The late Aaron Copeland, when he wasn’t plagiarizing Indian melodies, wrote “A Fanfare For The Common Man,” which is absolutely beautiful, as opposed to his symphonies. The common man is being decapitated by his government, the military-industrial complex, and corporate monopoly. As I said in the last column, Helicopter Ben Bernanke said that he will drop hundred dollar bills from helicopters if necessary. It looks as if it may happen.
A so-called “stimulus package” is now working its way through the polluted halls of Congress, the White House, and Treasury. (If O’Bama got elected, would it be “The Black House?”) The package calls for tax reductions, interest rate reductions, and $100 billion in government spending. $100 billion in government spending and tax cuts, is just another way of saying “We’re going to print our way out of trouble.” This has been tried over and over again, around the world for hundreds of years, and all it does is destroy the currency, and destroy the common man. Besides it wouldn’t help anyway. The crumbling housing market, foreclosures, and bankruptcies can’t be cured by printing. The ’stimulus package’ will merely exacerbate the situation and hurt the common man.
Now they’re calling for a 40 cent per gallon increase in gasoline tax, which will drive a million or more common men and women over the brink and into bankruptcy. The common man drives to his job and uses gasoline to run his car. Since decayed dollars have already destroyed American manufacturing, the remaining jobs are often at minimum wages, and the workers must get to those jobs, using their cars to do so. Sixty years ago, before welfare destroyed the cities, the common man could spend a dime, get on a trolley, and go to work quickly and cheaply. The cities were whole, as were the transit systems, manufacturing plants and factories. We used no foreign oil and everyone owed us. Allegheny Ave in Philly, boasted of Philco radio and TV manufacturing, Stetson hats, Disston saws, and a host of other factories. Trolleys were full of workers going to work, and earning decent wages to support their families, with Mom staying home to tend the kids and raise them correctly. Today, Allegheny Ave is still there, but the tracks were torn up years ago, and all the factories are gone. Philadelphia has become Filthydelphia, and Botany 500 suits are no longer made there. The common man has been screwed. He already pays huge taxes on his telephone, electricity, gas and oil, sales taxes, property taxes, and the list is endless. All hidden, but draining of prosperity.
At one time, the common man could thrive in a neighborhood of well built row houses on tree lined streets, in fine neighborhoods, with no crime. Most didn’t even lock their doors. The common man didn’t really need a car, but most had one which wasn’t driven much, and stayed in the garage except for trips to the beach or mountains on weekends. Everyone knew their neighbors, and ’block parties’ were common in summers. Neighborhoods had churches, restaurants, groceries, libraries, theatres, and schools. I grew up on one, the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington D.C. When my parents traded in their Plymouth for a Ford, it was 10 years old, and had 30,000 miles on it. I walked to school, and walked to my Dad’s drug store as did he. I used to carry groceries for people in my wagon for tips, because no one drove to the grocery store. They walked. The Mt. Pleasant streetcar carried us downtown to F St, for shopping at department stores and first run theatres. It’s over, and the common man has been shafted.
Now, the common man usually has huge credit card bills, huge mortgages, is barely staying afloat, and of course both parents have to work to maintain this sorry situation, with millions of ’latch key’ kids being poorly raised and supervised. How tragic. The common man used to be the backbone of America, and now his old neighborhoods, jobs, transit systems, restaurants, schools, churches, theatres, and libraries are trashed. Now they want to raise his gasoline taxes by another 40 cents per gallon? They are going to do a ’stimulus package,’ which will further decay his dollars and make everything cost more? They, collectively, have destroyed the common man, and now will further destroy him by raising his gasoline taxes, and further obliterating the value of his hard earned dollars. Know who will be ’stimulated?’ The D.C. Gang, bankers, bureaucrats, and of course paper manufacturers who make the currency paper. There will be more bankruptcies, and more foreign nations refusing to take dollars as payment.
The ’economists,’ who are all for this ’stimulus package,’ should remember Stott’s Law, which states quite simply that ’the more of anything there is, the less they will be worth,’ and this includes dollars. Who gave these guys their PhD’s in economics anyway? Actually, I am certain they know what the real story is. They just want to hang on and postpone the ultimate as long as possible, hoping that some miracle will come along to save them. Such as a third world war, triggered by a raid on Iran? Protect yourself and have a great weekend.