Our Professional Criminal Class
There is no excuse for citizens allowing the criminal class we call government to have reached its current level of theft, corruption and plunder.
From Monty Pelerin’s World
The political corruption in this country is no longer whispered about. It is out in the open and fairly well recognized. Productive society is getting plundered by the parasite class in Washington DC and their friends.
The MF Global collapse is merely the latest scandal that has harmed citizens. The lack of prosecutions in the banking system and the politicians who made the thefts possible only provides signals to others that such behavior is acceptable, so long as you know the right people and pay the proper favors.
The linkage between Wall Street and Washington is goes well beyond traditional lobbying. Both sides are getting rich off insider information, favors and special deals. The MF Global implosion (and theft) is a real inconvenience for the political class. As described by Kevin Hayden:
MF Global collapsed while under the leadership of Jon S. Corzine, who was previously governor of New Jersey, a U.S. senator, and the head of Goldman Sachs. MF Global made costly bets on European government bonds.
Mr. Corzine was rumored to be the next Treasury Secretary. He also was a key economic advisor to the Obama Administration.
We may never learn whether Mr. Corzine is guilty of any crimes or not. Thus far, there are no signs of an investigation. Just like all the other questionable Wall Street matters.
The cozy relationship between politics and Wall Street is not capitalism. It is crony capitalism, or less politely, the exploitation of the many by the political class and their buddies. The arguments of the OWS movement, as misguided as many of these folks are, have some validity when the maligned 1% is dissected. Many in the 1% have earned their money honestly and competitively by providing goods and services and jobs.
The other part of the 1% makes its money not via free markets and competition but via political corruption and connections. These people are not representative of capitalism; they are part of the nexus between politicians and cronies. These people do not make money by providing goods and services, they make it off of insider information and favoritism. They are part of the political exploitation scam that has ruined the economy and the country.
The following diagram was developed by Dave Cohen:
This diagram of the political process is mostly self-explanatory. The process is self-contained. The only real participation allowed to the general public is rubber-stamp voting every 2 years.
Mr. Cohen’s article details the appalling deterioration of honesty, ethics and morality in the political class. This corruption has now progressed so far that in his opinion:
All we can do now is document the decline and fall. Economic theories regarding how to proceed don’t matter much at this point. The political “debate” about current and economic policy has become almost wholly irrelevant to the nation’s future.
Chalk Mr. Cohen up for someone who (at least now) believes in what Albert J. Nock observed many decades ago:
Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class
The Nature of Government
There is no excuse for citizens allowing the criminal class we call government to have reached its current level of theft, corruption and plunder. Our ancestors certainly provided us with proper expectations.Here are a few quotes received from a friend via email. This list could easily be expanded by hundreds of similar warnings.
Wise men for centuries understood the scam of government. (Note the date on quote number 15).
- 1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. — John Adams
- 2. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. – Mark Twain
- 3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. — Mark Twain
- 4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. — Winston Churchill
- 5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. — George Bernard Shaw
- 6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. — G. Gordon Liddy
- 7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
- 8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. – Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
- 9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
- 10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.– Frederic Bastiat, French economist(1801-1850)
- 11. Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. — Ronald Reagan (1986)
- 12. I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. — Will Rogers
- 13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! — P.J. O’Rourke
- 14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.– Voltaire (1764)
- 15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! – Pericles (430 B.C.)
- 16. No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain (1866)
- 17. Talk is cheap…except when Congress does it. — Anonymous
- 18. The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. — Ronald Reagan
- 19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. — Winston Churchill
- 20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. – Mark Twain
- 21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. – Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
- 22. There is no distinctly native American criminal class…save Congress. — Mark Twain
- 23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. — Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
- 24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. – Thomas Jefferson
- 25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. — Aesop
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