well written commentary
Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:06 am
....no, I'm not referring to any words from Pud, Slappy, Nic or even myself. A friend of mine wrote the following on a CNN discussion forum, and it is spot on:
The problem is, once a certain level of wealth is achieved, it means people can gain more wealth simply for being wealthy. They no longer have to work for it. They're in a position to siphon off some of the fruits of the labor of many, many other people. Interest, rent, virtual monopolies, control of necessities, and similar. Speculation in the necessities of life for millions, that benefits the speculators by raising prices for the rest of us. I've heard the term "rent seeking" used to refer to that.
Then, they have enough wealth to influence the political system. They fund candidates who will pass laws and regulations that benefit themselves, at a cost to the rest of us. They fund politicians who will choose judges to return a ruling that benefits corporations and wealthy people in Citizens United vs.the FEC, for instance. That allows them even more freedom to influence elections, and the laws and policies that our government pursues.
And, they pursue policies that benefit themselves, to the detriment of the rest of us. They pursue policies that have us use our military might - which they also work to make effective enough to achieve their ends - to force open other markets. They fund disinformation about global warming. They fund disinformation about social policies, to keep us divided and polarized. They propagandize us with information about how the poor are merely lazy, uneducated, stupid, and immoral, about how the size of government is the enemy. The government is the only tool to fight the power and wealth of the elite, but they don't want us to realize that. They DO own the government, at this point, but they don't want us to realize that we really can make it do the bidding of the majority of us, instead of the bidding of the elite few. That's why polarization and disinformation are so useful to them.
As very wise people have said, you can have either great wealth disparity OR democracy - but not both. So, we have great wealth disparity. It becomes a great problem for the great majority of us, when too much wealth is concentrated into the hands of too few of us. No matter how unfair progressive taxation seems to people who work hard for what they earn, we either have that, or we have plutocracy. Now, we have plutocracy, and many, many more people are suffering because of that than are benefiting from it.
Most of the people here are doing ok, and it serves them to believe that the problems that so many people are facing are their own doing. The current policies are benefiting them, but those policies exist because they REALLY benefit the elite.
The problem is, once a certain level of wealth is achieved, it means people can gain more wealth simply for being wealthy. They no longer have to work for it. They're in a position to siphon off some of the fruits of the labor of many, many other people. Interest, rent, virtual monopolies, control of necessities, and similar. Speculation in the necessities of life for millions, that benefits the speculators by raising prices for the rest of us. I've heard the term "rent seeking" used to refer to that.
Then, they have enough wealth to influence the political system. They fund candidates who will pass laws and regulations that benefit themselves, at a cost to the rest of us. They fund politicians who will choose judges to return a ruling that benefits corporations and wealthy people in Citizens United vs.the FEC, for instance. That allows them even more freedom to influence elections, and the laws and policies that our government pursues.
And, they pursue policies that benefit themselves, to the detriment of the rest of us. They pursue policies that have us use our military might - which they also work to make effective enough to achieve their ends - to force open other markets. They fund disinformation about global warming. They fund disinformation about social policies, to keep us divided and polarized. They propagandize us with information about how the poor are merely lazy, uneducated, stupid, and immoral, about how the size of government is the enemy. The government is the only tool to fight the power and wealth of the elite, but they don't want us to realize that. They DO own the government, at this point, but they don't want us to realize that we really can make it do the bidding of the majority of us, instead of the bidding of the elite few. That's why polarization and disinformation are so useful to them.
As very wise people have said, you can have either great wealth disparity OR democracy - but not both. So, we have great wealth disparity. It becomes a great problem for the great majority of us, when too much wealth is concentrated into the hands of too few of us. No matter how unfair progressive taxation seems to people who work hard for what they earn, we either have that, or we have plutocracy. Now, we have plutocracy, and many, many more people are suffering because of that than are benefiting from it.
Most of the people here are doing ok, and it serves them to believe that the problems that so many people are facing are their own doing. The current policies are benefiting them, but those policies exist because they REALLY benefit the elite.
