The Year Was 1980

The year was 1980. The Prince of Voodoo Friedmanism Republican Ronald Reagan came into power. A true believer of Milton Friedman, an economist, Reagan preached the famous Friedmanism mantas: “ the social responsibility of business is to increase profits” and “less government is good government”. Reagan started the evil mixture of a witches brew by firstly, transferring assets from public to private ownership and secondly, the dissolution of laws that protect consumers and investors from materialism, excessive debt (corporate, government, and individual), the formation of huge conglomerates and ultimately the type of corruption symbolized by Enron, Bernard Madoff, and the debacle on Wall Street.

What has happen since then? Well, public investment in schools, hospitals, water and sewage systems, roads and bridges, sold to the private sector. Cities and states were forced to sell their sectors to the private corporation. All of the work built during and after the New Deal suffered neglect under the Friedman’s brand of economic voodooism. Next, came the trade policies (free trade agreements). The major multinational corporations benefited the most from these agreements.

The major disciples of Milton Friedman are George W. Bush, his father, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, Canada’s Brian Mulroney, Alberta’s Ralph Klein, Iceland’s David Oddson, and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. There were and still are many others. They rallied against any program that will benefit the middle and lower classes. Instead, the Presidents of the United States incurred unbelievable debt. For example, Ronald Reagan went from $800 billion when he came into office to $2.5 trillion when he left! George Bush Sr. from 2.5 trillion to $5 trillion. George Bush Jr. from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. The growth rate of debt was 8.75% -- similar to the growth rate of China’s economy! The debt is doubling every 8 years. The result: trillions of dollars deficit incurred by the federal government but , also, the creation of countless new billionaires.

The income of the middle class stagnated while their net home pay fell. The extreme in economic disparity is a mirror image what has taken place in the Third World countries that follow the preaching of Friedman’s teachings.

The final “spell” placed on the U.S. economy was the economic collapse of “free market” economy. Everywhere there was businesses going bankrupted, companies laying off workers and the economy tumbling into freefall. The Friedman’s “Royal Family” ;meantime, reaped huge salaries and bonuses. The Royal Family included the top CEO’s and executives from the largest multinational companies in the world (and some were saved by Obama’s bailouts)

Back to the case of economic disparities: When George W. Bush was elected president the 400 wealthiest people in the States was worth about $1 trillion. (average of $2.5 billion per person). Six years later (2007), their income went up 60% to 1.6 trillion dollars. At the same time, the real income of the average worker decreased by more than $2000 per month.

Remember this”

1) One of the biggest sin is ignoring the evil in the world.

2) If you don’t try to right it, you are part of the problem.