musik von Patrick Levien KI ProjektJesus Christus KI Generation , KI Komplott und Ki Sunclub Mallorca. Dieses Projekt wurde am 9 April 2025 von Uwe Joswig gestartet . 

Here you'll find music by Patrick Levien KI Projekt, Jesus Christus KI Generation, KI Komplott, and Ki Sunclub Mallorca. This project was started on April 9, 2025 by Uwe Joswig.  
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5cvu2aZt4Bf5n8oHr9UnfQ
https://open.spotify.com/intl-de/artist/236ea329HUvgkH7mIID8DT

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Macroeconomics has never been so ... delish!  Macro and Cheese explores the progressive movement through the lens of Modern Monetary Theory, with hot and irreverent political takes, spotlights in activism, and the razor sharp musings of Real Progressives Founder and host Steve Grumbine.  The cheese will flow as experts come in for a full, four course deep dive into the hot queso. 

Comfort Food for Thought!

Podcaster, music lover, recovering DJ extraordinaire...

New tracks tagged #Oligarchy