Wage & Price Controls

Wage & Price Controls

If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, get out.

-      Lt. General Jay Silveria – U.S. Air Force Academy

This year the shortfall of inflation from 2 per cent, when none of those factors is operative, is more of a mystery.  I will not say that the committee clearly understands what the causes of that are.

-      Chairwoman Janet Yellen – Federal Reserve

By J.M. Hamilton  (9-30-2017)

Ten thousand salutes to Lt. General Jay Silveria, who reminded the Air Force Academy - and a great many Americans - that racism is unacceptable in American society. If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch the General’s speech, please watch it here.

Many Americans – quite a few w/in Trump’s base – have confused flag waving NFL games, and peaceful player protest over the abhorrent treatment of minorities in America with a lack of patriotism.  A few Americans – especially establishment Republicans – have confused unlimited war, and a lack of support for endless war by a great many Americans, as being disloyal to U.S. troops.

General Silveria certainly disabused all Americans of the former belief on Thursday.  When faced w/ racism at the Air Force Academy’s preparatory school, he wanted to send an entirely different message.  The message was simple: if you’re racist or a misogynist, or can’t show respect for others, “get out.”

JMH has always believed that two to three years of compulsory military service (like that which exists in Israel) would do this nation a great deal of good.  Not only would it unite all Americans with a common experience and bond, but it would also make Americans more aware of U.S. foreign policy, our global empire, endless war, and the cost of our empire.  Moreover, compulsory service would help instill a sense of sacrifice and perhaps unity.

The U.S. military’s early training – like high-grade psychedelics – has a unique way of atomizing the ego, crushing the lizard id, and making recruits realize they are apart of something far greater than themselves.  Talk about being born again... this is the place.

Or so I have read.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if General Silveria could share his message with the Republican led House of Representatives, and many of the GOP held state legislatures?  Better still, wouldn’t it be great to see General Silveria in the U.S. Senate or White House some day?  

The nation just might be well served in seeing such events come to fruition.

 Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy

If this blog has been good at nothing else, JMH would like to think this experiment has been good at exposing the hypocrisy of many of the elites within our society, and upon the world stage.

Common stories and themes, pointed out on this site over the years, are:

How capitalism is good and socialism is bad, until it comes time to bailout the Wall Street banking cartel w/ trillions and trillions of dollars.

How no business in America could possibly think a revenue loss would be good.  And yet, Republicans like to trot out a tired trickle down tax policy to this very day, where – magically – cuts in taxes for the rich will create government budget surpluses (thirty-seven years of evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).

And the manner in which private equity - which strips businesses of labor, front loads profits for an elite few, and loads companies up with a debt chokehold – is the antithesis of capitalism (not capitalism defined, as the Robber Barons would have us believe).  Moreover, the private equity business model kills jobs, opportunity, innovation, the tax base, businesses, leads to consolidation & monopoly, and curtails investment options. 

Meanwhile, the Congress and POTUS do nothing.

Today, we touch on wage and price controls.  For free market & capitalism enthusiasts, nothing could be more abhorrent or sketchy than government intervening into the market place to set price.  President Nixon was the last politician to attempt wage and price controls on a grand scale, and it did not end well.  But magically and mysteriously, when major corporations intervene into the market place – collusively, and as an entire industry – to contain labor’s wages so as to maximize management’s, ownership’s, and stockholder’s profits…. It’s all good.

Consider the following:

During the Obama years, the Justice Department busted the elite of Silicon Valley for colluding not to compete for labor.  Hence suppressing wages.  How many more industries are engaged in these nefarious practices?  We don’t know.  The investigations conveniently ceased.

Noncompete clauses are pervasive throughout the economy, so that people attempting to apply their skills at a different company willing to pay a higher wage, are effectively kidnapped.  Capitalism is good when your employer is engaged in it, but workers shouldn’t dream of making employers compete for their labor.

And the NY Times did an outstanding piece this week on how fast food franchises – who sponge off the government by failing to pay a living wage – are allegedly, contractually, colluding not to hire employees from one another.  This matter is now before the courts.

There’s that hypocrisy again, and yes, the system is rigged, Big Time.  If the government attempts to hold wages in check, say to contain inflation, it’s bad.  But if the private sector shafts employees to maximize returns, and keep the Fed’s easy money spigot wide open… It’s all good.

In a piece written earlier this year, JMH pointed out how – despite massive bailouts and exorbitant Fed largesse showered upon the Wall Street banking cartel, post-crash – mysteriously, the Fed or none of the Goldman alums w/in government, saw fit to tie caveats & conditions on the use of bailout money by the major banks.  Such caveats & conditions might have kick-started the economy, helped distressed homeowners, and reined in derivatives and the collateralization of debt.  Who knows, TBTF institutions might have been required to spinoff as a condition to the bailout.

(It should come as no surprise then that POTUS Obama – with the Democratic Party a smoking wreck - is on his world vindication tour, and collecting checks of up to $400,000, perhaps higher, from Wall Street for speaking engagements.)

Meanwhile, through interest rate suppression and quantitative easing, the Federal Reserve has kept the cash spigot turned way up, so that the stock market has climbed to record heights; debt yields no longer come close to correctly valuing the risks involved; and many corporations & governments around the globe remain leveraged to the hilt (their bankrupt balance sheets covered up w/ central bank easy money policies).  Retirees, pension funds, savers, fixed income investors … out of luck.

The Fed likes to say its mandate is price stability and maximum employment; and the Fed was hoping see inflation hit two percent before ending QE and raising interest rates.  Per Ms. Yellen, the lack of inflation is a complete “mystery.”

And yet, once we get past the structural impact of globalization, AI, automation, and the failure of a cartels and monopolies to create enough jobs w/in the neoliberal economy… we are left with the fact that major corporations & multinationals have set up wage controls throughout broad swaths of the U.S. economy, so as to maximize management and shareholder returns.

There’s your inflation, Ms. Yellen, or the lack thereof. 

Neatly controlled by the Oligarchy.  To recap, suppressing U.S. wages serves two purposes: one, it cuts down on a large source of expense, enhancing income statements; and two, knowing that the Fed’s easy money policies are tied to inflation, corporate wage controls effectively insure that central bank easy money policies continue unabated.

(Low inflation aside, Ms. Yellen appears to see though the smoke, and will begin to end QE in October of this year.)

Where else in history have we seen labor oppression on this scale? 

Oh yes, post- Civil War, there were sharecroppers.  There were company towns and company stores, in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  And there has been indentured servitude and slavery around the globe, since before Biblical times and up to the present day.

Through its hyper-accommodative policies, the Fed, itself, has intervened into the market place and set the price of the greatest commodity of all w/in the financial economy, the price of money.  Yet another, double standard: capitalism and rugged individualism for the people, and social welfare for the Oligarchy, courtesy of central banks.

The Federal Reserve and central bank policies have had a hand in creating a great many distortions throughout the financial markets, w/in the global economy, and have created a Neo-Gilded Age.

The ramifications of this Neo-Gilded Age are being felt in elections throughout the West, and via global political instability.

Just ask our Teutonic friends from across the pond.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2017

Hallmark Nation

Hallmark Nation

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.”

            - Matthew 10:16;17

By J.M. Hamilton (9-9-2017)

The best way to start out today's piece is w/ a little parable.

Once upon a time, in the early sixties, a seventeen-year old Wisconsin farm boy - wanting to avoid the draft for a war that was heating up in Indochina - joined the U.S. Air Force.  College education was out of reach, but the farm boy clearly had future aspirations and goals. The young man was initially stationed in Newfoundland, Canada, where he met a local woman.  Her faith, or religion, was Evangelical, while the Airman's faith was based upon Lutheran church teachings.  The Canadian, too, came from exceptionally humble origins, w/ siblings living under the same roof numbering ten or more. Higher education was not an option for the young lady.

As these things go, the Airman was transferred to Tucson, AZ, and the Canadian moved to Florida, joined up with an older sister, and began to work w/in a bank.  After a short period of time, the young man from Wisconsin called up the Newfoundlander and proposed marriage over the phone.  She accepted, and moved to Arizona.  On their honeymoon they conceived a son.  Three years later, the couple now stationed in California, produced a daughter. The mother, initially, attempted to raise both children in the Evangelical faith, but the father forbid daughter and son to continue to attend service.  Instead - from roughly the age of ten forward - the children attended Lutheran church, and received confirmation in the Lutheran church after attending Catechism.  

Under FDR's highly socialist GI Bill, the father attended college, obtained a degree, and became an Air Force officer. He would later also pick up a masters degree; and his career flourished in the Air Force.  His wife, on the other hand, eschewed higher education: she turned to her faith; attended her church several times a week; and would daily, spend an hour or more in the mornings reading the Bible and praying.  By the time the children were about to start high school and junior high, respectively, the family had moved to Texas (in the early eighties, in the buckle of the Bible Belt).  With the father in the military and an Evangelical mother, both children were raised in an exceptionally strict environment.  The mother started a daily ritual w/ the children by reading a chapter of the Bible, along with prayer before school, when the son - in particular - just wanted morning quiet and to be left alone with his Captain Crunch.

The mother kept the home filled with sermons from South Texas Christian radio stations and the television blaring, while the son retreated to his bedroom, put on his headphones, and cranked up the rock & roll to keep the Evangelicals out of his head.  After preaching fire, fear, and brimstone for any and all moral transgressions, many of the televangelists would be caught up in scams or sexual infidelity, such as the Bakkers and Reverend Swaggart.  Eventually the son picked up a college degree and fled Texas.  Despite their humble beginnings, the farm boy from Wisconsin and the girl from Newfoundland achieved a good degree of financial success, and lived unhappily ever after.  Their daughter would eventually pick up a degree in accounting, become a CPA, and stayed local.

Fast forward to the day after Christmas 2011, mother and son are enjoying breakfast together in San Antonio, Texas, and all hell is about to break loose after the mother tells her son - perhaps for the hundredth time - how persecuted the Evangelicals are in the United States.

A spark lights up in her son's eyes and he decides to tell his mother the unvarnished truth.  To wit:

Really.  Evangelicals are the Republican Party's base; Republicans hold the majority of State Houses, and have stacked the Supreme Court with rightwing jurists favorable to their social views; have controlled the White House from Reagan forward, with the exception of the Clintons (who might as well have been Republican when it comes to Economic policy, law & order race baiting, and catering to Wall Street & the wealthy).

So Evangelicals are far from oppressed, when - despite an alleged separation between church & state - Evangelicals and the GOP have been dictating social policy in this country for decades.  In fact, this nation was founded on fundamentalist Christian mores & values.  Bottom line, the Evangelicals are the American Taliban, practicing their own version of Sharia law.  (Yes, the son took time to explain the Taliban analogy to his mother).

If Evangelicals are oppressed, it’s by the GOP, both economically and politically.  That is, the GOP panders to you as a demographic every four years, only to cast you and your church aside, once the election is won.  This allows the Republican Party to spend the next four years sucking up to billionaires and multinationals, who have been exporting jobs offshore; crushing unions and labor organization; and committing the U.S. to endless warfare. In short the GOP is the party of the rich and they could care less about Evangelicals – or any other Americans - except during an election. So if you are oppressed, it’s by your own church and church leadership, which supports the Republican Party and delivers your vote.

Super-Christian those Republicans, eh?

By the way, wasn't Christ's primary commandment to love your neighbor as yourself?  Don't recall any caveats or codicils from Jesus in the Bible, about loving your neighbor, but only if they live in a gated community, are members of the Assembly of God or some Charismatic Holy Roller Faith, attend a Mega-Church in the Deep South, and happen to be lily white.

And why would Evangelicals and Republicans - who fear Big government, and Big business - be so enamored with Big Churches?  There's a reason why these churches are palaces & the ministers are filthy rich: It’s not because they are donating to the economically disenfranchised and the poor, as Christ would want.

Have you ever noticed.... how despite the GOP stacking SCOTUS, dominating the executive, and often, the legislative branches, for the last 30 years... the abortion issue never quite goes away?  Do you think that's by design?  Abortion is a highly convenient social wedge issue that comes up every four years w/out fail to keep the GOP’s Evangelical base’s focus off the thieves that run this country, and off their own economic plight.  Those thieves would be the US Chamber of Commerce and many multinationals that sit on the Business Roundtable.  If abortion is such a key issue, why hasn’t the executive & legislative branches voted to overturn Roe V Wade?  Why hasn’t SCOTUS overturned it? 

Why… because Evangelicals are being manipulated on this issue.

Do you have any idea of how f'ed over the minority communities are in this country, because of the GOP?  Have you ever heard of Mr. Nixon's racist Southern Strategy?  This is the party Evangelicals support: the Republicans are supported by Nazis, and assorted racists.

If you ever read something other than the Bible, or watched something besides the Hallmark channel ... well maybe you might have a better understanding.

The son sees, within his mother's eyes, that she is distraught and upset, and decides to pause.  Clearly, he’s gone too far, and perhaps this is a little too much information.

The mother retorts, what happened to you... you used to be such a good Republican?  She storms off to her bedroom, locks the door, and begins to pray fervently.

Goddess save us.  It is simply amazing that after the Nazis marched on Charlottesville, and Trump waffled on the condemnation the situation clearly required, that Evangelical Church leadership stood by the P*ssy Grabber in chief.

Even Wall Street CEOs and Private Equity Robber Barons - perhaps the Whores of Babylon themselves - fled POTUS Trump. Not Evangelical leadership, which shows you exactly where their hearts are at.  Mr. Trump - after promising the everyman, and everywoman, touch during the campaign - has given the workingmen and women, who make up his Evangelical base, the shaft at every turn. (Read here.)  

As well documented many Evangelicals are the least educated among the Protestant Christian faiths, and they are the most screwed over by our political class, the financial elite, and Evangelical church leadership.

As the Bible says, they are like sheep among wolves.

And is there anything more lupine than Evangelical church leadership?  Houston mega-church operator, and Prosperity Gospel con-artist, Mr. Joel Osteen, got caught in a highly uncharitable moment, when he failed to open church doors, during Hurricane Harvey.  Then there's multimillionaire Minister, Paula White, standing by her man, Trump, despite the fascism, explicit racism, and destruction of the Goddess' creation (i.e. The Earth) contained w/in GOP & Trump policies.  Good luck defending that.

What an abomination, and how entirely antithetical to Christ's simple message.  These men & women prey upon their flocks by the minute.

Prosperity Gospel is big on the Evangelical circuit, but it's actually based upon Christian dogma as old as time:  That is, Christianity taught from the vantage point of the wealthy, not from the vantage point of the poor.  If God loves you, you're a winner and rich, and if you've done something "sinful" you're poor and a loser.  That’s it in a nutshell, and that’s what all too many Evangelical leaders have actually come to believe.

Divine meritocracy.  Right.

The fact that Christ surrounded himself with the poor and was looking out for the exploited & outcasts, and explained on several occasions that it was highly unlikely the wealthy would enter the Kingdom of God.... somehow gets pushed aside by the whole Prosperity Gospel scam.

No wonder they put the man to death.

Where have we seen a version of Prosperity Gospel before?  Oh yes, the Church in Rome was selling indulgences to wealthy patrons, Mid -Renaissance, which kicked off the Protestant Reformation. The "indulgences" were basically get out of hell, or purgatory, free cards for committing sins here on earth.

Somewhere, on some dimension, one has to wonder.... is the Goddess' blood beginning to boil?  One can only speculate.

Of course, if you look at the GOP and Evangelical dogma, they both practice a fear-based ideology, a divide and conquer strategy, an "us against them" mentality.  

And like the Hallmark channel, both the GOP and Prosperity Gospel offer escapism and fairy tales, like trickle down tax policy, and tithing (that is the practice of giving 10% of your earnings and the Lord will compound your offerings many times over).  I seemed to have missed that one in the eighteen years of daily enlightenment and indoctrination.  Invest in God and get a 1000% rate of return. 

Is there a Christian ETF, or hedge fund for this?  Why hasn’t Wall Street been put out of business?  Why… because it’s a con & a hustle.

If the Lord doesn't respond with a palace or at least a McMansion, it’s because you - Dear Evangelical - did something wrong, or didn't pray hard enough.  Nice.  What’s truly frightening is a lot of people believe this.

Prosperity Gospel and much of the Evangelical spin doubles down on Old Testament law & order, brimstone & punishment, fear & retribution shtick (see the mass incarceration state, brought to you by the GOP, yes, the Clintons, and AG Sessions).  When Evangelical leaders should – one would hope - be focused upon Christ's light & salvation; but “light & salvation” doesn’t keep the flock focused and in control, fear & peer pressure does.  Case in point: some Evangelical Leaders, post Hurricane Harvey, were quick to say the hurricane was a sign of God's wrath for electing a lesbian mayor.  The hubris, narcissism, and pretension - surrounding these carnival barkers - pretending they have the ability to read the Goddess' thoughts... sort of reminds us of the hubris, narcissism, and pretension surrounding our current POTUS.  

Zero humility... many Evangelical leaders actually believe they know all.

Really.  Why is the U.S. - the Land of the Free - the biggest police state and operates the largest prison industrial complex in the world?  Answer: Because, increasingly, our government is being subcontracted out to mercenaries and private contractors.

And to stay on top of the social wars and to keep their political party in power, Evangelical Church leadership - either directly or indirectly - support the GOP's highly unchristian, and highly uncharitable, policies.  Be those policies voter suppression, gutting the social safety net (which also supports poor Evangelical whites), crushing DACA and the lives of immigrant children, or explicit and tacit acceptance of Nazis and Fascists w/in the Party.

The GOP, Hallmark channel programming, and Prosperity gospel remind me of some other things the poor and undereducated are often fond of: The Lottery, games of chance, and fantasy.

It's hard to get upset with some members of the Evangelical community; there will always be some among us - who have no or limited interest in education or politics - and that's entirely understandable.  Politics is a blood sport; and politics is brutal, nasty, and short.  Education is challenging, expensive, and taxing; and staying informed of current events – a prerequisite for a Democratic form of government – can consume energy, resources, and time. 

Just thinking about it makes one want to curl up into the fetal position, suck one's thumb, and watch the anodyne & saccharin Hallmark Channel - the Fantasy, Lily White Network.

Therefore, it’s important for all Americans to look out for and educate, where and when possible, family members & friends, so they are not exploited or become fodder for the Party of Fascism.  (Personally, I have nothing against Evangelicals, but what I do take issue with is the Apex Super-predators, who all to often run the Evangelical Churches & Charismatic Faiths, and who often manipulate their flocks daily.  If a person wants to live an ascetic – monk like - existence, being led astray & manipulated by false teachings & fantasy thinking, knock yourself out.  Where I get off the Evangelical freedom train is when the Church leadership seeks to legislate their values and social mores upon the nation, via the GOP.  Don’t want an abortion or to be gay… don’t have an abortion or become LGBTQ; but don’t seek out legislation banning these services and individuals, either.  These are personal decisions, and in the case of LGBTQ community - genetic code, and Evangelical hierarchy should respect, or at least be tolerant of, both.)

You may get a black eye in the process of educating a friend or family member on some of the aforementioned hypocrisy surrounding the Evangelical Church & Charismatic Faiths, but saving a life – perhaps a soul - is worth the effort.

That said, it would be inexcusable for anyone with a conscience, morals or values to give Evangelical Leadership a pass in supporting the Party of fear, loathing, and fascism.

As for mom, we patched things up w/in an hour.  She came through our discussion a little more aware and wiser; and to the best of my knowledge, she has never contributed to, or voted for, the GOP ever since. 

Good for her. 

I owe my mom a lot.  She brought me into this world; she gave me dual Canadian/US citizenship; she taught and encouraged me to read at an early age (setting off an explosion of life time learning); and she instilled in me a faith in the Goddess above.  Like 95% of the moms out there, she’s priceless.

Oh where or where did that good little Texas Republican boy run off to?

Selah.

 Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2017