The Sage Observer

Let’s Come Together and Save A Lot of Money

March 4, 1789, the date our Constitution became effective, the population of our nation was just under four million people, five percent of which was urban, i.e. city, and ninety-five percent rural, i.e. they lived in the country. Moving forward two hundred years to the end of the twentieth century, our nation’s population increased to just less than three hundred million, eighty-one percent of which was urban and nineteen percent rural. Can you imagine the immense change in the cultures of our people then as compared to now; then, when our neighbor was over the hill, down the road, up the holler, on yonder knob, or some miles away; or now, when our neighbor is next door, upstairs, downstairs, on the other side of the wall, or just down the street? Think of it! Can you imagine the vast differences in how we live now compared to how we lived then? Can you envision the vast difference in education, knowledge, and communications of our people then as compared to now? Also, I urge you to be mindful of the immense change in complexity of our foreign relations over this same period of time. To this end, think relationships, national security, foreign trade, etc.

Do you really believe thirteen sovereign nations under one flag or, as we are now with fifty states, fifty sovereign nations under one flag, could survive as a leader of nations in today’s world? The biggest arguments against our Constitution in its creation was “too much power in government”, states’ rights, and the lack of a bill of rights, the latter of which was resolved and signed into law December 18, 1791. Doesn’t this sound familiar? We have been fighting over the other two ever since, for the past two and a quarter centuries. I submit that “No We Can’t”. I submit that “United We Stand”, “Divided We Fall”. For two hundred twenty eight years we have literally wasted billions, if not trillions of dollars fighting this useless battle to nobody’s interests except for the Corporatocracy and Power Elite of this world. Except for a few years in the interim (I’m thinking of perhaps the 1920’s, the latter forties, fifties, sixties, and maybe part of the seventies–you will recall that Theodore Roosevelt put these Robber Barons in their place in the first decade of the nineteenth century and Franklin Roosevelt again in the thirty’s and forties), our people certainly haven’t benefited by all of this.

I submit to you that we need a strong central government, a government that will serve the rights, needs, and security of the American people with honesty, integrity, and transparency–all the people, the ninety-five percent as well as the five percent. And, if our business organizations can operate efficiently and effectively, devoid of politics, so can our government. We don’t need politics. What we need is a democracy of the people governed in the interests of the people. We need to come together as a people in the interests of all–not just a selfish few. We must come together as a people.

Do we need business? You bet we do. But, we need business whose purpose is to serve the people, their customers. Do they need to make a profit? Yes they do. Profit is an expense of doing business just as is the rent, wages, taxes, etc. Profit is the purpose of the investor. Business needs investment to operate their business; but, if they do not serve their customer, there is no need for their existence–no need for a profit.

 There is one more distinction to be made. Speculation is not investment. Speculation is gambling for which there is no redeeming grace except in the pocket of the gambler. As I write this, the financial collapse of 2008 comes to mind. Shut the liars out of your mind. What they say notwithstanding, that crash in 2008 which almost caused the destruction of the economies of the whole world was caused by speculation. If you are informed by all this, you will recall to mind that Goldman Sachs came out of it all with a profit–they did not lose money, unlike many of their competitors as well as their customers who went broke; and no one went to jail (I wonder why). Refer to William Cohan’s book, “Money and Power”, a biography of Goldman Sachs.

Do we need collectivism in government? You bet we do. Again, don’t listen to the self-serving liars among us. There are many segments of our economy that are not adaptable to the free market, as they call it (This is another subject of its own. I have written about it before, but suffice it to say here that the only really free market I know of in this day and age is on the chalkboard of a college classroom). Some examples of this lie in the fields of medicine and healthcare. Let’s not kid ourselves. People cannot with knowledge and forethought freely distinguish between, or select for that matter, between hospitals, doctors, drugs, procedures, etc. Really! Neither can they intelligently evaluate and distinguish between the many insurance plans on the market. In the end, it is just their best guess. Nobody knows that better than you. Hospitals, for the most part (Personally, I know of none) don’t even have cost accounting systems. I’ve spent many an hour in the hospital, and I know of no price lists to support their charges; and, for that matter, except for drugs, how can one have a price list without a cost accounting system to support it.

There are other examples. Let me suggest a few. Can you select on the basis of a free market your public utilities, roads, bridges, etc? These are the easy ones. Think about this. Lenders lend money at a variety of risks and interest rates for many applications ranging from small personal loans to home mortgages, school tuition, etc. Many of these loans are guaranteed by the government (you, the taxpayer). If the taxpayer, the government, is going to guarantee these loans, why don’t they go ahead and make the loans in the first place, taking the “sharking” out of it in the process. I am thinking of tuition loans and home loans. You will recall that government guaranteed loans were heavily involved in the market collapse to which I referred earlier.

I cannot finish without reminding you of this. Collective governance and economic planning are not Socialism. They are not Socialism any more than “Too big to fail” support of banking and corporations (Surely you haven’t forgotten the bailouts in 2009), disaster relief, Social Security, Medicare, Workmen’s Compensation, etc., and neither is it Communism–unless, that is, you allow it to be as a result of a lack of your due diligence, keeping informed, and at the ballot box, which, under our Constitution, is our job of course. If, on the other hand, we the people allow others (I’m thinking the Corporatocracy and Power Elite) to take over our Congress, as they do now (You know they do), what else? What do you expect?

To our Congress, The House of Representatives and the Senate, I ask, “When is our country going to be more important to you than party politics or getting rich or getting reelected? When?

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller at www.sageobserver.blogspot.com.