Original text and editing by:
A G Kaiser
email to
agkaiser1@gmail,com
Morality, ethics and the emotional engagement of populations are in a constant state of change. Only the greed, corruption and treachery of the powerful and rich elite remains the same.
"A good slave works for food alone."
Q of the week:
Q: Does America have the world’s best health care system?
A: Our medical community and their politicians often boast that the best medicine in the world is practiced in America. I won’t dispute their patriotic claim. I can’t afford to see a doctor or buy medicine so I have no way of testing their self-praise. In any case, it’s not the world’s best health care system, if many or most of our people cannot access it.
Volume IV Issue 07:
Reality vs. Illusions, Lies and Distractions:
We are a land strengthened by our diversity and unified in our resistence to terrorism. Our rich and poor stand together to resist those who would destroy that which they covet but cannot acquire by their own honest efforts. We all work together to produce the riches of our national community and defend our right to do so. If we have enough money, we may have a substantial share of the wealth. Be optimistic. Economists and MBAs have discovered that we don’t need to produce real things to be rich. We need only make money to buy material goods and others can do the work. It’s not surprising that they’ve come to this conclusion. Neither they nor their antecedents have themselves ever done real work to produce the substance of their wealth. Imaginary work produces only abstract results like money. We can all become like them. When everyone lives on invested money we’ll all be rich. This indirect way of leeching the work of others is morally acceptable to most. Forcing slaves to labor to provide our living is repugnant. But don’t worry. The Chinese have a taste of Capitalism. We can count on them to produce the real things we need to survive. They’re used to slavery and will not rebel against working for US, now that we’ve introduced democracy and freedom by making a few of them rich through the efforts of many others. Some day soon the Chinese will all be rich like US.
Politics:
Will the Democrats be better for the people of America than the Republicans? If so, it will be only marginally. Both parties serve the same master. Corporate interests will always dominate our two party system. Both will pay lip service to the cultural issues that enthrall many while the both will contend to represent our economic interests and security. Both will claim to be on the right side everything but will serve their corporate bosses in good faith. They will hypnotize the majority of voters between them.
Historically the Democrats have been the only ones to note when greed was waxing self destructive. They have been the ones to throw US bones with a little meat on them. The Republicans tend to perceive concessions as weakness and moral decay even when they are required to prevent a starving population from rising in revolt, as in the 1930's. It’s a religious issue with them and therefore precludes common sense. If you believe such compromise (of the principal of greed to which all corporate subsidiary politicians adhere) is necessary this year, your interest will better be served by the Democrats. If you think the majority of sheep will remain docile members of the flock without such coddling, vote Republican. You don’t have to worry about gathering too much wool because in either case you will be sheared. Whom you vote for will depend on how short you wish to be cut. That last remark is not quite accurate. Flattery, wannabeeism and other appeals to the vanity of many sheep actually deludes them to the extent that they believe they are one with the owners of the flock.
Education:
The best schools in the world are in America. It is the world’s best educational system. If you can’t afford it, you must learn by experience and follow the example of those who can. The first thing we learn in America, whether formally or informally, is to do unto others as has been done unto ourselves. Better yet, do first unto others. Preemption is the best defense. An expensive education and well connected parents gives such advantage to the fortunate elite that most of US find we never have an opportunity to do unto them as they’ve done unto US. In that case, we must look around to find someone even poorer than ourselves that we may defraud. Obviously the lower on the food chain the less the available forage. There may be more victims but they provide less meat.
While most of US are individuals who think for ourselves (ask anyone if you don’t believe me), we must admit that our survival techniques are learned from the example set by those who are most successful at living by the work of others in our national community. If more people work for one, the one can have more than could be produced with a single pair of hands. We’ve learned this lesson so well, that we believe that serving the greediest among US is human nature. Our nature would be different then, if leaders who believed a community should be organized to serve the good of all had prevailed over those who want it to serve only themselves. Democracy, freedom and equality may be an impossible dream but things would be better for most of US if the rich had a little less and we had a little more. Our nature is not determined by a single facet of our personality. We may have greed in common, yet we don’t always let it dominate. There are times when individual interest is subdued to deal with common threats. The rich allow such to be so when they need US to die in the defense of their wealth. More often than wartime, our common self interest is not synonymous with their individual greed. The way to teach this lesson is to learn whose side we’re really on. We must quit pretending all is as it should be and that being sycophants makes US like those we weakly and stupidly admire and emulate. If we are to survive, we must learn that those who enrich themselves at our expense (and there are no other kinds of rich) are a threat to the community. They are traitors to the human race.
Economy:
The more people who work for us and the less we pay them, the more money we’ll make. There are some practical concerns which, unfortunately, will limit our profits. If an employee starves, the vacancy may have to be filled. The cost of recruitment and training, if the turnover is too great, may be more than that of paying a living wage to begin with. The calculus of business must be applied to compute the area under that curve. If we ignore the cumulative effects of blindly seeking the greatest profits by securing the lowest cost of labor, we will break the great economic engine that has enriched us. Today’s technology still depends on human employees to provide our material requirements.
There are other limits to profits. The business machine, at this stage of development, must also have consumers to buy products so that increase to our wealth can continue. The consumers must have money to make purchases. When profits are too great they cannot be used to expand the production of goods. There would be no market to absorb that increase. Today we invest that excess money in financial markets. Some of it eventually is loaned to consumers and the system is buoyed up. We must keep this kite flying until we can develop a better way to produce the material goods we need. We’re smart enough to win the race with debt saturation. No one sees the future but we face it bravely, secure in our innovative ability. There is one firm principle that must be upheld at any cost. Wages and salaries must be minimized for the sake of maximum profits. Do not succumb to liberal ideas which would spoil our servants! We will discover a way to replace them before they break free of our control. This is a moral issue beyond all others. Our ability to individually profit by the work of the entire community is the paramount concern.
Law and order v. Legislation from the Benches of Activist Judges:
In 1864 many believed that to free the slaves was an infringement on the property rights of the owners and their freedom to enslave. They wished to maintain law and order as it had been for hundreds of years. The courts had little to do with the outcome of that debate. Much later, when the Supreme Court upheld separate but equal, refusing to interfere with the state’s right to deprive the former slaves of property, opportunity and protection under the law, there was no objection to activist judges who were legislating from the bench.
The attack on the courts began with reaction of the Dixiecrats to Brown v. Board. By the time of Roe v. Wade, another attempt of the court to uphold the freedom of an oppressed group to gain some control over their lives, the racists and bigots had for the most part joined the Republican Party. The Civil War renegades have nurtured their bitterness over their unaccepted defeat and loss of property to this day. They’ve had little success in forwarding their cause since 1954. They have managed to spin their bigot’s assault as a conservation of principles and values. In the Bush II version, part of it’s disguise is the defense of marriage. The South has risen again!
Energy:
Since the industrial revolution, our survival has become dependent on energy provided by fossil fuels. The money made by the energy industry is our first priority. As coal, oil and natural gas are depleted, the last drop of money will be squeezed from the dwindling supply. Some of it will be reinvested in the development of means to milk alternative energy sources as they come on line. At first, that will consist mostly of buying patents and other intellectual property to assure they do not threaten the profits still to be made on organic fuels. But most of the money will go to CEOs and stock holders to be loaned, at a profit, to consumers, whose incomes are dwindling. Politicians and advertisers will also get a share. A minimum portion will be allocated for reinvestment in the energy industry and the alternatives to petroleum that will allow us to continue to dominate the people of the Earth at a profit. Note: if we convert too much corn to fuel, the population may dwindle and our non inheriting children will have less opportunity to prosper on the work of others. Overpopulation does guarantee a supply of cheap labor but , on second thought, I think we may starve Americans with impunity. Asia and South America stand ready to supply the labor required to create our material wealth. We can hold Africa in reserve and appear benevolent at the same time, if we fund vaccinations and AIDS treatment there. [Editors Note: This sarcastic paragraph is how I imagine a callous busyness person might appraise an energy crisis.]
Medicine:
The best medical practice in the world is available in America. It's the best health care system . . . if you can afford it.
There's plenty of money for doctors to buy Mercedes for themselves and BMWs for their children. The Insurance company CEOs and stockholders are rich but the system can't care for the rest of US. Not only the medical system but our entire paradigm and philosophy of community needs to be reworked.
Recently I received an email from a friend. Her youngest child turned 18 and she was dropped from Medicaid. A treatment she was undergoing was stopped because her income exceeded the $730.00/month limit for a single person. It's just under minimum wage. No one making just minimum wage can afford housing, much less health insurance. The conservatives have robbed most of US blind in the past thirty-five years. Anyone who was willing to work could afford everything they needed in 1970. The unions were strong. Their good work had enriched all Americans and created the middle class. Conservative tax cuts for the rich and attacks on unions have destroyed the middle class and left my friend in the company of 44 million Americans without health care. The neo-cons won’t pay to keep alive the people their greed has destroyed. Today, instead of a decent life or even minimal health care, most of US get only lying words and absurd economic theories that promote the welfare of a few.
The welfare of insurance companies’ profits inspire the limitation on malpractice recovery. If tort reform passes, the savings will go into the pockets of the already bloated insurance CEOs and principle owners. Neither medical nor any other costs will be reduced by limiting civil settlements. Incompetent doctors, motivated to go to med school to get rich, who have no interest in healing, will make even more money as they continue to do harm to the community. We will be limited in our ability to hold them accountable for the injuries and deaths there bumbling treatments cause. Their practice should be criminalized but the neo-cons think they should be relieved of the responsibility for their acts by limiting court settlements.
Editorial:
God saw fit to arrange the Earth, Air and Water in His certain order. We have come to believe that we may rearrange things at our pleasure and there will be no consequences. We take Earth and torture it into forms we find useful and pleasing. We indulge our vanity and conceit in orgies of pride over works and achievements in which we personally had no part. We process land and wash the waste down the drain into the Ocean’s water, where it ferments and alters the chemistry that supports life. We take millions of years of accumulated plant and animal residue from deep within the Earth, where it serves we know not what purpose, then place it in the atmosphere where it poisons or cooks US. Why are we so unhappy with our lives and the Earth God gave US, that we do these self-destructive things? More importantly, why are we forced to play the role of our own executioner on the stage of life that’s been set for the benefit of a few greedy fools and from which there’s no escape but death? Why do we let them own our world and [unwittingly] order our deaths, blinded by their childishly shortsighted avarice, as they reorder God’s Natural Earth in a way that serves their puerile greed. Their riches and power are destructive to US all.
At one time or another I've written about most problems and even proposed possibly realistic but unpopular solutions. No solutions are likely until we become aware of the real threat and muster the courage to fight for our own survival. Corporations and the politicians they own are busy using press, TV, movies and all imaginable media to confuse US and lie to US about the nature of the problems. All that can be done to break their evil defense of greed is to keep hammering in the truth, in spite of all the resistance those in power can create and all the kinds of fools they can summon to their support. You can at least refuse to be one of their dupes.
If you wish to help, contact me:
agkaiser@hotmail.com
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Greg Kaiser