Imagine a country in which the very richest people get all the economic gains. They eventually accumulate so much of the nation's total income and wealth that the middle class no longer has the purchasing power to keep the economy going full speed. Most of the middle class's wages keep falling and their major asset -- their home -- keeps shrinking in value.
Imagine that the richest people in this country use some of their vast wealth to routinely bribe politicians. They get the politicians to cut their taxes so low there's no money to finance important public investments that the middle class depends on -- such as schools and roads, or safety nets such as health care for the elderly and poor.
Imagine further that among the richest of these rich are financiers. These financiers have so much power over the rest of the economy they get average taxpayers to bail them out when their bets in the casino called the stock market go bad. They have so much power they even shred regulations intended to limit their power.
These financiers have so much power they force businesses to lay off millions of workers and to reduce the wages and benefits of millions of others, in order to maximize profits and raise share prices -- all of which make the financiers even richer, because they own so many of shares of stock and run the casino.
Now, imagine that among the richest of these financiers are people called private-equity managers who buy up companies in order to squeeze even more money out of them by loading them up with debt and firing even more of their employees, and then selling the companies for a fat profit.
Although these private-equity managers don't even risk their own money -- they round up investors to buy the target companies -- they nonetheless pocket 20 percent of those fat profits.
And because of a loophole in the tax laws, which they created with their political bribes, these private equity managers are allowed to treat their whopping earnings as capital gains, taxed at only 15 percent -- even though they themselves made no investment and didn't risk a dime.
Finally, imagine there is a presidential election. One party, called the Republican Party, nominates as its candidate a private-equity manager who has raked in more than $20 million a year and paid only 13.9 percent in taxes -- a lower tax rate than many in the middle class.
Yes, I know it sounds far-fetched. But bear with me because the fable gets even wilder. Imagine this candidate and his party come up with a plan to cut the taxes of the rich even more -- so millionaires save another $150,000 a year. And their plan cuts everything else the middle class and the poor depend on -- Medicare, Medicaid, education, job-training, food stamps, Pell grants, child nutrition, even law enforcement.
What happens next?
There are two endings to this fable. You have to decide which it's to be.
In one ending the private-equity manager candidate gets all his friends and everyone in the Wall Street casino and everyone in every executive suite of big corporations to contribute the largest wad of campaign money ever assembled -- beyond your imagination.
The candidate uses the money to run continuous advertisements telling the same big lies over and over, such as "don't tax the wealthy because they create the jobs" and "don't tax corporations or they'll go abroad" and "government is your enemy" and "the other party wants to turn America into a socialist state."
And because big lies told repeatedly start sounding like the truth, the citizens of the country begin to believe them, and they elect the private equity manager president. Then he and his friends turn the country into a plutocracy (which it was starting to become anyway).
But there's another ending. In this one, the candidacy of the private equity manager (and all the money he and his friends use to try to sell their lies) has the opposite effect. It awakens the citizens of the country to what is happening to their economy and their democracy. It ignites a movement among the citizens to take it all back.
The citizens repudiate the private equity manager and everything he stands for, and the party that nominated him. And they begin to recreate an economy that works for everyone and a democracy that's responsive to everyone.
Just a fable, of course. But the ending is up to you.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
Michael Winship: Giving Up Your Bank for Lent
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
And then the seed sewn decade before encouraging divisiveness, distrust and ignorance-based pride get people to vote for platforms based on "solidarity" and "anti-immigrant". The populist movement encourages you to turn in your family and friends who are violating ever-increasing laws and penalties about social behaviors and norms. And then you can register yourself as an avid supporter of "The Homeland" and be a Homeland Security Force yourself, wearing armbands as a way to self-identify with your growing "patriotic" peer group.
Wait, that sounds too much like how Nazi Germany was formed. Save the fact that it was the first worst global collapse then. We the People are aiming to be the cause for the second -- second collapse and second rising of a facist aggressive imperialistic country.
I recall approx. 30 years ago when Trickle down was voiced and even then, I pictured a yellow bodily fluid.... smile :-)
I am heading to the hospital now. Care to join me? I am sure you don't think you need since you have everything figured out.
Again, how do we get the ideas expressed in this fable to all voters?
It all gets back to the twisting of the basic survival instinct of humans like: replication, greed, ideology and fear.
- Replication = Desire, instinct and BELIEF you must create or produce more people like yourself.
This also means we tend to want fewer of those who are NOT like US.
This extends into families, groups, religions, races, nationalities.
Anyone not like you and with you, might be against you. See - Fear.
- Greed = Desire, instinct and BELIEF you must gather as much as you can (land, wealth, resources, power) so your chances of survival are greater.
- Ideology = Strongly held BELIEFS that go beyond evidence, logic and rationality.
This includes: religion, racism, national exceptionalism, laissez-faire capitalism, Communism, etc.
- Fear = Strongly held BELIEF of imminent danger to the condition or status of ones self, family or group.
Applies whether or not there are rational motivations for it.
These basic survival BELIEFS, twisted and carried to excess, without thought and consideration for others, long term consequences and survival, is what gets us into trouble.
I think it is past time for Humanity in general and the Republicans in particular, to reduce their addiction to BELIEF based reasoning and aspire to higher standards of objective reality, rationality, logic and compassion for others.
Matthew 7:12 - "So in everything, do unto others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
So simple, but so true.
the only good thing about this is the historical fact that these situations are self correcting as soon as the people realize the truth even as .gov has made patriotism illegal subject to indefinite detention and even assassination without due process.
Really? Is it?
Because imagine a Party ....the Democratic Party, who had a 2 year opportunity in 2010-2012 to turn this fable around and (re)enact strong rules and regulations that prevented the above scenario from ever happening again, and to set a good example for the future, punished the wrongdoers and wrongdoings that they committed, and put more rules and regulations in place that set about righting those wrongs....and those who were wronged.
And instead imagine that the Democratic Party who had an ideal chance to do right by the people that elected them instead decided to sit on their hands for those 2 years and do nothing. Absolutely nothing.
You know, here in Northern Europe, if people are unhappy about something, they will vote according to that. There are many parties, 10+ in most countries - and any of those can form a government if/when people vote for them. It's not perfect but it generally works pretty well. It's democracy. If the two or three major parties fail in delivering their promises, the next election will put all of them aside. No more democrats or republicans in the government! But new, other people. Maybe people with better understanding, ideas and skills. And if they fail in their turn, maybe it's the democrats and/or the republicans the next time around.
It is not a perfect system. The big money tends to override the will of the people here, too. And we people tend to be too ignorant to vote for what is best for us. But at least there are alternatives. For example, in Finland, the "green" environmental party now has ca. 10% support. I'd guess there are as many "green" people in the USA today. But who can they vote? Who even cares?
Amazing is that we have to have an industry to take everything Politicians say and tell the public what are lies and what are true. However, we are just now needing to have someone to check them..
FOX, LImbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Coulter, etc. have proven my point, so all we can really do is speak up and take action. I think Rich is right is sharing his understanding/wisdom with the American People in all kinds of perspectives.
We will not be successful in helping too many of the brainwashed, but it is what has to be done.
BUT --- That is just fantasy --- today.