euthanasia of the rentiers

Keywords: Out-sourcing, off-shoring, down-sizing, lean- & mean-ing.

Had the already rich fat-cats not been sooo greedy, they might have got away with it.

Starting with Thatcher and Reagan, neoliberalism = globalism, economic rationalism, voodoo economics, whatever you like to call it, but 'the system' was successively changed, with the current chaos as the result, with the 1% ripping-off the 99% and governments going broke = forced into austerity incl. privatisations plus toll-booths being forced onto the commons almost everywhere. What the WB/IMF = "Economic Hit Men" forced onto the 3rd world, what US "Shock'n Whore" brought to Iraq and now Libya, is now being forced onto the 1st world by the US-regime, WB/IMF & the EU, to the benefit of Wall St & other private banks and the mostly already obscenely rich fat-cat shareholders who stand behind them.

Now every questionable practice, and that includes every little neoliberal thing, needs to be closely examined.

The direction is not now and probably never was sustainable - due to extremism of the neoliberal program. It's only common sense, that if taxes are cut, mainly to benefit the rich, that wages and conditions are reduced, jobs shipped overseas and expenditures = 'benefits' for the very less well-off are reduced if not eliminated, then happiness/contentment stands to be reduced in parallel. Yet those reductions were exactly what were and still are being forced upon the 99%. The only 'excuses' offered (that I'm aware of) were that 'a smaller share of a larger pie may in fact itself be larger' and 'a rising-tide lifts all boats.' Didn't happen; some baubles (= wide/flat TVs, say) got 'cheaper' - largely because of sweat-shop labour & ignored externalities (like pollution = destroying habitat, but only "not in our (immediate) backyard.")

Productivity is one thing, but anything which causes a shift of wealth from the people to the already rich fat-cats is - basically - wrong, because egalitarian implies at least sharing, and that fairly. (The extension after 'at least' is transfers to the needy - i.e. would you let someone bleed to death for lack of cash, or would you staunch the bleeding 'for free' = community cost?)

Consider cost-plus vs. the rip-off that economic-rent is.

The cost of digging Iraqi oil up is estimated at ~$1,- but crude oil is traded at between $91 (Texas) and $121 (Tapis) and 'no,' I can't explain the vast difference. But $91 to $121 - $1 = $90 to $120 'profit' = resource- = economic-rent. Q: Who does this 'profit' belong to, a) the resource owners (we the people) or b) the miners? Why? (Note that "because that's capitalism" is not a good answer, because equity[1](= the 'justice' aspect) must be part of any acceptable answer. Because we the people = 99% are civilised.)

As for Iraqi oil, so Aus coal & iron-ore etc.. Hence the attempt at an MRRT by Labor, now successful but at a too-low % & coverage.

Some of the problems are lies[2] (venal MSM incl. big bits of the AusBC), vested interests (the miners and their fat-cat shareholders) and outright corruption (so-called 'representatives' who sell us, we the people, out.)

Another (big, bigger, BIGGEST) problem is that the greedy neoliberals do not stop with self-enrichment, they - because they also just happen to control the world - are driving us off an environmental cliff = down the excess-CO2 climate-catastrophe tubes = down the tor-let.

Recall that "Foxes do not soil their own nests."

Which makes foxes smarter than the 1%.

Solution? Please refer to my headline.

-=*end*=-

PS Kindly note, that we the people are *not* to blame.

A principal tenet of democracy theory is "You get the government you deserve." Oh, really?

This is wrong in at least three ways; 1) dumbed-down electors (lying MSM), 2) dumb choice of candidates (bipartisan = un- & anti-democratic), then 3) even dumber representatives - who sell us out to vested interests = lobby-ocracy.

It means that 'the system' is broken; just as we didn't vote our way in, having been falsely informed(bad), given false choices(worse) then being betrayed(worst) - so we can't vote our way out (even if now better = internet informed), hence an OWS-type methodology, perhaps.

Economic theory has effectively become a monoculture of erring ideologists - thanks to Friedman-Hayek&Co and corrupt 1% patronage, see here for more on the vile & criminal M/I/C/4a-plex = corrupt & undemocratic tyrannical plutocracy. After the rentiers, then rest of the guilty. Warm up the tumbrels.

-=*=-

Ref(s):

[1] equity  n. (pl. -ies) 1 fairness. 2 principles of justice used to correct or supplement the law. 3 a value of the shares issued by a company. b (in pl.) stocks and shares not bearing fixed interest. [Latin aequitas: related to *equal] [POD]

[2] lie2  -n. 1 intentionally false statement (tell a lie). 2 something that deceives. -v. (lies, lied, lying) 1 tell a lie or lies. 2 (of a thing) be deceptive. give the lie to show the falsity of (a supposition etc.). [Old English] [ibid.]