The Secret Is Out—Big Business Runs America
I’m not exactly sure how much of a secret that was. Since 1980 and the ‘Reagan Era’ both Democrats and Republicans have been hat-in-hand dependent upon a Faustian bargain with big donors for survival.
Now the Wizard of OZ is naked before us
And it’s not a pretty picture. A dedicated work-out routine would have been a good idea before revealing the underbelly of who actually runs America, from your local school-board to the Congress of the United States.
And all that time you thought it was a bipartisan impasse between steely-eyed conservative Republicans and those crazy liberal Democrats. You probably thought Ted Cruz was actually a serious contender for a presidential run. It might have crossed your mind that Bernie Sanders was right about raising the minimum wage.
Not so. They’re simply window-dressing and all the important stuff is going on behind the window, back where the Wiz is pulling levers and tooting horns.
We watched the wrong pea in a shell-game
Did Trump tell 30,000 lies? What did he say on Twitter? Can you believe what he’s getting away with? Will he get us in a war and who will he fire next? The news for an entire one-term presidency was absolutely overwhelmed by Donald. Nothing else mattered. Meanwhile—over in a corner where no one noticed—the Dow Jones went through the roof and the rich got unbelievably richer. If you don’t want anyone to notice a bank-robbery, you start a riot in the street. Donald Trump was Big Businesses’ riot in the street.
Meanwhile, BB had an agenda
And that agenda is what it has always been, to keep themselves at the top of the pile and not let the pile get in too much trouble.
The forty years since Reagan had gone pretty well. Deregulation carved up most of the government into small enough hunks that private interests could profit while maintenance went to hell and making sure the toilets still flushed could be put off until they pretty much didn’t, but that was mostly in the cities. Drinking water caught fire here and there but, what the hell, anyone with good taste drank Evian.
Then Trump, who was a laughable and inconsequential candidate, actually won and exposed a scab in the body politic. Who knew? Who expected? The pile was suddenly in trouble.
And, holy shit, the Congress we bought and paid for is broken
All these Democrat and Republican ducks we had marching so neatly in a row are now out of control, pecking at one another and feathers are flying everywhere. Attacks on the Capitol itself, riots in the streets of major cities, 40% of American workers out of a job, kids in their thirties living with their parents and a pandemic thrown in for good measure. Elon Musk with his finger in the cookie-jar. Where does it all stop?
Hang on, the Law of Unintended Consequences is not yet dead
You business guys thought you could keep the pile from getting in too much trouble and you forgot to keep an eye on the pile. Which is probably because you don’t live anywhere near the pile. The pile is not a gated community. You can't treat t like one. Just as importantly, you neglected to keep a close eye on those bozos you bought in Congress. Bipartisanism works just fine as long as you control both partisans, but you forgot that. You let Mitch McConnell think he was a hitter instead of the referee you hired him to be. Lindsey Graham, good old reliable Lindsey, panicked and jumped ship. Lindsey, for god's sake, the soul of dignity and propriety. All that unintended stuff came to a boil while you were counting beans on Wall Street and amusing yourself with the Bezos-Musk horserace.
Time now to pay attention and sort out the pile
Yeah, we need a $15 wage and Congress is too distracted to get it done. You’re businessmen, figure out how to get landlords, banks, renters and mortgage holders all on the same page before the markets come unglued. Credit-card debt, college and car loans are all at risk and job-loss is the fuse that could blow the economy out of the water. You know the jobless rate is near 40% even if the government you pay to keep in business claims 5%. Knowing and claiming are simply mirages when there’s no water in the desert.
Fortunately, there’s plenty of money to sort things out
And you know that as well. Wall Street is bloated with investors trying to find a place to put their dough. John Maynard Keynes says spend in bad times and save in good times. He’s right and you know he’s right because you live by those truths and simply hide them from the rest of us for safe-keeping.
So figure out how to give us a Green New Deal and shove the military-industrial guys back in their basket where they belong. Do what you need to get the pile out of trouble and make it look like Congress finally got its shit together. If you know anything, you know those you made into your serfs are not capable of independent thought.
You business guys neglected to contemplate the unintended consequences. So, the ball’s in your court and you can slip back into obscurity once you’ve put the pile back in order. It’s a wizard’ job to pull levers behind the curtains.
Image Credit: blog.usejournal.com