OPINION - Guest writer

Power of money

Who’s to blame for state of U.S.?

It looks to me that the United States has proved that capitalism without restraint is a dismal way to fail. We have entered an era where the pursuit of money without any curbs has destroyed the ideal that was the United States.

I have nothing against money and gave been both well-off and flat broke. I can say that well-off was a lot better. But now everything has become driven by profit-making. Politics--all parties--and even much of religion measure success by how much cash they can rake in.

You have probably seen the shows where the preacher looks directly into the camera and says, "God wants you to be rich. All you have to do is pray. And if you send me whatever you can, I will pray for you to be rich too. Contribute at the Platinum Level and I will pray for you by name." Then he checks the time on his gold Rolex and says his time is up and to join him again next week on this same channel. The credits roll and promote his/her new book and or album or daily planner.

Money in politics bothers me more. We can ignore the ministers, we can even ignore God. But the politicians make laws that can have direct consequences on our lives, and are acting for whichever special interest has bought them.

I belong to no party and have voted Democrat, Republican and for independent candidates. I am not a fan of any of them. But now the GOP is in charge and it appears their rhetoric and policies are blatantly geared toward making as much money for their masters as they can, and in the process make themselves richer. They want all the money, and are willing to destroy the programs meant to protect those without regard to why they are so needy.

They are invoking a philosophy of survival of the fittest wallet toward dealing with societal problems. Sick, pay for treatment. Sorry, weeding out the weak. They will die off soon so no problem, cancel Medicaid. We can use a tax cut so we can keep more of our money. Medicare is getting expensive, let private business come up with a more efficient solution. But to private enterprise, more efficient means bigger profits and higher dividends. Saving lives, making people's lives more livable, that might be an incidental benefit to our program. For-profit health care. Abandoning people at their weakest to a pack of hyenas (the industries involved in health care) who look at their income statements to see which is less costly, keep them alive or let the patient die.

A related and specific nettle in my hide, a recent editorial made much hay about essential health care and pregnancy and newborn care for a 55-year-old man. Specifying "essential for all" is easier than arguing what different groups of people should have in particular coverage. Offering it does not really cost anything. Money would only be paid out on a claim. I can even think of a way you use the essential services list that would fatten insurer's pockets.

They don't seem to consider that pure capitalism is a zero-sum game. Completely strip the poor, and the consumer market external to those in the 1 percent ceases to exist. Then they will be clawing at each other for profits to create cash. Stock values and real estate values may increase but that doesn't create new money. The cash can only be harvested if the assets can be liquidated. But who will buy them? The other feudal lords who are chasing the same cash the sellers are?

Like the derivatives fiasco, whoever gets caught holding the bubble when it bursts gets hurt the worst. Once the point is reached where the only poor are the ones needed to service the needs of the rich, and the only source of income is working for the few rich, the rich will be supporting the only poor able to use their products. They will be using their own money to make themselves profits. It will be a closed circle with the money changing the same hands over and over.

Yes, wealth can be created in values of stock portfolios and real estate values. But what is the point if there is nothing you can do with it? Whomever has the most cash or other liquid commodity, be it gold, diamonds, salt or canned food, will be the winner. You may have a net worth in the millions, but if you get sick and the doctor and hospital demand cash upfront, and you only have real estate, how fast and at what price can you sell it for cash? And if you cannot? A 10,000-square-foot home doesn't mean much to a dead man.

Who is to blame? The people of the United States, that is who. We got lazy. We stopped demanding leadership and turned our government over to politicians.

We have accepted the idiotic notion we are a two-party system, so we choose the two candidates pushed on us like we choose between Coke and Pepsi. Too many of us have become hypnotized by the desire for money. I gave been guilty of it too. I am a recovering consumer-holic.

Change will start when we look a someone panhandling at a street corner and say to ourselves, "That should not happen in a country that is supposed to be as great as ours claims to be."

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H.S. Nakdimen is an unabashed introvert and sufferer of chronic Tongue in Cheek Syndrome.

Editorial on 04/17/2017

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