FROM MY CORNER

American capitalism is a predatory economic system. As giant corporations have come to dominate it, one can  step further and define it as an exploitive economic system.

It has evolved into an economic model rewarding a tiny fraction of the population with massive wealth, while keeping the middle class tenuously housed and fed, and methodically perpetuating ten to twenty percent of its citizens in utter destitution.

A country cannot function rationally if ten to twenty percent of its citizens are consistently born destitute and never receive educations. These poor must either live inhuman and inhumane lives, or turn to crime. Few really ever escape such a fate.

It is not farfetched to say that most Americans feel our government and economy are largely malfunctioning. It is clear that the cards are stacked in favor of the wealthy. They are always best served by government. Indeed, our government has evolved into socialism for large corporations.

Americans should explore the idea that our systems of government and economy need total redesign. Also the notion of one man as president, with the immense power that office now holds to utterly disrupt the lives of millions of people, needs remedy.

The fundamental debilitating issue to address is the massive disparity between the richest and the poorest of America. Our country has sufficient wealth to guarantee a life-sustaining income for all Americans. Republican Richard Nixon surprisingly enough once proposed such a scheme become part of our economy.

Poor citizens, provided a form of collaborative business and government supported education, job training, and job placement, would need to participate to help meet the needs of the country as a whole.

If such an idea were ever to come about, it would require rethinking our entire concept of government and economy. It would require a mixture of capitalism and socialism.

It would presume a partially planned economy capable of sustaining all citizens – one where we comprehensively defined what constitutes a valid legal business.

Does such a transformative possibility exist in America’s present political situation? Decidedly not. It is the stuff of dreams. But it is an idea whose time must eventually arrive.

The country is not functioning rationally. Thousands of homeless have filled the streets of the country for decades. While a few people bask in luxury, far too many lead lives of inexpressible misery.

The telling point is that if ten to twenty percent of Americans cannot begin to earn enough to live on, it will increasingly impact all of us negatively. Our nation simply cannot sustain its political and economic integrity under such conditions.

The problems we face originate from top to bottom. Taxing 50% on an inheritance is a draconian government practice, as is leaving thousands homeless in the streets. Basing an economy on profit-making defense manufacturing that markets weapons of mass destruction worldwide is lunacy.

We all have our own prejudices in the matter. But, we must address the reality that our system of government and economy need reform to incorporate all Americans into them.

Something absolutely must happen. That is clear.

A sense of national collaboration must replace our near-sighted adherence to a predatory model of existence in America. Continued preying on one another is not the holy grail for U.S. democracy.