Photos: U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics\YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
America is now engaging in the ritualistic “season of giving” charade that is synonymous with this country’s Christmas holiday. However, the hollowness of this pretense is more evident now as the problems caused by greed, American-style, inflicts more damage on ordinary citizens of the nation.
Many will be exchanging gifts today. But gifts which would be possible, if we had real good democratic governance, that could bring fundamental positive change to the lives of average everyday Americans, are being blocked, by obstructive bought-and-paid-for American politicians, to benefit the gluttonous greed of moneygrubbing elites.
Because of this, America’s national character has been shaped into that of a warped Ebenezer Scrooge nation—where the struggling masses of people are exploited for the profit of the well-fed few.
In Charles Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is the miserly protagonist, who has become a universal symbol of the greedy, ungiving, individual of wealth. The Scrooge character also represents those who have a value system that is based on hoarding wealth. It is also illustrative of individuals who are unwilling to deal fairly and equitably with other humans, especially on economic matters.
Here an important comparison can be made between Dickens’ Scrooge character and the rapacious behavior of America’s corporate elite, who, like ravenous puppeteering wolves, orchestrate the exploitative economic deprivation now emblematic of American society.
Let’s examine a few essential economic indicators, of the current state of America, keeping in mind that the Capitol Hill political system is overwhelmingly controlled by the injurious influence of big money.
In a few days, we will be in 2025. How many people realize the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009?
Of course, there are states where the minimum wage is higher. Still, given the current post-COVID inflation period that we are currently in, what part of the country can we really say $7.25 an hour is a livable wage? And what do we make of the fact that while Congress gives charitable tax breaks, subsidies, and the like, to wealthy individuals and corporations they fight strenuously against raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour?
Many of us have heard maddening stories about the juxtaposition between CEO pay and that of average workers. An informative article, by the Economic Policy Institute, details how CEO pay has skyrocketed since 1978, where CEO’s were paid 399 times that of a typical worker. How can this outcome, were the few gain all the benefits, to the detriment of the masses, be a democratic one?
Wealth inequality in America is itself a signal of a debased democracy and it is surely ruining this country. If democracy was working in America, how is it possible that a small minority lives lavishly while millions live hand-to-mouth paycheck to paycheck?
Also, the high rates of underemployment and homelessness are obviously directly related to the unlivable wages that are being forced down the throats of the majority by the parasitic political class and their benefactors. And one of our two political parties shamelessly tells us the government is useless in addressing important problems like joblessness. They tell us only wealthy corporations are reliable “job creators.” If we accept this illogical notion, it means most workers have no choice but to succumb to the cannibalistic whims of corporations. Remember the CEO who said unemployment is a good tool to keep workers in their place?
Apparently, they want us to believe the only thing government is good for is to give tax breaks to the wealthy, deregulate everything—and start wars.
We now hear political rhetoric about the danger of China as a rising world power. But isn’t a major reason for China’s rise linked to the fact that American corporations decided to undercut American workers by setting up factories in China so their yearly ballooning profit margins could continually stuff the bottomless pockets of these miserly men of money?
Doesn’t this tell us America’s wealthy few are a risk to the internal security of the country? And all because of their penny-pinching ways when it comes to paying American workers fairly for the enormous profits they produce from their hard labor.
In a couple weeks, America’s first convict president, Donald Trump, will be sworn in for another four-year term. The economic pain now being distributed among many Americans—but particularly among African-Americans, and other minorities—was undoubtedly the main reason the Democratic Party was rejected by American voters.
But here is the tragic comic irony: have we ever seen a political character more symbolic of the Ebenezer Scrooge character than Donald Trump?
For example, have we forgotten all the stories about how Trump stiffed construction workmen, and the like, who did work for this son of wealth? What about the fact that Trump has said“wages are too high?” If he was talking about the wages of the wealthy we would agree. Oh, wait, the wealthy don’t get wages, do they?
We must remember though that there was transformative redemption for Ebenezer Scrooge who, after important interventions, is shown the error of his inhumane greedy ways. He is then changed into a kinder gentler person.
Is this sort of progressive metamorphosis possible in America? Perhaps. But if it were to occur it would take galvanizing grassroots mobilization by Americans to stop big money from selfishly stockpiling all of America’s material wealth for themselves.
Without this intervention, by the masses, America will remain an Ebenezer Scrooge nation. Bah Humbug.
