american irony
American Irony
For more than two decades average Americans have been complaining about stagnant incomes, while over the same period the wealthy have got richer and richer. Last month these same average Americans elected a billionaire as president.
He immediately appointed an array of billionaires and multi millionaires as his senior advisers. His choice of Commerce Secretary, for instance, has a track record of assisting companies to sweat assets by increasing prices and cutting costs through automation, retrenchments, outsourcing and a tight lid on salary increases. No doubt asset sweating is his plan for American commerce and industry in order to keep them competitive as the world imposes retaliatory tariffs and carbon taxes on American imports. Yet more jobs will be lost as leading edge American renewable energy and electric vehicle companies lose business to Chinese and European competitors.
Today American malls are stocked with a wide range of goods, many of them sourced from Mexico, China and other countries with low labour rates. Before too long American consumers can expect to pay more for goods produced in new American factories staffed by sets of robots and a blue collar worker or two.
Investors are already overjoyed at the prospect of increased profits and dividends and the stock exchanges have roared ahead. The only problem is that these investors are mostly from the wealthy set; average Americans don't have spare cash, especially those adversely affected by asset sweating.
However, lower income taxes will put more money in their pockets so that they can afford the higher priced items in the shops. Lower rates of corporate tax will, of course, pour yet more money into the bank accounts of wealthy investors. As a result, the average American income will go up while the median drops way down.
Lower taxes also mean that the government will have to cut some programs, no doubt starting with those providing health care, social service nets and education. Soon only the children of millionaires will be able to afford a decent university education. And investors will require government bonds to provide a return as good as that from equities should the government use yet more debt to balance the budget. Then even an affronted China might be tempted to invest in more US bonds.
Now you would think that the average American would be very angry at this state of affairs. Even so, four years from now, as tides rise and storms and droughts ravage expensive American infrastructure, you can once again expect to find two American billionaires, their campaigns funded by fellow millionaires, squaring up so average Americans can elect one of them. As those other Americans, Peter, Paul and Mary, sang back in 1962: "when will they ever learn, when will they ev-er learn!"
For more than two decades average Americans have been complaining about stagnant incomes, while over the same period the wealthy have got richer and richer. Last month these same average Americans elected a billionaire as president.
He immediately appointed an array of billionaires and multi millionaires as his senior advisers. His choice of Commerce Secretary, for instance, has a track record of assisting companies to sweat assets by increasing prices and cutting costs through automation, retrenchments, outsourcing and a tight lid on salary increases. No doubt asset sweating is his plan for American commerce and industry in order to keep them competitive as the world imposes retaliatory tariffs and carbon taxes on American imports. Yet more jobs will be lost as leading edge American renewable energy and electric vehicle companies lose business to Chinese and European competitors.
Today American malls are stocked with a wide range of goods, many of them sourced from Mexico, China and other countries with low labour rates. Before too long American consumers can expect to pay more for goods produced in new American factories staffed by sets of robots and a blue collar worker or two.
Investors are already overjoyed at the prospect of increased profits and dividends and the stock exchanges have roared ahead. The only problem is that these investors are mostly from the wealthy set; average Americans don't have spare cash, especially those adversely affected by asset sweating.
However, lower income taxes will put more money in their pockets so that they can afford the higher priced items in the shops. Lower rates of corporate tax will, of course, pour yet more money into the bank accounts of wealthy investors. As a result, the average American income will go up while the median drops way down.
Lower taxes also mean that the government will have to cut some programs, no doubt starting with those providing health care, social service nets and education. Soon only the children of millionaires will be able to afford a decent university education. And investors will require government bonds to provide a return as good as that from equities should the government use yet more debt to balance the budget. Then even an affronted China might be tempted to invest in more US bonds.
Now you would think that the average American would be very angry at this state of affairs. Even so, four years from now, as tides rise and storms and droughts ravage expensive American infrastructure, you can once again expect to find two American billionaires, their campaigns funded by fellow millionaires, squaring up so average Americans can elect one of them. As those other Americans, Peter, Paul and Mary, sang back in 1962: "when will they ever learn, when will they ev-er learn!"
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