A Force for Greed

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Labor around the world lost a specter that could remind capitalist bosses of the alternative. With management thinking that it had nothing to worry about, greed set in and the bubble economy began to inflate. The bursting of the Soviet bubble was not good news for Labor. By 2000, the tech bubble in the US burst but then moved into real estate and the financial sector and into China. Yes, China is a bubble that is waiting to burst. China has been pretending to hold onto American debt by means of US Treasury bills, but once we realize that they are bankrupt, both financially and ethically, the shock wave will hit even harder. With greed and unethical behavior in the U.S. allowed to run rampant and unregulated, the world economy has now lost confidence in American capital markets. America has proven that it is no longer a moral and ethical leader in world affairs. We cannot manage our own financial well-being and have shown that our belief in the market to solve all problems is unfounded. We have been failing the middle class, the engine of economic growth and prosperity in not only the United States but around the world. American greed has undermined our foundation of democratic ideals and has been failing the middle class just as the Communist Chinese Government has failed the principles of its struggle against class warfare. China has betrayed its own cause.

The rich have stuffed their pockets and Swiss bank accounts with money they stole from the treasury of the common good. The emperor is wearing no clothes! Nations around the world will seriously want to rethink what America means to their own well-being. Maybe the world should stop investing in America so that we have no money in which to wage war. It takes money to wage war and with the banks not trusting each other because they all know that they have been bad and unethical in their dealings with the American public, there is no money left in the treasury in which to wage war. America seriously needs to look within and put its house in order. We are dangerous to the world because we are a danger to ourselves. America is a sick nation, both mentally and physically. Our healthcare system is falling to pieces, our infrastructure is antiquated, our financial system is shattered. It is time to get back to common sense policies. If you can’t understand it, then it probably doesn’t work. A fear to ask questions is a fear of freedom.

When bankers belong to the same clubs and send their kids to the same schools and generally think the same thoughts, a herd mentality that lacks reason and understanding begins to take over and gradually begins to spread through the population. When banks charge fees for everything from picking your nose to withdrawing your own money, it’s a sign that something is wrong. Credit card companies gave away credit cards without checking or verifying the facts. They contributed to identity theft by failing to consider what was ethical. Ethics went out the window and a momentum of unregulated greedy behavior became the norm.

We knew that derivatives were hocus-pocus and that derivatives traders were playing shell games in a house of cards built by the likes of Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, et al. These scoundrels of scandal have proven that they must be regulated. The party is over. We must recognize unethical behavior and its destructive power before we end up with chronic pain that never completely goes away.

Banana Republicanism is not the answer. Vote Democrat and make them accountable for their decisions. Decisions made by elected representatives in Washington, D.C. truly do affect individuals far from the center of power.