BALTIMORE AND BEYOND

     The hyenas in the Mainstream Media have, predictably, been devoting what little coverage of the Baltimore Bridge Disaster they think that we should hear to deflecting any actual questions of what caused the catastrophe. The story has followed a standard pattern: the Deep State pronounces that "there is no indication that terrorism was involved" within a half an hour of being informed. The off-hand denial causes certain elements in the Controlled Opposition to spiral.

     That reaction draws a counter-spiral from the paid army of 'fact-checkers' and so on until the next crisis, meanwhile, the parties who should be under scrutiny go their merry ways conducting Business-as-Usual.

    The Duran had one of the more rational articles theorizing about what most likely caused the disaster---at least it was one of the few which solicited input from people who understand something about cargo shipping. The Corporate Media has been focusing mostly on the economic impact of the incident, while the Controlled Opposition, aside from gloating over the fact that the bridge workers killed were all immigrants, are complaining that the industry is over-regulated and that Wall Street doesn't have enough control over American infrastructure. The probability is that ruthless Corporate cost-cutting played a direct role in the collision. The Dali’s sudden loss of power raises serious questions about the condition of the ship, which was already involved in a collision in 2016 and recently cited for propulsion issues. Shipping conglomerate Maersk, which has the contract for the ship, was cited last year by our own Labor Department for attempts to silence whistle-blowers exposing substandard safety issues. We previously delineated all of the Corporate rat-lines surrounding Maersk before, and said then:

   "Maersk is a US Government contractor supplying the Pentagon's forces abroad, among other things. Why our own Navy isn't doing this, we don't know; but what we do know is that Maersk was fined for price gouging the Pentagon in 2012 and caught again in 2014 committing fraud in defense contracts. Maersk has also been caught violating sanctions; as well as retaliating against whistleblowers. However, not many objections will be raised, since they have a significant lobbying presence inside the Beltway, most of whom are Revolving-Door former Federal bureaucrats. 

   The former CEO of Maersk, Jim Hagemann Snabe is now CEO of WEF Top 100 Strategic Partner, the Siemens Corporation, Snabe is also a member of the WEF Board of Trustees, along with Bush-Machine apparatchik David Rubenstein. Rubenstein is involved with the Carlyle Group which is heavily invested in major ports worldwide. The current Maersk CEO, Soren Skou, is a WEF Agenda Contributor. Thomas Thune Andersen, another former Maersk executive, is now a Board member of WEF Board of Trustee Member Marc Benioff's NGO which is trying to exert control over the world's oceans."

   Maersk in fact was invited to participate in what was tellingly called a stakeholder listening session convened by Transportation Commissar and WEF Young Global Leader Pete Buttigieg on Thursday. Maersk was joined by representatives from Norfolk Southern Railway which was involved in the rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio (among others). Israeli shipping cartel Zim also participated along with at least a dozen other Wall Street combines. Also invited to join the panel were several port-related bureaucrats and largely toothless labor unions which represent American workers about as much as Congress represents the American public. 

    Bear in mind that none of this was an inquiry into the cause of the disaster. By Buttigieg's own admission the purpose of this Committee was "to assess and mitigate the supply chain impacts due to the suspension of vessel traffic, and for their continued collaboration through regular calls and data sharing." If there is any actual conspiracy going on here, it probably boils down to these key points:

   1. To make certain that the Corporations involved in the disaster are protected from any potential liability;

  2. To obtain taxpayer subsidizes by playing the Victim Card over 'supply-chain disruptions' meanwhile ensuring that fat contracts for rebuilding and cleanup will accrue to themselves;

  3. To make certain that no Government officials are held accountable for failures to enforce safety regulations.

  4. To ensure that Union Bosses get their cut in exchange for keeping quiet about substandard working conditions and safety issues.

   Notably absent from the Government-Media Complex' collection of spokesxhes and pundits are people like Civil Engineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers reported that America's Inland Waterways  "reports a $6.8 billion backlog in construction projects and ongoing lock closures — totaling 5,000 hours between 2015 and 2019 —  harming the industries that rely on the waterways to get their goods to market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates delays cost up to $739 per hour for an average tow, or $44 million per year." Of American bridges they inform us that "42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, and 46,154, or 7.5% of the nation’s bridges, are considered structurally deficient, meaning they are in “poor” condition. Unfortunately, 178 million trips are taken across these structurally deficient bridges every day...A recent estimate for the nation’s backlog of bridge repair needs is $125 billion. We need to increase spending on bridge rehabilitation from $14.4 billion annually to $22.7 billion annually, or by 58%, if we are to improve the condition. At the current rate of investment, it will take until 2071 to make all of the repairs that are currently necessary, and the additional deterioration over the next 50 years will become overwhelming." The State of Maryland's overall infrastructure assessment was underwhelming to say the least, but it was actually better than most US States. 

    The 'experts' also say that rebuilding the Key Bridge will take about ten years. It should be noted, by way of contrast, that the world's two largest suspension bridges are in China---they were actually built at the same time in 2009---in under three years at the combined cost of around $13 billion US dollars. Both of the Chinese bridges service high-speed rail lines, which our exceptional country also doesn't have. All of the billions of dollars cited above for waterway upgrades, bridge repair, and new bridges are about 1/4 of what the GOP Congress and the Biden/Harris Junta just appropriated for the Military-Industrial Complex and expanding the Security State. 

   These are the issues which aren't being raised in connection with the Baltimore Disaster; nor is it likely that they will be given the current state of our political and media systems. Instead, we'll be told to make do with less while more wealth and power gets transferred into the pockets of the Oligarchs---who'll make sure that there are never any supply chain disruptions of drugs and distractions to keep our minds off the real issues.