The Economics of Revolution

Senator Bernie Sanders is on right now.  People say he’s a “Socialist” but I have always found Sanders to be perfectly level headed and reasonable in his economic ideas.  But Sanders hit on a key fact that CANNOT be overstated.  And that is that people don’t KNOW who their congressman is, and probably never thought of writing him on any issues.  Many do not even know which political party runs the house, and therefore when nothing gets passed, well these people DO know who the President of the United States is and so blame him for EVERYTHING and not caring whether it’s other people’s doing.  Sanders reminds us that this is the most unproductive congress in the History of America!  Why isn’t this fact trumped by every democratic house candidate running this year?  But some staggering economic reality comes from Mike Papentonio.  First of all- - when Rush Limbaugh opens his mouth on anything economic- - even when I was a fan of his- -I knew THEN he had NO credibility when it came to economics.  But Rush Limbaugh had stated the meme of Judy and others of “There isn’t enough MONEY in the country where even if the Rich were taxed at a hundred percent- - it would only provide a drop in the bucket to help the poor or cover the national debt but the ONLY effect of getting at this wealth would be to - - - wait for it - - Impoverish the Rich.  But what are the facts.  My motto is “When all else fails look at the facts”.   Mike Papentonio interviewed this book author of “The economics of Revolution”.   I hinted at this in my latest blog posting before I had even seen last Sunday’s “Ring of Fire” this morning.  Dig these statics.  The real inflation rate is not “below two percent’ as the government states, nor is it seven percent- - as I had come to believe-- - but this guy says it’s more like Ten Percent.  He said that the average household income has gone down 8.3% since 2007 when the recession began nearly seven years ago.  But then he says that the average Capital Wealth of the average American has dropped 43%.  That should be doomsday print sized newspaper headlines all over the land!  But it isn’t.  And as to the ability of JFK’s remark about “For now man holds in his hands to eliminate all human poverty”  - - remember that?   FDR in 1944 stated we needed some economic plan because of the great advancements in industry and technology the time is fast coming upon us where commercial wealth will skyrocket and the time is foreseeable when we will be able to completely eliminate poverty in America.   I won’t mention his suggested tax rates for the rich.  But now the author this morning of “The Economics of Revolution” claims the top one percent had thirteen Trillion dollars in known wealth.  That is wealth on the books.  But when you figure in the estimated illegal wealth in off shore accounts- - the figure comes to over Twenty Trillion with a T - - dollars.  That’s MORE than enough to completely eliminate the national debt and have trillions to spare!  This author suggests that if wealth were distributed equally in this country it would mean a $700,000 check in everyone’s bank account.  Doing the math myself I reach the figure of $83,000 for each American.  That's still a nest egg.  That’s a seven with five zeros.  So the next time some conservative tells you that welfare programs like food stamps or energy bill assistance for people freezing their tooshes off in Michigan - - just let them know that these government programs are a drop in the bucket.   There is a move afoot to pay fast food workers fifteen dollars an hour.  Why don’t we start with $10.10 first like the President suggests, and then see what happens.  I have told you that in principle I’m against tinkering around with the wage market because I’m kind of a free market idealist.  However the whole employment market- - has become so skewed due to rigged laws and economic policies favoring employers now- - that the free market itself is NOT what it would be under any kind of fair conditions.  I think more and more fast food and Wall Mart employers will hear cries of “We’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more”.   As I have said before- sometimes the thing you fear the most has a way of coming upon you.  This is an almost Biblical principle, and it applies most aptly to stubborn people with their heads in the sands.  The Glen Beck types talk constantly of crashing economies and Revolutions - - caused by the Federal Reserve I guess - - yet these same people will by their own attitudes now almost guarantee that these things will in fact occur.

Some people of the conservative persuasion would say “You liberals are only thinking of I, me, mine and not seeing the big picture”.   So let’s look at the macro picture a bit.  I believe in human responsibility.  This extends to things like computers and the internet where I don’t think people should get into computers or the internet without being properly educated with at least a rudimentary computer background.  Some would say that the way to help the “many who are poor” in the world is to give them $70,000 starting job salaries on an oil rig or something and that “energy equals prosperity”.   Some rich might even quote me the verse that is nowhere to be found in scripture that “The Lord helps those who help themselves”.  Or else they would quote Jesus and the parable of the talents, where Jesus ordered the man with the one talent have it taken away from him and given to the guy with ten, because the guy with the one talent did not develop it.  I have a somewhat different take on this passage.  Because it’s the rich who refuse to invest in this economy.  Indeed the Fed gave free money to the rich bankers with the “suggestion” that they lend it out to those who needed it and get a fair profit for it.  But the rich bankers for the most part haven’t done this.  People with money in bank accounts in the Camen Islands or in Switzerland- - aren’t helping the US economy one bit.  So in truth it’s the poor who “give back” and contribute MORE to this economy than they receive due to the multiplier affect, that Jesus also talked about.  Jesus spoke of giving away your Blessings so that others also might be blessed.  Indeed it’s the RICH who fit the profile of the man with the One talent who stuffed the money away in his mattress.  Then Jesus asks him to account for that money and the guy admits that he did not “trade” or - - lend to others- - using the wealth he had.  So by this logic it’s the rich rather than the poor that deserve to have “what they have- - taken from them”.  (Selah)