Read the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=U…
The Power Elite is a 1956 book by sociologist C. Wright Mills, in which Mills calls attention to the interwoven interests of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society and suggests that the ordinary citizen is a relatively powerless subject of manipulation by those entities.
The book is something of a counterpart of Mills’ 1951 work, White Collar: The American Middle Classes, which examines the then-growing role of middle managers in American society. A main inspiration for the book was Franz Leopold Neumann’s book Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism in 1942, a study of how Nazism came into a position of power in a democratic state like Germany. Behemoth had a major impact on Mills.
According to Mills, the eponymous “power elite” are those that occupy the dominant positions, in the dominant institutions (military, economic and political) of a dominant country. Their decisions (or lack thereof) have enormous consequences, not only for the Americans but, “the underlying populations of the world.” The institutions which they head, Mills posits, are a triumvirate of groups that have succeeded weaker predecessors:
“two or three hundred giant corporations” which have replaced the traditional agrarian and craft economy,
a strong federal political order that has inherited power from “a decentralized set of several dozen states” and “now enters into each and every cranny of the social structure,” and
the military establishment, formerly an object of “distrust fed by state militia,” but now an entity with “all the grim and clumsy efficiency of a sprawling bureaucratic domain.”Importantly, and as distinct from modern American conspiracy theory, Mills explains that the elite themselves may not be aware of their status as an elite, noting that “often they are uncertain about their roles” and “without conscious effort, they absorb the aspiration to be… The Ones Who Decide.” Nonetheless, he sees them as a quasi-hereditary caste. The members of the power elite, according to Mills, often enter into positions of societal prominence through educations obtained at eastern establishment universities like Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. But, Mills notes, “Harvard or Yale or Princeton is not enough… the point is not Harvard, but which Harvard?”
Mills identifies two classes of Ivy League alumni, those were initiated into an upper echelon fraternity such as the Harvard College social clubs of Porcellian or Fly Club, and those who were not. Those so initiated, Mills continues, receive their invitations based on social links first established in elite private preparatory academies, where they were enrolled as part of family traditions and family connections. In this manner, the mantle of the elite is generally passed down along familial lines over the generations.
The resulting elites, who control the three dominant institutions (military, economy and political system) can be generally grouped into one of six types, according to Mills:
the “Metropolitan 400”: members of historically notable local families in the principal American cities, generally represented on the Social Register
“Celebrities”: prominent entertainers and media personalities
the “Chief Executives”: presidents and CEOs of the most important companies within each industrial sector
the “Corporate Rich”: major landowners and corporate shareholders
the “Warlords”: senior military officers, most importantly the Joint Chiefs of Staff
the “Political Directorate”: “fifty-odd men of the executive branch” of the U.S. federal government, including the senior leadership in the Executive Office of the President, sometimes variously drawn from elected officials of the Democratic and Republican parties but usually professional government bureaucratsMills formulated a very short summary of his book: “Who, after all, runs America? No one runs it altogether, but in so far as any group does, the power elite.”
Commenting on The Power Elite, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. derisively said, “I look forward to the time when Mr. Mills hands back his prophet’s robes and settles down to being a sociologist again.”
Nonetheless, consideration of the book has become moderately more favorable over time. In 2006, G. William Domhoff wrote, “Mills looks even better than he did 50 years ago”. Mills’ biographer, John Summers, admitted that The Power Elite was “vulnerable to the charge of conspiracy-mongering” but declared that its historical value “seems assured”.
What IMF Policies propose for Bitcoin and Crypto
I’ve been behind enemy lines reading everything the IMF has put out in the last 2 years.
Here are 10 pieces I found most relevant to Bitcoin.
“When you are thoroughly conversant with strategy, you will recognize the enemy’s intentions and thus have many opportunities to win.”👇 pic.twitter.com/ssDWlWpDGZ
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
Let’s start with the IMF’s note titled “Blockchain Consensus Mechanisms: A Primer for Supervisors”
It might as well have been titled “Slander Proof of Work and Promote Proof of Stake”.
Here is an excerpt that sums it up in a nutshell👇 pic.twitter.com/JYAJsjnPnK
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
You read that right…the IMF hints that virtual assets are being used to finance the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Is there any evidence of the direct connection between VAs and weapons of mass destruction? 😂
I didn’t find any, but it sure does sound scary!
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
Here, the IMF explores how to regulate virtual assets (VAs).
“VAs pose a significant threat to the integrity of the global financial system, money laundering, terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
They support FATF guidelines that VASPs do due diligence on customers & non-customers for transactions that are >$1,000.
They acknowledge the threshold is lower than traditional standards, but they argue that given the “particular risks of VAs”, stricter standards are justified.
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
The IMF justifies stricter standards despite a recent report that found illicit activity consisted of 0.15% of crypto volume.
Also, don’t forget that AML policies have impacted only 0.05% of criminal finances.
This appears to be more about control rather than stopping crime. pic.twitter.com/XKbOOgIokt
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
In this IMF report, I came across a new term, “cryptoization”, which refers to the risk of currency substitution occurring in emerging markets.
The IMF now has a term for when citizens opt out of their failing local currencies into digital assets…
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
The IMF would prefer people not to have an exit at all, which is why they’re so excited about CBDCs.
This paper is an overview of 6 of the most advanced CBDC projects: China, Bahamas, Sweden, Canada, Uruguay, and the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
None of the CBDC projects covered fully protect user privacy.
Some of them offer “quantitative restrictions” in that they offer anonymity for “lower tier” people to help them onboard if they don’t have IDs.
Central banks make the rules that determine who gets privacy and why. pic.twitter.com/O7GU3JOIDb
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
This contains remarks from an IMF employee on how CBDC design choices can overcome the risks.
It displays the coercive nature of CBDCs and the power it would grant central banks. Notice the choice of words: “limit”, “restrain”, “impose”, and “capped”. pic.twitter.com/AOYgGWU6Q4
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
On CBDC development, they write, “The IMF is collaborating with the BIS, the CPMI, and the FSB to establish relevant guidelines.”
That’s multiple non-governmental organizations designing the future global financial system with zero oversight.
Who voted for any of these people? pic.twitter.com/FrztxsP3UL
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
10.)https://t.co/pXQcLnCxqI
Lastly, this interview in the IMF’s flagship magazine, proves the IMF is well aware of the real risks posed by CBDCs but is continuing with its plans anyway.Author Eswar Prasad candidly explained to an IMF employee the danger that exists with CBDCs👇 pic.twitter.com/yfOtFh6Fxc
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
This one argues for a transition to electronic money to enforce negative interest rates.
They stress that a design requirement of CBDCs is they must be interest-bearing to allow for the implementation of negative interest rates.
How about…no.🖕
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
From their own publications, one can see how the IMF attacks Bitcoin.
They scold PoW’s energy and criticize Bitcoin for facilitating illicit activity to justify regulatory overreach.
They push CBDCs and centralized PoS coins as viable alternatives cuz they’re easier to control.
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
PoW vs PoS/CBDCs and BTC vs ESG
These are the battlegrounds.
The IMF wants to push PoW alternatives because they allow them to enforce their unsound policies with impunity. Negative interest rates, surveillance, inflation, etc.
The IMF can’t exert its power & control with PoW.
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
Only Bitcoin is decentralized & censorship-resistant. Its energy use enables it to function as sound, incorruptible money.
Bitcoin consumes ~0.05% of global energy consumption.
So why all the fuss about Bitcoin?
It’s because Bitcoin can’t be controlled..and the IMF hates that. pic.twitter.com/a0imgJgP60
— Sam Callahan (@samcallah) April 21, 2022
Tesla gets kicked off S&P ESG List, where Exxon Mobile holds a top spot.
Katie Halper: Andrew Cuomo SKATES, Avoids ALL Criminal Charges. Elites Will ALWAYS Protect Their Own
Katie Halper reacts to news that Andrew Cuomo will not face any prosecution for his alleged sexual harassment of a former aide, or his role in New York’s Covid nursing home deaths.
“IT’S ALRIGHT WHEN THEY DO IT!”: Elites Worst Kept Secret Exposed (Russell Brand)
New leaked documents ‘The Pandora Papers’ reveal the ways in which many elites live by different rules to the public.