The Sad End Of U.S. Capitalism
Wednesday - June 10, 2009
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Del.icio.usTimes have really changed when Russian newspaper Pravda blasts the United States for abandoning capitalism.
I guess cats marry dogs now and hell has an ice rink.
For 81 years, Pravda was the official newspaper of the Soviet Union, the voice of “truth” of the Communist Party (pravda means truth in Russian). Founded by Leon Trotsky in 1908 to inform the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, Pravda changed hands after Tsar Nicholas II and his family were gunned down. The murderous Joseph Stalin and cronies took over the paper, then others used it to gain power, including eventual Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
With that historical hindsight, I pause to assimilate Pravda calling the U.S. Marxist while the term “capitalist pigs” still dances in my head.
There are two Pravdas. One paper still has hardline Communist leanings, the other, Pravda Online (http://www.english.pravda.ru), is a fairly sensational rag created in January 1999 by some of the paper’s former editors. It’s this Pravda that published the article, “American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper.”
(In defining Marxism, a complex theory, look at the Karl Marx-inspired communism/socialism as practiced in the Soviet Union after World War II. It gave production control to the central government, which in turn spread the “wealth” to all people regardless of class. But wealth and privilege went to the leadership and select others.)
The piece begins with, “It must be said that, like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the backdrop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me, dear reader, I meant people.”
No argument here. The rush to grow government including owning and controlling private enterprise GM so far, and ultimately a state-run healthcare system, has scarcely raised a peep from the electorate and most of the media.
Hawaii can relate, though its bloated central bureaucracy and stagnant government developed over time. The HGEA and other unions pressure legislators to grow government and non-voters allow it to happen. (Once a member of a Teamsters affiliate union, I know how things work.) HGEA’s president wants to raise the general excise tax to make up the state’s budget deficit, despite Hawaii being the second-highest taxed state in the country after Vermont (Forbes, April 2009).
Pravda adds: ” First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in D.C. that directly affects their lives.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce gives Hawaii an F in Academic Achievement http://www.uschamber.com/i cw/reportcard/default. The U.S. misses the top 25 in world education rankings that does include Slovenia and Macao.
Pravda continues: “The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year ... America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.”
Apparently, not every country in the world is overjoyed with the new administration as is widely reported.
The late, great George Mason, editor/publisher of Pacific Business News, said in The Price of Paradise, “Government is always bigger than it ought to be.”
His reasons: 1) Politicians must make promises to special interests to stay in office; 2) the influence of public employee unions; 3) career bureaucrats expand their workload, thus their paychecks and titles 4) fewer than half the eligible voters actually vote
Pravda concludes: “First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, losses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the sheer volumes.”
Imagine agreeing with Pravda - sadly.
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