My game-plan to end Income Inequality
There are two factors driving income inequality. First and foremost is the government’s “good old boy network”, sometimes called “the deep state”, that continually rewards the rich and powerful at the expense of the middle-class and the working poor. You have witnessed this in the current round of Pandemic funding. The second factor is our educational system that graduates executives who pass on the wealth from productivity improvements to the corporation shareholders instead of the employees. Prior to 1980 the employees enjoyed the productivity improvements as wages.
I recently watched an economics presentation today where a person I respect said the basic cause for income inequality was our declining fiat currency. I believe our declining dollar is an affect from, and not the cause of the financial manipulations by the deep state. Unfortunately, the results are the same. The majority of the current financial changes will benefit the upper 1% who run this country, and the rest of us will try to maintain on the financial trickle down.
We’re told the economic recovery is “rapid,” according to notes released from the September 15-16 meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee. But the Fed says the “recovery” will falter if Congress doesn’t get its act together and pass more fiscal stimulus. The Fed, for its part, will continue an “accommodative” monetary policy of keeping interest rates low. It believes doing this – mainly by buying Treasury bonds, notes, and mortgage-backed securities – will facilitate the flow of credit to households and businesses.
It’s all balderdash. The Fed has rigged the most important price signal in the market: the cost of credit. All it’s really done is made the 50 richest Americans richer than the poorest 165 million. According to the Fed’s own research, the top 1% of American households own $34.2 trillion in wealth. The poorest 50% own just over $2 trillion. The top 50 richest Americans – just 50 people – have a combined net worth greater than that.
Monetary policy really exists to keep the stock market high and try to prevent a crash before the Baby Boomers retire en masse. Note, that a majority of “the deep state” qualify as baby boomers. The Fed has said it will try and produce inflation greater than the target rate of 2% (not ideal if your only real asset is your income) and let Congress figure out how to properly stimulate the economy.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a clean nonpolitical solution to income inequality. Donald Trump was elected to “drain the swamp”, i.e. clear out members of “the deep state”,
But they got to him first; and the FBI, the CIA, and the Obama Justice Department conducted a near coup to keep him preoccupied for his first three years in office. He might have actually been able to address “the deep state” this year, but the COV-19 pandemic has kept everyone preoccupied. He has little chance of re-election given “the deep state” has control of the media, plus his own propensity for over-reacting (he was a businessman/entertainer, never a politician).
Given the situation, what can you and I do to lessen the inequality? We need to make changes both in government and at our universities. In government we need to retire the deadwood and replace them with a younger generation that are not as greedy. We need to do away with lobbyists and Political Action Committees (PACs) who essentially “buy” our Representatives and Senators (I’ve witnessed this first-hand). Term limits would also probably help here. The idea is to craft legislation that does not favor cronies of Congressmen, but helps the general citizens prosper. The “deep state” is well ensconced so this is not going to be quick or easy.
Looking at the Senators and Representatives up for election in my home state of Washington there is little hope for progress here, but nobody said it was going to be easy. We need to push on eliminating lobbyists and PACs and instituting term limits.
Another approach is to tax the rich and give to the poor. Unfortunately, there is nowhere on Earth where that has worked long term, but the Democrats are going to try one more time. I wish them luck because if we don’t fix this soon, the riots in the streets will become more widespread and severe. I would prefer to fix “the deep state” first, but that is going to take time we probably don’t have.
Fixing the University Business Departments would take some legislation, but it’s not even on the political radar yet. I will make sure my representative is aware of this issue.
That concludes my words on how to fix income inequality. The issue is rapidly becoming critical and needs your attention. I wish us all luck, and we’re going to need it.
Thanks for reading.
Dana Andrews