Big Business at the Expense of the Citizen

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." - Adam Smith

When President Reagan took office in 1980, market regulation gradually started to fade away and Reagan's interpretation of Adam Smith's "invisible hand" took hold. I say interpretation because I don't think Adam Smith would agree with what eventually became Reaganomics. Ronald's unbridled capitalism encouraged "bigger is better" instead of encouraging smaller and more diverse enterprises where the average person could compete without the huge unregulated corporations crushing their chance of success.

Whereas Adam Smith's "invisible hand" naively assumed a fairly level playing field, Ronald Reagan's "invisible hand" eliminated the playing field, entirely, making it impossible for average Americans to find it, let alone compete. While hopeful unfortunates, lacking the wealth and power - mostly due to accident of birth - wander aimlessly looking for the arena to engage in this "fair" contest for the "American Dream", President Reagan talks about, those already born into the American Dream continue to manipulate the "invisible hand" of unbridled capitalism making sure the hopeful unfortunates never become contenders. In other words, the poor were and are forced to subsidize the wealthy.

People were persuaded to vote against their self-interest, thanks to Ronald Reagan's ability to "communicate" or not, and market fundamentalism, laissez-faire, supply side economics became the dominant ideology of the 1980s and continues to rule throughout the first decade of the first millennium.

The North American economy has become more monopolistic than at any time since WWII. Economic power has become so concentrated through the consolidation of many sectors of the economy by way of mergers and acquisitions that it has become extremely difficult for Mr. Average citizen to influence or impact our socioeconomic conditions with the exception of as a consumer. Government has had no choice but to bend to the will of these powerful industrial interests...the definition of corpocracy.

If not for the advancement of technology, the Internet, the ACLU, and other similar efforts that contribute to preventing our society from deteriorating into a dictatorial system of control, the fascist seeds planted thirty years ago would have sprouted into a fascist harvest by now.

President Bush's time in office is almost up, and many of us are breathing a sigh of relief however he has not only planted brand new fascist seeds, but has made sure the ground is more fertile than ever for fascism to emerge...all it will take is wrong leader and the right circumstances.

Huey Long, one of America's most corrupt politicians, was asked if America would ever see fascism. "Yes, but we will call it anti-fascism."