Overlooking the Obvious

From culture, to economics, to industrial activities ... America is a nation divided. The genesis of these divisions is the institutionalization of government defined classifications which seek to both extol and exploit the many and varied distinctions created by way of legislative fiat. So long as we, the people, continue to suborn such nonsense, we will always be a nation irreparably divided.

As individuals, just how many special accommodations do we truly need to live a fruitful and gratifying existence? Navigating our way through this odyssey called life, we Americans find ourselves nurtured by a seemingly infinite number of bureaucracies whose alleged missions are to repair socioeconomic anomalies.

Idealistically conceived, the outcomes—as opposed to fixing—exacerbate problems by, of all things, creating economic inducements to a continually expanding client base; as well as giving a sense of permanence to the agencies that serve their newly acquired clientele.

Buried within overblown legislative bills supporting social programs are unrelated (to the stated purpose of the bill) line-items that favor a corporatocracy featuring the “too big to fail” clan. Less published than the manner in which corporations are legislatively favored, trade agreements (NAFTA, GATT, CAFTA, etc.) feature special considerations most favorable to multinational conglomerates.

The rules of the game almost always favor those with the deepest pockets; whose pointed and timely “donations” allow for open door access (a quid pro quo consideration) to decision makers holding key congressional positions.

The result: The game has been fixed to favor the insiders; and today ... America no longer works.

Were it not for the pathetically broken state of our nation, it might be laughable. The back and forth acrimonious bickering would make great comedy -- except we are trillions of dollars in debt, millions of people are out of work, big business has moved to exploitable off shore labor markets, and former small business owners are sleeping in their cars.

Yet in our infinite ignorance we instinctively look to government to fix the very problems that those perfumed princes on the Potomac have foisted upon us.

If there be one thing that must be learned from this debacle, it is this: It is impossible to legislate either fairness or equality.

We humans are predisposed to biases and, as observed in scandal after scandal, are all too easily corrupted...character traits wholly inconsistent with the proper administration of—what would otherwise be acclaimed as—just causes.

As nobel as the purported goals of socioeconomic planning may seem, the absolute failure of such ideas are manifest in the number of people who rely on government for their economic well being; and, especially, the loss of an inordinate number of jobs; which have brought families to ruination and the economy to a virtual standstill.

According to a study by the Brookings Institute, “Between 2007 and 2011, the fraction of the nation’s unemployed six months or longer increased from 18 percent to 44 percent.”

As a kid growing up on Chicago’s Northside, by the time I turned fourteen I’d had a paper route, worked in a gas station, made and served soft-serve ice cream at a Tastee-Freeze and, in the summer months, worked as a laborer for bricklayers. I was not the exception; as all of my friends were also gainfully employed at a very young age. Neither resumes, nor applications, nor background checks were required. One simply showed up at a place of work and asked for a job.

Today, many of America’s blue collar industries have all but vanished; and along with them the work entry opportunities for the most economically disadvantaged among us. How ironic that government initiatives specifically designed to uplift the poor have—as opposed to creating an environment of independence—entrapped them within bureaucratic confines that all too often lead to a life of dependency.

The most overlooked aspect of America’s economic malaise is that which should be the most obvious: Central economic planning does not work.

Reason: The politics of greed and envy; of pitting rich against poor, male versus female, race against race, etc.; with each special interest group fighting for every dollar of government largesse they could garner through politically influenced means.

In 1913, congress sowed the seeds of central economic planning.

On Feb. 3, 1913 congress ratified the 16th Amendment to the Constitution; thus making the federal income tax the law of the land. On Dec. 23, 1913 congress approved the Federal Reserve Act; thereby establishing a privately owned banking monopoly as America’s national bank.

[NOTE: The following is not presented as fodder for conspiracy theories (of which there are many), but rather as a historical and real world example of the consequences of bad legislation.]

In 1848 the Communist Manifesto was published. In Section II, Marx and Engels cited ten (10) initiatives (“planks”) that were to provide the organizational impetus and operations manual for their revolutionary ideas; with the goal of transforming bourgeois societies to socialist/communist states. Two of the more notable planks were:

-- A heavy progressive or graduated income tax; and,

-- Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

Total economic collapse of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991 stands as the perfect example that central economic planning is a red herring that was doomed to fail. But bolstered by academic and media ideologues, central economic planning is alive and well in the good ol’ USofA. To continue to overlook the obvious is nothing less than subordinating the destruction of the American Dream.

To this day, under the severe and calculated guidance of the tens of thousands of academia trained program managers and executive level civil servants, government continues to grow; thereby removing the incentive for private capital investment in new business start-ups and/or expansions.

Unless and until the makers and builders, the inventors and designers, the machinists, the wrench-turners and ditch-diggers -- are seen as the most critical component of our nation’s economic foundation; until all the institutional impediments to creating a sound, free market, blue collar work environment are removed, the United States will continue to wallow in a sea of economic uncertainty.