Nearly everyone in the world is now focused on the Johnny Depp, Amber Heard trial. It's an entertaining yet pathetic display of our own interests in the private lives of actors. It's as if they are actual heroes to be compared with the likes of George Washington himself. Financial and societal conditions fundamental to a peaceful life in the USA are being dismantled. And it is to the citizens detriment by the very representatives elected by them.
The primary job of the government is to help us protect our private property. In his essay on sovereignty James Madison argued that individual and not government sovereignty is above all. Madison authored the Federalist Papers and is considered the “father of the constitution.” He signed the constitution, and was the fourth President of the United States.
Four powers have moved us far from the individual sovereignty Madison describes. First it's our elected officials most of whom have been for sale to corporations. Second is the Federal Reserve which is neither federal nor does it maintain reserves! They say they aim to keep inflation at about 2% per year. Third is the press which prefer to glorify shareholder profits over facts and quality investigative journalism. Fourth is corporations which write laws and regulations (or deregulation) and pay our representatives to implement them.
Have we not become subjects of the State that has been severely disfigured by those influences and not by us?
And yet, despite having no representation by the officials we elect there is still taxation, a former rallying cry of American Colonists resisting British rule in the 1700s. Under threat of seizure of our property and personal defamation by the state, we are forced to use a fiat (by decree) currency.
Meanwhile, misnomered officials work to make worthless fiat currency itself. The dollar has been devalued drastically over the last 100 years. Compared to the value of one dollar back then it now buys merely 3 cents worth of goods! That is a 97% drop in purchasing power! Inflation is confiscation of your wealth.
Food inflation is squeezing the American workforce with a pressure not seen since the Great Depression. Food insecurity is at an all-time high.
Debt held by corporations, government and individuals is at an all-time high. It is far worse than the conditions of the Great Depression.
Unemployment is worse than it appears because the true rate includes those who have quit looking for work altogether. We haven't seen these rates since the 1930s during the early stages of the Great Depression.
The bread and circus of today plays on. We are endlessly distracted by the Depp/Heard trial, Britney Spears latest Instagram nudes, and the Young Thug arrest. Then there's the new Avatar 2 movie, the Miami Grand Prix, The Celtics, 76ers, Nuggets, and 100 more! All these distractions overtake our overworked mindshare and the very near dystopian future is truly upon us.
What is real and accelerating are more violent weather events around the globe affecting food growing and supply. There's also LNG, diesel, and gas shortages increasing shipping and individual transportation costs. The war in Ukraine is limiting both grain and fertilizer exports from the region. Now the Fed is implementing Quantitative Tightening as Paul Volcker did under Ronald Reagan’s term.
How can the American workforce continue to feed their families when their wages can’t keep up?
In 2014 the Billionaire Nick Hanauer gave a TED Talk titled: “Beware, Fellow Plutocrats, the Pitchforks are Coming.” Referencing the French Revolution, he warned that the poor conditions in our country was only going to get worse. He called for us to do something to course correct or pay a heavy price.
If there was ever a time to have compassion for our workforce, now is it. Not only for the worker, but for the shareholders and the people those organizations serve.
Perhaps food as a form of business continuity is part of a compassionate disaster plan. More than ever, this is the kind of support our workforce needs to make it through these complex times.
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