It’s a quiet Sunday morning. A good time to reflect on
things, especially after spending an hour or so immersed in the latest news the
Internet has to offer. Although the sun is out in Minnesota, the climate of
this country, and the rest of the world, is very dark and gloomy.
I have an interest in conspiracy theories, but that doesn’t
mean I subscribe to all of them. One theory that has been growing in popularity,
especially since the Da Vinci Code captured the world’s attention, is that
there is a cabal of ultra wealthy individuals, some call them the Illuminati,
that pull the economic strings of the international financial systems for their
own benefit. This is one theory that I think overcomplicates and over
romanticizes a far simpler explanation.
What I believe has happened in America to bring us to our
current situation is the growth of unfettered, unrestrained, unregulated
capitalism. Since Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, we’ve had three
Republican administrations and two pro-business Democratic presidents. During
those 34 years, these corporate-friendly administrations, with the help of
congress, have succumbed to the desires of the military/corporate/media complex
and weakened, watered-down and done away with the regulations that were created
to keep capitalism in check. As a result, Wall Street and the big banks nearly
brought the world to a financial Armageddon in 2008, and there is nothing to
say that won’t happen again.
At the same time this massive deregulation was taking place,
campaign finance laws were also under attack, culminating in the Citizens
United Supreme Court decision that allowed companies to pour almost unlimited
amounts of money into political campaigns. The result is a congress filled with
pro-business puppets who obediently do the bidding of their deep-pocketed
masters. How bad is it? House Republicans have just nominated a climate change
denier to head the Science Committee’s environmental subcommittee.
None of this needed the invisible hand of a secret group of
monocled European aristocrats to happen. It just needed a large enough group of
wealthy, greedy, near-sighted capitalists willing to spread around greenbacks
to get what they wanted. And they have. Perhaps the most prophetic catchphrase
to ever come from a movie was Gordon Gekko’s pronouncement in Wall Street that, “Greed is good.” Way
too many corporate leaders and spineless politicians took those words to heart,
and we’ve ended up with a situation where Scrooge McDuck and a few of his
friends now sit on their mountains of money while the rest of us are happy to
be able to pay our monthly bills.
I don’t see a conspiracy here. It’s not nearly as romantic
as the Illuminati, but I think stone cold greed has brought us to where we are
today.
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