"The bank, Mr. Van Buren, is trying to kill me. But I shall kill
it first!"
- President Andrew Jackson
The managerial-bureaucratic state is what we all live in now, like it or not, and God bless the soul of our nearly-departed United States.
This gargantuan state has extended its reach into every conceivable aspect of our lives. We awaken in homes built to state-defined codes, built by modern contractors who have lobbied the writers of those codes so as to maximize contractor profit and minimize costs.
(They just don't build them like they used to, eh?)
We illuminate the early morning gloom with energy, delivered by state or quasi-state monopolies, whose army of lawyers have constructed a system which encourages massive use so as to maximize profit.
(Why worry about tomorrow?)
We climb into cars, built by state-supported international enterprises called "American Car Companies," meaning they have a direct line of credit to the U.S. Treasury if by some chance their expected profits don't turn up.
(Heads they win, tails you lose.)
And you aren't even out of your driveway yet, pal.
You pull the car onto a highway, paved and railed by contractors with the right connections, fronted by preferred members of the right 'minority' in the name of some past injustice which sure as hell has nothing to do with you. Despite all the millions poured into the coffers of such contractors--who, after all, have Escalades, second homes and kids at Stanford to pay for, let's be fair--when you turn to your morning paper for a quick read upon hitting the office you read the lament of some low-level functionary of your state's Department of Transportation about how all the bridges and the interchanges haven't been upgraded in thirty years.
(And you remember that bridge collapse disaster in Minnesota...where did all that money go?)
It'll take more taxes to get that important work done. And you can bet that by the time you become aware of that fact an army of lawyers, lobbyists and back-slapping business groups have already rigged the game to make sure the contractual goodies get passed around to the usual suspects.
You haven't even had your morning coffee yet and already your wallet is being picked clean.
(Perhaps you should stop thinking and reading and get back to work?)
At work the pressure is unrelenting. It's called the free market. Maximization of productivity creates a ever-bigger pool of wealth, making us all richer. Why, we've never had it so good! In the American workplace, you can just feel the pride of the American worker.
(All those people on anti-depressants must be other people.)
Ten years ago when the traffic jams started getting unbearable, you got up a half-hour earlier to beat the rush. Except now, you get up an hour and half earlier that that, and you still never seem to beat the rush. But you have to get there on time, so you leave earlier still....and by the time you get to the office the parking lot is already full.
(Any of this sounding familiar to you?)
Maybe you decided to do an end-run around the rat race and became a professional. How did that work out for you? If you're a doctor, in order to stay competitive you're seeing a number of patients a day that would make the doctors of a generation ago shake their heads with wonder. And, hey, what do you know!? Most of your income is now coming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the U.S. Dept. of Heath and Human Services.
You say you're a lawyer? Bill those hours! If you don't, there's always some 24-year old hotshot without a family who can eat Taco Bell at his desk every night as he makes you obsolete week by week. No one will miss you when you flame out. There's always another fool ready to make it big.
Or maybe you went into business for yourself? Except you spend all your time meeting the reporting requirements of the state and getting the tax forms right and lately, just lately, you've been spending way too much money on your employment lawyer, dealing with the child support garnishments, the affirmative action plans, the need to deal with the horrible employee you need to get rid of who just happens to have a medical condition or, God and the United States Government help you, happens to be black.
It is all, of course, a game. A game designed to keep the powerful comfortable and to reduce the once free American working man to a inter-changeable and needy cog. Another tool, to be replaced by the more malleable Mexican version as the need may arise.
Why is unemployment so high, yet legal and the obviously allowed "illegal" immigration is still occurring at world-historical levels?
(Because you are being replaced)
Why is executive compensation so high, even in companies which are wards of the state and about which it is admitted openly that they are corrupt and crooked, while the slightest screw up on your gas bill brings a world of hurt and four different government agencies down your throat?
(Because there are two sets of rules)
Why are your children being taught that your ancestors were criminals and the history of this nation is naught but a catalog of injustice before the helpful arrival of our New and Enlightened Leaders?
(Because you are being replaced)
Why are those with connections "too big to fail" while you, little man, are subject to the rules of the "free market"?
(Because there are two sets of rules)
Make no mistake about it, Mr. Middle Class: the Bankster State is trying to kill you.
That is, unless we kill it first.
Wow, interesting post Jourdan (and nice to see you here BTW). I certainly can relate to the leaving ever earlier/traffic congestion part.
ReplyDeleteI find your thoughts to be overwhelmingly pessimistic. And that depresses me. Are you a pessimist or do you really believe that things in the US are as bad as you describe?
I may be naive or it may be because I'm an optimist, plus I don't live in the US, but I just don't feel the same way. Not that I think everything is hunky dory, far from it.
Fay,
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the US is in a very bad place right now. As lewy and I discussed the matter last week, we ended up agreeing that the following summed it up:
It is true that anything can be undermined. It is also true that there are paradoxes inherent in everything, or as I like to think of it, Isiaiah Berlin-style, there are baskets of goods out there that all cannot be bought at the same time. La Wik summarizes Berlin’s view as follows:
"In philosophical ethics, value pluralism (also known as ethical pluralism or moral pluralism) is the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other. In addition, value-pluralism postulates that in many cases, such incompatible values may be incommensurable, in the sense that there is no objective ordering of them in terms of importance."
Berlin argued that parliamentary democracy was superior to other forms of government because it could adjust the allocation of the importance of such values as circumstances change. For example, Congress could decide after 9.11 to increase the value “Security” while decreasing the value “Liberty,” while a police state or an anarcho-syndalist commune could have no such luxury. They would be stuck with their default positions, come what may. And we all know what good that did Leninism.
I agree with this and I agree with you that the Const has, heretofore, provided the most ingenious defense to the concentration of power and, thus, kept people free to choose from the basket of Goods for a very long time.
The key question is this, though: what happens to this system, this free, liberal, ingenious system, when the levers of change needed to switch out the basket of Goods have been frozen and, at the same time, the particular configuration in which they find themselves frozen presents an arrogant elite with power, which, since the levers are frozen, cannot be challenged?
I've only partially completed reading this article but I believe it has bearing upon the subject at hand.
ReplyDeleteNatural Elites, Intellectuals, and the State
In my opinion one of the problems that we have is that the prioritizers of the baskets don't have to live with their decisions. Health care, for one example. Congress and the Executive will be retaining their plans, so if events turn out horrible for the rest of us they will remain unaffected. We have an elite making decisions for the actual stakeholders. Not a good situation.
Luther - you state something I truly believe about our national financial issues: that when it is someone else's money and someone else's fall to take people don't bother with the same amount of honesty or hard work.
ReplyDeleteI'm torn on that, because I see the need for things like LLCs in today's overly litigious society (people sue for every darn thing), and without tort reform who wants to be the first to sacrifice their lives and well being?
On the other hand, when you can hide behind your own corporation, your decisions don't affect you. Create a product that kills people? No worries! YOU won't go to prison! Bankrupt the company? Doesn't come out of your bank account... And so on.
Sometimes I hate people.
Jackson? Are you Jourdan's twin?
ReplyDeleteAFW touches upon our business organization law, which is something I deal with daily. Believe me, every little LLC is created to prevent accountability and liability, but, on the other hand, it's only that shield that allows people to invest.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the answer here is other than major tort reform.
Fay - Sorry, we had some tech difficulties there. Jackson = Jourdan. I am Jourdan only from now on. Apologies.
ReplyDeleteAh, thanks Jourdan.
ReplyDeleteWhat is LLC?
Fay,
ReplyDeleteAn LLC is a limited liability company. It’s the most common form of American business organization. It is a hybrid of the partnership and the corporation form, allowing the flexibility and the “flow-through” on income that a partnership does (that is to say that the income is not taxed twice, once from the p’ship, second from the p’ship member) while also allowing the shield from personal liability on company’s debts and liabilities that shareholders in a corporation enjoy.
Let me give you a quick business primer to explain to you how these are used.
Say you own 30 Fay’s Restaurant locations in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. You are the owner. Well, you could own it personally, as a sole prorprietor, but that would mean you’d be on the hook for all debts and liabilities. So, before the creation of the LLC in the 1980’s, you’d create a corporation, of which you (and perhaps some of your family) own 100% of the stock, which is not publically traded or listed on any stock exchange. This is the so-called “Closely Held Corporation” and was very, very common until the LLC was created. This way Fay’s Restaurants, Inc. would be on the hook for debts and liability and not Fay, personally.
But....wow, that’s still 30 locations a judgment creditor could look to to satisfy a judgment. I mean, what if one of your waiters goes a bit nuts and drops a whole trayload of food on a 42-year old man, killing him? What if it turns out that said victim was a world-renowned neuro-surgeon whose income was 1.3 million a year? That judgment is going to be big. You need protection.
So here is what you do, today. You create 30 LLCs in the three states where each restaurant is located, which companies hold only the real estate. You create 30 more LLCs which operate each restaurant and which have a lease with the real estate owning LLCs.
Now, in the huge judgment scenario, where does neuro-surgeon satisfy her judgment of 55 million? The only company involved is the LLC that operates that one restaurant where the incident occurred. And it doesn’t even own the building and the land. That LLC files b’cy. And it’s good-night and good-bye.
Fay’s Restaurants continues on, with 29 locations, plus it still owns the land and building at the 30th free and clear. You see? It’s a shield.
Yes, I see Jourdan, thanks for the clear explanation.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit chicken and egg isn't it.
Jourdan, I nodded my head in agreement all the way through your article. You've really captured the despair and frustration of millions of Americans.
ReplyDelete"that when it is someone else's money and someone else's fall to take people don't bother with the same amount of honesty or hard work."
ReplyDeleteAFW, I suppose that is a natural human tendency, unfortunately. And though you provided business, and LLC's as an example. I was really talking about our many governments. City, County, State, National.
There was recently a new Fire Department headquarters built in my town. A large, palatial even, building. It looks wonderful, designed for and follows the local architectural history. Wide broad porches off most of the offices, other nuances not really needed for what should be a rather utilitarian structure in my mind. I'm sure the Fire Chief's office is quite luxurious. Plus a twenty year retirement for firefighters here.
That is all a bit much for me.
Public service is 'public' service in my mind. Doing the best job possible as if you were spending your own money and suffering the consequences of your decisions.
Oooo, cynical and kind of depressing.
ReplyDeleteBut fabulous. A great piece of writing, Jourdan, thank you!
I agree with afw and lady red.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the explanation on LLCs, Jourdan; we are shortly to be involved in one and I was a little leery.
I operate an LLC. I've assigned to it the copyright on the software that I release as open source.
ReplyDeleteMost software is released without warranty of any kind - mine included.
I use the LLC as a kind of "belt and suspenders" protection.
Not that I don't stand behind my product. It's not been out long enough to get any bug reports (I'm still finding enough on my own, thanks) but I'll be fixing them when they come in.
But "stand behind my product" as in "be personally liable - including all my retirement money - for whatever some (potentially idiotic) person decides to do with it, as dictated by tort law"?
Do I look stupid?
I agree with what Jourdan acknowledges - the LLC is a two edged sword. In fact it is something of a (classically) liberal innovation, which allows people of modest means the ability to conduct business without endangering the entirety of their savings and assets. This is not (uniformly) "greed"; I'd argue it's a kind of sanity.
And it can, as Jourdan's restaurant example illustrates, be gamed to some extent. And it is.
But I'd argue that regulation - and the large (usually publicly traded) corporations which capture regulators and use regulation as a shield against competition from small businesses - is a bigger problem.
Particularly with respect to food, energy, and banking.
Giant companies don't hate complexity and red tape. They love it. Less competition that way. What's hard for them is simply impossible for smaller entities.