AMERICA'S FUNDAMENTAL EQUATION

What is the essential equation that every American citizen should memorize? It is the collusion between Big Business and Big Government. So long as this conspiracy is allowed to flourish, the ongoing bear market in America will continue to accelerate.

For example, anyone with a functioning brain cell knows that to have meaningful health care reform, there must be a public option in order to create competition. That we were even debating this issue made it crystal clear that the Administration and Congress were putting the desires of the health insurance companies ahead of the people they were supposed to represent.

When Wall Street went nuts and tried to emulate Las Vegas, the casino they created was protected by government regulators and rating agencies until the whole thing came crashing down on the perpetrators themselves. When they cried out that no one saw this coming, the fact is that here, once again, anyone with common sense knew how it was going to end. Having practically taken down the global financial system with their self-serving greed, they were rewarded with trillions of taxpayer dollars, all courtesy of their many friends in government. Now they're back in the saddle, so don't even entertain the thought that Congress will legislate any meaningful regulations that might materially change the game. By the time an embarrassment in the form of a bill reaches Obama's desk for signing, he will gladly put pen to paper in order to say he did something as opposed to nothing when we all know it won't make a bit of difference just as it didn't in health care.

When we can even bear to look at the horrific tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico, we can't help but focus in on the same bed that was shared, sometimes literally, by Big Oil and the Minerals Management Service, a division of the Department of the Interior. When BP presented its partner, I mean regulator, with a generic plan for dealing with a possible oil spill in the Gulf that included how to save the walruses and seals, the MMS obviously never even read the copied document that originated back in Alaska's Exxon Valdez days some 21 years ago. And when the same governmental service, charged with regulating offshore oil exploration, helicoptered out to Gulf Horizon and to the other various deepwater rigs, instead of inspecting what they found out there, they just accepted the so-called inspections that were done by the companies themselves. Deregulation had morphed into self regulation. BP and its cohorts, the real Axis of Evil on the planet, could care less about the environmental and economic damage their lust for profits have ravaged on the world at large. Their tunnel vision is squarely on the bottom line. And it's all done with a little help from their friends up on the Hill and in the Administration. 1000 lobbyists for 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and a President who surrounded himself with a corporate Cabinet, have let the American people down. Instead of the eloquent rhetoric of change we heard on the campaign trail back in 2008, we got, instead, a reinvigorated Establishment.

To change a system so entrenched and powerful usually requires an out and out revolution. But since our military is currently in the act of training an entire army division down on a huge Texas base to be used, if necessary, against American citizens who get out of hand on their own soil, perhaps I can suggest three less drastic ideas that might help to make the aforementioned "relationship" a little less cozy without the shedding of blood. I should warn you in advance that none of these suggestions will ever see the light of day.

1. Establish white collar crime as a felony. In China, when a trader screws things up, they take him out in back and shoot him. If these crooks on Wall Street knew that they would be prosecuted with the same vigor that is applied to a teenager with half a joint in his car, things might actually change. Wall Street's greed still wouldn't produce anything, but its self interest might take on a different perspective.

2. Campaign Reform. If we accomplished only one thing in this country, it would be to inspire American citizens to demand campaign reform. Every candidate for office will receive the same amount of public money. All private donations by individuals, corporations, unions, non profits and lobbyists will be prohibited, and yes, considered a felony. By utilizing only a fixed amount of public money for election campaigns, politicians, who always congratulate themselves for all their years of "public service," will actually be able to serve the public. Public financing of campaigns, along with the elimination of private donations, is the only way to cut off the relationship between the "suits" and the "politicos."

3. End "Buyer Beware." We live in a system where for some reason it is the responsibility of the buyer to make sure he isn't being taken to the cleaners. Sellers of products and services seem to feel that they have almost an inalienable right to profits. I reread the Constitution the other day just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. And then I perused the Bill of Rights. No mention of this buyer beware philosophy in either document. To my way of thinking, a profit is a bonus available to the sellers only if they can provide their employees with safe working conditions and some degree of health and pension benefits, produce products that are safe for consumers and do so without harming the air, water or land, advertise said products or services without lying to the public, and, finally, pay their full share of taxes like the rest of us. If they can do all this in the manner just described, then they are eligible for a profit. We've tried it their way. It hasn't worked. Time for a little "Seller Beware."

In any case, do not forget for a moment what the basic equation is. Corporate America makes the rules, and our politicians are on their team, not ours. As long as this conspiracy lasts, America is on a slippery slope. Any other ideas, anyone? Anyone? Anyone?

June 21, 2010