Perspective
How does Christmas look to the goose? Silly question, I know, but it sums up my thoughts on the elusive nature of perspective and objectivity in this holiday season, advertised as a time for generosity and magnanimity.
As our political and social structures are dominated by the corporately wealthy, a tiny percentage of the population, there will be a growing distress in society. This is inevitable and has precedents in history. The inevitable result will not be pretty, of course. It never is. The trigger of war, famine or other environmental catastrophe will set society aflame, as it always has. Those in power never learn. Power corrupts.
This week, just before the much touted Christmas season climaxes, the wealthiest Americans received a big present in the form of tax cuts on incomes and estates. Unemployment, reported conservatively at 9.8%, is thought by some economists to be closer to 20% when all segments of the unemployed and underemployed are tallied. That number is four times the number of people who hold 90% of American wealth and a higher percentage of American political power. The average annual income of the members of the House of Representatives is $900,000. The average income of the U.S. Senators is in the millions. We are being ruled by an aristocracy in favor of an aristocracy!
The rich never see it this way. They see themselves are endowed with wealth under the auspices of a beneficent God or genetic superiority or 'hard work'. Aggression, risk-taking and selfishness are all that is required to make money and keep it. Most people with money do not start off without money from parents or some luck of right place at right time.
Similarly, the wealthy preach. They sell potential converts to materialism books on how to join their ranks. They flaunt token tax dodges as altruistic philanthropy. They set up foundations in this manner. Howard Hughes, a notable miser, started this trend with his Hughes Foundation, set up originally so he could declare no income and never pay income taxes. Howard Hughes still managed to live with whatever he wanted without any income. The miraculous powers of the rich. More to do with wily lawyers than loaves and fishes.
The descent of the pecking order does not stop at the 20% unemployed in the U.S. if we open our eyes to the rest of the world. I recently heard a rather smug commentator on NPR state flatly, "Well, poverty around the world is diminishing because people in poor countries are now employed making things for those of us who are in more developed countries." This man was an educated person, according to the brief introduction he received. However, his education failed to teach him that living in a squalid factory dormitory in Asia or Africa and working 14 or 16 hours a day for a dollar is poverty and economic slavery!
Listening to American media gives the listener a false impression that we are all contentedly sitting back and enjoying these economic times, that "we are all in this together", just like the bankers who caused this mess at great personal profit and with absolute impunity. The reason for this misrepresentation of reality is simple: Those bankers now own everything, including the media. As we have seen with the governmental reaction to WikiLeaks worldwide, nobody will get away with telling the truth about what is really happening. The Truth is the enemy. The Lie is the new Reality. This is a perspective I refuse to accept as a humanist, committed to universal human rights and economic justice.
As our political and social structures are dominated by the corporately wealthy, a tiny percentage of the population, there will be a growing distress in society. This is inevitable and has precedents in history. The inevitable result will not be pretty, of course. It never is. The trigger of war, famine or other environmental catastrophe will set society aflame, as it always has. Those in power never learn. Power corrupts. This week, just before the much touted Christmas season climaxes, the wealthiest Americans received a big present in the form of tax cuts on incomes and estates. Unemployment, reported conservatively at 9.8%, is thought by some economists to be closer to 20% when all segments of the unemployed and underemployed are tallied. That number is four times the number of people who hold 90% of American wealth and a higher percentage of American political power. The average annual income of the members of the House of Representatives is $900,000. The average income of the U.S. Senators is in the millions. We are being ruled by an aristocracy in favor of an aristocracy!
The rich never see it this way. They see themselves are endowed with wealth under the auspices of a beneficent God or genetic superiority or 'hard work'. Aggression, risk-taking and selfishness are all that is required to make money and keep it. Most people with money do not start off without money from parents or some luck of right place at right time.
Similarly, the wealthy preach. They sell potential converts to materialism books on how to join their ranks. They flaunt token tax dodges as altruistic philanthropy. They set up foundations in this manner. Howard Hughes, a notable miser, started this trend with his Hughes Foundation, set up originally so he could declare no income and never pay income taxes. Howard Hughes still managed to live with whatever he wanted without any income. The miraculous powers of the rich. More to do with wily lawyers than loaves and fishes.
The descent of the pecking order does not stop at the 20% unemployed in the U.S. if we open our eyes to the rest of the world. I recently heard a rather smug commentator on NPR state flatly, "Well, poverty around the world is diminishing because people in poor countries are now employed making things for those of us who are in more developed countries." This man was an educated person, according to the brief introduction he received. However, his education failed to teach him that living in a squalid factory dormitory in Asia or Africa and working 14 or 16 hours a day for a dollar is poverty and economic slavery!
Listening to American media gives the listener a false impression that we are all contentedly sitting back and enjoying these economic times, that "we are all in this together", just like the bankers who caused this mess at great personal profit and with absolute impunity. The reason for this misrepresentation of reality is simple: Those bankers now own everything, including the media. As we have seen with the governmental reaction to WikiLeaks worldwide, nobody will get away with telling the truth about what is really happening. The Truth is the enemy. The Lie is the new Reality. This is a perspective I refuse to accept as a humanist, committed to universal human rights and economic justice.
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