There are all sorts of bargains the rich and the powerful in any society make with the poor. But one way or another through bread, circuses, the dole, the promise that Anyone Can Make It there's the offer of a deal: Don't make trouble: we'll take care of you.
Empires collapse when the offer of the "marginal rate of return" becomes empty: we won't take care of you. Or, we can't take care of you. We don't need you and we're not frightened of you."
-- Nature is Politics by Alexander Cockburn; 3 Sept 2005.
Photo: A woman bows her head as she sits in flood water during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. September 3, 2005. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)