How U.S. Capitalism Works: House Painters That Cover the Earth

Sherwin-Williams Paints
(Image by spoppesnp from flickr)   Details   DMCA

"I heard you paint houses."

"Yes, sir, I do. I also do my own carpentry."

Those were among the first words exchanged between Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) and his "house painter," Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) in Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman."

Of course, in the Mob's parlance, "painting houses" refers to the blood splashed on walls when hitmen like Frank Sheeran do their work. "Carpentry" refers to getting rid of the resulting corpses. Sheeran does both.

I was reminded of "The Irishman" recently, when Antony Blinken all but admitted that the United States was responsible for the terrorist attack that (against international law) destroyed civilian infrastructure represented by Nord Stream pipelines One and Two.

Blinken said the attack presented America with a "tremendous" business opportunity - to sell natural gas to Europe.

His remarks made me realize first that the U.S. is in fact the most active "house painter" and "carpenter" in the world. Like the Sherwin-Williams' claim, it "covers the earth" - with hitman efficiency. It gets rid of bodies by just not counting them -- or at least by vastly undercounting them.

Think about the paint spilled.

"America" is responsible for virtually ALL the wars waged on the planet since WWII: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine. . . That's the short list. And those wars have taken millions of lives - turned walls bloodred across the globe.

Remember, it's not China that started and funded those conflicts. Neither is it Russia. It's the United States.

But that's not the end of the "Irishman" connections. Think about the logic behind the Nord Stream attacks. It's how gangsters operate. It's what "our" government does. It's what capitalists do routinely instead of competing according to free market theory.

In fact, few of the most powerful among them seem to even like "natural" marketplace dynamics where business concerns succeed by producing a better product or service. No, they prefer to adopt mob tactics and simply whack their competitors. They deconstruct their rivals' infrastructure.

Do you remember this scene from "The Irishman?" It's where "Whispers" ("not that Whispers; the other one") asks Frank Sheeran to do what's necessary to put a competitor's laundry business out of commission. Here's the exchange:

Note the similarities between Whispers' request and Blinken's intimations about U.S. involvement in Nord Streams' destructions.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).