If you have ever seen the movie "Titanic" by James Cameron (and who hasn't), there is a scene in which I vividly recall that clearly illustrates the point of this post. Before this particular scene and throughout the movie we discover quickly that Rose is trapped into a marriage by her mother that she does not desire. Her mother insists she marry this rich sleezy tycoon, who cares little for anyone but himself, to preserve their "good name". Yet Rose is disgusted with the stiffness and conceit of the rich. When she meets Jack who is relegated to 3rd class because he is poor, her spirit begins to soar. She finally feels alive and happy even though Jack has no money! It is Jack who gives her the courage to walk away, even if she has to go down to her death in the frigid waters that fateful early morning on April the 15th, 1912. In lieu of this 100th anniversary, I think this post is apropos.
The scene in which I vividly recall is when Rose and her finance are talking about the lifeboats. She says to the rich tycoon, "don't you realize that half the people on this boat are going to die?" and he says arrogantly and coldly, "not the better half". When she decides right then and there that she is going to go with Jack even though she may die, he says to her, "you're going back with him you whore" and she says quite confidently, "I'd rather be his whore than your wife!" and proceeds to spit in his face.
Although this is just a Hollywood movie, reality is quite the same in many cases, when it comes to class warfare. What happened on the Titanic is a relevant footnote in History because the same is true today. The low-income people are in poverty because they scrape paycheck to paycheck barely making the bills, while the middle-class is considered anyone who makes roughly $26,000 up to roughly $150,000 a year. The 99% of all people living in this country fit into the low and middle class brackets while the top 1% earning 1 million or more are siphoning off more and more money for themselves. It is a known fact that the top 1% of the population own most of the wealth in this country due to exorbitant pay for CEO's, even though their company went bankrupt. The CEO's salaries of AT&T, BellSouth, Hewlett-Packard, Home Depot, Lucent, Merck, Pifzer, Safeway, Time Warner, Verizon, and WalMart were paid an aggregate of $865 million in compensation. If CEO's were paid based on talent and performance, how come shareholders lost $640 billion? Because of this aggregate wealth at the top, little has been filtering down to the bottom for the workers and shareholders thereby creating an enormous gulf or disparity between the two. These enormous disparities would not be there if the ratio of pay between CEO and worker was not 431 to 1. While CEO compensation rose to 17.9 million, the average employee saw a raise of just 3.1 %. Over the last 30 years, median family income has risen by 18% while the income of the top 1% has gone up by 200%. It seems we have a very large problem with selfishness and greed. It is true that the workers contribute greatly to the success of a company in terms of human energy and labor and yet even though they may work hard, may be quite dedicated and loyal, they see none of their returns in terms of investment because all the profits from the company are essentially going to the top. Even the shareholders no longer have a say, even though through their investments they own a part of the company. This is because these CEO's from large Multi-Nationals have their family members or good friends sit on their boards approving of all their greed.
In our society, we have lost entire respect for those people who work hard for the barest of pay while we adulate and venerate many of the wealthiest people in this country. And that is irrespective of the values and the principles they represent; greed and selfishness. School teachers, nurses and janitors are no longer exalted because we reserve our honor for entertainers, professional athletes, politicians, presidents and CEOs. Is this because in the past few years we have seen pay levels for CEO's and movie stars and politicians, etc., etc., that is beyond comprehension! For CEO's, on top of generous salaries, they are paid in stock options (which gives them an incentive to run up their companies' stock prices for their own gain) pensions, jets, homes and an unbelievable retirement package that would make Adolf Hitler blush. They are quick to defend their interests even though they have short changed so many people leaving them in poverty and destitution. Their indifference of those who are suffering because of their greedy decisions is appalling. We have become a nation divided by the have's and the have nots, the rich and the poor, and the educated and uneducated.
Our once great Republic, for the people, by the people, and to the people has been destroyed by an era of corporation and the greedy rich elite who run it. They care little to offer the same privileges of economic and educational opportunities that previous generations enjoyed. Abraham Lincoln warned the American people many years ago:
"The money power preys upon the Nation in time of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more selfish than bureaucracy. I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of our country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corporation will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in the few hands and the Republic is destroyed".
Although many have heard this speech many times before this was indeed a prophetic statement. What caused Lincoln to make this statement was his treasury secretary, Salmon P. Chase (who BTW was an agent for the Rothschild banking interests). Chase forced a bill through Congress "The National Banking Act", which created a federally chartered central bank who now had the power to issue U.S. banknotes. This came on the onset of the Civil War when Lincoln needed financing. It was Russia however who came to the Union aid, not the bank. And many believe it was Lincoln's valiant effort to fight against the bank and his subsequent success that led to his assassination.
Fast forward today and we see Lincoln's statement a stark reality. The Elite run Washington who care little for working class men and women. And why do they care little for working class men and women (even though they claim to) because there are no lobbyist representing the middle-class. If there are, their voice falls on deaf ears because it is the RICH lobbyist who represent corporations and multi-nationals, gas and oil companies, and defense organizations that are given the ears of our elected officials. Do you realize how many already super rich people benefit from one war after another through several defense contracts? And not to mention the oil, gas and energy companies who not only pay little to nothing at all in taxes but are actually given tax subsidies courtesy of the American tax-payer........eventually our taxes will go up because they will make us foot the bill for the greedy, rich elite and their agendas while our chances of improving our lot in life are slipping through our fingers with each passing day. The worst part is they blame the poor but give little attention to the corruption and fraud that have devastated many!
And who are the Elite who run Washington? We will start with the International Banking Cartel and the big Wall Street Banks who succeeded many years ago in abolishing any anti-trust laws. Along with the Fed and all their banking buddies they have all but seized control of our economy like Somalian pirates raiding our coffers. The large Multi-Nationals like Walmart, Exxon Mobile, GE, etc., (the big DOW leaders or blue-chips I believe) whose yearly revenues and profits are larger than many small nations GDP's combined and whose lobbyists seduce our elected officials with one bribe after another. The Special Interests whose only goal is to deny millions of Americans any opportunities to improve their lot in life. They not only enforce laws but actually write the language of those laws so that those laws will only benefit the few at the expense of the many. Like the terrorists who hijacked our plans on September 11th, 2011, so too have they hijacked our freedoms and our great democratic experiment. It is so bad now that you can not even criticize them even though you have your 1st amendment right to free speech. Reinhardt Heydrich may as well be running our Country.
These ELite are not only indifferent to the struggles of working class men and women, some are actually hostile to our interests because it would be an impediment to their goal of a new world order. This is why they embrace policies such as free trade, NAFTA, open borders, tax-cuts/breaks to the rich and super rich, reduced National Sovereignty in favor of a one world sovereignty. These policies have destroyed our manufacture base and have drastically reduced most people's standard of living. This is why more and more people are inundating the welfare programs. There have been no plans to create jobs that pay a living wage, nor has there been any plan from Washington to bring our manufacturing base home. There has been no plan to fix our failing infrastruture. Instead they talk endlessly about cuts to education, welfare and entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare. Will they EVER talk about cuts to the rich such as pay cuts to CEO's who not only bankrupted their companies causing investors to loose billions of dollars (which funded many peoples' retirement), but walked away with their own stock options adding to their already enormous wealth. And what about cutting the pay to our public sector such as our policy makers who enjoy endless perks and vacations all on our tax dollars or through bribes? And what about taxing the rich multi-nationals by closing any loopholes and ending subsidies to these companies and demanding that they pay their fair share of taxes so that that money can go back into the country where they enjoy most of their profits. These Multi-Nationals have no social responsibility. A perfect example is the Marcellous Shale. Here in my state of Pennsylvania, not only do these oil and gas companies make billions and billions of dollars in profit, they are not even taxed on those profits. There is no environmental impact fee, which everyone knows will eventually impact our communities whether it be through contaminated water or beat up roads from all the truck traffic, and there are no state taxes imposed as well. And even in some extreme cases, eminent domain has come knocking on some doors stealing what little some folks have. Meanwhile the governor will make cuts to education, welfare and the like.
In the Business world, a bankruptcy is heralded as a smart, strategic business move, meanwhile if the average Joe defaults on his mortgage or credit cards, he is considered a complete deadbeat and because of the recent 2005 bankruptcy law, it is now even more difficult for average Americans to file bankruptcy even though most bankruptcies result from unpaid medical bills. When Kmart announced its bankruptcy in 2002, it laid off 22,000 workers without any severance pay, while the CEO Chuck Conaway, the man in charge during the bankruptcy walked away with a 9.5 million severance package! Certainly, he could have shared some of that wealth with those 22,000 laid off workers right? Nope, instead they were forced to file unemployment creating a vacuum in our unemployment trust funds. Many of these large Multi-Nationals encourage workers to get medicaid because they refuse to pay benefits to their workers even though they have all financial means to do so. And then we wonder why so many are on welfare!
In 1930 Germany as Hitler was rising to power on through to the 1940's, many Germans chose to ignore the obvious abuses and gross genocide in favor of their own protection. It became an almost unbearable living situation for anyone with a conscience. You could either chose to speak up and risk your life or you could choose to ignore the perils just like the infamous Titanic and save your own butt. But saving your own butt actually amounted to only buying time because in the end Germany was left in ruin by their charming, charismatic, and aggressive, selfish leader. Even when William Shirer, a journalist and radio reporter for CBS news who wrote the book, "The rise and fall of the Third Reich", managed to sit with high ranking Nazis to get to the Truth so he could report it back here in the states, everyone chose to ignore him, including the paper he worked for.
The House and the Senate simply ignore the will of the people and look contemptuously upon their constituencies. The ELites' control of the political and economic think tanks, not to mention the media (which BTW would make Josep Goebbels blush) have all but morally bankrupted this nation because it not only no longer serves the needs of the people or the common good but actually asserts, praises and cheers the business practices of money, power and corporation........practices that have destroyed millions of well-paying middle class jobs reducing so many to poverty!
This year I will be 40 and I often ponder my future. I know in this world it looks pretty bleak because I am one of the millions of people making an extremely low wage while trying to compensate some how for the exorbitant prices of just about everything that makes up the cost of living and yes, I feel very discouraged. BUT, I know my future in reality is with Christ Jesus who has kept for me an inheritance that does not rust or spoil and does not fade away (which has nothing to do with this world). And Jesus said it best in Matthew 19, "how scarcely shall a rich man enter the Kingdom of heaven, for it shall be easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God".
*******footnote*******Originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the International News Service, William Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a team of journalists for CBS radio. Shirer became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II. With Murrow, Shirer organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by news broadcasts.
