There is only one struggle in the world. That struggle is, and always has been, between capital and labor. The prize for the winner is power, not money. If wealth were the goal Trump would never have run for President and Bezos would have purchased an island and taken his whole family to it to live. The percentage of billionaires in politics, either directly or in supportive roles, is much higher than the percentage of the working class that votes.
Patriarchies and monarchies were too fragile, as the unwashed masses only had to behead a few individuals to shift power. Capitalism presented a new form of oppression that indemnified the ruling class from responsibility for any social harm they do via the corporate charter. Even though the vast majority of wealth in America is inherited, the “possibility” of anyone becoming even moderately wealthy with enough hard work and a good idea is always the carrot that drives the working class to defend the status quo.
The stick holding that carrot in view of the masses gets longer or shorter with shifts in the political makeup of government, but will never be so short that the carrot is actually within reach. That stick that gives the wealthy control of steering the economy is a general misconception of how the money works and even the nature of that money, especially in a nation with a sovereign fiat currency. The US dollar is simply a construct of government that allows it, via taxation, to provision itself on demand without any real revenue stream.
This was clearly defined in Article 1: Section 8 of our Constitution that enumerates the powers of government. It not only gives Congress the monopoly authority to create (coin) the nation’s currency but mandates that it do so “for the common welfare”. The common welfare cannot be achieved with balanced budgets (100% tax rate) that claw back all money created, effectively stealing resources from the private sector. Without leaving some percentage of created currency in the private sector via deficit spending Congress is not allowing the people any store of value for their commerce and labor.
The wealthy investment class that controls the government will never allow actual balanced budgets for any length of time, nor will it allow actually paying down the government’s national debt, as that is a representation of their wealth in the form of Treasury bonds. They will allow deficits and debt just large enough to act as their store of value and too small to allow the poor and middle class any security. The right balance will maximize their wealth/power and keep the little people productive.
This depends very much on the people who democratically control the Congress to remain ignorant of how their monetary system works so they will be complicit in their own hardships. As long as voters believe that “their” tax dollars fund their government they will not make demands on it for benefits. They will also be watchdogs for any benefits given to those who aren’t productive in creating wealth for the overlords of capitalism, especially if those unproductive “takers” are “others”.
If the unwashed masses ever figure out that the money supply is only limited by real resources and labor available and that their taxes are destroyed by the debt upon entering the government sector, unable to “fund” anything, the backlash may be another bloody revolution which gains nothing for anyone. It would be wise if the capitalists who control our commerce let go of a bit of their power and allow the people some benefits from their government. It would also be wise if our Congress began living up to its Constitutional mandate to create currency for the common welfare and tax the wealthy to avoid too much concentration of power.
