The United States
of America has entered into the era of Uber-Capitalism. What does this mean? It means that large dollar interests control
the nation. And we, the gullible, like
it that way. The most obvious sign of
Uber-Capitalism taking control is capitalism moving from being controlled by
the government to being in control of the government. This is simply accomplished by allowing unlimited,
corporate, unidentified funds to be “donated” to political campaigns to aid
them in covering the skyrocketing costs of advertising required to be
competitive in an election. These giant
funds may be unidentified to you the voter, but the candidate is well aware of
the sources and their influence is absolute.
So….what do you care? Well, it affects
your quality of life, your cost of living, your health and your rate of
taxation. Otherwise, you are little affected.
Let’s start
with quality of life. When corporations
release pollutants into the air you breathe or the water you drink, the limit
of pollutants is set by government agencies.
These agencies are controlled by your elected representatives and these
representatives are controlled by large corporate dollars. It is more cost effective in the short run to
pollute rather than clean their waste.
If there is a cleanup down the road, it is done with taxpayers’ dollars.
No
corporation ever gave a dime to a politician out of the goodness of its
heart. It wouldn’t be fair to their
stockholders. No, they expect returns from
those “donations”. They are seen as a
wise investment and surely they are that.
What about energy production? We
don’t have to use coal and natural gas to degrade air quality. We could use clean renewables like solar,
wind and waves. Someday we will. But, we could develop these power grids very quickly
with the funds we give to munition manufacturers to supply our endless wars of
choice. To switch to clean renewable
energy is an attack on the corporations supplying our coal and natural
gas. Are you in one of the states where
users of solar roof panels are taxed for trying to clean their air and the air
of their neighbors?
A simple
example of your cost of living being affected by large dollars can be seen in
large sudden increases in the cost of gasoline at the pumps. Most often these jumps in price are not
brought about by the cost of crude oil, but by a gambling institution called
the oil futures market. Recently these
very wealthy gamblers cost you over a dollar a gallon, at the pumps. You working folks bought their yachts. Each time you fill your tank, you are making
a political donation. Are you good with
that?
How about
healthcare cost? We just experienced
legislation that gives us “Affordable” Health Care. The large health insurance companies, through
their large political donations, pretty much wrote the law. Don’t blame Obama. All politicians are on the corporate teat. The first clear sign of this you saw was the disappearance
of “The Government Option” for health insurance. It would have competed with corporate
healthcare, if it were not controlled by corporate healthcare. The second thing you might have noticed is
that single payer AmeriCare was never considered. Most of the other nations of the world with
universal healthcare, have some form of single payer (government sponsored)
healthcare. Your healthcare is given for
profit, not for your health.
“Taxation
without representation” is the way of Uber-Capitalism. The examples are endless, but the cause is
that large dollar influence on tax law is much more powerful than your
influence on tax law. You can’t blame them;
they are only trying to protect and grow their estates. A simple example of money influence on
taxation is “Capital Gains Treatment of Income”. This treatment of income allows the taxation
of the sale of property, sale of stocks, dividend income to be taxed at a much
lower rate than income earned from fighting fires or loading trucks. A friend of mine, who once worked for
Price-Waterhouse, as a CPA, told me that, “Only those who work pay taxes.” Does that mean that those who work pay more
than their fair share? Ever wonder why
renters get no tax break, while homeowners get a deduction for the interest
paid on their mortgage loan (usually most of the payment), as does the landlord
of the rented residence they occupy? It
is all the same game, but it was made official by the recent Citizens United decision of your Supreme Court. You
belong to The United States of Uber-Capitalism.
We don’t need any new anthems.
The old ones will suffice.
Does any of
this need fixing? Superman is dead. He fell off of a horse, was paralyzed and
later died. The job of saving the World
is now yours. “There is only time to
iron your cape…..then, back to the sky.”
Comments are welcome, Old Buz
