A Mouthful

"We've gotten away from being a people-centered society and become a money-centered society," he said, adding that a consequence is that the have-nots have even less because the rich continue to hold a disproportionate amount of the nation's wealth.
Former President Bill Clinton

What a mouthful he said Saturday in Hope, Ark. where he dedicated the home he grew up in to become a part of the National Park Service. He also spoke of growing up listening to the older and wiser folks around him instead of plugging in and tuning out as many of us and our kids often do today. Clinton lamented American thinking today being ideological rather than philosophical saying, "There is a huge difference between having a philosophy and having an ideology. The people who made America had a philosophy," he said. "If you have an ideology you have the answer to the question before you look at the facts.'

Personally, I believe that both words have a place in American culture, but I agree that 'Ideology' by definition lends itself more readily to the aspirations of the individual groups within our country rather than the good of the whole. Either way, we are for sure catering to the rich with our government policy and it is being weakly masked as: 'for the good of the country and the economy'.

This economic recession that we are painfully going through is the best thing that could happen to big business and the rich...they have the means to continue to get rich because commodities and the stock market are booming with speculation. The politicians they "pay" can pass off any attempt to rein them in as job killing and anti-growth. Their lobbyists and subsequent legislators in tow, mouth contempt and cry foul when it appears their huge corporate profits are in danger and because we are hurting in the middle class we will agree to about anything including alms for the rich hidden by contrivance such as 'the trickle down effect', whatever the hell that is.

The big thing that we are missing here is not what is being raked in monetarily but the power that comes with it which will bury many of us down the road. Once the politicians are firmly under control of the corporations they will do all the voting through them, not just a lot of it as they do now. Right now they own a portion of the Supreme Court which is the last stop before we go off the constitutional edge when it comes to any issue. Last year they voted that corporations be treated as individuals in America and they can give any amount of money they wish to any candidate...can citizens compete with that? Can a grass roots effort happen again in this country? Not so likely at that passing.

Corporations are controlling the media as well and in no small way, and many in this country have fallen for the oldest trick in the book believing everything they hear.  It has gotten so bad that many won't even believe their friends when it comes to interpretation of the daily news, instead they swallow the talk show gang right over a cliff. Say it enough and they will believe it.

I don't mean to sound like George Orwell in 1984, but things are not looking up for the small guy. This country has always been bolstered not by the corporations and the employment they offer, but by small businesses banking in small towns all across the country. Investments used to mean that the small banks would take your money in account and invest it in the stock market directly or through larger institutions that buffered them from the risk. Bank boards made up of your friends and neighbors made the decisions when it came to investments usually in the form of municipal bonds and such that returned monies to communities with minimal risk. They lived down the street and had to look everyone in the eye on a day to day basis. Today, that same money is whisked away electronically from the "branch bank" to the larger corporate bank and pooled or "bundled" in high risk investment for much larger returns, until something goes wrong as it did in 2006. In some cases chain businesses spawned in metro areas take your money electronically right at the counter, bypassing even a deposit in the local banks.

The risks that big, corporate banks are taking are never going to be sustainable for you and I. They bundle investment coming in and high risk loans going out; they are on the edge with our money and as you have seen this past 4 years, they simply walk away. Many of the loans given in 2006-2008 are not even accounted for and worst of all the gambling was so high that banks do not even knows who owns what loans! It has been told to me that there are people living payment and rent free now because no one knows who owns the mortgage that they defaulted on; so who's to throw them out?

I am seeing more and more every day, that corporations are not even hiring folks long term...they are hiring very experienced and qualified people, but only until a given project is done then they are given their walking papers. The corporations do not have to pay vacation time, sick leave and most of all they do not have to provide health care. Employees do not even have more than a vague idea how long they will be there. And, because we are so desperate for employment these days, we will take whatever we can...we are teaching them they can get what they need with little investment in employees. Gone are the days that you meant something to your employer.

The 'trickle down' from the ivory towers to Main Street has little bearing on the big picture of America; we are being fooled. Main Street runs the economic engine of this country and when it is gone, so will be America. Politicians get paid by corporate America to tell you what is good for America. The Tea Party had the right idea in that things do have to change, but the problems did not start in 2008 by any stretch and in many ways they are barking up the wrong tree.

One thing is for sure, the money talks these days and the greed is so rampant that people are shouting over the din. Everybody is talkin' at ya and we can't hear a word they are saying. Do yourself a favor and listen beyond the noise, you will find that we are all important right here on Main Street, and when we work together, for ourselves we can pull through about anything. We need to bring it back to Main Street from Wall Street.