The Wealth
Posted on | December 26, 2008 |
In my story on the Presidio a few weeks ago I identified Donald Fisher as “gap founder and billionaire.” When I said billionaire, I said it with a degree of venom in my voice. After I realized that my tone betrayed my bias–not that every writer does not have one. Riches are inherently suspect in my mind, and the greater the wealth the greater the suspicion.
I remember standing in the magnificent church on the Zócalo in Mexico City thinking, “Just shows the degree of corruption of the church.” Inside, during the service, peddlers sold religious trinkets not one hundred meters from the priest. Commerce conducted by the whispers while parishoners recited the liturgical prayers. Jesus, I couldn’t help but thinking, through out the money changers OUTSIDE the church.
Wealth built on exploitation; churches constructed by way parasitical myths.
Howard Zinn writes in the People’s history of the United States that at the beginning of the 1990’s CEOs made around 80 times what the average worker did. By the time Clinton had unleashed the corporate forces to ravage on the carrion of the underclasses at an even greater rate than his predecessors through NAFTA, the Telecommunications act, and other “slick” moves, that number had exploded to almost 500 times what the average worker made.The richest 1% control over 30% of the wealth in this country.
I looked at these numbers for today. The census in 2010 will probably give us a better understanding of what has happened in this decade, but the CEO average still hovers at over 400 times the average worker. The top percentiles in this country control the stock, the property, the corporations, the wealth and ultimately the power.
This country is entering a recession and we are bailing the largest companies out of trouble. Distributing billions in handouts, loans and promises to the same who already are in control of so much. Where does that money come from though?
Listen to Howard Zinn on Al Jazeera. He says there has been a continual distribution of wealth in this country, let’s not kid ourselves. What is happening with these bailouts is just an acute version of the status quo: redistribution of wealth from the bottom up.
Two solutions for solving the budget and wealth problem in this country, and they are not widely discussed. Never are they given serious consideration. One, we cut the military budget. Two, we tax the richest of the rich. These are policies that if presented as solutions and not through a propaganda lens the majority of people in this country support.
We shall see how Obama is able to face down the interest groups of capital and guns, trying to change the structure of wealth and power in this country.
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