Will The Game Have Rules

NOTE: I first posted this article on July 26, 2009, and then updated it July 18, 2013, but unfortunately it is still relevant. Just to give some perspective, when I initially wrote this, Barack Obama had just taken office in January of that year, and there was lots of talk about correcting the abuses of Wall Street banks and of the financial industry in general. Up until now only modest changes have been made, the country's largest banks are larger under Obama than they were under Bush, when they were deemed "too big to fail," and no banker (none, zero, zilch) went to jail, let alone to prison. In fact, some of the bankers seemed incensed that they were called before Congress to answer some questions and to defend their huge bonuses. Of course they felt entitled to the bonuses, even though they said they knew nothing of the multi-trillion dollar mortgage mess. No "accountability" (pun intended) with them. It became, "Just give us huge bonuses, but we're not responsible for anything that actually goes wrong." Income disparity continues to widen, as the top earners have sopped up most of the gains since the modest recovery from the "Great Recession." Unions and workers in general are under attack by some greedy and ruthless business people and their Republican political allies hoping to squelch the last organized opposition to their total domination of the country. Talk of doing away with minimum wage and child labor laws have surfaced, although they have not yet been pushed by the greediest of the greedy. When I first saw "Bang The Drum Slowly," corporate CEOs made 20 to 30 times what the average worker made. Now the CEOs make hundreds of times what the average worker makes. So let's see what I had to say in 2009.  
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One of my favorite movies is "Bang The Drum Slowly." When I was in college many years ago, one of the nearby movie theaters had matinee specials, I believe it was on Wednesdays. I had a long spell between classes then, and I'd frequently take in the matinee special. That's how I saw this movie. It wasn't really advertised, nor did it have any big names in starring roles (at that time), but it was about baseball, and I loved baseball; plus, if I remember right, the matinee special only cost fifty cents (remember, that was the early 1970s). One of the main actors in the movie went on to become fairly well known years later in the first several seasons of "Law and Order." This was Michael Moriarty, who played Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone. The other main actor became a Hollywood staple and is known to anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past 35-40 years; Robert De Niro.

The movie was based on a novel written in the mid 1950s by Mark Harris,* and in both the book and the movie, the ballplayers use a card game called TEGWAR to help admiring fans in the hotel lobbies part with some of their money. TEGWAR stands for "The Exciting Game Without Any Rules." A couple of the players sit in the lobby playing cards. A fan or two recognizes them and asks if they can sit in on the game. They sit down, get out their wallets, toss in a few bucks, and they're promptly told things like, "Throw down a card in the middle of the table." When they do so, one of the players lays down a card and claims the pot, regardless of what cards have been displayed; even if, for instance, the fan had an ace, any card tossed in by the player beats it. Why? Because there are no rules; at least not for the fans, as the players make up the "rules," if you want to call them that, as they go along. The "duped" fans don't understand the game, but they seldom offer any major challenge, as they're getting to play with their baseball heroes and they don't want to sound dumb (ahhhh.....TOO LATE!!!).

This "game" may sound all too familiar, but in a different form. For decades, but especially in the past three decades, many wealthy Americans, and more recently the money managers of the greatly expanded financial services industry, have been obsessed with changing, repealing or just trampling on government regulation of business and investment. Some in government, even some supposedly from "The People's Party;" that is, Democrats, have been complicit in dismantling the safeguards to the American people and the American economy. Most of the support, however, has come from Republicans, as this has been one of their main philosophical components, but that's NOT to say that ALL Republicans have agreed with what has gone on, especially when they now see the results (remember, this was written in 2009), but so many people, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, just didn't understand the complexity of the changes that were taking place. When you add in Reagan slogans like, "Government is not the solution to the problem; government IS the problem," it isn't all that difficult to see how Americans were duped by the players of this TEGWAR game.

Just to make a point, oil and gasoline were successfully put into "futures markets" during the Reagan era. All went fairly well, but then the big boys figured it all out. Not only could they drive prices higher themselves, but they could pool money with other wealthy people into veritable pricing juggernauts.** They can move oil or gasoline prices instantaneously!!! Not only that, but I'm sure most of you remember when gasoline prices changed once or twice a week, and even then, by usually a few pennies at a time one way or the other. I'm also sure you know how in the last several years, prices can change on a daily basis, and by 20, 30, 40 cents at a time!!! But that's only when prices go higher! They come down far, far more slowly. These are supposed to be "future" prices that are set on "futures markets," but now, if oil goes up five bucks a barrel in one day for a contract that is two months off, the gas stations are out changing the price the SAME DAY!!! (My deuce beats your ace because I control the "rules!") I have to say that with so many oil company owned gas stations, that we have further manipulation of the system, but independents are guilty, too.

Try to stay informed. We're all in a hurry. We want sound bytes or short magazine or newspaper clips to tell us the basics to some very complex issues, or to issues that have been deliberately made so complex that most of the American public, including many wealthy folks, can't understand them. The current administration is trying to decide what rules need to be put in place for our TEGWAR game to make the game fairer for the other players. I certainly hope they decide to separate the "Wall Street investment casinos" from the banking business. (Ahh, and likewise with the insurance industry!) And no more of this, "Too big to fail," either! The big boys are going to scream bloody murder even if only very modest changes are proposed, but DON'T be fooled. Forget about all this "socialist" name calling crap. It is a ruse to divert attention from the real issues. Remember too, if you're a Republican, the "trust buster president" was Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican. Don't let these right wing fanatics drag you along with them in supporting such nonsense, including the repeal of estate taxes on large fortunes.*** By the same token, Democrats can't be shy about questioning proposed changes to make sure they will work, and that they don't overburden business. Don't let the left wing fanatics make you fearful that a business might make five cents on something. If regulations are put in place, but then need to be tweaked, so be it. Don't set your feet in concrete and refuse to act when the need to act is evident. (Actually, this applies to both parties.)

*There was also a television production of the book done in the 1950s, starring then little known actor Paul Newman, a Clevelander.

**It is NOT without reason that I call them, "The sit on their ass class."

***It was a Republican, Herbert Hoover, who felt that great fortunes should not be allowed to be passed on, as they only perpetuate the control of the wealthy. Folks, the wealthy have survived. Income figures for more than three decades show the upper income brackets registering major gains, while many middle class incomes have lost ground or stagnated. If the rich gain, it has to come from someone. Do you want to venture a guess from whom?

WORD HISTORY:
Sty-There are two such words in English, this one, "pen for pigs," comes from Old Germanic "stijan," which had the notion of some type of enclosure, but exactly where Germanic got the word is unknown. Old High German had "stiga," which meant "enclosure for cattle." In Old English is was "stig," which meant "hall, in the sense 'room,' or animal pen." German has "Steige" (also spelled "Stiege," which "might" be from Low German???), which means "crate, carton," with that notion of "enclosure" present in the meaning, and the word also once was used for "animal pen, coop," and "may" still be used that way in some dialects. Other Germanic languages have: Swedish "stia," meaning "pig pen, pig sty," Icelandic "svínastíu," meaning "pig pen" (there may be other forms in Icelandic, but I found this first, just for the sake of example), Danish "sti," meaning "animal pen." I did not find modern forms in Dutch, Frisian, or Norwegian, although it is "possible" there are forms in dialect usage. I also did not find a form in modern Low German, which has no standard language form, but rather a number of dialects, and as I noted above, "Stiege" is a possibility.

Sty #2:
This word for "an inflamed swelling on the eyelid," goes back to Indo European "steigh," which had the notion of "rise, arise and stride forth." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stig," which meant "swelling." Old English had "stigan" which meant "to rise." Later in English came "styany" (supposedly pronounced like "sty on eye"), a compound word from "styan," meaning "swelling," and "eye." The word is related to modern German "steigen," meaning "to climb, rise," and the German noun "Steige/Stiege," which means, most often (see #1), "stairway, staircase." Other Germanic relatives of English have: Low German Saxon "stiegen" (climb, ascend), West Frisian "stige" (arise, rise), Dutch "stijgen" (rise, ascend, climb), Icelandic "stiga" (walk, step), Swedish "stiga" (climb, rise), Danish "stige" (climb), Norwegian "stige" (rise, ascend).