Numbers don’t lie, the saying goes, but the have-liars are doing their numbers on the gullible have-nots. And although mathematics is an exact science, it can be used as a practical tool by inexact social scientists working for those trying to influence people at the civic or individual level, call it politics or more accurately, persuasive deceit.
That’s where we have been finding ourselves in the United States for more than three decades, sporting a government of the powerful affluent, whether ran by the apostles of Tweedledee, or the disciples of Tweedledum, lying to the citizenship in all aspects that matter, be it their security, human rights or economic health.
We might think that Washington is as pitchfork-worthy today as France was in 1787, or Tsarist Russia in 1917; however, we are still likely a few leagues away from the igniting point that sparks a true revolution, where reality sets in and replaces the mirage created by economic-political brainwashing. Not quite there yet, the number of people struggling to put food on the table, although increasing at an accelerating pace, still only represents about 20 percent of those privileged in not having to receive SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits . . . those contemptible, dignity-stripped food stamps.
In the US we live in two interconnected economic worlds; however, we are brainwashed into believing we are a single, if diverse, society, with one economy, one flag, and one common destiny. But we are not; we are a 2-tier society of haves and have-nots with two distinct economies operating side by side. Two economies that must be measured separately if we dare face the economic and social realities that separate us from being one people, one nation . . . rancor and anger dividing us even when saluting the very same flag. Still blaming that odious One Percent of capitalists, Knights of Our Economy, when we should be blaming the culprits in all of this, the Nineteen Percent of troglodyte lackeys serving in their roles of squires, helping to keep our downtrodden hoi polloi in check . . . and we all know who the squires are; what many of those squires don’t seem to understand is the precariousness of being a squire, and how prone they are to join the ranks of the have-nots . . . as the 80-20 rule becomes 85-15, then 90-10. Perhaps then our revolution will get to ignite, bringing a more benign form of capitalism to this nation, and not the predatory, in your face capitalism which enslaves us today.
Just in time to celebrate Independence Day, our illusionist government came out with “great ‘job numbers’” to keep the fireworks flying high, exploding in spectacular multi-colored brightness, lifting our spirits of eternal hope for a “recuperated” economy following course to a Dow Industrials that would surpass the 17,000 mark on the day 288,000 jobs were said to be added by employers to their payrolls, 73,000 more than economists had predicted. Five straight months with job creation exceeding 200,000; the unemployment rate dropping all the way to 6.1 percent, the lowest level in almost six years, and a radiant and jubilatory Wall Street which has restored the pre-recession lost value to the squires’ 401k’s.
But all of this hoopla is an exercise in farce-economics, stats in Affluence Economics that have little to do with the economic condition of the have-nots, where unemployment rates, jobs created and rate of inflation need to be extracted from other data applicable to them, stats that reflect Have-nots Economics, not Washington’s generic bullshit.
Jobs created and rate of unemployment need to have realistic basis, not the joke that it is today where stats for underemployed or chronically unemployed are not part of the picture. According to OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) we are now at full employment here in the US since the measured unemployment level is within the 4 to 6.4% range. “Fool” employment, I feel, since US true unemployment rate (if properly measured) is probably in the 15 to 20 percent range.
But where have-nots are brutally-penalized most is in the measurement of inflation, as much of their revenue comes from fixed sources (retirement, social benefits, etc.) that use those inflation figures, nowadays 50 to 200 percent off the mark, since the basket of goods consumed by the poor is totally different from that of the affluent 20 percent. A 25 percent increase in food prices may not be that meaningful to that remaining middle class, but it is critical to those at the poverty level, or even 10-20 percent higher. Where the government has told us we have averaged a 1.9 annual rate of inflation in the past four years, for the have-nots the figure is probably closer to 6 percent (over 200 percent more). Great savings for our illusionist government now able to invest more money in weapons for the Pentagon!
We needn’t worry about terrorism coming to America from outside our borders; we are seeding terrorism right here, in our “land of opportunity” garden, an extremely bitter plant of discontent that will make terrorists of our neighbors and poison us all.
© 2014 Ben Tanosborn
Ben Tanosborn, columnist, poet and writer, resides in Vancouver, Washington (USA), where he is principal of a business consulting firm. Contact him at ben@tanosborn.com.
