September, 2012


Office Run

Have you yet to meet a politician who has failed to refine and to hone the art of evasion if not outright deception?

Through history most if not all of the significant on-going economic and moral issues have somehow been centered around the constant struggles between creditors and debtors and between holders of capital and labor.  The hardships, failures, and growing instability among the common folk that we see all around us these days is just so much collateral damage of the great war that goes on seemingly endlessly between those who demand that their superiority, their wealth and their authority stand unquestioned amongst the vast expanse of human kind and those who demand large enough payment for their labor to provide an adequate standard of living and security in their old age.

Along our way there has been plenty of corruption to go around among the leaders of both Labor and Capital.  Unfortunately, holding a position of power has never been a guarantee of adherence to impeccable moral behavior.  Seeking personal advantage at the expense of others has almost always been found among the leaders from all classes of people.  Not that followers are exempt.   The drive is extremely strong among the less well placed to pursue and to replace those who currently lead.  And all too often any means are acceptable as long as the result is to win, and to win as soon as possible.

So who do Romney and Obama represent?  Given the millions and millions of dollars that both have raised to run for office, the answer should be abundantly clear to any who care to think about it.

The leading figures of the financial interests of our country began to wrest control from the leading figures of the industrial interests of our country near the end of the Nineteenth Century.  By the end of the Twentieth Century they had predominant control.

What makes the current election slightly unusual is that Romney is apparently a bonafide member of the controlling financial community in this country while Obama primarily remains a hireling of the controlling financial community in this country.  Either candidate when elected will be certain to maintain the most critical interests of that financial community.

All the talk of the great choice in this election between free markets and socialism, between big government and small government, and between self-sufficiency  and dependency, is simply a huge bundle of malarky calculated to sway a very small percentage of the electorate to vote for one candidate or the other.

The fact is that the financial interests in this country have dominated the economic and political process in this country for most of the past fifty years.  And their very significant control has very successfully promoted the following agenda:

  • Effective collapse of a wide based union representation of workers' interests
  • Stagnation in compensation of lower paid 80% of workers when adjusted for inflation
  • Dramatic increase in asset prices (particularly housing - even now with depressed fair market values)
  • Dramatic increase in average corporate executive compensation relative to average employee pay
  • Dramatic increase in the level of all types of debt - private and public
  • Dramatic decrease in the effective rate of taxation on both corporations and individuals
  • Dramatic increase in "Fair Trade" agreements leading to outsourcing higher paid labor to low-pay areas.
  • Effective control of who may run for public office due to high cost of political campaigns
  • Dramatic increase of share of household income devoted to housing, to education, and to healthcare.
  • Necessity for almost all "middle class" households to have two workers to maintain the standard of living that once was paid for by one worker.

The success of the above program has led to a tired general public, members of which are too harassed by the demands of daily life to play much of a significant role in the political or social life that exists beyond their doorway beyond that absolutely necessary role of dedicated consumer.

Regardless of who is elected or of what reforms are enacted, the quality of life that has been created over the last half century will be unlikely to improve any time soon for the average "middle class" citizen.