June 19, 2020
We now have: an economy that has plummeted to recession level and may be heading to depression status, riots in the streets, police killing people and people killing police, vandalism running rampant, lootings, racism running unchecked, armed militias everywhere and the effects of decades of income inequality being exposed. Hello America, how are you?
All of this explosion of ‘social unrest’ was lit by the fuse of a little biological element now named the Covid 19 Virus which probably was ignited in the city of Wuhan (Central China) in late 2019 but wasn’t alerted by either the China Government or the World Health Organization (WHO) until it had spread all over the world. Now that deaths from the Covid 19 virus in the USA alone have passed the 100,000 level and are headed for 200K, but are starting to decline on a daily statistical basis, some of our political leaders have started to worry about their re-election potential. (Perhaps, a day or two late and more than a few dollars shy?) Our fearless idiot President has declared the pandemic ‘under control’ so that ‘normal’ commercial activity can be resumed to prevent further economic collapse which would, of course, further endanger his reelection possibility. However, when normal commercial activity resumes somewhere, infection rates skyrocket in those areas and drop in others where social distancing and face-mask use is continued to be practiced. And so, deaths from the virus continue, in spite of Donald Trump’s edict, at an alarming rate.
All the above extreme ‘social unrest’ is happening now on a daily (or nightly) basis and has exposed (again) the very serious problem of systemic racism in our society and specifically in our local and national police forces. Our ‘wonderful’ idiot President, Donald J. Trump, has excused that condition as being the product of only a few ‘bad apples’ in the police bushel basket. I suggest that our current condition is largely the result of our having the biggest, most rotten, ‘Bad Apple’ of them all as our President, Donald J. Trump! This writer is ready for someone to call, “Time out!” on Mr. Trump.
Alas, if only this was all a game! Unfortunately, it’s not a game, it’s today’s real life. And, in a large part, the condition of our present social ‘game’ is due to the miss-management by our government at the highest levels. Speaking of games—professional baseball, football, basketball and ice hockey just might be played this season without spectators in the stands—if the teams are allowed to actually play. Retail malls are vacant, movie theaters are closed, race tracks and anywhere people gather in close quarters are locked down. The cultural world has not been immune from the virus caused chaos as museums, concert halls, Broadway and local theatres are closed. Last, but not least, restaurants, bars, spas, salons, massage parlors, pool parlors and strip clubs (the mainstay of low life cultural theater) have been closed for months but are now just beginning to be allowed to re-open under special ‘social-distancing’ requirements. (Question: Just who is going to determine the ‘social-distancing’ requirements for patrons of strip clubs?) And. the airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, theme parks, and anything connected to the tourist industry are heading for bankruptcy. Unemployment is past recession levels and heading for depression levels. Chaos, social and economic, is the condition of our present, everyday life.
I agree that the level of systemic racism and its’ corollary of police brutality to non-white members of our society is a very serious problem. However, I consider another problem to be the root cause of our social chaos. That ‘problem’ is the enormous level of income disparity that has worsened for decades past in what we consider ‘advanced’ societies. The USA has lost most of its’ ‘Middle Class’. Our rich have been getting richer and our poor—and what’s left of the middle class—are getting poorer day-by-day, month-by-month, and year-by-year—and that’s been happening for decades! I believe that our enormous disparity of income and wealth is the real driving force behind today’s social chaos. The virus has ripped open the artificial social fabric covering the economic sickness of our society and laid bare the key dysfunctional elements—poverty and extreme income disparity—which have resulted in bringing a pot of problems, including systemic racism, that has long been simmering, to a boil. Slavery in America didn’t cause income disparity; it was the result of the desire of White American males to achieve income advantage and their government to allow them to do so. The lack of education in our Black, Brown and Yellow races didn’t cause racial income disparity in the US of A. It also was, and is today, the result of the same White American males’ desire to maintain their economic advantage and their government to continue allowing them to do so. We have a society created on the basis of fostering vulture capitalism for the privileged few and a government which had allowed and continues to allow them to use that practice.
Just change ‘White’ and ‘American’ to ‘Rich’ and ‘Famous’ and you have now defined the World Order of Vulture Capitalism. There is no ‘morality factor’ in Vulture Capitalism. Money—and the power to get and keep it—is its’ only goal. Our President, Donald J. Trump, is the ‘Poster Boy’ of Vulture Capitalism. I expect the book that is to be coming out very soon, written by Donald’s niece, Mary Trump, will ‘second’ my opinion—and then some!
We don’t have a ‘Democracy’ in the United States of American now and will never have one —as long as a ‘Donald J. Trump’ and his Republican enablers are in power. The desire for change may start at the bottom but this time, change will have to be implemented at the top by the voters at the bottom of the pile, and work its’ way down the chain of command to really happen. Good Morning America, where are you? We’ll see by November 4th, or maybe a few weeks later if the ‘Donald’ and his Republican buddies really screw that election in their favor—as they are surely going to try to do.
As usual, I wanted to explain what I had been writing to Hubris but he said, “Lou, you have told me all of this before. Why don’t we just saddle up and go for a ride?” I said, “Hold on tight Hubris, it’s going to take quite a ride to get me cooled off!” So with the usual Hi, Ho, Hubris, Aawaay! we were off the ranch and onto the ditch banks—but this time—at a full gallop!
So, until next time, it’s Adios Amigos –hold on tight-and stay safe! I’ll try to do the same! Happy Juneteenth?
Lou
Word count 1,132 Copyright, June 19, 2020, Louis J. Christen