Let them Eat Cake?

Truth and wisdom are the enemies of greed.
Revised 05/04/95

         For some years now, the citizens of the United States of America have been told that our economy has grown and we have prospered in the past several decades. Earlier this year however, significant statistical data has been presented, and broadcast on C-SPAN, that reveals a very different truth.

         The following information was provided by Mr. Robert Reich, the current Secretary of Labor of the United States, as presented in a speech to the Washington Press Club, in the first week of January, 1995:

         "From 1979 to 1992, 98% of the growth in household incomes went to the top 20% of income earners." (The other 80% received only 2% of the growth.) Also, "all of the growth since 1992 has gone to the top 20%."

         Mr. Reich draws the conclusion that the problems faced by middle-class Americans are caused by their lack of education. He says we need more education and training for new jobs. Although our systems of education have certainly declined in the past thirty years, it is a fact that the U. S. Economy actually did grow by over 30% over this same time. Could it possibly have done this with uneducated or non-productive Labor?

         Other parts of the country may have experienced different employment conditions, but personally I know very few people who have seen dollar amount of their earnings decrease over the past twenty years. I also observe that although the dollar amounts of most family earnings have increased dramatically over that time, because of inflation, higher taxes of all kinds including F.I.C.A., and increased insurance costs, the overall standards of living for those families do not appear to have improved significantly in most cases.

         The same week that Mr. Reich presented the above statistical data, Mr. Lester Thurow, Professor of Economics and Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gave an excellent speech at Morningside College, in Sioux City, Iowa. It was carried on C-SPAN, and I taped it for reference. In that speech, Dr. Thurow provided his audience with the following factual information:

         "Both the husband and the wife in a family now have to work to achieve the same income and standard of living that the husband alone earned twenty years ago! The wife can't help any more, so where will additional tax money come from in the future?" (Dr. Thurow's words.)

              "Where Did the Growth in Income Go?"

         "In 1970, the average elderly per capita income in the United States was only about 60% of the non-elderly, today it's 120%."

         "If the Federal Government shuts down welfare for the poor, the federal government (only) saves only 22 billion dollars."

         "Almost a thousand million (a trillion) dollars are spent on the elderly each year." (by the government)

         "Today sixty cents out of every dollar the federal government spends goes to the elderly."
 

         These facts demonstrate beyond any shadow of a doubt that lower and middle income (middle-class) Americans have been carrying most of the load over the past twenty years, for the costs of our government and all of the programs that it administers.

         I have no animosity toward those who have earned wealth, and have prospered through their contributions to our people and economy. These people indeed are a treasured asset of this country, and are to a great extent responsible for building the greatest economy in history. All who are capable of doing so, should respect and emulate these truly successful individuals.

         Unfortunately, there appears to be a very small, elite, group of wealthy and powerful people who, for whatever reasons, have chosen to exploit those of our citizens who make up that segment of our population generally referred to as the middle-class. For some reason, they have chosen to usurp the powers of our government, and to use its laws to redistribute ever-growing portions of the production of the middle-class (Labor), to themselves and certain vested interests.

         Over the past two decades, this redistribution of wealth has accelerated, while at the same time the real earnings of Labor have declined substantially. I suspect that this phenomenon has been aggravated and compounded by political strategies.

         The politicians who have controlled our government for the past thirty or so years, developed and implemented the Great Society, Welfare, and Entitlement programs. Since these programs not only did not, but also could not have solved any of the problems that they were supposed to address, it appears that this was merely an attempt to ensure and perpetuate their positions of power. In the process, they have also changed the basic philosophy of Social Security, and redirected its assets to better accomplish their political goals.

         It is important to note that the politicians could not have accomplished these things without the help of the news media. Over the years, despite all of their investigative reporting activities, none of the popular media seem to have told the American People the truth about these programs, what they cost, and who must pay for them. Only through C-SPAN, was I able to obtain the factual information presented above.

         Social Security was originally established as an insurance to protect those who worked and contributed to our economy, but for whatever reasons did not accumulate enough wealth to achieve a viable retirement. Primarily for political purposes, it has been transformed into a gift from the government to everyone who has reached the arbitrary age of sixty-five years, regardless of health, wealth or status. During the past several decades however, Social Security has been expanded, and Medicare has been added to its benefits.

         All Americans should be aware that only a very few who have now drawn Social Security benefits for more than a couple of years, have actually paid enough into that program to have earned the benefits that they are receiving, and those working today are now paying the benefits for those on Social Security on a month to month basis! This is identical to the illegal pyramid con game, and indeed if it were not the government administering it, those who have controlled the Social Security trust funds would be guilty of committing fraud.

         Since all of the funds in the Social Security Trust were borrowed and spent by the U. S. Congress years ago, this has resulted in almost all of those in the category of Labor, the lower income groups, paying more into the fund, in order for it to pay benefits to Social Security recipients, than they do in federal income taxes each year. (Including employer's "contributions".)

         Although Medicare and Medicaid were also probably good ideas, they have resulted in medical costs being shifted from patients who cannot pay for care or who's medical bills are only partially paid by Medicare or Medicaid, to those who actually do pay for their own insurance or medical needs. This has increased the costs of medical care at an accelerating rate over the past decade, and these costs are now becoming too expensive for a great many working (middle-class) people to afford. This amounts to an additional tax that is included in the costs of individual and group medical insurance payments. It is also very sad that many working people cannot afford insurance for themselves and their families, but are now forced to pay the medical and hospital bills of the retired.

         In the 1960's, in the name of charity and kindness, the politicians instituted the Great Society programs, that redistributed wealth from those who worked and contributed to our economy, to many who did not do so. At the same time, they also required that the people who benefited from these programs, remain unproductive. Additional and costly features of these programs reward illegitimate births and single parenthood among their beneficiaries.

         Since their introduction, the number of people supported by these programs has grown substantially, and this has resulted in the establishment of a huge and wasteful bureaucracy, that does little more than subsidize and institutionalize poverty and non-productivity in a significant segment of the population.

         I think it most important to observe that, had effective programs to educate, train and encourage the productive employment of these people been instituted, rather than the failed, political programs that were, this nation might well be in excellent economic and social condition today.

         Once the politicians had established these counter-productive, political, instruments, they then created a fear in the people who benefited from these programs. They spread the word that, unless they voted to keep the politicians who created them in power, they would loose their benefits and would then be condemned to poverty and despair again. This gave the politicians who created and espoused the programs, a voting margin that has helped maintain their control of the Government of the United States, for several decades.

         Conforming to natural social and economic laws, non-productivity was thereby promoted, expanded, and ensured among those of our people who have directly been enslaved by the Great Society, Welfare, and Entitlement programs. Their numbers have grown over the years since their implementation, and continue to increase.

         Over the period of time since these programs were first introduced, their costs and the sizes of their bureaucracies have also continually increased, and these costs have been passed on to the productive people of our country in ever increasing income taxes, and hundreds of hidden, taxes. Over five trillion dollars have been spent on them! (About the same amount as the reported "Federal Debt".)

         In the early 1980's, and supposedly to try to correct these problems, Supply Side Economics was propounded and implemented. If you carefully examine this philosophy however, you will see that it does nothing more than shift a greater portion of the burden of taxation from Capital to Labor.

         Also critical to the deterioration of the standard of living of those in Labor was the deregulation of the Insurance, Medical and Banking industries. These are essentially monopolies, supposedly supervised by government to protect the people, but over the past two decades, little if any real supervision has been manifested, and the greedy individuals who own and control them have gouged the American middle class unmercifully. Even now they are consolidating and increasing their powers and profits at the expense of those forced to pay the bills.

         It is a fact that any viable economic system must have a reasonable balance between Labor, Management and Capital, the universally recognized elements of economic production. Thus, fair taxation should burden all sectors of the economy in a fair and equitable manner. If an economic system is to survive and prosper, taxes should not be unfairly applied to Labor, Management or Capital, and neither costs nor profits be unfairly shifted to one or the others.

         The proof of the failures of current governmental taxation and spending philosophies is amply demonstrated in the actual statistical data. This information clearly reflects the relative prosperity of definable segments of the citizenry of our country over the past forty-four years, and the exploitation policies of the past twenty years.

         I do not pretend to have the answers to these problems, but do suggest that to continue the present redistribution of wealth from the bottom 80% of working people, to the upper 20% of that group, and the elderly, while at the same time ensuring non-productivity of large segments of the population, will result in catastrophic consequences. It is also notable that the flight of industry from this country to those with low labor costs, will be promoted and hastened by N.A.F.T.A. and G.A.T.T., and will no doubt accelerate and exacerbate the collapse of our economy.

         Under our current system of government, since successful political campaigns cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, only the very wealthy and very powerful can truly influence who is elected to public office, and thus what those elected will accomplish, or fail to accomplish.

         The Supreme Court has equated freedom of spending money on campaigns, to freedom of speech, thereby ensuring that those with great wealth can continue to control elections and the operations of (their) government. Any resemblance between the current "big money" government of the United States, and a democracy, is superficial at best. There is no doubt that the very wealthy and powerful do control all levels of government in the United States at this time.

       It appears that we the people are even now becoming aware of both who has controlled the government for many years, and what they have done to most working Americans and their children and grand children. I hope that those who are responsible for the current situation realize the consequences in time to save their skins and the future of this country, but blinded by greed, I doubt that they will act before it is too late.
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         As this planet enters the new millennium, I wonder what the words "Let them eat cake." will translate to this time around ... and who the new Robespierre might be.
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Copyright © January 29, 1995 by D'Amor                                                                                                                       All Rights Are Reserved

This page was created October 26, 1997 Copyright © 1997 D'Amor

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