The Ruling Class
You've seen cyber-lists about the horrible state of the U.S. economy. This site has taken the exercise one step further: it has juxtaposed fourteen financial facts about the Ruling Class against fourteen financial facts about the Subjected. Some of the facts take cheap shots, but for the most part, it's a revealing piece. Samples: Funny - The average bonus for a worker on Wall Street in 2010 was only $128,530. It appears that more Wall Street bailouts may be needed. Not Funny - During this most recent economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic product in over 50 years. And Funny - According to DataQuick Information Systems, the sale of million dollars homes rose an average of 18.6 percent in the top 20 major metro areas in the U.S. in 2010. Not Funny - In 2010, for the first time ever more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.
* * * * * * * Questioning. I firmly believe (though I'm open to contradiction) that there is a ruling class in America and that they take advantage of tax policies and bail outs and other forms of government benevolence. And if there is such a ruling class, there must be a "subjected" class, which constitutes everybody else.
Still, when I look at the awful fourteen "Not Funny" facts above, I'm (gratefully) aware that none of them apply to me, although they do affect my clients and potential clients, and therefore have a downward draft effect on my paycheck. But it's an exaggeration to refer to myself as a "subject," to the extent it is meant to conjure up images of a serf. But to the extent is meant in its literal sense, it is accurate. I am a person under authority or control of another, and that person has the power to expropriate my money for his own personal benefit and is doing so. The mere fact that I am allowed to keep most of my earnings (and, truth be told, I do not object to the amount of federal incomes taxes I pay, though I choke on the total amount I pay in all taxes: sales, excise, property, etc.) doesn't change the arrangement.
Moreover, we are living under a federal government that uses its alarming tentacles to benefit insiders and people is favors, whether they're on Wall Street, in DC, or in well-placed positions throughout the 50 states. And it's doing so at the expense of our future. My federal income taxes might be reasonable now, but that's only because the federal government is borrowing and creating money. The former must be repaid sooner or later, the latter will start being repaid very oon, in the form of rising prices. Money creation, after all, is an invisible tax (if you don't understand this point, please email me; it's crucial that everyone understand the invisible tax nature of money creation). And it's all being done so the politicians can ingratiate themselves and keep their jobs, and in the event they lose their jobs, they can go to the recipients of their favors later and get jobs in the "private" sector.
It's quite nefarious, and I think it's unavoidable. We can talk about "reform," but reform of a creature the size of the Federal government is pointless. You might as well talk about making a 600-pound man healthy. It's pointless, unless the man loses at least 300 pounds. Once the weight comes off, we can talk about reform. But short of the weight loss, it's pointless. The raping will continue.
Related: Who Rules America.
