RebelCapitalist: Financial Information for the Rest of Us

Systems are Broken

Jan 22, 2011 | By: Mr_Blue | Tags: republicans, democrats, barack obama, citizens united

Our political and economic system are broken and small fixes won’t cut it.

Let’s take a look at our political system. Our political system is driven by big money donations, and thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, this was exacerbated by its Citizens United decision. We have both political parties and politicians catering to big money donors. And if you think that big money donors don’t expect anything in return for their donations I have some ocean front property to sell you in Kansas. Oh, BTW, big union donations cannot even compete with the hundreds of millions that big businesses can donate - AFL-CIO vs. Microsoft, Apple, Exxon, etc. - come on, it’s not even a contest.

As a result of this competition for big money donations - there is little difference between political parties. Both are competing for the same pool of money and their policy positions will reflect that. For example, take a look at President Barack Obama. Contrary to the belief that a lot small donors drove the donations to his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama was actually a big beneficiary of donations from big donors. Now with political world turning its attention to 2012 we are seeing President Obama positioning himself for those big donations:

1) Appointment of Bill Daley as Chief of Staff, formerly of midwest region chairman for JP Morgan Chase (one of the largest banks in the world), who will sell his JP Morgan stock valued at $8.3 Million. For more on Bill Daley’s background go here.

2) President’s flirtation with De-regulation - Bill Clinton style.

3) Appointment of Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, to a top outside economic advisor on issues of job creation and competitiveness. FYI - General Electric is a big outsourcer of jobs.

So much for “Change we can believe in”. Again big donors expect something in return - after all we do live in a capitalist system where return on ‘investment’ is very important.

So what does this mean for working class families? It certainly doesn’t mean a change in the status quo - a change in a political and economic system that favors those at the top. Those at the top will maintain their position and they will use their money and influence to keep their position. This is why huge income inequality that exists today in U.S. matters. Despite one political party that claims its for working class families and another that doesn’t hide its disregard for them, working class families are basically screwed under this political system.

In the short-term there may be an opportunity to change this but it won’t be easy and it will be vehemently opposed by those with money and power. It’s a constitutional amendment that would reverse U.S. Supreme Court’s pro-big business decision. Failure to change this ruling will only make a dire political situation worse for working class families.

Good luck.