I Eat Bear

If another country made an attempt to destroy the American economy it might be understandable. We were once the wealthiest country in the world. That wealth destruction is not coming from abroad though, but from our own ignorance and greed.

Well, to think that corporate America has any conscience or sense at all would be a misnomer. The wealth destruction of America has been going on for many years. At least the last 25 years or so, by my conservative calculations. And, it would be hard to deny that most of it has greed (not just profit) as it's motive. But what I find most disconcerting is that nobody sees this coming? But, I am getting the cart before the horse, so let me digress back some.

The first crime of the past 3 decades has been out-sourcing. It has several very real problems that everyone wanted to turn a blind eye to. The first of these is the transfer of wealth from the US to other countries. Yes, other countries want paid for the services they render, even if they do render them at a fraction of the costs of doing the same business in the US. So, money formerly kept in the US is now flowing out the door to other countries. This in turn will create a short term un-employment issue until the US worker are re-staffed back into other jobs and careers. So, there is an immediate negative impact to tax income to the government. But, you counter with the idea that the profits from these out-sourcings remain in America? Maybe, but for how long? Let's see. By the way, the two biggest groups out-sourced initially were data processing and call center (customer support). Hummm, one of those is some of our technological edge in business?

Well, right in the same neighborhood with out-sourcing is moving production centers of manufacturing overseas. Again, in the name of cheaper labor. Or is it called profit (or greed). Same concept going on though. Dollars once spent on US production are now spent on foreign production of the same goods once produced here. But, we can justify all of this in the name of "global expansion"?

The second crime of the past mostly two decades is absolute corrupt greed. Any way to take someone else's money and put it in your pocket. Cases in point here include Enron, Ponzi, and Maddoff. Yes, American education institutions are producing smarter criminals, might be one conclusion you could infer from that. What is new about these crimes is they are no longer about millions of dollars, but about BILLIONS of dollars.
And in some of this same group, I am going to include banking and the mortgage industry. Selling mortgages to those who clearly have no solvency, and rebundling and packaging these for resale at unreasonable prices. While this may have bordered on more legal than Enron, Ponzi, or Maddoff, it clearly has it's roots in greed, and common sense is out the window. Many of these banks self-destructed, again leaving a path much akin to the raping and pillaging of unsuspecting investors portfolios'. And, while we are on the subject of unabashed greed, let's by all means include short-selling. This group typically expects to profit, having little to nothing invested, while causing wealth destruction to those that do. Yes, short sellers fit in with the band of crooks. Here they shall reside in my book.

The third major crime of this century is government interference in the private sector. Add to that creating more agencies within the government to add to costs, and further hinder any progress in getting anything productive done. Not to mention printing money like it is going out of style. Bailouts of AIG, GM, Meryll Lynch, CitiGroup, Bank of America and others is mostly just horse puckey. Oh, it was to save the global financial system from collapse? Horse-puckey! The American system could and would go on without any one of or even without all of them (possibly even better). What it did do though was create a huge deficit in the government budget which will have to be repaid in tax dollars at some point. Yes, it will hit each American worker, but moreover it will hit each American business too. So, many of the wiser American companies are looking for the exit to avoid the inevitable tax burden they will unnecessarily face if they stay here. Yes, this creates an even bigger tax drain on those left behind, as it reduces tax revenues received, drops GDP, and transfers more wealth to other countries. (And, my personal opinion here, who better to orchestrate all of this? Why, Obama of coarse. He is head of the plan to turn the US into a socialism.). And if they don't want to leave because of tax issues, they will want to leave when executive pay and other daily business issues become under the scrutiny of the government. The message is loud and clear. If you are an American business, GET OUT of our country.

The fourth crime of the century is the destruction of the American individual investor by allowing the use of computerized trades on the stock market. Yes, this one is reserved for Goldman Sach's, JP Morgan's, Morgan Stanley's and a few of the others. This is on a par with the other greeds mentioned earlier, but just as immoral. You see, the stock market was designer to be for the INDIVIDUAL INVESTOR. Not corporations, not computers, but INDIVIDUALS.

Now, as I look back over some of this list, and if someone had told me to come up with a plan to destroy American wealth, I am not sure I could have come up with one a whole lot better than these.

1. Move technology overseas
2. Move production out of the country
3. Increase unemployment
4. Increase government interference
5. Add some crooks (yes, a few that are not already working in the government)
6. Destroy the individual investor

We don't seem to need other countries to undermine our economy. We seem to be doing just fine by ourself, thank you.

Comments: View Comments |  Monday November 30, 2009