I hate being a conspiracy theorist, but the government drives me to it, and lately government seems (hand-in-glove with corporations) to be driving a policy to get rid of unwanted burdens to our capitalist society.
Photo:consumerfriendly, Creative Commons, Flickr
Capitalism depends on workers. Under capitalism the ideal worker works hard enough to generate income for his or her company and makes just enough money to invest in capitalism’s infrastructure, that is, he or she buys stuff. This stuff can range from a home to a child’s toy, from food for the table to a new pair of shoes. Capitalism is the snake eating itself, the symbol ouroboros, a circle representing cyclicality.
This cycle is actively interdependent. Weak links come from those who consume but don’t produce, like the poor, the old, the infirm and the unwilling. Not all old people are weak links; some have amassed wealth, saved for retirement and don’t collect Social Security because they don’t need it. They therefore still contribute to the cycle. This is equally true of the infirm, or ill, some of whom have worked long enough and hard enough to acquire disposable income or worked for companies at a time when disability was still a viable alternative to death. Children are somewhat exempt from contributing as wards of parents who do work, providing these parents generate enough income to justify their breeding.
I know this sounds harsh, but it is in fact precisely the way this country works. If you doubt it, consider the words of Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher, who on March 26 admitted that Social Security and Medicare will fail, citing unfunded liabilities in these social welfare programs that top $99 trillion. According to Fisher, Social Security this year will begin taking in less money than it pays out. The prescription drug liability portion of the program (passed in November of 2003) is already greater than the entire Social Security program since its founding.
Heed Fisher’s words. If you are poor, old and living on Social Security, the government is about to drop you like a hot rock. Medicare plan managers (part D) are currently profiting from the administration of these plans, while the elderly are paying 25 percent more for drugs commonly used in their demographic. Medicare itself is rife with scandals, corruption and poor management. The Medicare revision of 2003, promoted by the Bush administration, simply made it possible for corrupt individuals and companies to get their hands on Medicare funding, which was its real if unstated intent. The disability portion of Social Security, which provides for the infirm, is equally lax and corrupt, as the Cato Institute has shown.
The July, 2007 Bush veto of the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) increase, which provides health coverage to children of the poor, further proves Social Security’s inherent corruption. The SCHIP, which would have expired late in 2007, was just barely renewed with any increase in funding adamantly denied. The supporting Democrats settled willingly for the compromise. SCHIP, first instituted in 1997, allocated $20 billion annually. The proposed additional $35 billion expansion represents less than the cost of continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for three months.
Sops to conscience come in the form of drug companies providing low-cost prescriptions through retailers like Target, Wal-Mart and Walgreens. The top 10 drug companies raked in more than $35 billion in profits in 2001 (the last year for which figures are available) on almost $200 billion in U.S. sales, so these contributions, which cover roughly eight million Americans and cost participating drug companies about $4 billion dollars, are a mere drop in the bucket compared to their $60 billion PR budget. These low-cost prescriptions are not only good PR in themselves, but also represent considerable tax deductions for drug companies.
Unfortunately, the current trend of capitalism seems to be to reduce its own workers to poverty. Between 2000 and 2005, workers without PhDs or MBAs experienced a 2-percent drop in real earnings, while production has consistently increased by 3 percent since 1997. This translates into corporations making more and their workers less. Inflation since 2005, and the current economic crisis (as evidenced by rising fuel and food prices), have further dented real earnings, leaving the American middle class among the most endangered of species.
Where it will end is anyone’s guess, but my prediction is that nearly all worthwhile U.S. jobs will be outsourced to China, leaving this country with only a service industry. In the meantime, the old, poor, and infirm will descend to Third-World status in terms of living standards and life expectancy. And that, dear readers, is precisely what capitalism wants.
This seems puzzling (how can impoverishing workers contribute to the capitalist engine?), but is in fact a logical progression. Capitalism is global, not national, and – as Thomas Jefferson pointed out more than two centuries ago – a merchant has no country. Neither does our government, which is staffed by ex-corporate clones and future corporate wannabes and driven by the power of corporate lobbying. The Real America lives on only in the hunger-dreams of the despairing and dispossessed.
Disclosure: I don’t own stock in any pharmaceutical company or large retailer.