America is proof that literacy does not translate into having an informed electorate. America is also proof that great oratory skills and a shrewd marketing strategy are value effective commodities in any society. It is not what you say but how you say it and how long you say it that makes it believable and accepted. As a result, on the whole, we are only familiar with what is reported and repeated.
Thomas Jefferson once stated, "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
How many Americans are familiar with the terms "plutonomy" and "plutocracy"? I will venture to say that very few have ever heard of these two words. I will not define these terms for you. Those who are seekers of truth will look them up so that they will be informed but most of you won't.
Yet these terms are relevant to what is going on in both our economy and government. When you look at where our economy has gone from over the course of the last 20 years, there is no doubt that we are on a plutonomy fast track.
When you take into account Supreme Court decisions that have allowed for corporations to spend endless amounts of money on elections and the resulting policies, there is little doubt that we are relinquishing our democracy to an ever increasing plutocracy. This assertion can be further solidified by the national push to dramatically decrease regulatory statutes, to reduce environmental standards and to strip unions of their power.
America's economy is limping along because although corporations are enjoying huge profits, the vibrancy of the middle class is nearly non-existent. Almost any economist will tell you that when the economy is stimulated and powered by the middle and lower class, it will be less volatile. This is the case because these two classes tend to put their money back into the economy.
However, when the economy is mainly sustained by the wealthiest class, the economy is always subjected to volatility by a significantly higher margin. When the wealthiest class is the controlling engine of the economy, it allows for the wealthiest among us to hold sway on public policy which amounts to plutocratic leverage on the government.
We are seeing this now being played out under the guise of deficit reduction and job creation. The only plans that are touted by the Republican Party and negotiated by the President and Democrats are ones that will benefit corporations at the expense of the average American. Democrats, who seem to have also bought into the corporatist ideology, have done very little to combat the trend that will further devastate the economy and corrupt the political system for years and decades to come.
When we have media and political operatives talking about how billionaires such as the Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch and George Soros are supposedly staging the narrative that will be consumed by the average American, politically we have a problem. When the news media goes from reporting news to spinning narratives to influence political debates and elections, we have a problem in America. When people such as Roger Ailes, the President of one of the most influential so-called news network, are influential advisors to politicians,we have a problem. It is called mass marketing of an agenda, better known as propaganda.
There is a certain irony that exists with the simultaneous rise of the so-called "grassroots" Tea Party and the subsequent massive push for deregulation, suspension of government services, cutting government spending by only stripping those entitlements that benefit the vulnerable and refusal to pursue any revenue enhancements all in the name of decreasing deficit spending.
We have heard politicians enthusiastically advocate putting tens of thousands of federal employees out of work because ". . . Washington has a spending problem." As the economy trudges along, look for increased pressure on privatization of services and a push to either decrease or eliminate the minimum wage. It will be touted as a way to allow the free market to work better.
Meanwhile, corporations are getting subsidies which amounts to corporate welfare, while the average citizen is told to tough it out and make "painful" concessions. Did not the constitution in its Preamble state that the government was supposed to ". . . insure domestic tranquility . . . provide for the common defense . . . promote the general welfare"? Does this include telling the American citizen that when it comes to health care, jobs and environmental safety, you need to fend for yourself while the government is continuing to provide corporate welfare for corporations who have enjoyed substantial and, at times, record setting profits?
Our economy will never get back on solid footing until the middle class become vibrant again. If we continue to travel down the road of plutonomy economics and allow ourselves to be governed like a plutocracy, we will see American society reduced to serfdom with the ruling class being corporations and corporatists.
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