"In a little time [there will be] no middling sort. We shall have a few, and but a very few Lords, and all the rest beggars." R.L. Bushman
"Rapidly you are dividing into two classes--extreme rich and extreme poor." "Brutus"
Americans
think that they have "freedom and democracy" and that politicians are
held accountable by elections. The fact of the matter is that the US
is ruled by powerful interest groups who control politicians with
campaign contributions. Our real rulers are an oligarchy of financial
and military/security interests and AIPAC, which influences US foreign
policy for the benefit of Israel.
Have a look at economic policy. It is being run for the benefit of large financial concerns, such as Goldman Sachs.
It
was the banks, not the millions of Americans who have lost homes, jobs,
health insurance, and pensions, that received $700 billion in TARP
funds. The banks used this gift of capital to make more profits. In
the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,
Goldman Sachs announced record second quarter profits and large
six-figure bonuses for every employee.
The
Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy is another gift to the
banks. It lowers their cost of funds and increases their profits.
With the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, banks became
high-risk investment houses that trade financial instruments such as
interest rate derivatives and mortgage backed securities. With abundant
funds supplied virtually free by the Federal Reserve, banks are paying
depositors virtually nothing on their savings.
Despite
the Federal Reserve's low interest rate policy, beginning October 1
banks are raising the annual percentage rate (APR) on credit card
purchases and cash advances and on balances that have a penalty rate
because of late payment. Banks are also raising the late fee. In the
midst of the worst economy since the 1930s, heavily indebted Americans,
who are losing their jobs and their homes, are to be bled into
bankruptcy by the very banks that are being subsidized with TARP funds
and low interest rates.
Moreover,
it is the American public that is on the hook for the TARP money and
the low interest rates. As the US government's budget is 50% or more
in the red, the TARP money has to be borrowed from abroad or monetized
by the Fed. This means more pressure on the US dollar's exchange value
and a rise in import prices and also domestic inflation.
Americans
will thus pay for the TARP and low interest rate subsidies to their
financial rulers with erosion in the purchasing power of the dollar. What we are experiencing is a massive redistribution of income from the American public to the financial sector.
And
this is occurring during a Democratic administration headed by
America's first black president, with a Democratic majority in the
House and Senate.
Is there a government anywhere that less represents its citizens than the US government?
Consider America's wars. As of the moment of writing, the out-of-pocket cost of America's wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan is $900,000,000,000. When you add in the already
incurred future costs of veterans benefits, interest on the debt, the
forgone use of the resources for productive purposes, and such other
costs as computed by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard
University budget expert Linda Bilmes, "our" government has wasted
$3,000,000,000,000--three trillion dollars--on two wars that
have no benefit whatsoever for any American whose income does not
derive from the military/security complex, about which five-star
general President Eisenhower warned us.
It
is now a proven fact that the US invasion of Iraq was based on lies and
deception of the American public. The only beneficiaries were the
armaments industries, Blackwater, Halliburton, military officers who
enjoy higher rates of promotion during war, and Muslim extremists whose
case the US government proved by its unprovoked aggression against
Muslims. No one else benefited. Iraq was a threat to no one, and
finding Saddam Hussein and executing him after a kangaroo trial had no
effect whatsoever on ending the war or preventing the start of others.
The
cost of America's wars is a huge burden on a bankrupt country, but the
cost incurred by veterans might be even higher. Homelessness is a
prevalent condition of veterans, as is post-traumatic stress. American
soldiers, who naively fought for the munitions industry's wars, for
high compensation for the munitions CEOs, and for dividends and capital
gains for the munitions shareholders, paid not only with lives and lost
limbs, but also with broken marriages, ruined careers, psychiatric
disorders, and prison sentences for failing to make child support
payments.
What
did Americans gain from an unaffordable war in Iraq that lasted far
longer than World War II and that put into power Shi'ites allied with Iran?
The answer is obvious: nothing whatsoever.
What did the armaments industry gain? Billions of dollars in profits.
What about President Obama? "A corporate marketing creation," sums up the distinguished British journalist John Pilger.
Obama is the presidential candidate who promised to end the war in Iraq. He hasn't. But he has escalated the war in Afghanistan, started a new war in Pakistan, intends to repeat the Yugoslav scenario in the Caucasus, and appears determined to start a war in South America. In response to the acceptance by US puppet president of Columbia, Alvaro Uribe, of seven US military bases in Columbia, Venezuela warned South American countries that the "winds or war are beginning to blow."
Here
we have the US government, totally dependent on the generosity of
foreigners to finance its red ink, which extends in large quantities as
far as the eye can see, completely under the thumb of the
military/security complex, which will destroy us all in order to meet Wall Street share price expectations.
Why does any American care who rules Afghanistan? The country has nothing to do with us.
Did
the armed services committees of the House and Senate calculate the
risk of destabilizing nuclear armed Pakistan when they acquiesced to
Obama's new war there, a war that has already displaced two million
Pakistanis?
No, of course not. The whores took their orders from the same military/security oligarchy that instructed Obama.
The
great American superpower and its 300 million people are being driven
straight into the ground by the narrow interest of the big banks and
the munitions industry. People, and not only Americans, are losing
their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers for no other reason than
the profits of US armaments corporations, and the gullible American
people seem proud of it. Those ribbon decals on their cars, SUVs and
monster trucks proclaim their naive loyalty to the armaments industries
and to the whores in Washington who promote wars.
Will
Americans, smashed and destroyed by "their" government's policy, which
always puts Americans last, ever understand who their real enemies are?
Will
Americans realize that they are not ruled by elected representatives
but by an oligarchy that owns the Washington whorehouse?
Will Americans ever understand that they are impotent serfs?