Original Sin Consolidates Power and Wealth (repost)

Nothing can positively be said of the Federal Court's forcing of homosexual marriage upon the people. It is an era of concentrating wealth and political power corrupting the polity, social moral norms and degrading the prospects and reason of the people. Hitler's S.A. of led by the homosexual Ernst Rohm had a comparable radicalism. The Catholic Church in Mussolini's fascist state had a certain perhaps necessary recalcitrance about expressing anti-fascist policy. A polity incapable of violent revolt because of the concentration of military power is inevitably doomed to experience the oppression and dictates of ruling elites. Americans are permitted to have democracy so long as they acquiesce in the will of the rich to inimically degrade and dehumanize them. This is not the first instance of systematic political corruption that is economically inefficient for the masses.

Human nature expressing itself in capitalism substantively co-opts the beneficial aspects of free enterprise negating the hypothetical inventions and individual allocations of opportunity and competition with proprietary exploitation of advantage. The advantaged purge the less advantaged from the field and import cheap labor not able to expect government benefits or a right to vote. Serialized social-economic purges of theoretical political peers permit concentration of wealth and power in elites. As the broadcast media is controlled by concentrated power a unofficial yet viable purge of antipathetic political opinion occurs. Propaganda in support of the new social order becomes normalized.

Human nature seeks to totalize advantage over all land. Concentrated wealth would own every possible place anyone might exist without paying tribute to the rich power of control. Monarchy and aristocracy had absolute power over people regarded as subjects. Subjects and those that cannot exist in freedom any place without paying rent for existing to the concentrated power are effectively slaves. Though the developing new planetary slavery may not form on a particularly racist basis with equal opportunity enslavement for all, may yet be a developing condition wherein no human might exist free of enslavement to the Plutonomy.

Karl Barth wrote of a prior era...quote-

Only the clever English, perhaps one of the few nations really gifted politically foresaw in time the folly of this development, though they were just as penetrated by the spirit of absolutism as the rest, and introduced checks which spared them the catastrophe to which the system by its nature must lead.

This political absolutism from above has, as is known, two variants. They have in fact crossed and mingled in many ways; their roots are one, but they may be clearly distinguished. The principle 'through power to power' had of course also a non-military aspect. This could consist in the princely display of splendour and pomp at which Louis XIV was so inventive, even creative, setting a baleful example which was widely followed. The name of Versailles has thrice had great historical significance resulting in grave consequences. The first time it was as the prototype and symbol of a princely attitude to life and form of life, based on unqualified power. From this life there flowed a brilliance, like the glory of a god, into architecture, the gardens and parks, the decoration in the houses, into comforts and enjoyments of every kind, but above all into the transitory but all the more intoxicating splendour of the festivities. Far beyond the boundaries of France there arose small and miniature imitations of Versailles whose princely and noble inhabitants attempted, with more or less luck and dignity and taste, to emulate Louis XIV.

After his death the Regent Philip of Orleans, then Louis' grandson, Louis XV, in Germany Augustus the Strong of Saxony, Eberhard Ludwig, Karl Alexander, and Karl Eugen of Wurtemberg, Max Emanuel and Karl Theodor of Bavaria, Ludwig IX of Hesse, and many others, were absolute princes of this kind. The notorious immorality, even debauchery, the just as notorious financial transactions, and the scandalous arbitrariness of justice at all these courts, was perhaps not the necessary, but as has happened in all similar phenomena in history the practical, consequence of the representation which one thought to be owing and that not without some logic to the conception of the prince by divine right.”

“The idea inevitably presupposed great demands upon the economy of the country, which were made with an astonishing unconcern not to speak of the sons of Hesse and Brunswick who were sold out of hand to America! And ironically enough the command was in fact often not in the hands of its true possessor, but largely and for all to see in those of a woman sometimes, admittedly, in those of a woman far from unfitted for such an office, but only in a derivative sense can her rule ever have been described as by the grace of God. But all these things cannot and must not blind us to the tremendous stimulus imparted to economic and artistic life by the fantastic burgeoning of absolutism.

Neither must we forget that the luxury these potentates cultivated, though so dubious in many respects, acted in practice as a safety valve and corrective against the possibility of a universal state of war, which should really have been the logical consequence of the general principle 'through power to power' and of dynastic cabinet politics.

If it had not been for the Sun-king's notion of the unfolding of power and the relative enervation which was involved herein, Louis himself and all the other God-kings might well with the absolute power they had arrogated have reduced Europe to even greater disasters than those they did in fact cause. Lastly it should be added that anyone who failed to sense not only the pathos imparted by lavishness of ideas, space and materials, but the underlying, unending and truly insatiable yearning in the midst of sensual delight which emanates from every line and form of the art of the age would be guilty of badly misunderstanding those artistic and architectural monuments of that time which still hold a meaning for us. It is this eternal yearning which is the style's inmost beauty, a beauty peculiarly moving for all the horror which is sometimes apt to seize the beholder.

Besides this kind of political absolutism there was another, going by the name of enlightened absolutism. It is possible for the 'through power to power' principle to manifest itself in depth rather than in extent, rationally rather than aesthetically. In that case it takes the form of experiments in social reform in the technical advance of civilization, in agriculture, industry and in the economic sphere in general, in health measures and policies designed to benefit the population as a whole. There are attempts to improve the state of the law, but also to advance the arts and sciences, to raise the general standard of education in short all sorts of measures tending to the so-called 'welfare' of the subjects of the state. In chastising a Jew, Frederick William I says: 'You should love me rather than fear me, love me, I say! ‘”

“There is no blinking the fact, either, that Frederick's state had to be a welfare state a Frederick naturally sees farther than the usual run of despots in order to be precisely as welfare state a state worshipping power, an absolute state. The fact remains that the measure of wisdom and rectitude with which the king happened to be endowed, together with the limitations imposed upon these qualities by his highly individual character, his taste and his whims limitations common to every mortal had the significance of destiny for his people, his country and for every individual within his realms a destiny which like God could bless or punish, might cherish or destroy, and could do so without let of appeal to any higher law.”

It is of course possible to question whether that other policy, pursued in the Middle Ages in the name of the imperial ideal, ever became a reality anywhere. But there was at least a chance that it might be realized while it was still at least an active point of reference (question-able in itself but at least fairly well-defined) within the framework of the imperial ideal. It was when this fell away that the realization of such a policy became impossible. For when the prince's power was made absolute, a step which brought with it the death of the imperial ideal, the prerequisite of such a policy, the very notion of a concrete responsibility, of a higher authority, was removed also, and in its place there arose the state without a master, or alternatively the state governed by an arbitrary master, beneath whose sway, even if he were the best of all possible monarchs, justice was a matter of pure chance.

We have taken the one kind of political absolutist, the absolute prince, as the first for discussion. The second kind, his perfectly legitimate brother, his alter ego, following in his footsteps as inevitably as the darkness following the light, as the thunder following the lightning, is the absolute revolutionary or perhaps it would be better to say, since his predecessor was already a revolutionary the revolutionary from below, the representative of the lower class, who conceiving those above him to have injured him in his rights, and even to have deprived him of them, takes steps to defend himself by snatching the power lying in the hands of the governing princes in order that he might now determine without let of appeal what is right and just, because he in his turn has the power in his hands. The roles are reversed. Whereas before it had been the prince who had declared himself to be identical with the state, it was now the people, the 'nation', as it at this time began to be called, who assumed the title by means of a simple inversion of Louis XIV's dictum. This happened true to type in Paris on the 17th June, 1789. The representatives of the so-called third estate, who were, be it remembered, the delegates of that section of the population of France which was in the overwhelming majority, formed themselves into a 'National Assembly 9 and three days later declared with a collective oath, that they were determined in the teeth of all opposition never to disband until they had given the state a new constitution.

Everything that happened afterwards, up to the execution of Louis XVI and beyond, was a direct result of this event. Its inner logic is, however, as follows. (We shall restrict ourselves in the following to the two classic revolutionary documents, the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America of June 1776 and the Statement of Human and Civil Rights ratified by the French National Assembly in August 1789). According to the revolutionary doctrine there exists a self-evident truth which can and must be recognized and announced en presence et sous les auspices de verre supreme:

1. All men are equal, i.e. created with equal rights (Am.), or

alternatively (as in the Fr.), born with equal rights.

2. These equal rights are of nature, inalienable, sacred (Fr.), endowed by their creator (Am.).

3. Their names are freedom, property, security and the right to protect oneself from violence (Fr.) or: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Am.). The French statement goes on to make a special point of saying that freedom consists in being able to do anything which does not harm anybody and is not as such forbidden by law. And it also considers the right to property important enough to describe it in a special last article as inviolable et sacral

4. It is in order to protect these rights that governments are instituted among men (Am.). Le but de toute association publique est la conservation des droits . . . de I'homme (Fr.).

5. Governments derive their just authority from the consent of the

governed. Le principe de toute souverainite' reside essentiellement dans la nation. All authority exercised by individuals or corporate bodies stems expressly from the people.

6. The law is V expression de la volonte finale so all must have a part in making it, all are equal in its eyes and every office and honour for which it provides are as a matter of principle open to all.

7. Whenever a form of government becomes injurious to the aims

of the state, i.e. to the upholding of the rights aforementioned it is the people's right to remove it and replace it by a government more conducive to their safety and happiness. It will be advisable not to proceed too hastily in such an event, but once it has become plain that a government is seeking to establish absolute despotism it is not only the citizen's right but his duty to free himself of its yoke.”-end quote

The Tao of American Capitalism 

26 Oct. 2014

American capitalism in the post-cold war era hasn't evolved felicitously like a development of four season building interior ecosystems optimally adapting in each new transformative directed evolution. Instead capital investment has flowed abroad to new economic frontiers such as China, India and Mexico as well as relocating production over there. In the leaky bucket economic criterion for American capitalism keeping capital investment in the U.S.A. is in opposition to operative Taoist principles of a watercourse way flowing capital overseas to the easiest correspondent pool of capital increase.

Corporate revenue streams may increase in the flow to richer networks downhill drawing in a thousand rivulets into consolidated corporate flows yet the redirection of capital tends to dry up the U.S. National economic opportunities for the majority of the nation whom are poor and middle class. One might envisage a two-or three stage reformed taxation principle of progressive taxation on corporate profit yet the challenges of innovating new forms of enhanced tax structures are substantial. Unlike interior décor that automatically rearranges itself and reconfigures itself along Taoist principles at minimal cost that could be technologically adduced in some futurist scenario taxation or economic reform by Democratic government becomes increasingly opposed by the shear power of concentrated capital flow.

As capital investment has flowed abroad with labor so one might anticipate intellectual work to flow abroad as well. Globalization of an intellectual labor pool may find lowest cost intellectual piecework competition with Americans on a level field with Chinese and Indian intellectuals. Spanish speaking language requirements will be outsourced to via Internet piecework bidding for work. Capitalism in effect will become alienated from the U.S.A. as a nation as it imports cheap foreign labor to drive down the wage value of remaining American labor.

A bright spot for American capitalists is that taxes may be lowered further with the concept that production will remain or return. Tax rates are perhaps not as meaningful to the decision to outsource work as labor costs and market location. As the second and third world nations move up it would be more efficient to locate production closer to the preferred market consumers.

American workers are encouraged to take on student debt training costs for jobs that may not exist or that will become outsourced. Home mortgages that are indexed through globalization to rates investors are willing to pay through derivatives may rise above the ability of the poor and middle class to afford.

With thirty-year home mortgages, disruption in quality employment may break the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase and pay for a home before old age or death. Plainly divorce and homosexual marriage will change the dynamics of home ownership and increase of capital by the poor and middle class in a stable, affordable environment, and that may well affect the ability for parents to pass on their home as an inheritance with a modest capital value increase to the next generation. The default is toward renting and a trickling upward of wealth from the poor and middle class to globalists' concentrated proprietary capital. Networked outlets of global capital vacuum up the financial floor assets of the middle class and poor redistributing wealth from the nation to a plutocratic global ocean.

Developing of oil field fracking technology has brought a steady increase in American oil field production from previously depleted fields. One might reasonably anticipate global oilfields depleted during the 20th century also will be partially revived by future fracking and that too will increase production from old fields and lower global oil costs.

Oil per barrel has already dropped to the low $90s and one might anticipate a price as low as $45 to $60 in the coming years. Russia’s depleted Baku oil fields, Iran’s under-productive reserves and those of Pemex, Saudi, Nigeria and so forth will get their fracking steroid shots endangering underground water quality too yet dumping millions and millions of barrels of effective new oil onto the world market. Plainly that calls for Congress to swiftly pass a permanent alternative energy production tax exemption to let solar, wind and fuel cell power plus remain competitive with fossil fuel burning.

Creating a base service economy boom in the U.S.A. the next decade with low-paying jobs as in the Clinton years with increasing deregulation of Wall Street and the rich may concentrate wealth at an accelerating pace. Returning global investments to buy up American properties will also continue as the majority of Americans experience life ruled by a Plutonomy.

U.S. Public Debt May Reach $19.9 Trillion in 2016- 51 New American Billionaires in 2014

17 Sept. 2014

Thought the U.S. public debt is $19.9 trillion…

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

There were reportedly 51 new American billionaires in 2014 with an average worth of more than 3 billion each. The world's 2600 billionaires have 7.3 trillion bucks. Its lucky they run personal finance better than the public sector.  President Obama's economic policies sent so much cash via interest free loans to Wall Street banks their way along with tax cuts.