Folk Songs of the Rocketmen

The Golden Wiretapps

The Case

The President sat alone in his bathrobe. None of those fools could see it. That black president was still out to get him and only he and his glorious tweets of fire could rouse the adoring masses to preserve an America where the unappreciated heir to a New York City real estate fortune could chisel and bluster his way to a presidency where he could sacrifice the entire planet in the name of obscene private wealth.

And then the super secret gold phone rang. "Mr. President? General Mike is requesting immunity from prosecution. He says he has a story to tell."

The Mystery

What did General Mike know? And when did he know it?

The Story

General Mike was a close advisor to the President and, ever so briefly, his national security advisor. He, along with many others in the campaign, was entangled in a web of Russian financial and political interests which sought to discomfort the other candidate and had no objection to installing an incompetent neophyte on the throne of the American empire.

But the real money flowing into the General's pocket while he was advising the campaign came from an Israeli natural gas company that wanted to grease the political skids in Turkey so they could hook into the Turkish pipelines. A possible scheme to this end was for the General to arrange to nabbing of a Turkish cleric now enjoying refuge in the US and a prime target of the Turkish prime minister.

Gas From Israel And The Flynn Wiretapping - Behind The Deep-State Infighting Over The Trump Election

The Solution

The investigators must uncover which former assistant to the General who still worked in the NSC under the protection of Bannon and Kushner was passing imperial secrets to the head of the House Intelligence Committee that could be construed as supporting the President's assertion the he was "wiretapped".

Oh, wait, they already know that.

Well, then the investigators must uncover the mystery of how both capitalist political parties in the US have become such venal tools of the dominant financial interests that the choice offered in a presidential election is between a gasbag TV celebrity and the spouse of a former president celebrated for tossing the interests of his working class voters to the wolves.

The Clues (reveal only if investigators are stumped)

Follow the trail of dead Russians. (add six months)

Audit the President's financial records. (add four years)

Solution Timetable

Master Detective          2017                6 points

Private Eye                  2018                5 points 

Flatfoot                        2020                4 points

I Should Have Been Crucified

The Jackets - Wasting My Time (Video 2013)

Miharu Koshi and Haruomi Hosono, Swing Slow - ‘Good Morning,Mr.Echo’

Hey! That's no way to treat the stereo!

Cosmic Voyage (1936)

Yikes, CJ is armed!

Very Bad Things

Pontiac at sea level, 1938

American capital exited the 2nd WW in a dominant position due to its incomparable industrial power. In the postwar years that position was eroded and finally disappeared. American domination continued despite this for a pair of reasons. The first, a preponderance of military power, was eroded by Vietnam and similar struggles and was finally lost with the invasion of Iraq. Although still capable of vast destruction it was shown to be incapable of reaping economic benefits to outweigh the enormous cost. It has left the American economy with the burden of an unstable and expensive stalemate that is the largest factor in its fiscal bind. This leaves us with what is not, strictly speaking, a comparative advantage but is, nevertheless, a bargaining position in world trade, we remain the world's largest consumer.

This final straw, codified in numerous trade deals and expressed in the US$' status as reserve currency, is now, assuming the Trump administration stands with its protectionist trade policy, evaporating. And what will American workers gain by it? Nothing.

Buy American. Hire American. How does this work? It is possible, though by no means easy or even long lasting, to drive up the wages of American labor by imposing tariffs on foreign commodities and by other protectionist legislation. Congressional support for this is not assured. But another measure which uses existing law and is already underway is to remove undocumented workers, and their lower cost, from the workforce.This will be less effective at raising wages than at satisfying the reactionary lusts of Trump supporters and at repressing demands from the undocumented workers that remain.

But an even more basic problem remains. It lies at the foundation of Trump's support. It's the belief that, as a businessman, he will be able to reverse the secular decline of American wages. Leaving aside whether he qualifies as a successful businessman or merely plays that role on TV he faces the same limitations that all presidents of a capitalist America have faced. Even with his party controlling Congress (perhaps especially with that) the president can do very little to compel capital to pay high wages to workers. Trump is trapped in the same economy as his predecessors. Although factions vie for control of economic policy none will bring it to stray far from the needs of capital.

Whatever steps this administration does or doesn't take to "protect" the economy a shrinkage of global trade is underway. Colliding with this are unsustainable levels of public and private credit. If the American market is walled off from global trade to any extent there will be a price to pay. There are financial chickens that must come home to roost. And Trump, to the extent that he knows anything and to the extent that we can discern what that is, knows it. Almost unbidden he expounded at length on this in the debate of 9/26/16:

And believe me the day Obama goes off and he leaves and he goes out to the golf course for the rest of his life to play golf, when they raise interest rates, you are going to see some very bad things happen because the Fed is not doing their job. (And the other leaving that looks good is the stock market)

The hard lesson that awaits those who have placed their faith in the business acumen of Trump is that if America could be managed like a privately held business that would have happened long ago. The "administrative state" which is slated for deconstruction is not a valueless appendage on American capitalism. The state is the very measure of the contradictions of private society. It is possible, marginally, to shift the state away from its regulatory functions in favor of its coercive role. Indeed, that is an enduring plank in Republican publicity. But that doesn't abolish the state. It probably doesn't even shore it up much.

This leaves the Republicans with their usual economic function. They will attempt the further ballooning of global credit via the blind political support for military spending. But how worn away is that? Its decrepit condition can be seen in the proposed budget. Every increase in the war budget must be seen to be offset by cuts in social spending. A very modest increase in waste paid for by undisguised and savage reductions in the standards of living for the working class. For now, tidbits for those who already have everything. But where will the next TARP come from? What will be left in the bag of tricks when the "very bad things happen"? The Boss, the state, the Republican party, and the Democrats to boot, they will all be struck dumb. Well, of course, they won't really shut up. But who will be listening?

The Main Enemy Is At Home!

A little bit complicated?



France, England, and Germany deal with some complications.



Two to three hours? Investors start your engines!



Capital is in place.



Austria has the pud.



"The war of 1914-18 was imperialist (that is, an annexationist, predatory, war of plunder) on the part of both sides; it was a war for the division of the world, for the partition and repartition of colonies and spheres of influence of finance capital."
Lenin - Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1914)



France, England, and Germany toe to toe in the channel.

"Proletarians of all countries, follow the heroic example of your Italian brothers! Ally yourselves to the international class struggle against the conspiracies of secret diplomacy, against imperialism, against war, for peace within the socialist spirit."
Karl Liebknecht - The Main Enemy Is At Home! (1915)