Socialism, schmocialism
Socialism and socialist ideals have been alive and well as part of the American political and financial landscape for decades. It exists in shades of gray and in whole cloth. The word itself is most often used as an insult or label for ultra-liberal politics by those who tend to abhor anything one click left of center. The problem is, the socialists are here and have been for some time, and the very folks who think they are defending the American people from those darn Socialists and protecting Capitalism have been wrong for a long time. They are so busy pointing fingers and watching the left-wing dogs they never noticed that a few of their fellow right-wing sheep were sporting awful long teeth and looking pretty well-fed.
Case in point 1… Our health care insurance “system” is cleanly divided in two parts. Part A is where everybody with a great job and adequate coverage meets the insurance company who can make a “profit” from exchanging premiums for payment of health care. Unless of course, you are actually sick and need (gasp) long-term care for a grave illness and then, you’ll find your coverage terminated, withheld, delayed, limited or cancelled because it’s just too darn expensive. Part A is where the “profit” lies and the insurance companies have been allowed to tailor their own playing field and make their own rules without any of that pesky (and unprofitable) oversight or regulation.
Part B is the ever-growing group of everybody else. Guess who gets to pay for this? This segment is clearly socialized health care. All of the costs and mountains of losses are absorbed by the taxpayer.
I would argue that since the government is both subsidizing the entire industry AND failing to provide ethical oversight , NOT to guarantee health care for all but, to ensure profitability for the insurance companies, Part A cannot really be considered capitalism either. At best this is quasi-socialism or an oligarchy. Millions of Americans do not have capitalist free-market choices available for health care, their only option is that which is provided by taxpayer dollars or nothing. The folks who fund the system are routinely denied free choice, do not receive fair value for services or basic ethical oversight.
Case in point 2… The “bailout”. I was a bank loan officer 1999-2001 and witnessed my bank and others do the very things that caused this mortgage crisis. They gutted a 50 year old working credit model because they didn’t want to have to operate in the shrinking credit-rate margins, plain and simple. They all added a fee structure to generate income instead of the usual spread between how much they paid for cash and how much they earned for loaning it back out. The snake in the grass was the fact that they quickly figured out they could make a lot more short-term fee income from LOTS of loans instead of quality loans or even higher dollar amounts. So as a result, it created an even larger number of these stupid loans.
Couple reduced levels of oversight with lenders left to their own greedy motivations, and we have the 2008 Crisis of Colossal Proportions. How else could one define the nature of actually sending newly minted, unsecured, taxpayer cash to these very lenders to fix the damage caused by their own greed and poor management but socialism? I’d accept oligarchy here too for the literal sticklers in the room, collusion for the conspiracy-theorists and outright theft for the realists.
So, the feared socialists are not tree huggers, Green-Peacers and half-naked PETA girls. They are not newlywed homosexual, art-district sculptors. They are not liberal activists, members of the media, wide-eyed movie stars, the nouveau riche, the leftist underground, pro-choice feminists or scary ethnic groups. They are rich, white, country-club Republican, Fortune 500 insurance, finance industry executives. The shocking news is that this group has laundered their windfalls as “profits” in industries where they make their own rules without oversight, get subsidized by the taxpayer and stick to a strict diet of feeding on the very people who so staunchly defend them.
It sure makes some poor sap seeking a few extra bucks for infrastructure, education and a livable minimum wage seem like small potatoes. The sheer weight of so many Americans allowing themselves to be so utterly bamboozled by such a blatant pack of lies and then, propped up like mannequins and made to believe they are also responsible to be the defenders of this lie, packaged as some higher social ideal, is mind-boggling.
Who will defend us from Socialism? Who will defend us from these corporate wolves in sheep’s clothing!? These slick perpetrators operate in broad daylight and have all the money and an awful lot of power. Their defenders are too busy stomping their feet to notice they have been duped, let alone admit it. They are so busy being terrified about paying a few thousand dollars in taxes to fund some hated social programs, they hardly notice they’ve lost 40% of their 401k’s and a big chunk in their next 10 year’s earning power making the super-rich, super-richer. It’s really hard to fathom. But they will predictably, simply continue to stomp their feet, never admitting they have been wrong for years.
Are you feeling ripped off? I’d bet the ones with all the money did it. Whatchuthink?
Chomp. There goes another sheep dinner.
Happy Halloween.
bwana
Socialism and socialist ideals have been alive and well as part of the American political and financial landscape for decades. It exists in shades of gray and in whole cloth. The word itself is most often used as an insult or label for ultra-liberal politics by those who tend to abhor anything one click left of center. The problem is, the socialists are here and have been for some time, and the very folks who think they are defending the American people from those darn Socialists and protecting Capitalism have been wrong for a long time. They are so busy pointing fingers and watching the left-wing dogs they never noticed that a few of their fellow right-wing sheep were sporting awful long teeth and looking pretty well-fed.
Case in point 1… Our health care insurance “system” is cleanly divided in two parts. Part A is where everybody with a great job and adequate coverage meets the insurance company who can make a “profit” from exchanging premiums for payment of health care. Unless of course, you are actually sick and need (gasp) long-term care for a grave illness and then, you’ll find your coverage terminated, withheld, delayed, limited or cancelled because it’s just too darn expensive. Part A is where the “profit” lies and the insurance companies have been allowed to tailor their own playing field and make their own rules without any of that pesky (and unprofitable) oversight or regulation.
Part B is the ever-growing group of everybody else. Guess who gets to pay for this? This segment is clearly socialized health care. All of the costs and mountains of losses are absorbed by the taxpayer.
I would argue that since the government is both subsidizing the entire industry AND failing to provide ethical oversight , NOT to guarantee health care for all but, to ensure profitability for the insurance companies, Part A cannot really be considered capitalism either. At best this is quasi-socialism or an oligarchy. Millions of Americans do not have capitalist free-market choices available for health care, their only option is that which is provided by taxpayer dollars or nothing. The folks who fund the system are routinely denied free choice, do not receive fair value for services or basic ethical oversight.
Case in point 2… The “bailout”. I was a bank loan officer 1999-2001 and witnessed my bank and others do the very things that caused this mortgage crisis. They gutted a 50 year old working credit model because they didn’t want to have to operate in the shrinking credit-rate margins, plain and simple. They all added a fee structure to generate income instead of the usual spread between how much they paid for cash and how much they earned for loaning it back out. The snake in the grass was the fact that they quickly figured out they could make a lot more short-term fee income from LOTS of loans instead of quality loans or even higher dollar amounts. So as a result, it created an even larger number of these stupid loans.
Couple reduced levels of oversight with lenders left to their own greedy motivations, and we have the 2008 Crisis of Colossal Proportions. How else could one define the nature of actually sending newly minted, unsecured, taxpayer cash to these very lenders to fix the damage caused by their own greed and poor management but socialism? I’d accept oligarchy here too for the literal sticklers in the room, collusion for the conspiracy-theorists and outright theft for the realists.
So, the feared socialists are not tree huggers, Green-Peacers and half-naked PETA girls. They are not newlywed homosexual, art-district sculptors. They are not liberal activists, members of the media, wide-eyed movie stars, the nouveau riche, the leftist underground, pro-choice feminists or scary ethnic groups. They are rich, white, country-club Republican, Fortune 500 insurance, finance industry executives. The shocking news is that this group has laundered their windfalls as “profits” in industries where they make their own rules without oversight, get subsidized by the taxpayer and stick to a strict diet of feeding on the very people who so staunchly defend them.
It sure makes some poor sap seeking a few extra bucks for infrastructure, education and a livable minimum wage seem like small potatoes. The sheer weight of so many Americans allowing themselves to be so utterly bamboozled by such a blatant pack of lies and then, propped up like mannequins and made to believe they are also responsible to be the defenders of this lie, packaged as some higher social ideal, is mind-boggling.
Who will defend us from Socialism? Who will defend us from these corporate wolves in sheep’s clothing!? These slick perpetrators operate in broad daylight and have all the money and an awful lot of power. Their defenders are too busy stomping their feet to notice they have been duped, let alone admit it. They are so busy being terrified about paying a few thousand dollars in taxes to fund some hated social programs, they hardly notice they’ve lost 40% of their 401k’s and a big chunk in their next 10 year’s earning power making the super-rich, super-richer. It’s really hard to fathom. But they will predictably, simply continue to stomp their feet, never admitting they have been wrong for years.
Are you feeling ripped off? I’d bet the ones with all the money did it. Whatchuthink?
Chomp. There goes another sheep dinner.
Happy Halloween.
bwana
