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Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Massive Devaluation of Everyone and Everything
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati
Guest article by Don Robertson
For some time, time measured in now years I have read the Cincinnati Beacon as I’ve watched Cincinnati with an interest in relocating. There’s a special honesty in Cincinnati book-ended by the not-so-special dishonesty so common throughout our entire country. Upon reading a recent BBC economics article, I decided it was time to pay a few debts and give Cincinnati the benefit of my observations about more than Cincinnati.
There’s an odd, almost historically quaint class warfare mentality in Cincinnati, one common to much of the rest of the country. “Aristocracy” is a term seen bandied about in both the articles and on the far more critical and tellingly crucial on line comment boards of the paper. So, perhaps we should start there, and define what it is everyone seems so unconsciously aware of by their banging of the social drum top of class warfare and against the so-called aristocracy.
Government statistics while readily available in this digital age, they are rarely honest enough and, void enough of misguided social propaganda purposes to expose any sort of truth. But it’s obvious, there is no such thing as an American or Cincinnati aristocracy.
If it seems so, it is more likely what is being observed is that those thought of as rich, pass their wealth on to their progeny through better education and higher aspirations. If these were static advantages, then we wouldn’t ever see the economically aggressive outsider making any gains in the wealth landscape. But this surely isn’t the reality. And, as such any notion of an aristocracy is misplaced.
There is still however, something there everyone has a right to complain about. And, it doubtlessly is the disparity in remuneration between one person and another. We should examine this phenomenon to see what it is that we’re talking about, before we call out for class warfare carnage, if just to know whom it is that might be sent to the gallows. None of this of course, is unique to Cincinnati and, guillotines might yet make a national comeback.
Were any government so disposed, it could print lists of all classes of occupations and employers statistically coupled with remuneration that would give us illuminating graphs and charts that would describe what it is everyone has and is becoming increasingly aware of concerning wage disparity.
The vast majority of better paying, the most often obscenely ridiculous remuneration in our transitional economy fostered by the pressures of the tepid experiment in globalization, that which would stand out, are remuneration disparities between government jobs and jobs in a narrowed view of the private sector, one excluding employers and jobs whose function do not rely upon government for payment.
The contrast is especially obvious if we examine exactly what constitutes a government job in this era of NGOs, non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, the so-called not for profit, that which is really far less taxed, and, those jobs that seem like they are private business, but which are wholly manufactured by government pay-outs and are regulated by statutes that limit economic competition to small cadres of like professionals and quasi-professionals generally paid for at some level by expenditures from government coffers.
That is the aristocracy everyone is so naively aware of in all our communities throughout the nation. Simply, no government has been required by the economic pressures of globalization to tighten its belt the way every business has been required to tighten their belts in a globalized economy.
In addition to the pressures of globalization, there is a business fostered fraud being perpetrated upon the working class in the private sector, that there are jobs Americans just won’t do, and that these “vacancies” require tens of millions of legal and illegal aliens to be let into the country to perform these tasks, which in reality, while making the American economy more competitive in a worldly sense, also puts wage price pressure upon all the non-governmental jobs.
What the graphs and pie charts of wage disparity would show were any government willing to expose them to a public eager to understand the economics behind their general wage torment is that, government jobs pay so much better than non-government jobs there is something economically obscene enough going on to rile the country. And this is rightly so.
Virtually everyone however is feeling the effects of inflation that go on unreported in the economy, but which are surely being factored in by wily economists throughout the nation even as they tell us inflation is modest and under control. The BBC article that prompted me to write this letter concerned the Governor of the Bank of England. It was reported in that article, Mervyn King wants to change the way England measures inflation by including in that measure the cost of housing and specifically mortgage costs. Such an adjustment would add a great and realistic rise to the extent of inflation in any economy, including our own.
But even this economist, Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England should be considered less dependable than any plumber who would be satisfied leaving a job as finished if the water line on the damp walls in your cellar measures less than a foot or two from the cellar floor when he scampers out the door to the odd ring of his cell phone.
In other words, economists are willing to leave all of us as if we were in good shape, if we’ve suffered something less than a Katrina, in effect telling us everyone’s cellar is wet, and yours, requiring the hip waders worn by fly-fishermen and some sewer workers alike is average or even better as he might have us believe.
Another common economists’ expression about inflation recently is, if we discount the cost of fuel. A lot of Americans, or at least those who think they can still afford to drive, drive V8 pickup trucks and SUVs, some of which get roughly six miles to the gallon. When most people who drive those things consider their own wages, I seriously doubt they’re aware that when they are driving at sixty miles per hour, at three dollars for a gallon of gasoline, they’re paying $30 an hour just for the fuel.
That’s a figure economists likely consider just in relation to wages, if we want to equate how fast an employee could push such a vehicle and, what an employer might want to pay him, or her to do it. But don’t ask a government employee to push your car, because that could throw this rickshaw economic justification for the price of gasoline way out of wack.
And, most economists are government employees.
The only truly worthwhile measure of economics I have found is best related this way. Every year there is a new set of kids who are five years old. At one time or other, we were all five years old. It’s a precious age, and that age examples economics in a fashion most economists have never considered.
The measure of any economy could be best given by asking each of us to consider what life was like for us when we were five years old. And then reflect upon the many sets of five year olds since we were five years old, one for every year, and what their lives were like at five. The economic measure is then applied this way, by asking, has the quality of life and the standard of living of all those successive generations of five year olds since we were five years old been rising or falling?
That sinking feeling you have right now is what economists refer to as economic progress.
Don Robertson, The American Philosopher
Bio- The Philosopher Don Robertson is the discoverer of The Moral Imperative of Life, the basis for everything moral and the wellspring of all things moral. It was the philosopher Immanuel Kant who postulated the possible existence of a Categorical (moral) Imperative, but left it void when Kant died in 1804. Don has also philosophically posited that the only truth that can be of real moral value to humanity is Categorical Truth, that truth which is true in every instance without exception. The basis of Robertson’s philosophic theorems is that the moral requisite of Categorical Truth necessarily excludes empirical truths, both the sciences and mathematics, which are mere approximations of reality and are currently far too prone to catastrophe to be of value to humanity over the short term.
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26 Jul 2007 at 10:32 pm | #
Don, we have corporate globalization where corporations are making the rules and driving down worker, environmental and consumer rights and standards. The fat cats aren’t tightening their belts, they’re tightening the belts of workers while they get fatter.
They are finding ways to privatize resources and shift their costs to governments. Corporate profits are through the roof while workers are getting the shaft. They shift their costs to the public when they make it so they can pollute (which is a subsidy). They make it so they get corporate welfare, tax breaks and shelters. They are even patenting life itself with genetic piracy. So much for the free market the claim to love. They only love more money and power.
There’s a class war going on and that’s why American workers are working longer hours and making lower wages than they did 30 years ago. We’re increasingly competing with slave wages and it’s time to wake up, get up and stand up for ourselves.
No justice, no peace!
27 Jul 2007 at 01:18 am | #
Jason,
Did you write DR’s bio, or did he do it himself in the third person?
27 Jul 2007 at 08:35 am | #
He did it. Why? Did you expect him to hire an agent?
27 Jul 2007 at 12:23 pm | #
Don,
Thank you for an interesting perspective. It is appearent that you get your information from outside the valley. I must take exception to your statement regarding aristocracy in America. In the founding documents the idea that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with Rights. Unalienable Rights, including but not limited to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness is self evident.
“The term “unalienable rights” should, in every instance of its use, be read as meaning God-given, unalienable rights, because the only basis for considering them to be unalienable is the fundamental and uniquely American concept of their Divine origin—that Man possesses them solely by reason of endowment by his Creator. Unless considered to be of Divine origin, these rights cannot properly be classified as being unalienable. They are then subject to being considered as mere conditional privileges granted by government. In such case, there can be no moral or constitutional basis for objecting to their violation, by government or by others, such as exists in the case of God-given rights as protected traditionally by the American constitutional system; such government-granted privileges are not comparable in dignity with God-given rights.”
(Hamilton Abert Long)
The intent of the founding fathers was to create a society in which there was no ruling class. This has not been realized and it is still a decision away in man’s mind. Google the Thirteenth Amendment and you will discover the growing body of evidence that indicates we’ve been duped and remain in denial. Originally the “Titles of Nobility Amendment” (TONA) stated that no person could accept a title of nobility and remain an American citizen. The two were mutually exclusive. We had gotten rid of the king and he wasn’t welcome back.
In came the lawyers with their propensity for exchanging truth for more intellectual endeavors. Over time they have convinced themselves, along with everyone else, that by government edict, the corporations that employed them were “persons”.
Lawyers are members of the BAR (British Accreditation Registry). The king is back. They have the title of Esquire(A title of respect for a member of the English gentry ranking just below a knight; placed after the name). This fraud has continued for generations. Secret societies exist with hidden agendas (both Kerry and Bush are members of skull & bones, along with daddy bush)
America was founded as a Constitutional Republic with the Constitution being the Law of the Land. Judges and public servants swear to defend and uphold it. Acting in treason to the American People we get the hustle from them. Admiralty law is applied to citizens and they fall victim to a system that bears no resemblance to Constitutional Law. Our prisons are full of people that have committed no crime except they didn’t understand the con game they were involved in.
You can remain in denial and continue to forward your stimulating ideas if you choose. Please understand that your country and freedom hang in the balance along with mine.
28 Jul 2007 at 01:02 am | #
Jason #3: “He did it. Why? Did you expect him to hire an agent?”
No, I expected you to recognize a self serving con game designed to sell his books.
29 Jul 2007 at 01:55 pm | #
From
http://www.geocities.com/donaldwrobertson/
“This first book is a must for anyone wishing to understand what’s going on in my mind….”
That’s about as far as I got.
29 Jul 2007 at 10:19 pm | #
Anon #4-
Thanks for the note. Your take on the world comes in at a different level than does my own. Still, for me, as for you, it should be interesting to read what others think and why. No one has a monopoly on truth, as there simply isn’t enough to go around to make pursuit of such a monopoly worth the effort.
I have however, read quite a bit of American history.
It is the Declaration of Independence, from which you make reference to rough quotes about “unalienable rights” etc. as it was written and continues to be read from this historical document.
I would suggest you read more history to take from it the true meaning of such historical documents before placing an unwarranted trust in what I have many times referred to as the Cult of Constitutionalism fostered by two hundred years of unfettered nationalism.
Despite what many modern social scientists would lead us to believe about this document, it is widely held by historians that it should be read as a document written for the consumption of and to effect rage from King George III of England to whom it was addressed.
All history is unfortunately given a modern twist by those unappreciative of history’s great depth.
If I may be so bold as to summarize the intend of the signers of the [b]Declaration of Independence, what they had to say to King George III of England was, We’re the equal to you, King George!
Of course this is only human nature. The colonial leaders were feeling their oats with King George 3000 plus miles away in England, and the economy and might of the North American continent growing by leaps and bounds.
King George too late sent troops to put down the rebels, and lost a colony in the end.
Don Robertson, The American Philosopher
30 Jul 2007 at 12:30 am | #
DR,
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance…
In the historical document we call the Declaration of Independence for the first time in human history the people were recognized sovereign. Property rights were held in high esteem and self-governance was new and experimental. No longer did the king rule. Each man, on his property was king. He made the rules.
This idea of free men caught on slowly because it was new. Men were willing to give their lives to defend it against great odds. The myth of the American Revolution makes us all feel warm and fuzzy but the king never left. His men are moles in our government, writing laws that enslave our people, but change is at hand. The American ability to muddle through gives me hope for a bright tomorrow.