The Usual Suspect
link Davos elites to seek reforms of outdated capitalism.
An interesting postulate, if only there were some evidence of it. While it’s popular for the socialist crowd to bemoan the structural inequities of the capitalist system, in fact, there hasn’t truly been a capitalist system in place in any nation for many generations. Certainly not in Europe, where in most countries, the predominant train of governing regimes moved from historically entrenched monarchies, directly to socialism with only the briefest whistle-stop at the capitalist station. What they consider capitalism in Europe is akin to equating Dominos to Italian food.
It was historically natural for people to whine and complain that the King or the Queen (as the case may have been), weren’t treating the peasants well. Under monarchies, upward social mobility was pretty limited. You were either born royal, or married into it. Even having money wasn’t a guarantee of social mobility. Therefore, the majority of the population lived at the favour of the ruling class, receiving whatever crumbs the rulers deigned to confer. This same mentality carries over to present day wherein people whine and complain about those in charge, demanding more of this or less of that.
The model for America was rather different, at least in the beginning. People who were tired of others telling them what they could or couldn’t do decided to start their own country, a meritocracy based nation free of the constraints of entrenched and corrupt governance. The problems arose many many years later when, along with great wealth creation, came the disease of entitlement. Instead of a healthy focus on creating wealth and prosperity, the malaise of an entitlement to wealth and prosperity mentality began to spread.
Which brings us to today. According to reports, fully 40% of Americans pay no federal income tax. According to http://ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html , over 70% of federal income taxes are paid by only the top 10 percentile of taxpayers. Even worse, apparently there are 70 federal welfare programs in place now to address “poverty” in the U.S., according to The Heritage Foundation. Hardly a true capitalist system.
Meanwhile in Europe, the ability to fund months of holidays for workers, retirement benefits starting at 50, social welfare to accommodate everyone who asks, is coming up against the harsh wall of reality. States such as Greece, Portugal, Italy and on and on are unable to fund these entitlements. Somehow, the blame is laid at the doorstep of capitalism, when in fact socialism is the disease that afflicts all nations. It’s brilliant sleight of hand that those who benefited the most from crony capitalism, which is in fact socialism, are crying crocodile tears about the failure of capitalism. This is the same logic as decrying the existence of laws since the jails are so full of people. It is the same as refuting the idea of universal education because some people are still illiterate.
We don’t know who these so called ‘elites’ in the Cristal and caviar crowd are and how they came to be spokesmen for anyone, but it’s a good idea to be skeptical when the ones trying to sell you on the evils of wealth are the ones that have the most of it. Next, Hugh Hefner complaining about promiscuity.