Wealth money and politics

There seems to be a lot of confusion about wealth and money. The two have become conflated. Perhaps we all need to revisit history and take another look at Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. It would also be wise to read some Jared Diamond. Guns Germs and Steel provides us with an even deeper perspective of the historical creation of wealth, while Collapse reveals how the gains of history can be lost or preserved.

There is also widespread confusion about the financial state of the United States. The USA is still the richest nation on the planet and, believe it or not, we still manufacture more goods than any other country. The big problem is with the distribution of wealth.

More than half of the world's largest economies are now corporations, not countries. Transnational corporations have no allegiances to countries, only to profits. The US Supreme Court ruled that profits were to be the primary concern of corporations. Over the last decade investments in foreign markets increased five-fold. IN 2010 GE finally made more money overseas than it did here in the States. It looks more like trickle-across economics than trickle-on. The race to the bottom is in high gear.

It is important to remember that corporations, in and of themselves, are not evil nor are the vast majority of people who work for them. It is the structure and scale of these artificial entities along with their legal and political leverage that makes them so insidious. The left hands seldom knows what the right hands are doing and there are myriads of hands within corporations.

Over the last thirty plus years there has been a massive redistribution of money in the USA. Many refer to this as the death of the middle class. Ronald Reagan ran a campaign based on a morning for America. There seems to have been a typo on that one, it should have been mourning for America. The top 1% of wealth holders now have more money than the poorest 150 million people. It's morally reprehensible and so bad that many millionaires don't even feel wealthy while billionaires feel that they have more in common with billionaires in other countries than they have with the vast majority of their fellow countrymen. So who cares about those strangers? Let them starve at the legislators expense.

How did this happen? The answer is long and complicated, but there are some events that are more significant than others. History can be seen as continuous struggle and conflict for wealth and power. The USA was born from a rebellion against an oppressive collusion between a monarchy and the worlds first real transnational corporation. Modern democracy around the globe was established through a struggle between haves and have-nots.

One of the most significant and subtle tipping points was the institution of a doctrine of corporate personhood in 1886. Understanding the significance of Unequal Protection is profoundly important and remains a key leverage point in the modern struggle for the integrity of modern democracy.

The campaign to pillage the commons through privatization along with a dramatic shift in tax laws is also highly significant. It is important to review the history of taxation to fully appreciate that what is being promoted as a spending or budget crisis is in reality a revenue crisis. The reality is that if the government spends less, we'll slow growth. A massive conspiracy to redistribute wealth from the many to the few has been wildly successful and has created the greatest income inequality the world has ever had. Plutocracy has been reborn and here's a nice chart depicting it. Income or wealth inequalities are unhealthy for any society.

The unprecedented theft, fraud and corruption of today's Calvinist selection would not have been possible without an effective propaganda machine. The repeal of the fairness doctrine and the permission of media consolidation have brainwashed millions into voting against their own best interests. There seems to be some confusion about the politics of Robin Hood, but we can be sure he wasn't a republican.

The influence of non-democratic global regulatory agencies such as the World Bank and the IMF have also played significant roles in creating our current dilemma. New democratic institutions need to be established and strengthened to labor for the interests of the many against the tyranny of the few.

Republican Governors and legislators are pushing a radical agenda of disaster capitalism to further tyranny. Beware the Ides of March.

Jan Schalowsky has introduced a new higher end income taxation scheme that is a very small step in the right direction, but ignores other important taxes such as capital gains, estate and corporate taxes.

There are some countries that utilize a wealth tax which seems like a damn good idea.