The Candidate From Goldman Sachs

Once again, it is time to dust off an old blog/rant and try again.  In an earlier posting, and among my many gifted AP Government students, I called for the adoption of a new amendment to the US Constitution.  For some time I have been troubled by the ever-increasing influence of corporate interests in our political system.  Not since the Gilded Age, have we witnessed the pluralist democracy established by our Founding Fathers under such an assault.  The moneyed interests in our country, while consolidating more and more of our nation's wealth into their bottomless coffers, have spent billions through their lobbyists and PACs guaranteeing that our elected officials pay heed to their selfish agendas.  But before I go any further in my warning to those of you who would like to see our democratic institutions preserved, let's do a little history.

Between the years 1945 and 1973, the wages of average Americans grew at a rate never before seen anywhere in the world.  Without a doubt, the American middle class was truly born in the post-war years, and for the first time ever, average Americans were able to take advantage of economic opportunities heretofore only available to the privileged few.  Thanks to the progressive administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson, restraints were put in place to curb unchecked capitalism, while ensuring that a larger share of capital profits would be shared by the workers who actually created the wealth.  But ours was not a Soviet-style redistribution of wealth.  Hardly, for as more and more middle class Americans were gaining access to the good life, private capital was growing at record rates too.  Indeed, during those same years, the United States set records for economic growth while more of its citizens moved into the ranks of millionaires than ever before. For the first time ever, most middle class Americans owned their own homes, drove two cars, and could afford to send their children to college.

Since 1973, as verified by all credible economists, things have changed.  While American workers' productivity continued to rise, real wages flattened out and have not grown since.  Thus, the economy kept expanding, creating the illusion of a more prosperous society, but for those of us in the middle, we saw no improvements in our standard of living.  Instead, the wealth we were creating was being syphoned off into the hands of a new class of Robber Barons at the very top.  While the rest of us were trying to make ends meet with two full time jobs per family, instead of one as in past years, we witnessed the creation of a super-rich class whose members were now billionaires, instead of millionaires. How, you might ask did this happen, and why were so many of us asleep at the wheel?

Beginning with Richard Nixon in 1972, and carried forth non-stop by both Republican and Democratic administrations right through to, well. . . today, there has been a full-frontal assault on all federal regulations to dampen the influence and accumulation of great wealth.  De-regulation and massive tax cuts for the wealthy were the mantra of the neo-capitalists, as they promised all of us a new and greater prosperity that would "trickle down" to everyone.  To the absolute delight of the Wall Street moguls, effective banking and investment regulations were gutted by the legislators we sent to Washington to serve our interests.  While we were looking the other way, our representatives were stuffing their campaign coffers with cash from their newly enriched patrons.  You see the bankers and brokers cared little about Democrat or Republican, as they threw money at both parties, for it was influence and access that they were buying.  American politics was no longer about issues, but became an OZ-like treasure hunt for the toadies of the economic elite.

But why, you might ask, did we allow this to happen?  First, the economic power brokers took a lesson from the first dictator to install himself in power in the dying Roman Republic, Julius Caesar.  Like Caesar, they gave us "bread and games." For years we substituted toys and trinkets that created the illusion of prosperity, while we were falling further and further behind in real wealth.  Secondly, through their now consolidated media empires, they fanned the flames of divisiveness over issues unimportant to them, like abortion, immigration, evil empires, gay rights.  While we became embroiled in social and religious warfare, the elites in power kept pursuing their only goal, an ever greater share of America's economic wealth.

Thirdly, through their great financial empires the economic elite convinced us that we could indeed join them in prosperity by cashing in on the equity of our homes, rather than expecting any real increases in our wages and salaries.  This was a twofold process that took the eager cooperation of Congress and state legislatures to realize.  First, they created new lending instruments to make it easy for anyone to purchase a home.  That move drove the prices of American homes way beyond their actual value.  Then they made it even easier for us to use our homes as ATM machines, so we could borrow and purchase those things our wages could not actually afford.  After all, their media driven advertisements told us, since the value of your homes will always go up, you can, if you have to, sell your house and relieve yourselves of the mountain of consumer debt you are now building.  In fact, they screamed at us, you end up richer if you go further into debt.  Anyone remember all those ads on TV for zero interest loans, no down payments, and my personal favorite, life-long prosperity through a reverse mortgage?

Meanwhile, thanks to our elected officials, and the well-paid media mouthpieces of the Wall Street billionaires, new kinds of investment opportunities were created to further enrich those at the very top.  Bundled mortgage securities, investment derivatives, and credit default swaps, whatever in the hell those are, were creating billions, on the backs of an ever increasing debt load for the American middle class.  And then, the greatest economic bubble in the history of the world burst and, well, you know the rest of the story, right?  We lost our homes, we lost our savings, we lost our jobs, hell, we lost our middle class. And what about all those wealthy fat cats at the top of the house of cards they created?  Did they lose anything?  Hmm, they got bailed out, they kept their fortunes, and, believe it or not, they just paid themselves record bonuses, and oh yeah, back to the subject of this rant, they got the United States Supreme Court to anoint their inanimate corporations as fully functioning American citizens with First Amendment rights!  Doesn't it make you all  warm and cozy inside to know that not all of us are suffering? Boy, am I glad that poor old Bank of America now has the right to free speech!

You see, the Supreme Court, in its decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, removed all restrictions on corporate funding of political advertisement.  Thus, big business can not only lobby the government, and donate to candidates' campaigns, they can now spend all they want to support or defeat candidates in elections.  Since the combined wealth of American corporations is twenty-nine trillion dollars, that's right, TRILLION, do any of you actually believe that we are still a society of one person one vote?  Unbelievably, in his 5-4 majority opinion, Justice Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, said that corporations had been denied their basic rights to free speech and this decision would correct that problem! I guess I missed the fact that up until last week, corporations could not be heard on political issues in America.

So, in a hypothetical election campaign, let us say that a candidate for the US Senate wants to block off shore oil drilling in California, and Chevron and Exxon are unhappy about this.  In the last few months of the campaign they could buy up every single minute of available TV commercial time and flood the airways with negative ads directed specifically at our candidate.  Worse yet, what if a controlling share of a US corporation was owned by a foreign entity, which is perfectly legal.  We could see countries like China and Saudi Arabia determining the outcome of our elections, right there with Walmart and Wells Fargo.  My advice to all of you, if something is not done. . . learn the meaning of the word "plutocracy."

Solution.  A constitutional amendment banning corporate funding of any political activities would block even the pro-big business majority on the Supreme Court.  By the way, that five justice majority was appointed by Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W. Bush.  Short of that, it may be necessary for concerned citizens to organize economic boycotts of any corporation that decides to move into electoral politics. For the only "change we can believe in," may, after all, be the change we initiate ourselves.  Perhaps this recession will prove to be the best friend of an endangered species, American democracy.  Those goodies that used to distract us from the economic assault on our political institutions are now all gone.  And with ten percent national unemployment, many of us have the time to take action.  maybe a new generation of reform minded Americans will rise up and shout, "enough." However, if we once again fall back into our complacent LAZBOYs to watch another mind-numbing reality show, I guess I should take comfort in knowing that I will be dead and gone before our legislators, like so many of our athletic stadiums, take on corporate names.  I can almost hear it now, "The Speaker recognizes Representative Citi Bank for a five minute rebuttal. . ."

Say It Ain't So Pete, Say It Ain't So

Ah yes, here we are at the conclusion of another wonderful college football season.  And like so many seasons that preceded this one, we are left, not with fond memories of great games played by hard-charging student athletes, but the carnage of wrecked lives, overt corruption, physical abuse, and of course, unbridled greed.  Isn't it fitting that the most lasting memory of the 2009 collegiate season was not the Alabama Texas game, but the flight of USC's Pete Carroll to the Seattle Sea Hawks for a truckload of cash.  And, like so many of his peers, Carroll has timed his departure to narrowly escape an avalanche of NCAA sanctions against the USC football program. Don't be too embarrassed, USC boosters, at least your coach is not under investigation for brutalizing any of his charges, like the coaches at Texas Tech, Kansas, and South Florida.  And besides, you still have your wonderful memories of two national championship teams, even if your Trojans did break a few rules to secure their titles.  But at USC Reggie Bush's Escalade and beach house are barely speed bumps, compared to the OJ scandal.

If ever there was a time to step back and evaluate the status of intercollegiate athletics, that time is now.  At the Division One level, football and men's basketball are little more than bloated cash cows and subsidized training academies for the NFL and the NBA.  Worse, is the fact that ninety-five percent of the exploited athletes will never make a dime as professionals, and more than half of those left behind will not emerge from their schools with a diploma.  Most will be quickly forgotten as a new crop of hopefuls arrive on campus next fall.  Like so many of America's wounded war veterans, the majority of football and basketball players who have used up their eligibility, will find the people who once cheered for them, could care less about their post-playing lives.  Meanwhile the coaches get rich on lucrative  endorsements and shoe contracts, the universities rake in millions from TV revenues, and the NCAA takes its cut and turns its back on the people who actually generated all those bucks.

So what to do?  Without a doubt, the best solution would be for the NFL and NBA to fund and operate their own minor league systems, like pro baseball does.  That would eliminate from the ranks of the college teams all those kids who have no desire to go to school, but are instead looking for a route to the pros.  Baseball seems to be getting along just fine with a system like this already in place.  And, unlike football and basketball, college baseball players have consistently high graduation rates.  But let's be practical.  With all the money involved, big time college football and basketball are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.

Short an entire overhaul then, perhaps a major tweek or two could work.  How about this:  every D-1 school still gets all of its scholarships, but instead of discarding players once their eligibility is up, the schools have to keep them on scholarship until they graduate.  Further, until a scholarship athlete actually finishes his degree, the athletic department is down one scholarship for a new kid.  Thus, if the University of Florida, let's say, has eighty-five football scholarships, but twenty of its football players do not graduate by the time their NCAA eligibility is up, Florida loses those twenty scholarships.  Once those kids finish their degree programs, then Florida gets back the scholarships.  Right now in the SEC, America's premier college football conference, the graduation rate for football players is a whopping thirty percent overall, and less than twenty percent for black athletes.  I bet those numbers would change pretty quickly if the schools were penalized for failing to meet the educational needs of their kids.

Here's another idea.  How about establishing a national foundation at the NCAA, where ten percent of all television and bowl revenue is set aside for future medical and educational expenses for the athletes who generated the cash in the first place?  Many football related injuries lay dormant for years before they begin to take a toll on the ex-players.  Wouldn't it be nice if there was a fund to pay those expenses?  And many ex-players who took meaningless classes to remain eligible, may want to go back to school later in life and actually finish their educations.  A yearly assessment of ten percent per D-1 school, would very quickly grow into an inexhaustible source of revenue for the players.  Both Nick Saban of Alabama and Mack Brown of Texas had huge performance bonuses built into their contracts for getting into the National Championship game.  For both coaches the amounts were in excess of two million dollars.  But not one dime was set aside for the players.

If the mission of colleges and universities is truly to educate young men and women rather than to gorge themselves at the money trough of big time athletics, then fundamental change is long overdue.  While the presidents, ADs, and boosters are basking in their free spiffy Nike logo championship gear, how about a little justice for the exploited kids who made it all possible?  Yeah, that's what I thought.

What Did We Learn?

Yes, I get it.  The new decade does not REALLY begin until next year, as we start any series of numbers with "one," not "ten."  Still, with things as bad as they were in the first decade of the 21st century, maybe an early start on the new is just what we need. Wander back with me and see if you agree.

How about the 2000 presidential election for starters?  Even Macbeth's three witches could not have had a better starter ingredient for their slimy brew than that mess.  After all the hanging chad had finally settled and the so-called judicially restrained Republican majority on the Supreme Court anointed the Clown from Crawford in a 5 to 4 vote, we should have known that bad times were looming on the horizon.

Then of course there was September 11, 2001.  A tragedy made worse by politicizing imperial expansion into Iraq and the Cheney led assault on all the rights and privileges that marked the United States as a true beacon of hope, rather than just the latest bully on the block.  Remember the now infamous "Axis of Evil" speech by Dubya?  Followed closely by Operation Iraqi Freedom, and "Mission Accomplished."  Yeah don't you just feel all warm and cozy inside, knowing that the world is so much safer now after all that? Do you think that Colin Powell would like to go back and  Etch-A-Sketch erase his "Weapons of Mass Destruction" speech before the UN Security Council?  One thing you have got to admire about the Bush clan, they were completely non-partisan when it came to throwing people under the bus.  They gleefully shoved friends and foe into political oblivion.  Hey there is a bright side, we get to have a shiny new war memorial in Washington when all this is finally over.  Nothing like a little marble and onyx to salve the pain of another failed military incursion.  Isn't it funny how often the most rabid saber-rattling bluster spews forth from those who never volunteered to serve?

And just when you thought it couldn't get worse, we had the Revenge of the Ordinary, Part II, with the Election of 2004.  Can you remember how badly things must have been for Republican Senators like John McCain, Richard Luger, and Lindsay Graham to violate the 11th Commandment of the Republican Party and openly criticize their syntax-challenged leader?  Too bad that they waited until after the election to find their collective conscience.  Meanwhile the assault from the religious right was in full blossom as the born again Bushies were moving against Federal prosecutors for failing to carry out their political, er, legal agenda.  And don't forget who was at the head of this political cleansing of the Justice Department, come on, you remember, that penultimate legal scholar, Alberto Gonzalez!  Can any of us forget his blank stares and Cheshire Cat-like grin sitting before Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate?

Don't get me wrong, there were some good times too.  We progressives held our collective breath in hopes that the oxycontin bust of Rush Limbaugh would rid the airwaves of at least one voice of bigotry and hatred. But no, alas, there was always the illegal alien maid to take the fall for making his street purchases.  We should have known better.  Even that bullying racist, Don Imus found his way back on the air. But hey, we still had the purity of American professional sports to divert us from all that wrong in the world, right?  I mean, who doesn't get all teary-eyed and joyful when thinking about Barry Bonds, Kobie Bryant, A Rod, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Marion Jones, and Tiger Woods?  And don't forget, we got a front row, HD TV seat for a blood doping American having to forfeit his Tour de France yellow shirt for cheating.  So things weren't all bad!

But then there was that glimmer of hope when the corporate lackey Republicans in Congress were replaced by their corporate lackey Democratic counterparts in 2006.  Remember what the "now we're in charge" Democrats did first?  They passed a record expenditure bill for continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Oh yeah, that was right after they told their progressive constituents that there would be no impeachment proceedings for the Bush/Cheney crowd. Any of you still waiting, as I am , for all those regulatory reforms we were promised? Makes you want to jump up and whistle a few bars of "Yankee Doodle Dandy," now doesn't it?

And finally, as the presidential election season was swinging into high gear, we were all treated to a complete melt-down of our entire financial system. Hey, good news for Obama on his "Change We Can Believe In" magical mystery tour, and bad news for McPalin.  Out with the old, in with the new and finally in the last year of this miserable decade we would  see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Nah, it wasn't sunlight we saw, but the high beams of the oncoming misery train bearing down on us.  Trillions of borrowed dollars to bail out the greedy bastards responsible for the mess, and for the rest of us. . . record home foreclosures and double-digit unemployment.   Remember to tell your grandchildren that you were there the day we ended any possibility that theirs would be a better standard of living than ours.  But at least we ended those wars in the Middle East, right?  How many troops in the Obama surge?  OK, but we are getting fundamental healthcare reform, and that is something.  Ummm, no single payer system, no public option, no expanded Medicare, no prescription drug reform, no checks on runaway costs, and no major insurance company reforms until 2014.  But the insurance companies get thirty million new mandated customers, now that's something, right?

Let me ask you then, how could it possibly be worse in the next decade?  Surely the economy will get better, the war in Afghanistan will end, we will all be free of Islamic terror, global warming will be on the decline, medical bankruptcy will be a thing of the past, and Sarah Palin will be fading comical memory.  Seems to me this is how I felt back in 1999.  Thank God I am getting old and can't really remember back that far.