"A Question of Balance"
For those among you who aren't enlightened to the world of classic rock music, the title is from a great album by "The Moody Blues," released in 1970, which contained the hit single "Question." Anyway....
My point in this current blog is to say that we've lost our "balance" on economic issues, in my opinion, and reviewing the poll numbers, I'm not alone in that assessment. Generally speaking, if you're not wealthy, you're pretty much pinched, left out and in decline, or afraid that you'll be joining the ranks of one of the first two. If you're wealthy, or managing the money and assets of the wealthy, you're probably doing very well, thank you!
These silly futures markets are just another way to ram it to the rest of us. There might be a crisis in the Middle East, so let's jack up the price of oil and gasoline. Some politicians are starting to get serious about using corn and other products to produce fuel, so let's jack them up, too! The big money people reap the bucks, and the rest of us can't win, oil, corn, natural gas, you just name it. Like drug dealers, they've got us hooked on products, and now we can't find a way out. At least drug dependent folks can go to rehab. The futures markets look more and more like legalized gambling, and the public is footing the bill for the gamblers.
Many workers have lost or can't afford health care, costing some people their very lives, as they can't get proper medical treatment. That's a form of legalized murder, in my book. If I sound extreme, it's because the balance has shifted so much in favor of the wealthy and their surrogates, that if we're EVER to get some sort of balance back for average people, we're going to have to lay these things out there, POINT BLANK, no hedging on the words. If the wealthy were having a tough time turning a buck, I might well have a different view on all of this, but as I noted in previous blogs, they are raking in record amounts of money, and the gap in income distribution has widened accordingly.
We all share a common human frailty, blind spots. The ego driven business people and the money managers for the super wealthy scare me more than some of the super wealthy themselves. They can't see what they're doing to other people. In my opinion, some are so absolutely ruthless, that about the only other people on earth that compare to them are to be found only in groups like Al Qaida. If you don't believe me, just listen to some of the business shows on TV. Further, while Bush has now come out and talked about income disparity, his administration has not done a hell of a lot to help people who've experienced job dislocations, or wage and benefit cuts caused by so called "globalization," an agenda pushed very much by big business and the wealthy.
In the 1930s, as banks failed across the nation, the president closed the banks. The wealthy and businessmen screamed that, with this measure, the end was near, but Roosevelt's action helped save the very banking system that had gone so awry. The wealthy like dog-eat-dog, but that's because, in most cases, they aren't going to have to scrape to get their next meal, pay rent, buy gas to get to work, or keep their utilities on. There's a hell of a difference.
I'm usually not much into "conspiracy" theories, but with globalization, and stock and futures markets now worldwide, Americans have lost a great deal of ability to control many situations. So, if oil starts to skyrocket, a president can't say, "Close the markets, until this situation calms down," because the rest of the world markets will go on. I'm just wondering where all of this is leading. Businessmen said how great American private enterprise was before, that is, before 1929!
My point in this current blog is to say that we've lost our "balance" on economic issues, in my opinion, and reviewing the poll numbers, I'm not alone in that assessment. Generally speaking, if you're not wealthy, you're pretty much pinched, left out and in decline, or afraid that you'll be joining the ranks of one of the first two. If you're wealthy, or managing the money and assets of the wealthy, you're probably doing very well, thank you!
These silly futures markets are just another way to ram it to the rest of us. There might be a crisis in the Middle East, so let's jack up the price of oil and gasoline. Some politicians are starting to get serious about using corn and other products to produce fuel, so let's jack them up, too! The big money people reap the bucks, and the rest of us can't win, oil, corn, natural gas, you just name it. Like drug dealers, they've got us hooked on products, and now we can't find a way out. At least drug dependent folks can go to rehab. The futures markets look more and more like legalized gambling, and the public is footing the bill for the gamblers.
Many workers have lost or can't afford health care, costing some people their very lives, as they can't get proper medical treatment. That's a form of legalized murder, in my book. If I sound extreme, it's because the balance has shifted so much in favor of the wealthy and their surrogates, that if we're EVER to get some sort of balance back for average people, we're going to have to lay these things out there, POINT BLANK, no hedging on the words. If the wealthy were having a tough time turning a buck, I might well have a different view on all of this, but as I noted in previous blogs, they are raking in record amounts of money, and the gap in income distribution has widened accordingly.
We all share a common human frailty, blind spots. The ego driven business people and the money managers for the super wealthy scare me more than some of the super wealthy themselves. They can't see what they're doing to other people. In my opinion, some are so absolutely ruthless, that about the only other people on earth that compare to them are to be found only in groups like Al Qaida. If you don't believe me, just listen to some of the business shows on TV. Further, while Bush has now come out and talked about income disparity, his administration has not done a hell of a lot to help people who've experienced job dislocations, or wage and benefit cuts caused by so called "globalization," an agenda pushed very much by big business and the wealthy.
In the 1930s, as banks failed across the nation, the president closed the banks. The wealthy and businessmen screamed that, with this measure, the end was near, but Roosevelt's action helped save the very banking system that had gone so awry. The wealthy like dog-eat-dog, but that's because, in most cases, they aren't going to have to scrape to get their next meal, pay rent, buy gas to get to work, or keep their utilities on. There's a hell of a difference.
I'm usually not much into "conspiracy" theories, but with globalization, and stock and futures markets now worldwide, Americans have lost a great deal of ability to control many situations. So, if oil starts to skyrocket, a president can't say, "Close the markets, until this situation calms down," because the rest of the world markets will go on. I'm just wondering where all of this is leading. Businessmen said how great American private enterprise was before, that is, before 1929!
Labels: Moody Blues
posted by Randy at 3:12 PM
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