Whether we choose to recognize it or not, the final confrontation will be that of the masses against the wealthy and powerful elite, again. There is nothing new about this phenomenon, which has occurred in almost every civilization that ever existed on the planet, and in almost every case all of those involved have lost almost everything they had, if not their lives. It is my fervent hope that the United States of America can avoid conforming to this cyclical and recurring pattern that has plagued every civilization before ours.

     For most of this century, the various peoples of the globe have experimented with a number of different socioeconomic philosophies. The foremost of these are generally referred to as Capitalism and Socialism, and most of the others, although called by different names, embraced the basic philosophies of one these two.

     Socialism has never worked, according to all of the information that we have at our disposal. Where it has been tried, and where it is still implemented, the affected economies have stagnated, and most have failed completely.

     Capitalism has been the only economic philosophy espoused by the United States of America, and it has proven to be the most progressive and successful economic system in history. When we look at the facts concerning the condition of that segment of the people of the United States that actually perform the work, however, we find that their standards of living have been declining in relation to the total economic growth of the country over the past two decades.

     Thus, one who is observant and cognitive of the lessons of history, can clearly see that our socioeconomic system began to decline in the late 1960's, and has been deteriorating ever since. There is no doubt that we now face overwhelming social and economic problems that threaten our future.

     After years of carefully observing the activities of the government and the economy of our country, I have detected several major causal factors that have led to the deterioration of the prosperity of the working people of the country. These all result from the failure of Capitalism in the U.S.A., as it has evolved since the 1950's, to fairly, equitably, and appropriately distribute the fruits of labor among its people, according to their contributions to our economy. After years of study and thought, I have isolated four primary elements that appear to be responsible for this phenomenon.

    These elements are:
 

(1) Control of the government exclusively by a handful of very wealthy and powerful people, in order to redistribute wealth to themselves.

(2) The use of government programs by politicians to redistribute wealth from the productive to the non-productive, purely for political purposes.

(3) The establishment by those in government, for those in government, of tax laws and policies that foster the transfer of great wealth from the majority of our people, to bloated, counterproductive, and self serving bureaucracies.

(4) And, finally and perhaps most important, the failure of the politically correct news media to tell the people of our republic the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about what has happened, and what actually is happening in this country and the world. (Yes, the U.S.A. is actually a republic, not a democracy.)
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     Over recorded history, hundreds of socioeconomic systems have existed, many have thrived for several generations, but almost all have eventually failed. There are few monarchies left in the world, and most countries now function under some form of socialism, capitalism, or a combination of the two. Although we rarely think of these two economic philosophies co-existing or being merged into a single economic system, in reality this is frequently the case. Can a socioeconomic system that diverts vast portions of its production to those who do not work, and to an enormous bureaucracy established solely for that unproductive purpose, be truly categorized as capitalistic?

     Socialism is now failing in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The new openness in the media of those countries has allowed us to see the class structure that existed, and still exists there. I recently saw a portion of the Russian Evening News on C-SPAN, that showed the Russian elite driving golf carts and enjoying themselves at a golf course near Moscow! This, in the face of great strife, food shortages and impending revolutions throughout the U.S.S.R.. Under true socialism or communism, there would of course be no wealthy elite class.

     In the United States, we do not have the same class structure as Russia, but if you study the various socioeconomic conditions of the citizens of this country, you do indeed find that there are several classes that can be easily segregated by certain distinct economic parameters. Note that several of these groups are, under present conventional wisdom, lumped into what is called the middle-class. The poor and those supported by the various forms of welfare are almost never mentioned in most conversations about the economy.

     Those in our country at the low end of the income range and class structure, I shall call The Poor. This group is composed of two primary components; (1) The productive poor, confined to the category of labor, who work for a living and pay all forms of taxes¹, but barely earn enough to subsist; and (2) The non-productive poor who do no work and indeed are not allowed to work, but by virtue of meeting arbitrary government criteria, receive money from the government. Since the government earns no money, all of that used for this purpose must be extorted by the I.R.S. from working people. Note that the non-productive poor, although they pay no income tax, are forced to pay all forms of consumption taxes¹, also!

     The primary parameter that differentiates these two elements of the poor is responsibility. The productive poor are responsible, and do the best that they can to support themselves and their families, maintain their ethics and integrity, and refuse to accept charity. The non-productive poor, on the other hand, accept or must espouse a life of irresponsibility. With bureaucratic support and encouragement, they live as parasites on our economy.

     It is significant that the condition of the productive poor has declined substantially since the early 1970's, while that of the non-productive poor sector has grown and generally been financially stable if not relatively prosperous, over that time frame. The bureaucracies that tax and redistribute funds from those who work and must pay taxes, to those who don't, has also mushroomed. This insidious system has essentially institutionalized and expanded poverty, while at the same time discouraging, if not precluding, productivity among millions of those in our country who are least able to provide for themselves.

     More prosperous than the poor, but still unable to accumulate any significant savings (wealth), or to rise significantly in the social order, is the Middle Class. This element of our society also may be segregated into several groups. (1) Those who fall into the category of labor, working at medium to very skilled jobs in industry and business; (2) Those in higher skilled and technical jobs; (3) Those in lower and middle management positions, and some in medicine, law and other such professions; and (4) Most of those employed in government agencies and bureaucracies.

     Within the uppermost quintile by income are the Wealthy. This element of society tends to fall into the categories of: (1) Upper income professionals such as doctors, lawyers and most politicians, and entrepreneurs; and (2) Small and medium size business owners, and upper management people. Although most in this category are the backbone of our economy, some have taken advantage of legalized, monopolistic practices to exploit their fellow Americans, and have thereby compromised their integrity as well as the future of their country.

     A tiny fraction of the uppermost 1% of the income range constitute the Wealthy Elite. This small, now almost completely closed group, is composed of those who have inherited vast fortunes accumulated over the past century by their families, and those who have been able to acquire great wealth through their command of entrepreneurial and management skills. Many in this category are also citizens of the world in that their empires are not confined to this country. It cannot be ignored that this group of people has acquired almost all of the increases in the wealth of the United States over the past two decades.

     This Wealthy Elite also control the Federal Government of the United States, as well as the governments of all of the states and many localities. Since the costs of political campaigns have grown to prohibitive levels for all but the very wealthy, they now completely control both major political parties, and thus determine which individuals can effectively run for office and win. This means that regardless of which of the candidates for any given office those in the electorate might vote for, one of those controlled by the Wealthy Elite always gets elected!

     At this point I must interject that most of the Wealthy Elite have been blinded by greed, as have their minions, and by well established if not permanently instituted tunnel-vision, are paving the road to their own destruction. They have the most to loose when our economic system fails, and will have no place to run or to hide when it does.

     It is also important to be aware that the myriad of consumption taxes¹, sales taxes, sin taxes, luxury taxes, and F.I.C.A. are far more burdensome to the poor and middle class people, than they are on the Wealthy and Wealthy Elite. So called Trickle Down Economics has not and will not improve this situation, and the economic condition of the lower and middle classes will continue to deteriorate so long as purposely biased systems of taxation and regulation are allowed to continue.

     Note also that a flat income tax, because most of the total tax revenues are acquired through consumption, corporate, and other such taxes¹, would not improve the condition of the poor and middle class, unless all of these other taxes¹ were eliminated, and the governments and programs on every level were funded from a single tax on earnings.

     It is striking that, although those of the two major political parties strongly disagree over how and when to regulate and tax us, they suddenly find comity and bipartisanship when it comes to issues that benefit the Wealthy Elite, even when these are quite detrimental to all other segments of the population. This was certainly the case when N.A.F.T.A. and G.A.T. were overwhelmingly passed by congress, as these government imposed economic philosophies must and will promote huge losses of industries and jobs in the United States.

     The fallacy of the current Free Trade philosophies lies in the fact that there is nothing free about this trade. Enormous taxes and costs are levied on domestic industry in the United States through payroll taxes, corporate taxes¹, medical insurance, workman's compensation, and other taxes¹and costs, that increase production costs and must be passed on to the consumer. These taxes¹ and costs do not exist in most other cultures around the globe, and this factor, combined with availability of very cheap labor in almost all other countries, renders any consideration that industry in the United States can compete economically with most foreign production, ridiculous at best.

     The true facts regarding the job losses resulting from the mushrooming industrial production in Mexico, Taiwan, India, China and other foreign countries, is proof of this phenomenon. The news media has chosen not to tell us the truth, so most Americans are uninformed, or at best confused, about these things.

     Over the past several decades, many industries such as all manufacturing of televisions and video recorders, much of the automotive industry, almost all of the textile, weaving and clothing industries, and many others including the manufacture of the Barbie Doll, have already fled to foreign shores. The new tax and trade laws under N.A.F.T.A. and G.A.T. will accelerate and exacerbate this situation, and millions more of our work force will soon loose their jobs, and be forced into lower paying work, if not unemployment.

     Also, because of these trade policies, any attempts to move the non-productive poor into the work force will be futile. There are no jobs for these people now, and no new industries that might have provided jobs for low skilled labor will be created under the prevailing Free Trade laws and economic policies. It is notable that few if any government jobs actually contribute to the economy, and that they must be paid for by taxes on the people who actually do produce goods and services in demand in the market (real work).

     It must be recognized at this juncture that IBM and Motorola, because it is more profitable, have recently constructed facilities and implemented think tanks in India to develop new computer software. This is only one of many examples that clearly demonstrate that job losses in the United States will certainly not be confined to labor, or the minimally educated!

    As this phenomenon progresses, our nation will be plunged deeper and deeper into debt as it struggles to maintain the bloated government bureaucracies, and all of the Social Security, Welfare and Entitlement programs, with an ever shrinking tax base. Our impotent and irresponsible government will then no doubt borrow more money, and raise taxes¹ again and again, until there are no industries and no jobs left in the United States. What, I wonder, will happen then?

     The Wealthy Elite have proven that they, and their political lackeys, have neither the wisdom nor the desire to design and implement an effective government that can promote a healthy economy and society. No longer can we afford to allow our government to be controlled by, and solely for the benefit of, only a very few greedy individuals.

     The only hope for the salvation of our country is the immediate dismantling of the failed socioeconomic philosophies dictated by current taxation¹ and social policies, and the implementation of system that allows labor, small business and lower management to grow and prosper. Only by implementation of simple and equitable taxation, and the promotion of enlightened and unselfish capitalism, can we ensure the future of the United States of America, and all of its people.

     Before any meaningful and positive changes can be made in our government, two very important changes must occur: (1) The influence of money must be eliminated as a prerequisite to the winning of elections by candidates for all offices in our country; and (2) We must somehow convince the various elements of the news media to diverge from their current politically correct rhetoric and policies, and to finally to tell the people the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about everything that has happened and is happening in the world.

     Only a well informed electorate can and will replace the political puppets now in office, with honest and competent individuals, who would soon occupy all of the offices in our land. Once this can been accomplished, knowledgeable, ethical and wise men and women will pool their mental resources, and once again return the United States of America to its position as the greatest and most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth.

     The choices are clear and undeniable. Maintenance of the status quo, or anything vaguely resembling it, will lead to social and economic disaster for our country and its people. Only by recognizing and addressing all of the problems we face, and implementing a government that is truly of, by and for all of the people, can we save our nation and ourselves. Make no mistake, there are no other alternatives, and the cost of failure is literally
the end of western Civilization as we have known it.

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This page was created 10/ 26/97 Copyright © 1997 D'Amor.

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