This outcome of this election will determine whether the rich, aided by the Republicans, will increase their ability to dictate the policies and lawmaking of the Federal Government, thus advancing plutocratic government. This would enable them to continue to become wealthier at the expense of the middle class. To win, the rich are continuing to bankroll the election campaigns of Republican candidates, who, in return, are expected to reward them with huge tax reductions and relaxed business and environmental governmental regulations.
Ever since the Reagan years, there has been a tremendous transfer of income and wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest class.The statistics are well known. From 1980 to 2010, the average income of the bottom 90 percent of income earners has essentially remained the same, while for the top 1 percent, it has almost tripled. Looked at another way, from 1973 to 2011, worker productivity increased by 80 percent, whereas their wages rose only 4 percent. This situation is outrageous and is largely responsible for the current job crisis, because the market for goods and services has been depressed by insufficient middle class income. (See New York Times article,"Costs Seen in Income Inequality"). Elevating their incomes would increase demand and lead to the creation of enough new jobs to alleviate the job crisis.
In addition to favorable governmental treatment, the rich have been benefiting from two major business practices. First, business owners and executives have become wealthy by paying themselves inordinately outlandish salaries, bonuses and stock options, and offsetting these excesses by reducing the wages of their employees, mostly members of the middle class.
Secondly, businesses have been, in effect, taxing consumers who buy their products and services by adding a substantial percentage to prices, known as a profit margin. These profits generate the dividends paid to their stockholders, who are predominately the rich, since they own the majority of the stocks. Additionally, these dividends substantially increase the value of those stocks, so that trading them on the stock market creates even more wealth. Incidentally, these dividends and trading profits are taxed at a much lower rate than wages are taxed.
Another source of immense wealth for the already wealthy results from manipulations of the financial system, aided by Wall Street institutions. Such manipulations become even more lucrative from the relaxation of government regulations, promoted by the Republicans, allowing the occurrence of shady transactions. A momentous consequence of this was the housing disaster.
It is pretty obvious why the rich are investing hundreds of millions of their own money to elect Republicans and to defeat Obama. These are investments from which they expect to amass enormous returns by exercising control over government financial policies. One example is a billionaire casino owner, who has pledged to give up to $100 million to defeat Barack Obama, since he stands to gain $2 billion in tax savings if the Republicans win.
The Republicans blame Obama for the poor state of the present economy, whereas, in reality, they are the culprits. The Republicans have had only one objective during the past almost four years, i.e. to defeat Obama. From the day Obama took office, they have publicly vowed to prevent him from being successful. They have obstructed all legislation proposed by Obama that would have improved the economy, because a better economy would help him to win the election. They, then, blame lack of progress in job creation on Obama's policies, whereas it is their hindrance and the deficient income of the middle class that is responsible for it. And, to make matters worse, they have been responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands of State public employee jobs, including policeman, fireman and teachers, which has seriously hurt our economic recovery.
To attract voters, while masking their true allegiance, the Republicans are pretending that, if elected, they will improve the nation's economy, grow jobs and reduce debt. Their sponsors, the rich, don't need an increase in U.S. employment to maintain their levels of income and wealth. Most of the companies they manage and own conduct their businesses globally, and are not dependent on the U.S. economy. During the Recession, the rich haven't suffered a bit.
This deception is confirmed by the fact that they have failed to present any credible plans for accomplishing what they have been proposing. They are also using their divisive positions on contraception, abortion and gay marriage to appeal to certain voters. They are endeavoring to persuade voters with these tactics and to buy the elections with misleading TV and other media ads paid for by the rich. This kind of advertising is comparable to what businesses do, when running a sales campaign, to induce customers to buy their products.
Romney is using such deceptive practices to win the presidency. His stances on the various issues have been designed to fool the voters. That explains why the positions he took during the Republican primaries to win that contest have been adjusted to win this election. Furthermore, he has no detailed plans for accomplishing most of the proposals he has been peddling. One outstanding example is his $5 trillion tax cut. He claims that the cost would be offset by eliminating certain tax deductions, but he refuses to specify what they would be. If they actually do turn out to be fictitious, the alternative would be a tax hike on middle class taxpayers.
The deliberations during the current election campaign have for the most part ignored the aforementioned dangerous threat to the country's future from a Republican victory. Instead, the discussions have predominantly dealt with the qualifications of the candidates and their positions on the economy and social issues. The Republicans are using their manufactured views on these issues to obscure their actual mission, which is to repay their benefactors with tax reductions and relaxed government regulations.
The Republicans can only win by fooling the voters into believing that they really care about their welfare and will actually create jobs, when their true objective is to serve the rich and promote plutocratic government, and this fact must be stressed in the political debates taking place during this election.
The voters need to be made aware that a vote for Romney and the Republicans is really a vote for the rich and that a Republican victory would lead to greater control of the government by the Rich and a further squeeze on the middle class. Thus, based on this awareness, if they vote their own interest, this will not happen.