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I do wonder at times if the American Dream is nothing more than a suburban myth, a middle class mirage. Is our economic system set up to mollify a massive work force of serfs for the enrichment of some house of lords?
Let's examine the evidence for this way-out theory of economics. All through time there have been dictators and despots, kings and czars, doges and popes, all very rich and all with various means and levels of controlling the population and their wealth.
My theory is based on the fact that at least in America, economic wealth is in the middle of the economic spectrum however diffused it is. The middle owns little but earns much, as a whole. It is important to keep in mind that I am referring to the middle classes as a group and not as an individual.
The flaw in old economic designs result in the middle eventually figuring out that they really do have the power, be it in money or in manpower. It is a power that can overcome the wealthy and powerful. It has happened time and again throughout history, America, France, Mexico, Russia and in many other places. When the wealthy oppress the middle, the middle reaches a point of pain that leads to revolution. This overthrow of the wealthy and powerful can result in some redistribution of wealth and power but eventually the economic world resets and the middle remain middle and sometimes a new set of wealthy and powerful are created.
If I am correct in general terms about how economics work then I wonder if the U.S. isn't the same old system merely set up a little more cleverly. Let's say that the rich decided that in order to keep the peace over the long term it was necessary to create a placated middle class. The way to do that would be enhance the standard of living of the serfs and then to use the middle class as a huge money laundering machine. The concept is simple, give the middle class money but then entice them to give it back. Get them to spend it on goods and services offered by the same people who paid them in the first place. It's sort of the company town concept on a national scale.
Brilliant I thought. The middle class has been turned into a giant money laundering scheme whereby the rich can keep their money, they only have to risk giving it to the middle class for a short period of time. They know they'll get it back; they've set in motion a brilliant operation to ensure that happens.
Enter consumer capitalism. In order to get consumers to buy they have to be communicated with. So build an educational system that ensures the workforce is not only qualified to work for the rich instead of simply subsistence farming, but also literate enough to read ads for goods and services, to be sold on every item necessary to the American Dream. It began with print, evolved into radio, evolved into television, evolved into the Internet and wireless technology is rapidly expanding the reach of the net, and the advertisers.
So my theory goes, the rich give out the money and devise ways to get it back, the natural ebb and flow of capitalism. When could this cycle begin to break down and what would be the signs of that happening I wondered next. One large leak in the system is illegal immigrants. They often send a large part of their income out of the country to buy things from the lords of other manors. It offends our lords that this happens since they consider it their money in the first place. I look to the headlines for more answers.
The price of everything is skyrocketing. Inflation drives the middle class to save money not spend and what they do spend does not go as far; it buys fewer goods and services. All of a sudden, the rich are in crisis, they are having trouble getting their money back. The serfs must be encouraged to spend, spend, spend or their system breaks down. So the government gives away money hoping to pacify the wealthy and encourage a spending binge.
The money laundering scheme is broken because wealthy people got carried away and abused the system. After many people lost much of their cash in the stock market bubble, the rich created an atmosphere in the housing market that persuaded the middle class to spend a lot of money they never had.
A new bubble of greed and credit was created and the middle class were persuaded that the mirage was a shortcut to the American Dream. But as so many people drew close to the mirage, it melted away from view and all they were left with was the hot, empty plain of reality.
The faceless lords of the manor are the only people who can tell us when they have enough money to put the machine back into operation. In the meantime, I am planting some potatoes; it could be a long cold winter.
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