The Affluent Class: All Access and Ego and No Substance..

By KC Shoen

Those who are the affluent class are no better than anyone else.


Our culture routinely canonizes those who have reached the materialistic stratosphere of ultra-wealth and extrapolated celebrity, granting them a platform via mainstream media outlets for them to espouse there greatness, and 'grace' us with their 'insight' and 'charity'. However, they are not more intellectually endowed, more attractive, or being of greater genetic composition positing themselves as the prime echelon of our species.


Many of these cats ( if not almost all) had one particular condition which is not available to the majority of us, the proletariat.


Access.


On a June 2014 episode of Morgan Spurlock's Inside Man (entitled "Income Inequality"), he sat down with Oil and Gas magnate, entrepreneur, and attorney John W. Haughtaling, a native of New Orleans.


In the episode, Spurlock convened with Mr. Haughtaling at a fund raiser and dinner to raise money for a local employment assistance organization in the New Orleans area that provided a 'full service' role to locals seeking not only jobs, but job placement advancement, education / training opportunities and career matches, staying primarily focused on the impoverished and low-income population at no cost to them.


During Morgan's conversation with Mr. Haughtaling, the attorney/actor/ business tycoon conveyed the very nature of his success: he simply had access. Access to the right schooling, networking and opportunity at which he took full advantage. He acknowledged further it is not enough to simply 'work hard' and believe the mantras and delusions of 'the American Dream'. In order to attain even his level of success, there were viable and open avenues to resources and connections available to him many of us simply do not have. He capped this admission with a simple and accurate pronouncement.


"the playing field is not level for all."


James Papademetriou aka Jamie Dimon is the living example of the pervasive denial of connection between access and attainment of stratospheric financial wealth and success. In recent years he has allowed himelf to embellish, through the rose-colored blindness of his bully pulpit, to pontificate the lack of governmental drivers being championed by various administrations to allow 'better jobs' and 'expansion of businesses'


His latest manifestation of self-indulged idolatry of the mastodons of the banking realm who have often titled themselves 'masters of the universe' had this to say during an earnings call presser on July 14th 2017, in which he stated:


"...if this administration will make great moves in taxes and infrastructure reform, we have the most — one of the most bureaucratic, confusing, litigious societies in the planet — it’s almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world and listening to the stupid shit we have to deal with in this country. And at one point, we have to get our act together.”



Context is important: he was referencing the current tax reform aimed at bringing American capital from oversees under a lower tax rate. Secondly, this came after it was announced that JP Morgan Chase absconded 7 billion dollars in profit this passing quarter alone. He concluded this pseudo-egalitarian diatribe with this gem


" "I was just in France, in Argentina, Israel, Ireland, we met with the Prime Minister of India and China. It’s amazing, to me, that every single one of those countries understands that practical policies to promote business growth is good for the average citizens of those countries for jobs and wages and somehow this great American free enterprise system, we no longer get it.”


Being the sucker that I am to get into it with any CEO from the financial sector when such spittle oozes from their orifices, I ran through google and obtained his direct corporate e-mail deciding to express my thoughts about his little dog and pony show he had for Bloomberg.


I wrote :


Mr. Dimon:

No offense, but fucking really?

You and your organization command such profit in the planet that if your institution would collapse suddenly, several nations would go with you. And you goddamn know it.


I am embarrassed of the U.S. for the same reasons you indicated, but to be truthful, I have more reason than you to fell (sic) this way.... I didn't just garner my company 7 billion in quarterly profits, then render some elitist, self-serving rant about the state of American politics (which I have been beneficiary of).


You have benefited greatly from the corporate policies of the last twenty years.


Full Stop.


If you are really that 'disappointed', then support living wage. Help create meaningful jobs and expansion rather than continue to make more insular your organization against 'profit loss'. Stop taking advantage of tax cuts designed for the affluent to needlessly retain more of their wealth. Invest in small businesses and start-ups NOT just in the financial and tech markets.....


When was the last time you sat through an elevator pitch from a dude who hadn't a cent , but created an idea for a business model to capture a unclaimed niche in the market being unfulfilled, all the while being evicted from his apartment and having his last source of income, his unemployment check, cut-off?


If I remember correctly , your from old- school Brooklyn. You were around when the Bronx was a war-zone, NYC was broke, and even Gerald R. Ford told NYC to go fuck itself.


Please stop making comments, and go do something meaningful with your ungodly wealth, other than just expanding it. If you really give a shit about "Our Nation' , you alone can make a strong difference in that regard.


Using the media as your sounding board isn't it. Neither is stopping by the White House to say 'hi' to an 'old friend' to expand favor towards yourself and industry qualify as such.


Respectfully,

KC Shoen



Not the best written e-mail on my behalf, but I wasn't attempting to emulate James Baldwin or create a correspondence chain as basis for the Great American Protest Novel. I wanted to see the outcome knowing full well that this message would never reach him.


It didn't.


What I received immediately was this:

Alas, my choice of language caused his security system to belch forth an instant message essentially asking for its removal..and to re-send it sans the vulgar expletives.


Essentially, I have to 'clean it up' for Big J: a man who has made a speaking career infusing foul language as part of his public speaking repertoire. He doesn't want it in his inbox , apparently.. and it would almost have a sense of logic if this were an e-mail from a direct report to his/her manager. Business partners are known to exchange e-mail communications laced with pejoratives, 'obscene' material and filthy jokes.


Contextually, however, I am none of these. I am a regular dude letting J know that if he has the compunction to make such overtures, he should tend to his own 'garden', shut his yap and put his money where his mouth is if he wants to see American economic greatness. Basically, stop being an egocentric little bitch and fucking 'move' some 'freight' other than his own weight and wealth. Give back through action, not the veneer and high gloss of charity events catering to his ever-expanding megalomania and self worship. That's all.

Corruption: 'American Idol' on a Electorial Scale

 The Corporate Talent Show:  Your 'Party' Isn't One


There is a continuing sad devotion to the hologram mirage of 'Party',  still pervasive even in this mediocre election cycle. I have often made the statement with great frequency since 2009,  that millions of Americans will come out during the General Election on November 6th 2012 and cast their 'vote', believing quite adamantly they're exercising their right to 'choose.'

 It is kabuki theater at best, as well as a den of inequity for those who are in the 7%, and really the only solution is for the last two groups who've offered resistance to collectively join forces: The Tea Party and OWS

As further evidence elections haven't any basis for being a true exercise in democracy, one only needs to take a close look at Mitt Romney, as it is not due to his being Mormon, nor being a 'Republican' (these two items have no importance in as far as the exact nature
 of this reality). It lies in his shareholder role through his company, BAIN Corporation, which is a product and direct beneficiary by legacy  via  the 1999 repeal of Glass Steagall , being further aided through  deregulation of oversight of the toxic Credit Default Swaps in the financial sector,  re-solidified  by the 2010 ruling of Citizens Group vs. FEC.  

As being an advisory and business strategy company, Romney's corporation has only one soluble purpose: to make paper, whether having a client company readjust its workforce
 to help it render itself profitable, or help foreclose a client company through asset and stock liquidation. Most telling was his unintentionally honest disclosure as to his position about Corporations achieving 'person-hood' through the 2010 Supreme Court decision, during a stump speech in Iowa back in January. In response to a question involving Corporations lack of legal accountability in their practices posed by a member of the audience, he gleefully interjected

"Aaah..wait, wait..Corporations are 'people' too, my friends!"

BAIN's sole purpose is generate revenue: They don't 'make' nor manufacture anything, nor add employment opportunities and incentives for innovation of any kind.  Whether clients gain some revenue through their services, or completely lose their asses, BAIN's sole purpose is to just make money.

Either way. 

Without skill, work ethic, imagination or talent, and with all the incentive and Constitutional right recently bestowed them to continue 'doing business' in this manner at the detriment of the working class and the modern economy.

Just. Make. Paper.

This has been the modus operandi of the American financial sector since the 1980's, which was accelerated through the Clinton Administration under then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Allen "let-the-markets-decide' Greenspan ( a best friend of Ayn Rand). After Brooksley Born's  career was summarily detonated into oblivion by Greenspan and  fellow  consort Larry Summers, by 1999, the self-starting, highly educated and ethically imperial Ms. Born was sent  packing after trying to do something that was counterproductive to higher revenue within the financial sector:

Attempt regulation and monitoring of those exotic CDO's and 'black box' derivatives.

The CFTC has been a joke ever since, as they have become Wall Streets little bitch, which they slap round at will (even sending some of their former colleagues to work for them, just to make sure the 'bitch' stays' in line'..). As there is absolutely no rules or oversight of any concrete measure, the money manipulation goes on without interruption, fully sanctioned, supported (and even duplicated) by President Obama, a product himself of corporate lobbying and malfeasance, as he has recently started his own superPAC for his re-election campaign, allegedly as a protest to Romney's sizable campaign superPAC, under the caveat of  "if you can't beat 'em, join  'em": duplicating the 'evil deeds' as a metaphor of the unfairness of utilizing these non-regulated lobbyist borne entities. A message insincere due to his personal ties with Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase

Both men committing the same acts of greed, narcissism and self promoting and preservation in many respects, much  akin to their Corporate contemporaries and backers.

Politicians, through the support of lobbyists, can virtually 'buy' their way in to office by proxy,  any real contenders outside the corporate lobbyist system is summarily marginalized, and what remains in  the General Elections every 4 years since Nixon boils down to Product 'A' verses 'Product B' (and  sometimes 'Product C'): a 'choice' that isn't one. 

And that is exactly what is suppose to happen, as corporations such as the massive 
Pharmaceutical  and financial sectors create and own this process. The American voter is a hapless consumerist spectator believing itself sincerely engaged in a fair Democratic process , doing their 'patriotic duty', and, in the end, it is left more akin to a nationally televised talent show than it is determining a new direction for the nation by the will of the people. It has morphed into an elongated competition replete with its sponsors , (the conglomerate mainstream media), and coordinated by multinational Corporations themselves.

The designation of 'party' thus becomes further meaningless, as lobbyist will throw money at the candidate most likely to win and that will push legislation in favor of their practices, irrespective of whether they deem themselves "liberal', "Democrat' , 'Progressive',  'Conservative', 'Republican' or 'Nationalist'.
 
The associated nomenclature is used as a divisive distraction to impart derision among the masses, as they will divide themselves accordingly along 'party lines'.  It is within this derision that the US has perpetually fucked itself since 1970, as for every candidate that has been elected , working wages among the lower to middle class never rose, and the revenue of the affluent kept expanding without contest. conjecture and (in latter years) oversight.

This corrosive, disdainful and corrupted process was fully sanctioned by the American public. During the last 'expansion', many of us were too busy getting careers , making money, and, especially during the 80's, existing on credit over-extension going beyond our means to acquire 'The American Dream'. 

 We, as a culture, have been willfully participatory in this confluence so long as we had what we wanted, so long as  none of this ever-expanding greed and corruption of our Democratic system was visible from our backyards. All for an illusion that would sink many of us into joblessness, homelessness, and poverty.

We are every bit to blame for its current outcome through blind patronage. When one becomes fat, dumb and happy, it is hard to shift gears when your suddenly dumped in the street. A direct result of a financial system that has decided that very jobs they help to inflate are no longer profitable, and by deregulation have decided to further continue building their own wealth at the expense of the rest of us..Creating nothing, manufacturing nothing, and aiding in no innovation of any stripe..

Just. Make. Paper.

And we helped them by getting chubby off our own materialism and greed alongside sanctioning theirs. We've participated and supported, honoring psychopathy as desirable if the individual attains incredible wealth through paper chasing and graft masquerading as 'good business acumen'. 

And now, not only are we as a society out of the 'game room' between the Federal Government and Corporations, they have showed us the door while driving their foot in our collective asses. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being wealthy a la Bill Gates or even being a media icon such as Oprah Winfrey. 

There is something demonstratively amiss when the wealth is willfully attained by fucking private investors and institutions out of there money through unethical and deliberate misinformation and advise, and, to those ends, hedging bets against them to score a larger amount of profit for yourself via a complicated fee structure. 

There is something insidious happening when such institutions are still pulling down revenue when their own clients' portfolios tank, and there is no regulatory control to circumvent such insider trading the precipitates the process, making only a small group of exceptionally wealthy more wealthier at the expense of an entire nation's GDP. Further, it is not a 'democratic process' when said institutions can outright  confluence an election dynamic by moving billions of dollars without proper accounting or reporting of  such funds, and able to do it with great frequency to enhance, even, to a certain degree, control the outcome.

So, self-describing 'democrats', 'republicans', 'independents'  I have some seriously bad news for you: this election cycle means nothing so long as the lobbyist system, coupled with the crooked financial sector's insatiable greed doesn't become absolved and regulated. 

By proxy, all the candidates and all the elected glitterati are all ready bought and paid for Corporate products;  'products' of an illusionary system of 'democracy' that , at one time, any regular working man (or woman) had the chance to run for office, irregardless of what was in their pockets, and despite their background, could achieve election. The 'common man'
now is shut out; one has to be a schill for lobbyists if one expects to advance their political agenda. There is no 'will of the people' anymore, and as such, your 'party' hasn't any real or meaningful vision....

Because your 'party' does not exist.

The only party is the one currently making billions of dollars, not creating, not innovating nor expanding the economy or adding value and service to sectors that are increasing in working opportunity...

They're just making paper, running the 'talent show'...and the U.S. legislative process.







Below is an individual who forsaw what was to become the New Age of Corruption. The last true representative of the people from the district he once represented. There are too few of his kind left..watch.