Unchecked Capitalism is Killing Us!

Our nation was founded on basic principles of capitalism, independence and most importantly, democracy (one person, one vote). But in the last forty years (since President Ronald Reagan), we have gradually seen our democratic form of government erode; replaced by a cabal of huge moneyed corporations, special interest groups, lobbyists and the ultra-wealthy, all of them free to spend whatever it takes to get our elected officials to do their bidding. Billions of dollars flow into Washington every year; billions that are spent on "Political Action Campaign" funds, bribes, money to pay for thousands of DC lobbyists, money for trips, dinners, junkets, fundraisers, future jobs for politicians and their families and (if necessary), threats to unseat a politician by financially supporting his or her opponent.

To the huge corporations, special interest groups and the ultra-wealthy, paying out all this money is nothing; it's essentially a rounding error for many of them if they can get legislation passed that gives them so much more in profits; billions and billions of dollars in savings through a lowered corporate tax rate for example. Most large corporations now pay a much lower tax rate than either you or I have to pay. Many pay no taxes at all. And our nation is now financially crippled; we no longer have enough revenue to maintain and repair our roads and bridges, or fix up schools, airports or provide help for those less fortunate. Our national debt is now higher than it has ever been; some estimates forecast that our debt will soon exceed $30 trillion dollars! Yet our major corporations and ultra-wealthy are pocketing billions in profits for themselves, with little to no regard as to the long term financial health of our country.

It has gotten to the point now where lobbyists and special interest groups actually write legislation themselves; legislation that benefits them (and harms us); they tell our legislators to pass it "or else". Legislators actually vote for legislation without even reading what they are voting on! Two examples are the "Medicare Modernization Act" of 2002 and the "Tax Reform Measure" of 2017. Both enabled the ultra-wealthy and huge corporations to pocket tens of billions of dollars in profits, while millions of us are now poorer and sicker. Even a large portion of the taxpayer-funded bailouts (both in 2008 and in 2017) ended up being used as bonuses for corporate executives or were used to buy back their stock, making even more money for themselves.

And with years of unchecked capitalism controlling Washington, we have now lost our ability to defend our nation from the most recent pandemic, the Coronavirus. (Read chapter ten to see the eight specific ways that unchecked capitalism is killing thousands of us, all to enable them to become more profitable.) We will end up having more cases of coronavirus and m...