When dealing with the American election, people are struggling to define the so call economic model that presently exists within the USA. They have called it with such vague descriptors as corporate capitalism, or crony capitalism, but they have thus far failed to grasp the exact nature of this system. They keep reaching for new explanations, when a perfectly good one lies hidden in plain sight, but not from the present, it comes from the past. What other economic system exists where 1% holds 99% of the wealth? Where the religious leaders tell people that this is the divine plan and they should simple hope for better in the afterlife. Where the class one is born to, marks the person for life. This system was called Feudalism. It very much has returned to the land of the free, home of the brave called these United States.
The American case has some specific modern twists. The first leg of this tripod comes from Russian refuge Ayn Rand, for whom we refer to in philosophy as among the groups of irrationals. She has an extensive body of work where she posits that greed is the only good. So long as I am looking out for number one, the rest will follow. The second leg of our tripod is the Protestant system of “Election”, (To be among those elected by Christ.) Not be confused with anything to do with voting. By this we call to mind, that God has ordained people to be the elect, into his grace. Those who have an automatic ticket into heaven, no matter what they do on Earth, they have been elected or chosen to everlasting life. So no matter how much harm, misery or suffering they cause, they have their place reserved for them in the paradise to come. This takes a load off the mind from worrying about what is to come. This also applies to corporations and their fiduciary responsibility to maximise profit no matter the social consequences. So long as they follow the mandates of cooperate election, to maximise profits, they can do no wrong. Lead by executives who also lack any sense of morality, for they are “Elect” of God, the combination is a single minded focus that destroys as many lives as needed to maximise the bottom line for the company and share holders. The last pillar comes from the social aspect of race, specifically that the so called “White Race” which in this doctrine is seen as superior to the again, so called “Black and / or Brown Races.” Selfish greed, elect by God and superior to all people, whatever could go wrong with such a combination? All three aspects tend to be different iterations of the same sort policy goals that the so called capitalistic market place in the USA endorses. I got mine and to hell with you. In this case, literally, to hell with you.
Breaking each aspect down further, we begin with the notion of greed. In Adam Smith ideal economy there is the trickledown theory. The rich can only consume so much wealth and thus in their exuberance, they allow plenty to pass down to enrich the lower classes. Sadly, this is based on the notion that goods and services expire, they break or wear out or in the case of food, spoils. When this happens there is a constant need for replacement so that the lower class that produces the goods and services consumed by the upper class, are then enriched in the making or selling such goods to those in the upper class. This is not the case of modern economy where ideas mean more. They have no time limit or expiration date. By this we call to mind stocks, bonds and other assets that are not tangible, immoveable things. A joint stock company may own immovable’s, like manufacturing plants, buildings, furniture. But the stocks in that corporation are nothing but pieces of paper, on in this computer age, dots on the screen. This is a mental construct of ownership of any given company. The owner of stock need not replace or repair it, as stock will not wear out, or break down. The ownership is constant and so too is the income from profits. They simple accept the wealth and benefits from ownership including unlimited future earnings that are taxed lower than income, as this wealth is seen as privileged wealth that creates jobs. If only this was still the case today. Thus the wealthy are able to amass greater and greater control in their hands while not having to spend any of that capital to maintain their so called “Property”. Whereas a rich person might spend some or very little of their money, they literally are taking the wealth and freezing it away from the economy as they purchase more and more stocks and bonds. A poor person, needing all their money to pay bills and survive, commonly seen as living paycheque to paycheque, dispense all the case they have and are often forced to borrow more money be it on credit from credit cards or worse Payday Loan shops. This in turn creates record profits for both industries that are in this vicious loop, and ultimately returned to rich people. A rich person given a dollar would ignore it as they have many more. A poor person would spend that money as they have none of their own.
Therefore, in order to spur the economy, create new jobs, and grow the country itself, the tax burden must be returned to the wealthy, who simply are not using their wealth, in order to transfer the tax burden from the lower and middle class who will in turn spend this money adding to the economy. What blocks this is the greed of the rich who wish to hold on to what they own. Note that I did not call this selfish, as it might be in some cases, but it might not be as well. We all hate paying taxes. We all hate unfairness and we all hate to be singled out. But when the top 1% of 1% of the American people earn as much as the bottom 20%, it is not a time for increasing tax breaks for the rich or reducing their income tax. When corporations pay a tax rate lower than a poor person existing at the poverty line, there is something wrong with this picture. Sadly, the American dream is purchased and sold to those same rich people. There is no will to assist the poor or the middle class. There is however, a lot of incentive to help the rich donator class, as they will give money to future elections, jobs, and other perks to impress people into enacting legislation that will benefit themselves and only themselves. Because they are the elites. The poor are those cursed by God, coloured people or simple those who are too weak to be selfish in their own right.
Where there is no justice, there can be no peace. This lesson was learned in Europe in the 19th century as the lower class would rise up in rebellion and try to over throw the existing order, and execute the wealthy oppressors. In time, it became clear to the wealthy they might be elected by God, but they might want to live to a ripe old age to not rush to meet their maker, rather than be left swinging on the apple tree in their yard. At some point, the overwhelming majority of people who make up the lower and middle class will turn to violence and they will enact their vengeance. Wake up before it is too late. Make social justice your rallying cry! Not self enrichment, lacking empathy to all who are not as lucky as you. Stocks are made of paper. They burn just as well as factories do, as well as rich people hanging from their gallows. The only question left before us is this, how will America solve its problems? By accord, or by the sword? Time will answer this.