Something is very wrong with America.
A recession is upon us. Yes, there have been other times like this before, but not quite like this. This recession is not just economic. No, this recession is the effect of causation intrinsic of humanity, or rather, a lack thereof. Our people are suffering – all of our people. And although the problems leading to this crisis appear to be so complex as to stifle the human ability to cope and triumph, there is one clear singularity upon which we can focus, one entity which systemically over the past century has overtly culled our will to live, and left us content to merely survive. That entity is the corporation.
The corporation was initially brought into existence by a group of companies pooling resources together for the good of the people (customers/clients) through special projects and initiatives seen to bring prosperity forward. After the corporation’s work was done – whether for building a bridge, modernizing a facet of common infrastructure, etc. with minimal liability and maximum efficiency – the corporation was dissolved, and the companies went back to doing what they did best: competing for yours and my business and hard-earned money; so the social-capitalist machine chugged on.
Then, something happened.
More and more was done by these conjoined companies under the corporate umbrella; while the ventures became increasingly numerous, the holistic benefits of these actions radiated outward on an ever decreasing scale until the corporate machine began to overtake the social-capitalist system through its vast internal strength; nationalism gave way to corporatism, and pride and honor mutated to greed and gluttony. As the corporate monster devoured and destroyed business and true capitalist ambitions, it attained enough power and allure to convince those we entrusted to keep us safe and secure to proclaim the monster to be one of us – a person. A beautiful gilded mask of constitutionality now covered the corporation’s monstrous visage and wooed us all to protect it as it proclaimed itself to be our new benefactor.
Under yours and my protection, the corporation has dissolved our pensions, privatized all of our basic necessities, and turned us all into wage slaves willing to work for the lowest common denomination [“In God We Trustâ€]; each of us churning out the work of many of our brothers before us, as they are felled to the wayside in the name of “progress†and “efficiency.†We are no longer permitted to enjoy the sweetness of the fruits of our own laboring; these are now the exclusive harvests of the corporation.
And as I have already stated, all of our people are suffering within the grip of corporate claws. Our Mexican comrades scramble across our borders for sustenance as the corporation slyly subcontracts to our turncoat American brothers, the crude, cruel, and many times deadly transport to preordained work sites where these migrant workers are exploited at great lengths. Our Indian and Chinese comrades are clamoring for jobs that only exist because the corporation displaces them from our own shores and establishes them in those countries. It’s easy in our anger to become reactionary and blame our global brethren for these actions; and you had better believe that the corporation is counting on this.
As these corporate misdeeds go unpunished, we suffer further. One in every 200 U.S. homeowners is currently being foreclosed upon, unemployment is at least double of what our Labor Department actually reports as the unemployed fall off of the jobless rolls and are no longer included in the official statistics, and corporate financial officers garner a staggering and ever-increasing 20,000% wage over their “bottom-feeder†employees [as opposed to 3,800% in the 1970’s]. The American dream has become a nightmare.
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So, you – the accidental reader – do something. Anything. You know that big-screen LCD TV you’ve had your sights set on. Don’t buy it. And the TV you do have – shut the fucking thing off. And just because that SUV you have your heart set on is a hybrid, doesn’t make it any less shitty for the environment. Give a dollar (or even five) to that homeless guy you avoid eye contact with every morning near the parking garage. Throw feces at a Senator (checking to make sure you’re paying attention, but still, don’t discount the suggestion).
But before you do ANY of these things and more (or less), stop lying to yourself that “everything is okay.†It’s not. Stop telling yourself “it’s not my problem.†It is. Most of all, stop worrying about all your precious little shit. Stop consuming. Start thinking.
Fuck you, too.
c. 2007
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