The Lowest Points of the 'Decade of the Oligarchs'

The 2000s were dominated by George W. Bush and the new American oligarchy he represents, writes Juan Cole. He lists hit 10 lowest points of an awful decade:

• “The constitutional coup of 2000,” in which “ugly racial and other low tricks” and a “far right-wing Supreme Court” delivered the election to the worst president in history.

• The Sept. 11 attacks and “the alacrity with which Americans surrendered their yeoman liberties to a Bonapartist regime.” Al-Qaeda, a “small fringe crackpot group,” became a convenient post-Soviet bogeyman for the oligarchs.
• “The great $12 trillion Bank Robbery,” in which Bush and Hank Paulson shoveled an entire year’s worth of GDP into Wall Street’s pockets.
• The Iraq war, launched "on false pretexts such as 'weapons of mass destruction' or 'democratization,' for the sake of opening the Iraqi oil markets to US hydrocarbon firms."
• The deterioration of health care and the fact that "hundreds of thousands of children are going hungry in the richest country in the world."

To see all 10 and learn more about Cole's reasoning, click here. (More Juan Cole stories.)