Malcontents & Angels

Malcontents & Angels

Clintonian politics is dead…. Long live President Clinton.

By J.M. Hamilton 6-25-2015

“It was the worst of times, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Darkness, it was the winter of despair, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct(ly to hell).”

Oh, yes, history repeats itself again and again.  Rococo Ages come and they go, and it usually takes a good revolution or two to remind the elites of their place in society:  at their best, semi-benevolent stewards; and at their worst, predatory vampires sucking the economic and political life blood from a nation and its people.  An altogether cynical and cyclical enterprise.

Such irony that the icon of democracy in the late 18^th Century has become the icon of failed economic imperialism in the early 21^st Century.  A national debt that is out of control, a foreign policy that is vacuous, black/off line military budgets, seemingly every document from our government is “classified,” and the bill of rights trashed, by our police/surveillance state, torture, privatized prisons, and the CIA hacking into Senate computers.  (What would cause the elite to install a surveillance state apparatus that would rival a Nazi’s and Stasi’s wildest dream?  Answer:  Fear.  And a deep understanding of the elite’s own subconscious.  The 1% fear having done to them, what they’ve been doing to the 99% for a very long time.)

Indeed, these are dark times.

A President, who campaigned on transparency, and as a bespoke Tribune for the people, turns out to be the plutocracy’s best friend.  By his actions President Obama supports: free trade agreements negotiated behind closed doors (that gut the nation’s middle class, the American dream, and insures corporate autocracy); persecution of whistleblowers and marginalizing the fourth estate; endless support for the Military Industrial and Intelligence Complex (MIIC); wars without end; the suspension of due process with signature drone strikes; and the shredding of the fourth amendment, as mass surveillance assumes everyone is guilty until proven innocent. 

It’s almost like Chancellor Cheney has returned to the White House.  No doubt, the current White House occupant is far more polished, but in substance, a Crypto-Republican (No.  Obamacare does not make President Obama a liberal.  Even George W. Bush expanded drug benefits for seniors under Medicare, Part D ---  a/k/a The Big Pharma Entitlement Act.  The expansion of the welfare state, front loaded for  corporate profits, is a vote purchasing gimmick both political parties utilize, at the expense of fiscal sanity, while providing corporate payback).

Nine decrepit monarchs – all dressed in black - sit in judgment over the nation’s laws, ruling on behalf of corporations and the plutocracy, again and again:  Money equals freedom of speech; corporations are people – except when it’s time to hold them accountable for their crimes; McCutcheon; and Citizens United.  As a result, what was once “we the people’s government,” now purchased and for sale to the highest bidder.  The trials or courtroom proceedings before SCOTUS, and many of the nation’s federal and state courts, are often for show; all too often these nine politicians, and their judicial cadres across the land, have made up their mind before the show trial even gets started (we can see this with the predictability of SCOTUS outcomes/rulings).

Our legislative branch campaigns 24/7/365, and has no interest in governing: a complete abdication of authority and responsibility.  Just show Congress the money, and allow them to demonize The Imperial Presidency… the sound bites play wonderfully back in the district, on FOX news, and on the never-ending campaign trail.  Pathetic.  And worst of all, they sellout themselves, the nation, and the people, on the cheap, day in and day out  - in a form of legalized graft.  Don’t take my opinion for it, let the approval ratings and cash flow speak for themselves.

As for our true rulers, the plutocracy, the gals and guys who have co-opted and purchased our government, not unlike a leveraged buyout, they only care about the bottom line on the second set of books.  If the government goes down, awash in debt, and if the currency gets trashed, as the Fed’s printing presses churn…. That’s okay.  After all, the elites are only living for the next quarterly statement, and the next merger, in the hopes of cashing out.  Could it be that many within the financial aristocracy believe they can hedge their way out of the next financial crisis?  Their instructions to U.S. politicians: Just keep the debt/financial engineered/bubble based economy going; the tax code in our favor; the regulators at bay and underfunded; allow us to merge into monopolies and cartels; and the devil take the hindmost. 

The environment, the rule of law, workers, the poor, aggregate demand and top line growth, captured regulatory bodies, and the U.S. government…. Forget about it!  Best to keep the 99% in a perpetual state of economic malaise and near panic, and like the fear card, it’s just another means of control.

Taken all together (the secrecy; the offline budgets; the mass surveillance; the desire to control not only U.S. citizens, but the world, via the MIC and surveillance; fear mongering by our 24 hour corporate news cycle; abdication of responsibility by the plutocracy to the social contract; back room deals and double-dealing; and two of four branches of government – the Fed and SCOTUS – not democratically elected)… and it all adds up to government by Star Chamber.

Grim stuff. 

Then, when it’s Darkest, we get the occasional heretic, the outlaw, the iconoclast, the bad robot… malcontents…  the individual who gives the elite fever dreams.  One can spot these folks a mile off:  They are not afraid to tell the truth; they often genuinely care about making things better for all of us; derision and scorn are heaped upon these outsiders by the gangsters at the top; like all of us, these whistleblowers, too, are human, but they do not let their humanity hold them back from speaking truth to power (indeed, it often spurs them); and as a result, an example must be made.  The heretic is talked down to, often shunned, sometimes persecuted and vilified, and in some instances, threatened with jail or worse. 

Malcontents? 

I guess it’s a matter of perspective.  To many, these individuals are angels.  They certainly are my heros.  For starters, I may not agree with everything these individuals say, do, or stand for, but the following list provides serious cause for inspiration and praise.

Pope Francis

When was the last time a religious leader took on the world’s power structure?  Pope Francis has been on a tear:  advocacy for the poor; trashing an economic system that preys upon the poor, crony-capitalism; kicking elite and Wall Street bootie; and now the latest, coming out with a climate change encyclical.  The usual suspects, the GOP and the robber barons, who love to thump the Bible when it suits their ends, came down hard against the Pope.  If we are known by the enemies we keep, as well as our friends, than the Pope truly is a righteous dude.  Pope Francis is burning the barrier/firewall that nearly all religious leaders cower behind, between earthly and metaphysical power.  He’s kicking in the door, and you can smell the fear, rolling off Big Oil’s/Big Coal’s/Big Carbon’s collective back.  If the Pope was twenty years, no make that ten years younger, I do believe he’d destroy the current global economic system, and rebuild it in a more effective and egalitarian manner (i.e. a kinder and gentler form of capitalism, mixed in with socialism for the 99%, in lieu of socialism for the plutocrats).  Having said that, Pope Francis is doing an incredible job with the time that we are fortunate enough to have with him. 

Anybody who can make the elite this uncomfortable is, truly, doing God’s work.

Senator Rand Paul

Mr. Paul, like his father before him, has an issue with our government.  Where Mr. Paul and J.M.H. part-company concerns the government’s much needed role in regulating the economy and the “free market.”  Even Adam Smith acknowledged that mercantilist tend to seek out government favor, and consistently, when given the opportunity, venture towards monopoly and cartel.  That’s where the government, ideally, is very much needed:  To protect capitalism from its worst excesses (i.e. monopoly and cartel).  Alas, our crony government has failed in this regard, repeatedly (M&A, consolidation, and combination continue at a record pace under the Obama Administration, and thanks, in large part, to the easy money policies of the Obama Reserve). But where Mr. Paul’s Libertarian stand strikes a harmonious chord, for me anyway, is when he attacks foreign adventures, nation building, the military industrial complex, and the police/surveillance state.  And when he’s on point - look out… Mr. Paul doesn’t mind taking on the U.S. Senate, the President, or the private contractors, who own and operate the MIC.  In fact, his energy level seems to climb, in direct correlation to the animosity directed his way by the warmongers and the aristocracy.  Whether its extrajudicial drone strikes or mass surveillance of Americans, Senator Paul can be counted on to stand up for U.S. citizens, fiscal sanity, and the Constitution.  As for the Senator’s support for a flat tax, and his support for the demise of corporate welfare – via the tax code…. Yes, and yes again! 

Senator Paul is off to a great start and an auspicious career.

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Who makes Jamie Dimon lay awake at night?  My guess is Senator Warren.  Never has there been an advocate for the people, who sees modern day Wall Street for what it truly is:  A cesspool of recidivist malefactors, who rip off their clients, destroy markets, engage in pernicious rent seeking behavior, feed off government largesse and state sponsored welfare (e.g. including but not limited to, the Fed’s printing presses, taxpayer funded bailouts, and the tax code), are a detriment to the nation, a drag on our economy, and a threat to our national security.  We think climate change is bad… take a close look at the denizens in the London financial district, and on the corner of Wall and Broad.  Mr. Dimon says Senator Warren doesn’t understand international finance. 

No Mr. Dimon, Senator Warren understands you and the Street all too well.  After all, her livelihood doesn’t depend upon putting on rose colored glasses every morning, and pretending all is right with the world, after Wall Street almost took out the global economy in 2008, and a London trader cost J.P. Morgan six billion dollars.  The next financial crisis will likely be in sovereign debt.  Trillions in sovereign debt has been created by Central Banksters out of thin air, racked up to bailout the international banking cartel (elitist socialism incarnate).

Today, Senator Warren, and Senator Sanders, set the direction and tone for the Democratic Party, and not a moment too soon.  Clintonian politics is dead… Long live President Clinton.

Edward Snowden

If Mr. Snowden hadn’t laid his life on the line, we’d all still be clueless as to the degree to which the U.S. government hacks our computers and cellphones 24/7/365.  Thanks to Mr. Snowden, and Senator Paul, parts of the Patriot Act were recently repealed, but we have a long way to go.  We are all still under surveillance, now by both the NSA and the phone companies.  As with the privatization of our prison system, the privatization of the surveillance state (the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA), has led to gross abuses, and a violation of our civil liberties.  There’s billions to be made in spying for the U.S. government, and the private sector isn’t going to let those billions slip through their fingers, willingly.  Meanwhile, while Mr. Snowden is threatened with prison and worse, leaders of the surveillance state lie to the Congress with impunity, hack into Senate computers, cry out for greater powers, and indicate serious harm will come, as a result of Mr. Snowden’s revelations.  But as usual, the fearmongers are proven wrong again and again (The fearmongers never point out who the U.S. should truly be worried about:  The angry, racist, white American with the Y chromosome, armed to the teeth by the NRA’s worst excesses). 

Mr. Snowden has already been nominated for a Nobel prize; personally, I would like to see him exonerated of all charges, return to our fair shores, and run for the nation’s highest office.

Nancy Pelosi

As a former life long Republican, and a recovering one at that, I thought hell would freeze over before I would ever write a word of praise for Representative Pelosi.  Satan can relax… it will be warm and toasty in hell for a good long while yet, because Ms. Pelosi, along with the House and Senate GOP, decided to support Obamatrade, after all.  This week, Ms. Pelosi, true to form, backpedaled and retreated, sided against the American worker and the U.S. economy, and pandered instead to global oligarchs and multinational interests with TPP fast track passage.  It’s not surprising; it’s this same crew who buys Representative Pelosi’s ticket to office.

At least she’s consistent.

The Fourth Estate

My apologies in advance if I haven’t named them all, but these are the institutions who help take a bite out of the plutocracy’s crime wave on a daily basis:  The New York Times; The New Yorker; The Washington Post; Slate; Salon; The Nation; The Huffington Post; The Guardian; Spiegel; Bloomberg; Barron’s; Marketwatch; Project Syndicate; VOXEU.org; Reuters; Politico; John Stewart; Katrina vandenHeuvel; John Oliver; Tom Keene; Doctors Nouriel Roubini & Joesph Stiglitz; Twitter; Blogger; and Bill Maher.  Without you and many other brave journalist, free thinkers, techies, economist, scribes, and bloggers, this nation would be lost.

Due to these malcontents and angels: “It was the best of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the epoch of belief, it was the season of Light, it was the spring of hope, and we had everything before us.”

Mr. Dickens once wrote those lines, combined with the lead paragraph of this piece, to start off a book on the French Revolution.  There’s a quiet revolution going on in America today.  After a thirty-five year run of right wing fairy tales, the war of ideas is being won on the left and by libertarians; the plutocracy and Wall Street have proved that socialism works quite well, for themselves, and that crony capitalism is an abject failure, except for the 1%.

America’s greatness lies not in its past, but with our vast potential…. A potential that 1% of the population has attempted and succeeded in capturing for themselves. 

It’s time to turn that around.

Viva le American Revolution.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

The Emperor is Buck Naked…

The Emperor is Buck Naked…

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

• Strengthen American democracy;
• Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans; and
• Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.

- Mission of the Brookings Institution

By J.M. Hamilton  6-12-2015

Wage and wealth inequality have become hot button issues for both political parties, leading up to the 2016 race.  Aside from free trade agreements, and trickle down tax policies, trickle down monetary policy (i.e. flooding the markets with highly inexpensive debt/liquidity) – from Reagan/Greenspan forward – has become one of the largest single contributors to rising U.S. wage and wealth inequality.  To such extent that the former Fed Chairman, Mr. Bernanke, felt compelled to write about it, w/in his Brookings Institute blog.  The former Chairman notes:

The claim that Fed policy has worsened inequality usually begins with the (correct) observation that monetary easing works in part by raising asset prices, like stock prices. As the rich own more assets than the poor and middle class, the reasoning goes, the Fed's policies are increasing the already large disparities of wealth in the United States.

From there, however, Mr. Bernanke goes onto disassemble, rationalize, and provide excuses for the continuation the very monetary policies that have helped crush the middle class, led to divergent economies (Wall Street uber alles, at the expense of Main Street and manufacturing), and has stolen from middle class and retirees savings accounts – and transferred interest income to those least in need, the Wall Street banks, shadow banking, and private equity robber barons.  But don’t take my word for it… Fed officials have gone so far as to engage in charity work, out of recognition that Federal Reserve policy has magnified and amplified inequality.  

In the end, Mr. Bernanke says further study on monetary policy’s impact on inequality is needed, and, either way, Fed monetary policy should not be influenced by inequality.

Monetary policy is a blunt tool which certainly affects the distribution of income and wealth, although whether the net effect is to increase or reduce inequality is not clear. More research will be needed to untangle and measure the many channels through which these effects are transmitted. But the (uncertain) distributional impact of monetary policy should not prevent the Fed from pursuing its mandate to achieve maximum employment and price stability, thereby providing broad benefits to the economy.

Written like a man in the pay of two hedge funds, and on the Wall Street speaking circuit. 

There is perhaps limited, or little, doubt that monetary policy that magnifies wealth inequality, and wage inequality, is a direct threat to one half of the Fed’s, alleged, mandate: Maximum Employment.  The reality is the Fed’s true mandate is to be a highly useful tool for Wall Street profits, and the speculative/moneyed class.

The Feds easy money policies have fueled financial engineering, M&A, Wall Street speculation, private equity chop shops, and formation of monopolies and cartels:  All well known for their employment killing capabilities.  Nothing quite makes a stock analyst drool like M&A activity, and the words “synergy,” and “cost savings.”   Synergy and cost savings at the expense of labor and a living wage, crushes the American Dream for the 99%.  Synergy and cost savings (i.e. job cuts) are financed by a fire hose of Fed liquidity.

That Mr. Bernanke’s monetary policies, by his own admission, work at cross-purposes with the Brooking Institute’s mission…  well, surely, the irony is lost on no one.  In addition, growing wealth inequality, thanks to Fed largesse, is often used to subvert our democracy.

J.M. Hamilton has absolutely nothing against wealth or striving to do better.  It’s the American way.  The manner in which wealth is accumulated is another story.  If wealth is obtained by inventing, say a lifesaving drug, than more power to you and the millions, perhaps billions, that follow.   But if billions are accumulated through: monopoly power afforded by the government; a rigged taxed code; monetary policy run amok – leading to massive financial engineering and layoffs; withholding supply on a drug/product with inelastic demand (so as to jack up the price); obtaining free trade agreement advantages behind closed doors; and regulatory capture – in short, the crony economy (aka rent seeking behavior/aka strategies employed by the elite and Big Pharma on a daily basis) – well, there are very few citizens in favor of this path to financial success.

Unfortunately, financial engineering, M&A, and consolidation/combination within entire industries – fueled by the Fed’s/Central bankster’s easy money policies – have become the easiest means by which to obtain wealth (for an elite few).  All at the expense of Main Street, the middle and poorer classes, and United States’ fiscal health.

But let’s give the devil his due:  Congratulations, Mr. Bernanke, you just completed Step One of the Twelve-Step program, admitting the Federal Reserve has a problem.  Only eleven more steps to go. 

Our Corporate run news media is replete with stories where the wealthy have “done well,” and donated large sums to charities and educational institutions that are often, already wealthy beyond measure. 

One gets the feeling from these news stories/puff pieces that we are to acknowledge and show our gratitude to the robber barons for their generosity.  

But at what price to society, our nation, and our children, comes such generosity? 

One recent notable gift was from Hedge Fund operator, Mr. John Paulson.  The same Mr. Paulson, who donated $400 million to Harvard, and the same Mr. Paulson who was caught up in a scam with Goldman $achs, during the heart of the financial crisis.  In a deal known as ABACUS , Mr. Paulson rigged the deck, or a cache of CDOs/MBS at the residential market peak, and shorted same through a synthetic derivative product created by Goldman.  The deal is said to have netted Mr. Paulson a cool billion, and cost the unwitting counterparties same.  Goldman $achs later paid a half billion dollar fine for its role in the matter… just another cost of doing business (backstopped by the American taxpayer).

Mr. Warren Buffet was recently in the news for donating billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Mr. Buffet, of course, is known for running Berkshire Hathaway, and is one of the wealthiest men in America.  He also has come out against a minimum wage increase, at a time when we have a considerable number of working poor in America (who are so underpaid that they are dependent upon the state in order to exist). 

Now, Mr. Buffet’s refusal, along with other major business owners and management teams, to pay a living wage means that Berkshire’s bottom line, or profits, receives a direct subsidy from our government, every time state and federal authorities step in and provide assistance to the working poor (i.e. underpaid workers).  But the subsidy to Mr. Buffett’s profits doesn’t stop there, because many of Berkshire’s businesses, perhaps all, pay at a tax rate (if any taxes are paid at all) considerably well below what Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Middleamerica pay.  That is to say, the remnants of the middle class - Mr. Buffet is busy shorting - often pay at a considerably higher tax rate in order to make up for the revenue shortfall that Berkshire Hathaway, and other elites, dodge paying. 

Mr. Buffett has acknowledged as much.

The government in turn, is overburdened with the working poor, and Berkshire’s, et al., refusal to pay taxes at an equitable rate.  Meanwhile, Berkshire becomes exceptionally wealthy, via: M&A; the formation of monopolies, oligopolies, and cartels, within its portfolio; and through gambling in derivatives and swaps products (much of this financed by the Fed’s easy money policies, and a derivatives and swaps market backstopped by the government).  As a result, Berkshire’s economic, and therefore political, power grows exponentially.  The 99% often live from paycheck to paycheck, and the 1% take home nearly all the nation’s income and accumulate the nation’s wealth, disproportionately.

When Mr. Buffett, or other plutocrats, donate to charities (or purchase the Magna Carta), from profits raised on the backs of the working poor, or by exploiting the tax system, or via monopolistic pricing power (all at the expense of the nation)…. We are supposed to applaud, and yell out enthusiastically, “Three Cheers!”

Meanwhile, nearly one in four American children are born into poverty.  

The former Fed Chair says monetary policy is a blunt tool.   Au contraire… J.M.H., while acknowledging the bluntness of the instrument for the 99%, has also come to believe monetary policy is a very surgical tool, that enriches less than one percent of the population with finite precision.

The Brookings Institute should be appalled.

P.S.

Two out of four branches of government, possibly the branches with the greatest amount of power, The Federal Reserve and SCOTUS, are run by politicians, who are not democratically elected.  For the sake of America and her economy, it’s time to bring democracy/pluralism to the Fed and SCOTUS.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015

False Gods

False Gods

"Safeguard Creation. Because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!" – Pope Francis

By J.M. Hamilton (5-31-2015)

There’s a great deal of news and studies out on the state of religious faith in America, various faiths’ beliefs in science, and the resulting political shakeout.  One of the charts that caught my eye was identified in a piece w/in the Washington Post (The surprising links between faith and evolution and climate denial — charted, by Chris Mooney), whereby America’s mainline faiths were lined up between two axis, denoting belief in evolution and belief in man’s impact on climate change (i.e. as indicated by greater support for environmental regulation).  Crunching data from the recent Pew Survey, most American mainline religions (Christianity being the primary religion) line up along an axis that either accepts or rejects, in many instances, evolution and man made climate change in fairly equal measure. 

What surprised the author at the Post and Josh Rosenau, from the National Center for Science Education, who took the Pew data and mapped out the graph, is the number of faiths that are accepting of man’s impact on the climate, and evolutionary theory.   However, beyond that, they are still attempting to draw conclusions (see graph here). 

For me, however, the graph is very revealing, when we couple it with other studies and findings.  As we will see shortly, Rosenau’s graph very much has a political component, as well as an educational component.  Those less likely to believe in manmade climate change and evolution, were fundamentalist Christians, such as Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Baptists.  Those more likely to believe in same were conservative and secular Jews, Atheists, Agnostics, and Buddhists.  Falling in the middle ground are Mainline Protestant faiths, and Catholics (albeit more Catholics appear to believe in evolution than in climate change).  And now before we go much further some additional core analysis and facts:

·      The base of the Republican Party is largely made of socially conservative fundamentalist Christian groups, such as Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Baptists.

·      A very recent Pew Study on Religion in America showed that from 2007 through 2014, the number of Americans self-identifying as Christians dropped from approximately 78% to 70%.  

·      The same study showed the religiously unaffiliated, or those as having no particular religious faith, during the same time frame, rose from 16% to 23%, almost a quarter of the U.S. population.  

·      Agnosticism and Atheism are clearly on the rise within this group, but more surprising still, or possibly not so surprising, are the number of former Christians, who have joined the unaffiliated camp.  Ex-Christians, among the adult population, now make up 19%.

·      A rising number of millennials are joining the ranks of the unaffiliated, or as having no religious faith.

·      Meanwhile, Mr. Thomas Edsal at the New York Times noted in a piece, back in 2012, entitled, The Politics of Going to College, that the more educated you are the less likely you are to vote Republican.  This was a hot topic in 2012, because Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum (yes, he’s back … he announced again this week) slammed higher education.  As a Republican, Mr. Santorum had good cause.  Demographics, the GOP’s lack of appeal to anybody other than white males, and the abandonment of the Republican Party by those with a higher education, would cost GOP nominee, Mr. Romney, the election (under circumstances and an economy that should have, presumably, led to a landslide victory in his favor).

·      In the last year or two, at least one Republican Governor, and leading GOP presidential contender, doubled down on the concept; Mr. Walker savagely cut the University of Wisconsin’s budget.  If fact, Governor Walker’s efforts can be best characterized as a full frontal assault on higher and public education.   

·      So if the GOP’s base are fundamentalist Christians, and the fundamentalist base – like the GOP – deny evolution and man’s harmful impact on the climate and the environment, and the educated are increasingly rejecting the Republican Party, does this mean that a large number of fundamentalist Christians in America lack a college degree?  Unfortunately, and verily, it is so.  We know this because of a separate study conducted by Trinity College (out of Hartford, CT), which shows fundamentalist Christians have the lowest level of educational attainment, among all faiths and secularist, within the U.S. (see page 18 of 26 w/in the PDF file).

·      Conversely, practicing and secular Jews, Eastern Religions (Buddhist and Hindus), those likely to believe in manmade harm to the environment and evolution, were more likely to have achieved a college degree and enjoy higher education.  This from the same Trinity College Study.

·      More scary still for the Republican Party is that their supporters, or base, are dying off in more rapid numbers than the Democratic Party’s base.

So going back to Mr. Rosenau and his outstanding questions, it’s really not surprising…. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to be a mainstream Protestant, Jew, practice an Eastern religion (such as Buddhism), or be a secularist or unaffiliated.  You are also less likely to vote for the Republican Party, and tend to accept enlightenment and science.  In short, if you enjoy greater education, and still have a faith, science compliments your faith and belief in the Goddess above.  Some persons of faith even prefer to believe that enlightenment and science are gifts from our creator.

These are generalizations based upon the aforementioned recent studies, and there are exceptions to these generalizations.  Moreover, holding a college degree does not automatically make one educated or enlightened, and there are many educated people who hold no degree.

We also maybe witnessing the polarization of religious faiths, and the politicization of religion in America, on a scale heretofore unseen or acknowledged, particularly among fundamentalist Christians.  Which might account for a large number of millennials rejecting faith, the expanding numbers of the unaffiliated, and rising number of ex-Christians. 

Note:  If your exposure to Christianity is based upon fundamentalist Christianity, the rejection of science, and the acceptance of the GOP…. One might understand the millennials’ inclination to run for the unaffiliated hills.  Full disclosure: Your humble author does consider himself to be very much affiliated with Christ (he prays Christ is affiliated with him), and is a recovering Republican.  Moreover, I am a huge supporter of Senator Warren, and think Mr. Rand Paul is on track in many instances – certainly not all.  Mr. Paul’s attack on government surveillance of U.S. citizens is both inspiring and 100% accurate.

The Pew Study shows Catholics, and Mainline Protestant faiths, getting hit hardest by the declining number Americans willing to acknowledge their faith.  As I wrote in my piece last spring, Revolutionary Messiah, Pope Francis appears to be a blessing from above and the timing of his ascension couldn’t have been better for Christians and Catholics.  Indeed, the Pope seems intent on dragging the Vatican and the Roman Curia - kicking and screaming - into the 21^st Century’s blinding light.  Pope Francis has pushed rising income and wealth inequality to the forefront, and attacked an economic system that bails out the wealthy on the backs of the poor.  When it comes to homosexuality, perhaps in acknowledgement of a large number of homosexuals within the Church’s clergy, the Holy Father responded: Who am I to judge?  (The Vatican’s condemnation this week of Ireland's gay marriage plebiscite, and outcome, was very disappointing.)  The Pope has also been involved in foreign affairs, recognizing the Palestinian State, and bringing together the U.S. and Cuba.  And the Pope has stated that evolution is not incompatible with the teachings of Christ; and that man made climate change is a real threat. 

For real fireworks look forward to the Pope’s speech before the U.S. Congress later this year… it should have many GOP Congresspersons sweating, profusely.

In short, the Holy Father walks the walk, and talks the talk; and holds true, again and again, to the teachings of Christ:  love your neighbor as yourself; judge not others; and as Christ did, advocacy for uplifting the poor, here on this earth.  Christ also taught us to be in awe of the Goddess’ creation and power, and certainly that must include respect for ourselves and the planet.  If the Pope would allow women to enter the priesthood, and acknowledged their reproductive rights, he’d be batting a thousand.  Having said that, Pope Francis has already wildly exceeded many Catholic’s expectations. 

What then to make of fundamentalist Christian faiths and sects?  It’s sort of a chicken and egg argument:  1) Are fundamentalist Christians so myopic in their faith, so bent on the return of Christ and the Rapture, that they have completely written off the planet, indeed - possibly praying for its demise - in an end of days apocalypse (that they are completely unaware of GOP policies)?  Or 2) do fundamentalist Christians, and their leadership, really support the GOP’s agenda of: unlimited carbon poisoning for the Goddess’ creation, the planet; denial of science and evolution; war against women; tax cuts for the rich; bailouts for the wealthy… indentured servitude for the poor; the U.S. criminal/prison industrial complex that preys upon minorities and the poor; raging income and wealth inequality and the crony economy; the GOP’s support for free trade agreements that have left a smoking crater in the U.S. and European economies, and lead to third world exploitation; religious, gender, sexual orientation, and socio-economic bigotry…. And on and on and on? 

I sure as hell hope, for the fundamentalist sake, it’s the former.

Fundamentalist Christian support for the GOP really boils down to nescience versus malintent (or shades of grey somewhere in between).  Given the lack of education within these tribes, and how the flock is being led astray by educated church leadership, the GOP, FOX news, and talk radio….  it’s entirely possible that benign or willful ignorance is at play.  It’s long been acknowledged that a principle strategy of the GOP is to play the fear card, and they do it very well.  Of course, the antidote for fear is education, which helps explain why the GOP is adamantly opposed to higher education….. there goes the Republican Party’s electoral base.

But who am I to judge?

Otherwise, the fundamentalist appear to the aligned with a political party that not only doesn’t adhere to the teachings of Christ, but may have joined the other side.  As for the GOP, they pander to their base during election time, and then promptly ignore them until the next election cycle; unless of course, it is to legislate a false morality, for the American Taliban.  So much for the separation between church and state. 

The GOP led culture wars are a convenient distraction from real economic issues: The GOP’s agenda of holy wars without end - that have bankrupted the nation; and ever rising wage and wealth inequality, caused in no small measure by free trade and trickle down tax policies. 

And speaking of false gods….  Some Americans have turned Ayn Randian capitalism into a new faith and religion.  Arguably, the unappointed leader of this new religion is none other than Mr. Warren Buffett.  Admirers and stockholders travel to Omaha annually to hear Mr. Buffett pontificate on the new faith, at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting.  Spun out with folksy charm, the billionaire makes it all sound easy, that he’s a man of the people, and he genuinely cares.  And that you too, with perseverance, can become wealthy beyond imagination. 

However, when we closely examine Berkshire Hathaway’s actions, vis a vis some of Mr. Buffett’s comments, inconsistencies come to light:

1)   Mr. Buffett has been said to lament the tax rates he and other plutocrats pay (which are often non-existent to exceptionally low), versus the tax rates, say his secretary pays.  But then we learn that Mr. Buffett helped finance Burger King’s recent tax inversion or tax avoidance scheme.  My guess is this is just the tip of the iceberg in Berkshire’s efforts to keep their conglomerates effective tax rate well below his secretary’s tax rate.

2)   Mr. Buffett said that the plutocracy has been engaged in class warfare against the poor and the middle class for sometime, and that his side won.  And yet, if anything, Berkshire Hathaway’s lobbying efforts have picked up steam, particularly under the Obama Administration.  Looks like Berkshire’s class warfare is not about to let up anytime soon.

3)   Mr. Buffet has called the Federal Reserve the greatest hedge fund around.  Mr. Buffet would know, since he and his companies have been one of the largest beneficiaries of the Fed’s actions.  Actions that have done little to turn the economy around, and have harmed the middle class.

4)   Warren has called derivatives and swaps financial weapons of mass destruction.  And yet, Mr. Buffett’s companies play with these weapons and have profited from them immensely; these weapons are also largely reinsured by the American Public (meaning the taxpayer does not profit from these instruments of mass destruction, but is called upon to pick up the pieces, when they go off – see the 2008 financial crisis.)

5)   Many of the monopolies and oligopolies Mr. Buffet’s conglomerate holds are able to make exceptional amounts of money, because the products are well known, and often enjoy relatively inelastic demand.  Meaning Mr. Buffett can set price.  In such a market, it does little harm to Mr. Buffett’s profits, and certainly less harm to the businesses themselves, to pay his employees a living wage.  And yet, Mr. Buffett has been quoted recently as stating that higher minimum wages will harm the working poor.  His statist solution: Have our bankrupt federal government expand the tax credit for the working poor.  In this manner, Mr. Buffet’s monopolistic profits go untouched, and the working poor continue to be the State's wards.

Mr. Buffett certainly is no god, or even a free market deity; but he certainly is a crony economy master.

P.S.

And finally, kudos and accolades to Messrs. James Baker III and Bruce Bartlett (both former Reagan Administration officials) for telling the truth about Israel and Fox News, respectively.  These men actually harken back to a time when the GOP stood for something, as opposed to the blind worship of the rich and the powerful conducted by today's GOP.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015