Before the Storm

I just read Bob Herbert's swan song Op-Ed "Losing our Way". He touched a nerve which has been pulsating under the surface, has recently been exposed and now is being prodded. Specifically he states that "The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent."

In 2004 Thomas Frank published a book called "What's the Matter with Kansas" which was an attempt to explain how the conservatives in America were able to get a majority of Americans to vote "against" themselves.

The wealth statistics quoted above say all that needs to be said, or perhaps not. The group representing the 15% of the population between the top 5% and the bottom 80% controls 23.7% of the nation's wealth. Their focus is on joining the top 5%-not sliding down to the bottom 80%.

So they throw their weight of numbers in with the elite, and presto, the 20/80 rule appears as if by magic. For those of you who aren't familiar with the rule it basically states that 20% or whatever resource you are discussing will generate/receive 80%-or more- of the pie.

And in the US, the top 20% gets over 87%. In business, this calculation is the root of redundancies and revolving door employment practices. If you can get over 80% of your revenue from 20% of the group, why have the other 80%.

I believe this logic has been applied to the US as a whole. Political strategists are caught in a symbiotic relationship in which they either focus on or are driven by the top 20% who are united in their goal to keep their position which must come at the expense of the rest.

This is why we have developed gated communities, red lined areas, homelessness next door to affluent communities and every other manifestation of what is essentially an America made up of haves and have-nots. The trouble is that this combination of unbridled greed and unrestrained/unregulated corporations comes at our peril.

Mr Herbert paints a bleak picture of America. He tells us that only 1 in 5 job seekers will find employment (note the 20/80 ratio), and that even those that find work will be less well off than their elders. He is correct when he says this is unsustainable even if his figures appear to be inverted. An unemployment rate of 20%is murder on the remaining 80%- and that might just be what we get.

In one of my previous posts I mentioned that Glen Beck threatened that America would "go Egypt" on him if he didn't toe the line. Of course Glen Beck is a populist demagogue masquerading as the voice of the people while clearly representing the top 20% if not the top 5%.

His threats of creating civil unrest along the lines of the Middle East uprisings reflect a poor understanding of revolutions. Be it the "rising expectations" of the French which resulted in formation of a Republic, or the complete and utter despair of the Russians in joining the Bolsheviks, both were followed by bloodshed and terror.

So the answer to Mr Frank's question: the top 20% play the music. And they play it loudly. And they keep reciting how America is the land of endless opportunity to the 80%, the top of which is striving to join the ranks of the elite, and so on and so on. We have become a nation that believes its own rhetoric despite the fact that it is no longer relevant.

What about Mr Obama you might ask. Isn't he different. Didn't he represent a change from the previous group? Well he too is aspirational. Harvard, US Senator, he was already on his way to the upper echelons. But as soon as he entered the White House he crossed the threshold into the real elite.

He is now part of the machine. And the machine is in trouble. The nation is in trouble. Unskilled unemployed are a problem. They are highly susceptible to being manipulated by the mouthpieces of the elite. And,if their despair reaches epic proportions, they are prone to violence.

But we are entering a phase where even the educated are un(der)employed. They are even more dangerous.

They will flock to the populist banner which is most likely to provide them with a future. That means jobs. That means industry. And in the US that means the military-industrial complex.

Watch out for anyone wishing to reintroduce the draft. Watch out for those who advocate military action as the solution to our problems. Bush went into Iraq to secure oil. It appears to me that our entry into Libya is energy related-despite the PR blitz to the contrary.

And the term blitz might not be so far afield. The scent of wars of conquest is in the air, and as Mr Herbert said, we are addicted to foreign oil and I don't have to outline the extremes to which an addict will go for their fix...