The world is broken - not flat. In many cases
it is shattered. Friedman's Free-Traders are imploding the world by ignoring workers dignity.
(See next few pages for a list of historical events that changed the economic life of
the * common man.) A new babarianism is surging. The U.S. military with all kinds of high tech gadgets is being beaten
by human bombs with the internet showing beheadings instantly worldwide while Friedman ignores the fact that
workers have no voice in the process of globalization even though they are the core of any economy. Friedman leads the way
in "communications by rank".
*( The term- common man is a generic one
which includes both man and woman. The need to footnote this is an indication of one of the major things that have dramatically
affected the world in general and the workday..)
To gain an insight
of our times, all one has to do is ponder over things stopped at a red light on one of the marginal roads next to the
highways that divide our cities into parts. You can see the "forensic" evidence that
tells the stories of our times. There's always the glimbering of shattered glass and even parts of a shredded
credit card.. Bottles are thrown out of the windows at will. There are also empty and sometimes half full fast food bags and
cartons too with all the major logos telling the story of the franchised working poor. There are also empty cans or plastic
bottles of pop and beer. However, there are fewer of the cans since the aluminum is a source of income for
the homeless.
I seldom saw any of this when I grew up no matter what
the conditions were.
This represents a throw-away society with throw-away
jobs and throw-away lives--( The U.S. prison population keeps breaking records ) and even throw-away computers that
were once described to be a panacea for all of the above. In some cases, prison inmates to the processing for
credit card companies.
(When a person came into our grocery store and asked
for food, my father would first smell their breath and then if they passed the test, he made them a large sandwich.
Imagine this happening in our super stores or fast food restaurants these days. The police would be called.
)
I worked in several factories
while going to college making the equivalent of $15 to $20 an hour. If these jobs were available today, literally
thousands would be standing in line to apply for them including many college graduates.
During the 1950s, I commuted to a college on the other side of the city. I took short highways and
parkways to get there on the perimeters of the city. It was impossible to drive through the center of the city. Today
there are more superhighways but the fastest way to get to the college is an old main street right
through the center of the city. In the 1950's, it was congested with activity of business and manufacturing.
It was impossible use since it took about three times longer than going around the city. Today,
most of all the businesses are gone and the factories are empty. A big medical center stands alone with its multi-floors
towering over a de-populated area. Some say the de-population was planned. We do know that something or someone
broke this world. Now the big medical center wants to close down the main street for several blocks and affect the last of
the small businesses who are still there.
While many of the main streets in our major cities look like they are in a Third World country, others
try to duplicate the old neighborhood mercantile communities in upper middle class suburbs. Only a few can afford to
shop at these places and the old community spirit is not there. The money spent at these places does not stay in the USA.
Most of the channels of supply are in distant lands. There are no real local added value economies. The money spent quickly
fans out to where the products and profits are made. Value is added primarily at only the retail level with the other
5 to 7 levels back down to raw product somewhere else. Only a few at the retail level enjoy any rewards, while the retail
workers try to survive on near minimum wages. There are also miles of shopping centers
where manufacturing was once thriving. Down the roads from the shopping centers, the retail workers live on little farms trying
to survive by living off the land.
Here is a list of many of the things that broke our World starting with the Civil War.
1. The Civil War - Federalism won over States Rights. Government start centralizing things and started
the take over of our economic lives. Now under Fast Track, the Executive Branch acts as the CEO of world trade and commerce.
2. Tariffs- For more than a century, government revenues came from taxes on products and not on
the workday and people. There was no income tax. Today the tariffs have been taken off products and put on the
new main commodities in the global economy - human beings as workers. Plus there are many hidden tariffs on things like gasoline
where about one-half the cost is based on taxes. There is also a tax on the working poor. About 70% of all workers pay more
in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes. Senior citizens on Social Security who still have to work keep paying
the Payroll Tax although they will never get anything back. Someone making just $12,000 a year will pay about $10,000
in payroll tax in ten years. At the same time, those who have pensions and interest income pay no Social Security tax
at all. Only those who have to work are penalized. They also have to give part of their Social Security payments
back if they are 62 to 64 and make over just $10,000 a year.
The Federal Government spends both taxes the same way by putting an IOU on the Social Security Trust
Fund which really does not exist. However they spend the money as if it comes from the General Fund. Companies
and Businesses pay one-half of these taxes and they move out of the USA to escape this overhead and use impoverished
workers with no Social Security. In the end the companies escape both tariffs on their products and on their labor costs.
American shoppers not only shop their way out of their jobs but they also are shopping their way out of the entitlements
and Social Security too. Americans now vote on what kind of society they want in the check out line than they do in
the voting booth.
President
Bush's tax cuts do not include the payroll taxes plus any extra surpluses usually go to the retail level and then fans
out to the places where the products are made and where the investments originate. The extra money feeds foreign economies
and not ours.
3. World War 1 - President Wilson engaged the largest propaganda machine in history to
get American involved in the war on the "Huns" but after the war he was unable to reverse the propaganda.
Some say he went insane literally over this.
Wilson hired thousands of men called the "Minute Men" . They told stories of
"Huns" raping and killing people in the new movie houses and on stages across America. Wilson also put out world-wide
brochures and books against the Germans about the murdering "Huns" . He could not use the
word German because there were too many good Germans in America. The printing was paid by the government. It worked
but it worked too good. After the war, Wilson tried to reverse his attack in order to start a new economy in all
of Europe. However, the Allies took over the League of Nations and old enemies wanted to make the "Huns" just farmers
and not let them do any manufacturing. Many used Wilson's books and brochures to prove their point. Of course this
failed and gave rise to Hitler who took advantage of the Global Depression. All Germanys' enemies had deep
problems in their own lands to properly respond to Hitler. Some say the Balkans triggered World War 1. After it, the
allies put all the Balkan countries under Yugoslavia. About 4 generations later, President Clinton comes and breaks
it all apart again. The allies put other nations together who did not want to be together like the Czech Republic
and Slovakia. They split in a peaceful fashion about 4 generations later. Hillary Clinton scolded the Slovaks for wanting
their own country. There is a good lesson here for the world. This is the first time in a thousand years that Slovakia
is under its own flag. It stood the test of time and Globalists want to change these ageless cultures.
In the end, we won World War 2 and after the
war, we restored the local value added economy in Germany with the Marshall Plan which was based the awesome industrial
might built during the war. The Marshall Plan proved to be an extraordinary success. The U.S. put in more than
$13 billion dollars into the plan. ( That would be about $150 billion in today's value) . By 1949, less than five years
after World War II, the agriculture, industry and (real) foreign trade were near prewar levels. Industrial production in local
value added economy settings, was actually 15 percent above. If the U.S. was able to this before Hitler's rise to
power, there would have never been a Hitler or World War 2. We now have given away this awesome industrial might that
won World War 2. The real flattener of this era did not end with the fall of the Iron Curtain. It started with Roosevelt at
Yalta turning one half o Europe over to the Communist. The same applys in Asia, when Truman let the Communists take over China
while the Nationalist Chinese had to flee for their lives after the U.S. stop supporting them.
