*************
Silence of the wolves
“Common sense is the superpower to see future.”
Unpredictability has a romance of its’ own. It is tantalizing, and that’s what makes it appealing. Who doesn’t want to know future? Everybody is a dreamer and hopes to live a better life than what they have on a given day. Some are in love with their current situation and are freaked by the thought of losing it. Others are just curious. Whatever be the reason, from soothsayers to palmists, crystal ballers to card readers, from babies born with tails to octopuses, they all have made a killing satisfying this undying curiosity of mankind. And if you happen to be a politician, the ability to impress the public with an ability to plan for a brighter future than any given day, is a must. But is it really that hard to predict future, or to put it in a better way, to plan for a better future?
The answer is as simple as saying “Common Sense”, which we all know is the least common of all the things. Those who want a better future, common sense will tell them, “Improve yourselves. If you don’t like what you are, be something else by learning something new, changing your attitude and way of doing things, and try something different only after you have learnt everything about it.” Those who are afraid of losing what they have, common sense will tell them, “Take all the precautions that you need to avoid an accident, prepare for eventualities in case something happens, and improve yourself by keeping up to date with changing times and requirements.” If you are only interested in fun, common sense will tell you “Get a hobby douche bag!”
But what if you are a politician? Now this is where things get murky. Common sense can tell all kinds of things to a politician, off-course depending upon what him ambitions as well as intentions are. For a person genuinely interested in the welfare of community common sense will clearly point out towards the majority interests. But if the person is in it for selfish ends, common sense will only light up paths that promote sectarian interests that promote his own personal growth. And the worst part is, in the latter case, common sense can actually provide answers as to how best to manipulate majority by making it believe, what is actually good only for a minority is actually the best deal for everyone. This is where catastrophe begins.
So why all this talk about commonsense and who are the wolves I am talking about, and why? For someone who is monitoring the US elections as an outsider from the Americans perspective, but an insider from the global lower business class, middle class and poor class people, I have been really curious about the two candidates’ economic plans. While Mr Obama’s plan is already in action and appears to be promoting majority interests, Mr Romney’s plan has really intrigued me. It promises a lot but offers no solution. In fact, if I add up his plan with his well known stance about corporations, I do get concerned.
The reason I get concerned is, whether we like it or not but, what happens in America will certainly spill over to the rest of the world. And if what happens in America is not in the best interests of the people over there, it won’t be so for any of the rest. So this write up is basically a message to people like Romney, a la last appeal to their conscience, a reason why someone who is not completely impressed with Mr Obama (NDAA, and some other issues which might sort out in case he keeps his election time promises were he to get elected again and then make some crunch decisions), is not supporting him either.
Analyzing Mr Romeny’s plan is very simple for it only makes promises of wonderland but offers no policy directions or plans. One has to add two plus two to get answers to the first one, and only common sense can explain the latter. Given his liking for Corporations and big businesses (the proposed tax cuts et al), it ain’t hard to predict that his policy decisions will promote more market takeover and monopolizing, things which have led to the current fiscal mess globally. I will explain it in more detail below. The answer to the second one is a bit more complicated. However, the answers to both are interlinked and both the policy and plans will explain each other. So lets’ get on with it!
The reason why Mr Romney is only making big promises but without the backing of policy plans is, if what I am saying is correct, there is no way even the majority of Republican supporters from small business, middle and lower classes will vote for him. There are honest economists as well as democrat loyalists who will blow away his plans like a castle made of hay. Mr Romney, for all I guess, is banking upon the fact that once he joins the office, thanks to his liberal policies towards big businesses, the corporations and multi-nationals who are sitting on stock piles of cash will start investing again. Just think of it, no Government in the world has got money, ordinary people haven’t got money, then where is the entire world economy’s money?
The economy which is currently starved off much of the fluid cash, as investments have slowed down globally, will get a boost once the money is rolled out into the markets again, but at what cost? What is actually at stake? The answer to these questions lies in the answer to the question, “What has led to the current state of affairs?”
The beauty about Capitalism is, even an ordinary man with meager resources can start his own small business, and then if he is intelligent, enterprising and hard-working enough, he can grow from there to dizzy heights. But is this the truth about the biggest Capitalistic economy anymore? The answer to this can only be best had from an ordinary American himself, which I ain’t one. But one thing is certain, for an ordinary man to succeed like that, “The American Dream” way, he needs equal, and to a certain extent protected opportunity.
Now there are two ways in which opportunity is pro-actively protected by a Government without degrading Capitalism into something else, not Capitalistic. Taxes are a not only a means of generating money for the Government which is needed to run the country in form of running various Government offices and undertakings, including wages to the employees, as well as carrying out road and infrastructure development and maintenance, Defense budgeting, calamity protection, medical and social security etc. Taxes are also an important way of making sure much of the money of the economy stays in the economy.
If businesses are allowed to take out all the profit from the economy that they can, without having to worry about paying much tax, all the economy’s money will stockpile into a few accounts, thus making the economy poorer. The only way to resuscitate the economy in that case would be either for the Government to tax those businesses and get the money back into the economy, or the businesses themselves investing the same money back into the economy, something Mr Romney expects to happen if he comes to the office. But this is where the real mess begins.
Before I explain the mess, let me remind Mr Romeny and those who support this line of thinking, “Most of the big corporations that hold much of the global stockpiles of wealth, are actually waiting for the third world economies like India to open up their markets for investment. Much of this money will be going into destroying other men’s worlds!” Let me explain this now!
The way businesses invest is by purchasing other businesses. That is how the business spreads! There is only a two step procedure to promote business, and they both run intertwined; entering a market and buying out competition. You enter and establish yourself in a market, buy out your competition, grow stronger with better profits, then introduce yourself in a new market and repeat the procedure. But what is so bad about this? To answer this question, use common sense to extrapolate the results into future.
Every time a business buys out another business, it grow stronger, which is only good for the businessman, but neither for the economy, nor for the opportunity. The profit which was divided into two accounts now traverses only to one, which means the spread of money in economy has decreased. And worst part is, more a business grows, less likely it becomes for someone else with fewer resources to enter its’ market and compete with it, a thing of common sense. Thus opportunity is reduced for people with lesser resources.
Now let us get to the real trouble with Mr Romney’s plan. The businesses who are holding money from the economy, if they are allowed to invest freely, it will bring out the money into the economy once again, thus giving it an initial boost, but this investment will mean more monopolizing of the market. But how is this monopolizing bad?
As I mentioned above, every time a business monopolizes, it stockpiles economic wealth as well as kills opportunity. The current fiscal mess is there because money is stockpiled in a few accounts. If Mr Romney’s plan is to go through, more monopolizing will lead to even more stockpiling of wealth, and this time, globally. Read my earlier write-ups on recession and Indian economy and you will know how the world survived this recession because of small business oriented economies of the developing world. Next time, even this largesse will be lost. But that is not the worst of it. The worst is the loss of “Capitalism”, the free opportunity for any hardworking, intelligent and enterprising man or woman to succeed.
Just imagine a world where all the businesses will be owned by a few corporations only. What will be social status of the ordinary people in that scenario? With no option to have your own business, all the majority will be able to do is work as employees. And every hardworking individual knows, all the jobs are paying the same or similar wages that they were getting paid five years ago, yet the cost of living has gone way over head. Are you getting richer with all your hard work in current scenario? If not, then what will be the future in a monopolized world? Will you be able to entertain the thought of setting up a small business, working hard and saving money to make your business grow? If not, will you be truly free and your society truly Capitalistic?
The businessmen will become default rulers, and the world will return to the dark ages. Ordinary people will be like slaves, their only freedom being freedom to choose which company to work for, and their only right will be right to vote. But what point will be in voting when even the people you will be electing will be decided by those who will be funding their election campaigns, and what future will such candidates provide to you once they will get into office?
The problem with Mr Romney’s plan is, it will destroy the world of the majority, and deny them the right to dream big. Now you can work hard to succeed, in a monopolized world you will be required to work hard to survive.
I can give Mr Romney a benefit of doubt yet, that he is perhaps not intelligent enough to foresee what I have just written here, but I will be really hard pressed to believe so. After all, he didn’t become a successful businessman by selling sunscreen on a beach, although he could have actually afforded such a luxury and dream in the world he grew up in, which is exactly what his plans will destroy if he gets to follow through them.
This write-up is more of a final reminder to the conscience of those businessmen who have been blinded by their greed, that they are hell bent upon destroying the world for the majority whose hard work is as much responsible for making them rich, as much as political impotence and corruption. After this, I will not be able to save them from the Guillotine. I am trying my best to save their lives, and I am their last hope, rather than the last hope of ordinary people. And I can say that for I can see the future. And I can see the future because I have common sense.
Cheers!
Fatal Urge Carefree Kiss Amanpreet Singh Rai
*************
