NPR, JP Morgan Chase, and Establishment Media

The Right would have us believe that the Liberals are out to destroy the United States and reduce its might and wealth. This is patently ridiculous - as I have argued on many occasions. The Left (so-called) is just as invested in the Empire as the Right is. The leaders of the DNC and the so-called Liberal Media are all avid capitalists and support the US Empire, its projects and its wars.

However they do like to have it all packaged with a nice humanitarian and legally justified veneer - even if it's all rubbish. They attach interpretive narratives as to how it all works so that it can appear legal, humane, and enlightened. In some respects I find myself despising them all the more for their hypocrisy - though there's plenty to go around.

I was reminded of this listening to NPR's Steve Inskeep interview Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan. It was quite chummy with Inskeep employing his trademark over the top laugh. He was hardly an impartial or watchdog reporter let alone an adversarial one.

Now Inskeep is well regarded in NPR circles but their reporters aren't paid on the scale of the big network television personalities (that can't honestly be called reporters). Compared to David Muir and Savannah Guthrie who both pull in $8 million dollar annual salaries, Inskeep's $550,000 seems rather paltry. But as someone who makes over $45,000 a month or $10,000 a week, he's pretty far removed from the average member of the middle class, let alone the working class. Let's just say given that he makes more in a month than I do in a year - I'm probably not going to give any money to NPR to help Inskeep pay his bills.

The bottom line is that while NPR may seem almost oppositional in the Trump era, the truth is the network, its personalities, and most of its middle class and upper middle class listeners are all very much plugged in to the American system - the system that Dimon represents.

Inskeep did not seriously challenge him on Iran (a war Dimon clearly supports) or his opinions about the economy or AI. Inskeep sat at his feet and drank in Dimon's pearls of wisdom.

For critics of the American Empire, Dimon and his bank are at the core of the evil system and how it shapes and governs the world. Dimon's bank is heavily invested in not just the government in general but specifically the Pentagon and its many projects and initiatives. JP Morgan bankrolls huge energy projects and significant sections of the fossil fuels industry - which regardless of one thinks about oil, gas, and chemicals, these companies shape global policy and affect geopolitics.

JP Morgan also works hand in hand with organisations like the IMF and World Bank which are mechanisms utilized by the Empire to recruit and compel weak nations - forcing them into conformity and allowing bankers like Dimon to manipulate their economies and profit by means of their exploitation. JP Morgan is certainly 'too big too fail' in that its existence is strategic. It's one of the major banks of the United States and thus the world. Dimon is an extremely powerful player - one that can pick up the phone and just about senator or president will take his call. Ironically the interview was granted while Dimon was in Washington DC. JP Morgan's Washington office is just over a block away from the White House - about a five minute walk.

Inskeep could have asked him a hundred questions but instead chose to be chummy and let Dimon pontificate about the world. He of course seems a voice of reason and sanity in the face of Trump.

The point to all this is that Inskeep may be liberal. Some even consider Dimon to be one. They may be 'liberal' in terms of sexual mores and things on that order but they are committed to the Empire and its financial and military power. They may not be Right-wing ultra-nationalists but they're a far cry from internationalist liberals.

Unlike Goldman-Sachs whose headquarters is located near the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan - and thus is somewhat lost the cluster of skyscrapers that surround it, JP Morgan's headquarters is located on the eastern end of Mid-Town Manhattan. It's massive and one of the tallest buildings in New York. Located near the Chrysler Building and the UN, it sits on Park Avenue between Grand Central Station and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel - an impressive neighbourhood. And it's only a couple of blocks away from the rather exclusive section of 5th Avenue that runs through Mid-town - where one finds everything from the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store, to the eastern edges of the Rockefeller Center complex, and yes, Trump Tower is just up the street as well. The JP Morgan headquarters are impressive as is its overall setting. Lower Manhattan is incredible to be sure, but Mid-Town turns things up another notch or two. As one swims through the crowds, most are looking at things like Times Square, and the pop culture iconography. That's all interesting to be sure, but I've always been struck by the big banking headquarters and international finance. There's so much going on that it's hard to take in. As I've said many times, while Washington is the political capital of the United States, New York wields just as much (if not more) power in terms of shaping the actions and policies of the people in Washington. They are symbiotic and thus the JP Morgan tower is every bit as symbolic and evocative of power as is the Washington Monument or even the Pentagon. They're all inseparable and symbols of the Empire.

And thus, we find that while NPR may be all about identity politics and humanitarian policies for the Empire - it's nevertheless still part of that empire and does nothing to challenge it. It certainly does not present news in an adversarial form that would challenge its audience to think critically about it all. Inskeep isn't going to give up on over $40,000 a month. Do you think Robin Roberts is going to put her $800,000 a month at risk or Anderson Cooper and the over $1 million a month he pulls in? I don't think so. That's a lot to lose.

At one time it was said that everyone (that was anyone) in Washington DC had their car radio tuned to NPR and no doubt those in New York who aren't glued to financial news or sports are likely to listen to the same. NPR has gone downhill so much over the past decade or so and offers so much less in the way of serious news that I'm not sure how true any of that is any more. But even in its present degraded state, it's still a source of more serious news than the alternatives out there and thus while many may trash it publicly or hide the fact that they listen to it - they're still listening. It's not because they're closet liberals but rather because NPR does some actual reporting but keeps everything safely within the circle of consensus. It was no coincidence that after Jamie Dimon is interviewed, I'm hearing some analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) a major strategic think-tank associated with the American Empire.

FOX may be Right-wing and flag waving but it's stupid and a lot of people realize that. NPR isn't stupid but in the end it's almost as evil in that it gives credibility to to the pernicious system that is the American Empire. In that sense it is National Propaganda Radio as the joke goes. Not because it's Left-wing but because it's a voice of the Establishment and Inskeep's interview with Dimon communicated that in stark terms.