A Politician Finally Stands Up And Fights For The Majority of Americans

For all of the failings of our politicians in Washington, D.C. over the years, I just finished watching a video of Senator Elizabeth Warren grilling Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, and for one brief shining moment, I have to stand and applaud a member of Congress for actually doing the job for which she was elected. Like a bird watcher catching a glimpse of an extremely rare New Caledonian Owlet, I witnessed a Senator calling one of the most powerful bankers in America to accountability for not stopping employees from opening bogus credit card and bank accounts costing unaware customers millions of dollars. It was a beautiful and uplifting sight to see Stumpf try and explain why 5,300 low-level employees were fired over the scam, while top executives, including Stumpf, continued to receive salaries and bonuses worth tens of millions of dollars.

At the basis of the Wells Fargo fiasco is the concept of “cross-selling.” Not something new, cross-selling is a long-practiced technique of getting customers who bought one thing from you interested in buying something else. A recent experience of mine serves as an example. I walk daily and needed a new pair of walking shoes. I went to a nearby upscale running store (my mistake) to get a good quality product. I did find a pair of shoes that worked for me, but while I was there, two employees worked on me constantly, trying to cross-sell me expensive socks, an additional pair of shoes, a VIP membership and on and on. In the banking world, cross-selling involves selling customers additional accounts beyond a checking and savings account. Wells Fargo was giving its employees bonuses for cross-selling accounts, which as it turns out, got completely out of hand.

Why the emphasis on cross-selling? Selling more accounts to customers helped the bank profit each year, and this pleased the bank’s board and shareholders, who then rewarded CEO Stumpf and others at the top of the food chain with salary increases and huge bonuses. So customers became a means to an end. No one involved in the scheme cared whether the customer needed another account or credit card, it was all a matter of numbers. Sell more, get more. And this is, of course, the major flaw of capitalism itself.

Capitalism has no moral imperative. It is an economic system driven by one thing and one thing only, profits. If you run a business, you either make a profit or you go under. As a business owner, you must do whatever you need to do to keep your company profitable, weather that means massive layoffs, moving your business overseas or selling customers things they don’t need. There is no room in the capitalist system for mercy, kindness or generosity when the bottom line is in danger. Sure, you’ve probably read an article here and there of the employer who did this nice thing for his employees, but these people are the exception by far, and not the rule. Capitalism is a system that rewards greed, especially at the top, and as government restrictions and regulations have been curtailed over the last thirty years by money-hungry politicians, the fattest of the fat cats like Strumpf couldn’t be happier.

We need Elizabeth Warren and many more like her if we are to ever hope for a more equitable economic system in this country. Income inequality is the worst it has been since the Robber Baron era at the turn of the 19^th century. Today’s economic bandits like Strumpf will only stop gouging the little guys when they are held accountable for their actions, and have to pay for their crimes. Thank you Elizabeth Warren, for doing your job.

Unrestrained Capitalism is Killing America

The myth of the “liberal media” suffered another blow yesterday when CBS CEO Les Moonves was recorded telling a group of investors that the sudden rise of Donald Trump “may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” Let that sink in for a moment. America is going down in flames, but CBS doesn’t care because it makes for great TV.

This is capitalism at it’s finest — screw everything as long as we’re in the black. And I would guess that this is the sentiment of other media owners as well. The media has never been liberal. It’s a business run by people whose only goal is making a profit and satisfying investors. That’s it. Public service? Ha! Actually informing viewers? Forgedaboutit.

Bible belt voters run screaming from the room at the mention of “socialism,” but don’t seem to have a clue that this country is being run into the ground by greedy amoral capitalists like Moonves.  And that’s the key. There is no room for morality in capitalism. There is no incentive to do the right thing if the right thing interferes with making a profit, so we ship jobs overseas, resist a living minimum wage and create loopholes to keep from paying our fair share of taxes. It’s all about the bottom line.

Add the amoral nature of capitalism to the fact that only six companies own over 90 percent of the media in America, and you have a near monopoly that provides the information and entertainment that will bring in the highest profits and keep the masses resting numbly in front of their TV screens.

Trump is a disaster for this country, but Moonves and others are making money hand over fist by giving The Donald tons of free airtime. Because Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that might even try to shake up the currant dynamic, he’s on the media’s enemies list, receiving negative attention when he gets mentioned at all.

Unrestrained capitalism is destroying America. Isn’t it time we try something different?

America’s decline: Not the envy of the world anymore

If you take a college class and your answers to questions are continuously wrong, you get a failing grade. In politics, you can be wrong about everything and still be rewarded with a seat in Congress. People like Louie Gohmert, Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst and Steve King shouldn’t be allowed around sharp objects, yet there they are, sitting in the seats of power, making decisions that affect the lives of millions and millions of people.

Americans, in general, are yawning with disinterest as the inmates take over and run the asylum. Beyond our borders, however, people are dumbstruck at how badly we are behaving. In her Salon article “Has America Gone Crazy?” Ann Jones writes about the grave concerns expressed by Europeans, Africans and Asians over the direction America is taking. They don’t understand how our government can have so little regard for the health and welfare of its citizens. They are angered by our military interventions around the world. They are appalled by the unconstitutional excesses of our security agencies. And they can’t understand why we tolerate a tax system that so unfairly favors the rich over the average citizen.

This is not how a good portion of the world operates. In Europe, and especially the Scandinavian countries, governments have the welfare of their citizens as a top priority. There are high taxes, but those taxes provide healthcare and education for everyone. The government helps people meet their basic needs. It’s not dog-eat-dog capitalism where you get what you want by climbing over the backs of your fellow human beings, but a cooperative society where you can truly pursue your dreams because you don’t have to worry about how you’ll pay for your heart operation or your retirement.

Conservatives and the capitalist elites have convinced Americans that any type of socialism is bad, bad, bad, with the poorly informed, nationalistic red-staters nodding blankly in agreement. The reality is that we are not the envy of the world anymore. Citizens of other countries do not look to the United States for guidance or direction. They’ve moved beyond us and are creating more equitable and fair societies on their own. The question is, will we join them or will we collapse under the weight of our hubris and blind nationalism?