Dave Johnson: Here Is Why Our Elites Are Not Fixing The Economy

When we had democracy, We, the People made the rules and we ran our country and our economy for our benefit. Now that we are a plutocracy things are different. The reason our elites are not doing anything to fix the economy is because from their viewpoint, things are just fine.

Merriam-Webster: plu?toc?ra?cy noun \pl?-?t?-kr?-s?\

1: government by the wealthy

2: a controlling class of the wealthy

Our political leaders dance with the ones that bring them. Increasingly they are dancing with the billionaires and their giant corporations.

Our politicians are doing and saying increasingly incomprehensible things. The separation from regular people is unbelievable. But in politics you "dance with the one that brung ya," and these things become comprehensible and believable when you look at who is bringing them to the dance.

Our Benefit

In a democracy a successful business is the result of our investment in infrastructure, education, and a system that enables our businesses to thrive. A business can't deliver products except over the roads or ports or the Internet our government built. Our police and firefighters protect our businesses. Our schools and universities train and educate the inventors and managers and line workers. Our scientific research brings about the innovation that leads to new technologies and products.

"Entitlements" are the things We, the People are entitled to as citizens of a democracy. Those who do well as a result of our investment in our system pay back through taxes, good jobs and great products. When we were a democracy we were entitled to a minimal level of retirement, and health care, education, protection if we lost our jobs, protection of our environment, protection from corporate fraud, and other things that are now disappearing.

Now that democracy is gone, a wealthy few are living off our past investment, and cutting back on the things we used to do for each other.

Why All the Cuts, No Jobs?

Here is the reason that our leaders are cutting back on the things our country does for We, the People, and are not working very hard to do anything about the high unemployment and economic troubles most of us are feeling:

2010: Corporate Profits Were the Highest on Record Last Quarter

2011: Corporate Profits At All-Time High As Recovery Stumbles

2012: Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low

2012: Bank CEO pay rises. Corporate profit margins rise. Worker wages, not so much.

2012: Richest 1 Percent Account For Nearly All Of U.S. Recovery's Gains: Report

The billionaires and their giant corporations are doing just fine, thank you.

The reason our leaders are not doing anything to fix the economy is because, from the viewpoint of our real leaders, the economy is working just fine.

Golden Oldie

A golden oldie (updated a bit): Democracy Or Plutocracy? A Chart

DEMOCRACY	PLUTOCRACY
We, the People	Wealthy Few
One Person One Vote	One Dollar One Vote
Majorities	Markets
Government	Limited Government
Majority	Supermajority
Budgets	Budget Cuts
Taxes on the Wealthy	Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
Information	Propaganda
Public Schools	Private Schools
Education	Training
Studying the arts, literature, history, philosophy, etc.	Mocking people for studying the arts, literature, history, philosophy, etc.
Jobs programs	Bank Bailouts
Welfare	Warfare
Express Lanes for 2 or More People	Express Lanes for 2 or More Dollars
Security Lines at Airports	Special First-Class Security Lanes at Airports
Public Investment	Private Investment
Public Transportation	Private Jets
Accountability	Impunity
Rule Of Law	Above The Law
Justice	Just Us
Transparency	Secrecy
Sustainable growth	Polluter Growth
Medicare-For-All	Healthcare For Profit
Clean Elections	Rigged Elections
Savings Accounts	Offshore Accounts
Credit Card Debt	Credit Default Swaps
Union members	Serfs
Layoffs	Payoffs
Homies	Cronies
Grassroots	Astroturf
Pensions	401Ks
Honest Brokers	Self-Interest
Free Will	At Will
Citizen	Consumer
Citizen	Employee
Participant	Observer
Actor	Acted On
Doer	Done To
Healthy Communities	Gated Communities
Bedford Falls	Pottersville
George Baily	Henry F. Potter
Savings	Debt
America the Beautiful	America the Profitable
The Many	The Rich
People	Cogs
Humanity	Efficiency

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.

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Follow Dave Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcjohnson

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