Hard Scrabble Economics Part II

Economics is simple. That is what some in the Republican Party, many in the Flea Party and various other incompetents splash all over FOX network and other stations on TV. Many people here in this nation believe the media hucksters' furious, Reaganistic rhetoric that the wealthy will let money trickle down to all of us in the once-middle-now-lower classes. The media hucksters tout that trickle-down was proven many years ago by the Mythic, Monetaristic Toothfairy Professor Milton Friedman of the University of Chicago.

Most of the people in Washington truly do not understand Economics 101, or worse yet, they choose to ignore it because of their political delusions. In the PRC (China) most people clearly understand Econ 101, because they were raised as Materialists. Yes, Dialectical Materialists, but Materialists nevertheless. What matters most to Chinese people is what you and your family can eat, and how they can have a better life. Yes, it was Marxian forces at work there in the 1930s and 40s that impelled the workers to overthrow the corrupt imperial government and put in place the communist party of Chairman Mao. Today Mao's giant portrait shines like a gigantic materialistic billboard watching over Tianamen Square in Beijing. Mao was brutal in some ways, but he did have a grand vision to feed and provide for the regular people of China.

Former Labor Secretary and Professor at UC Berkeley, Robert Reich stated today that about 23% of the wealth of the USA is held by 1% of the people. That disparity between the "Haves" and the "Have-Nots" has not been seen in the USA at those levels since 1928. The situation in Czarist Russia in 1916 was probably even worse... ask the Romanovs. It certainly was worse in Paris in 1789... ask Marie Antoinette.

So is it not fair that the top 1% pay a bit more in taxes to help the nation that allowed their great material success? Of the US $250,000,000 that was paid as a 2009 bonus to one of the giant bank people, the CEO of Bank of America, can we not take a little more in income taxes?

Or is it better to let the problem simmer for another generation or two? If we let it come to a boil in the near future then the people, the workers, the once-middle-now-lower-classes may decide that the 1% need to be held accountable for their theft of the workers money.

Now back to the Chinese Modern Version of Radical Materialism, read Capitalism. If a CEO cooks the books of a Chinese corporation or the CEO lies about something they manufactured the consequences are dire. The CEO will face the firing squad.

Our dearly beloved 1% are never subjected to such simple justice. But they are certainly harbored and massaged by our Economic system of laissez faire everything. And the 1% are certainly protected by our huge war, homeland, intelligence, and defense departments.

So dear 1% lay off our government before the old fashioned Marxist forces rise up and revive the guillotine or the firing squad to deal with the disparity problem. The Goodfellows from Wall Street can keep the house in Aspen and the apartment on Fifth Avenue. They just need to pay the tax money to keep their toys safe in a dangerous world.