By Mike Stathis, Veterans Today
Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. As the fabled middle class disintegrates, we’re traveling back in this direction. These days Jack—out of necessity— might put on the uniform and be sent off to fight the global “terror menace.” {Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)
When Americans aren’t preoccupied with celebrity gossip, professional sports or social networking, they’re inundated with distorted facts and misguided ideals from the establishment media, pundits and politicians. As a result, the majority of the US population continues to support policies that have contributed to America’s declining living standards and vanishing economic opportunity.
In a previous article I pointed out that although corporate profits have been at record levels, the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, with no signs of abatement. This relationship defies “free market” logic until one factors in the full economic impact of US trade policy. Rather than create jobs on US soil, corporate America continues to outsource and reinvest profits into China, India, Brazil and other developing nations. The big secret is that the economic arrangements underlying US trade policy are by no means based on free market economics.
When public discussions are held regarding issues most crucial to the nation, the full picture is never presented. Rather than an open debate, opponents go head-to-head with narrowly-focused arguments that rarely deviate from the well-anchored policies of Washington. This is done in order to keep voters shielded from real alternatives, so they will have no choice but to support the status quo.
Using its control over the media-entertainment complex, America’s fascist establishment can cause the masses to think and behave as it desires. It can convince them that they need a vaccination to protect against a pandemic which never manifests; that Saddam Hussein has “Weapons of Mass Destruction” which never surface; that Palestinians are the villains and Israelis are the victims; that Iran is an “evil nation,” posing a threat to the United States and the rest of the “free world.” It can even convince them that spying on their every move is in their best interest.
As Americans anxiously wait for an economic recovery to surface, numerous myths have been disseminated in order to justify policies favoring the wealthy. For instance, the right-wing arm of the establishment has fooled many into thinking that lowering corporate taxes will resolve the unemployment picture. A similar argument has been made by the same masters of propaganda in order to keep taxes low for the wealthy. Neither of these strategies will help the economy recover.
What Americans have not been told is that the effective corporate tax rate in the US (the net rate paid after all deductions, credits and other allowances) is one of the lowest in the world. If this seems hard to believe, consider that corporate tax revenues as a share of economic growth are at record-lows despite record-high profits.
For the majority of Americans, there has been no “trickling down” of the fruits of productivity. Most of financial gains over the past three decades have gone to the top 5 percent of wage earners. Large corporations and their ultra-wealthy shareholders have been the biggest beneficiaries over this period. The less money paid in the form of corporate taxes boosts profits, which goes to shareholders; not you or me, but the ultra-wealthy who own millions of shares. It’s amazing how people still buy into the “trickle down” deceit from the Reagan era.
You know you’ve reached the pinnacle of your career as a con artist when you are able to convince those who have received the short end of the stick that the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations should keep paying the lowest tax rate through financial trickery.
Americans are exposed to various shills and snake oil salesmen who preach the same myths on a daily basis. They are introduced as financial or economic “experts” in the print and broadcast media. In addition to their poor track record and questionable credibility, financial interests serve as motivation for their delusional views. Unfortunately, these views are in opposition with those of the American people.
On the other hand, the left-wing arm of the establishment [mainstream liberals—Eds] has fooled many Americans to think that “big government” offers a much better alternative. These idealists believe that everyone should be taxed to the max so that the government can provide for the people. What they fail to recognize is that government spending primarily goes to fund corporate profits in the form of uncontested contracts, industry subsidies, tax breaks and many other arrangements.
Finally, both arms of the establishment continue to insist that unfair rules of trade serve the best interests of the American people. On the contrary, it is an absolute fact that US trade policy has been the single largest factor accounting for income inequality in the United States. The strategy utilized by Washington to maintain control over the people is simple. Create the illusion of democracy, freedom and free market economics, all while running a fascist economic and political regime.
All that’s required to achieve this control is to convince voters that one political party has all of the answers, while the other has caused the problems. Accordingly, Americans will continue to vote for candidates from one of the two fascist parties in Washington. Thus, Americans get the same results regardless which party is in power. This is specifically why America’s rich continue to get richer at the expense of its working and middle class.
When it comes to trade policy, monetary policy and foreign policy, both parties always agree. They are going to ship US jobs overseas, allow the Federal Reserve and Wall Street crime syndicate to commit massive fraud, and fight wars for Israel. Regardless who they vote for, Americans always lose. Thus, heading to the voting booth serves no purpose other than to endorse America’s fascist regime.
On rare occasion when fraud has been exposed, none of the establishment crime bosses goes to jail. At best, one or two scapegoats are pulled from the bottom of the criminal food chain to serve as the “fall guy.” But even the fall guys come out of the deal shining. In most cases, after a couple of years in club fed, they are rewarded by their colleagues for taking the heat.
The only viable solution that will realign the US economy with promising long-term growth is one that strikes a healthy balance between economic equity and optimal resource allocation. In order to achieve this, at the very least the US must stop spending trillions of dollars on wars, redesign its healthcare system for the people rather than profiteers, restructure trade policy, and demand accountability from both the public and private sector.
Looking at the big picture, one cannot help but to blame the American people for their nation’s decline. Americans whine like babies after being defrauded of trillions of dollars by Wall Street and corporate America, but they don’t do anything about it. Soon after the crooks have made off with the loot, Americans go back to self-indulging activities, while giving into mass media control.
Year after year, the American people sit back while the criminals in Washington commit treason, facilitate corporate and banking fraud, keep US borders open to the third world, destroy the US Constitution, spy on and murder innocent Americans. And now they are permitting Washington to slash entitlement benefits in order to pay for wars in the Middle East.
Nothing has changed. The same criminal gang has been pulling the same stunts for decades. Yet, with each wave of criminal activity, Americans have allowed the crime bosses to escape prosecution.
Until Americans stand up and take action, they will continue to be exploited by Washington, Wall Street and corporate America. This is guaranteed. The time has come for Americans to take back their country from the criminals. Otherwise, they can blame no one for their misery other than themselves.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Stathis holds a Master’s of Science in biological chemistry and biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and was formerly a National Science Foundation research fellow at U.C. Berkeley. Mike serves as the Chief Investment Strategist of AVA Investment Analytics. As the only expert who predicted the financial apocalypse in detail, Mike has been a valuable source of guidance for investors, helping them to navigate the real estate and banking crisis, as well as the resulting global economic collapse. The accuracy of his predictions has positioned him as one of America’s most insightful and creative financial experts. He is the author of America’s Healthcare Solution, The Wall Street Investment Bible, America’s Financial Apocalypse, Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble, America’s Financial Apocalypse, and The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs.
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