Is It Too Late?, Part IV – Economic Systems

In Part III of this article, I ended by pointing out that if it were not for inflation, taxation, subsidies, plunder laws, and other forms of government intervention in our economic system, many large companies would simply cease to exist — or, at the very least, they would cease to be large.

Take the banking industry, for example — please, take it! Banks “benefit” directly from the government’s redistribution schemes, because the more leeway they are given to inflate their supply of paper money, the more they can “earn” (in interest on money that does not really exist). Welcome to the world of bank failures.

But bankers are not alone in siphoning off the earnings of producers. Entire industries have grown up on a foundation of monetary inflation and redistribution laws. Where would Las Vegas be today if a whole generation of Americans had not been made to feel much wealthier than they are?

Fifty years ago, Las Vegas was a haven for well heeled people who wanted to get away for a few days and relax. Now that the wealth has been spread around through the use of force and fraud, Las Vegas no longer caters only to those who could really afford it, but also to people whose pockets are lined with dollars they would not have in a truly capitalistic society.

Millions of people who, only a few decades ago, would no more have thought of flying to Las Vegas to give away hundreds, or even thousands, of their dollars to the blackjack or craps tables now flock there even in the worst of times. If the United States suddenly reverted to a totally free society in which each individual could receive no more than what an employer was willing to pay him without government coercion, and if the government were taken completely out of the money business, both Las Vegas and Atlantic City would collapse overnight.

And how about the fast food industry? And the vacation/travel industry? Economic systems bring producers and consumers together. For some time now, the name of the game for these industries has been to gear their products and services to the masses. You don’t build Holiday Inns and cook Big Macs for “the rich.” All major corporations now cater not only to the true middle class, but also to the synthetic middle class that has been created by government redistribution programs. In today’s America, big companies recognize that this is where the big dollars are.

The problem with the realities of our lynch mob system of wealth redistribution has been exacerbated by the liberal media, which continually incite the public’s envy. How right Tocqueville was about the depraved human taste for equality. Envy was the backbone of America’s moral revolution, and it is the driving force behind keeping the new moral standards in place.

It is all too easy for the liberal media to stir up the irrational hatred of millions of people who see themselves as less fortunate than others. They accomplish this by talking incessantly about the billions of dollars in “windfall profits” earned by major corporations (especially oil companies), vilifying those who call for lower taxes and less government regulation, and pointing an accusing finger at “loopholes” used by “the rich.”

In troubled economic times, in particular, it is natural for the average person to be frustrated by his financial problems. And the perfect fix for such frustration is the creation of scapegoats — which the media gladly provides.

The liberal media’s implicit and poisonous message is: “There is only so much wealth that exists on this earth (a foundational falsehood), and you are being deprived of your ‘fair share’ by greedy people who have far more than they need.”

Presto! The have not is given an outlet for his frustration and anger. Oh, how good it feels to hate! This is classic Marxism, commonly referred to today as “class warfare.” And it’s a process that feeds on itself.

The more envy, the more destruction; the more destruction, the less there is to buy off the envious; the less the envious receive, the more they envy. It is a closed loop that has led to the crises we now see in the housing and banking industries that are affecting economic systems worldwide.

In Part V of this article, we’ll take a look at the handmaiden to envy that helps fuel this closed loop of destruction.