>Jason Miller: 'Ruthless Exploiters, Inc.: A little poverty never hurt
>anybody'
>
>Jason Miller
>
>"It is like paradise and hell. They throw our petitions in the dustbin. They
>have everything. We have nothing... If we protest, they send soldiers. They
>sign agreements with us and then ignore us. We have graduates going hungry,
>without jobs. And they bring people from Lagos to work here."
>
>Eghare W.O. Ojhogar, chief of the Ugborodo community in Delta State (of
>Nigeria)
>
>In describing the situation in Nigeria, Eghare presents us with a microcosm
>of a modern Inferno, Purgatorio, e Paradiso (about which there is little
>divine or comic). In the timeless struggle between the "haves and "have
>nots", alarming numbers of "useless eaters" ("have nots") are sliding from
>Purgatorio into the abyss of abject poverty's Inferno.
>
>And what heinous transgression did they commit that necessitated their
>banishment into the Inferno? They were born, of course. Most of those
>experiencing the misery of indigence had the misfortune to enter this world
>bearing a losing lottery ticket.
>
>
>
>From their birth, the psyches of the poor and homeless in the "developed"
>nations and those of the impoverished in the "developing" nations are
>battered with the hopelessness and despair of their harsh realities.
>(Realities carefully created and perpetuated in a variety of ways by their
>"betters").
>
>After spending their formative years pitted against nearly overwhelming
>economic and social forces, the message many of them internalize probably
>reads something like this:
>
>Sorry, washout. You are the wrong color, ethnicity, caste, social class, or
>nationality. Surviving to age 40 will be no small task for you. And if you
>manage to do so, your chances of significantly bettering your situation are
>quite slim. After all, the lottery winners invest a great deal in
>maintaining structural barriers to hold you down. But the good news is that
>you can add meaning to your miserable existence by working for slave
>wages( or simply withering and dying) to ensure that the tiny percentage of
>humanity enjoying economic Paradiso continues to do so and that the
>shrinking number of fortunates in Purgatorio experience a degree of comfort
>and security.
>
>To gain some perspective on the extent of human suffering, avarice, and
>depravity associated with the gross imbalance in wealth and power, weigh
>these facts:
>
>1. More than half of the 6.5 billion human souls populating Earth subsist on
>less than $2 per day. 790 million of the deeply impoverished suffer from
>chronic malnutrition (while 65%% of US Americans are overweight).
>
>2. 20%% of the human race does not have access to clean water and 31%% of the
>world's population has no electricity.
>
>3. Combining the gross domestic products of the 48 poorest nations
>(representing 25%% of global population) yields a figure that is less than
>the wealth of the three richest people in the world.
>
>4. "Developed nations" account for 80%% of the world's consumption and 20%% of
>the world's population.
>
>5. The wealth gap between the richest and poorest countries went from 3 to 1
>in 1820 to 72 to 1 in 1992.
>
>6. Corporations account for over half of the 100 wealthiest entities in the
>world.
>
>7. And most tragically:
>
>"According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they
>"die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the
>scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes
>these dying multitudes even more invisible in death."
>
>That is about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children
>under five years of age, each year."
>
>(Thanks to GlobalIssues.org for the above information)
>
>Earth's ruling oligarchs and plutocrats have created and perpetuated a
>socioeconomic dynamic in which the destitute have little or no access to
>education, basic healthcare, decent employment, or even basic necessities.
>From the United States to sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, those
>isolated in despairing communities with crumbling or non-existent
>infrastructures find themselves mired in impoverished breeding grounds for
>crime, high birth rates, substance abuse, and AIDS.
>
>Perhaps an apt message for those impoverished children arriving in this
>world with three strikes against them would be:
>
>"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", which is most commonly translated
>as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
>
>How humane and politically correct those monopolizing Earth's bounty have
>become. Monarchy has essentially been relegated to the dustbin of history.
>Empire building through brute force is becoming an increasingly rare event.
>Certainly the ruling elite maintain potent militaries to exercise their
>right to "defend themselves" (as they are doing in Iraq and Lebanon). But
>more often then not, the masters of the human race have learned to wield
>their economic power like a heavy cudgel, capable of battering their foes
>into submission with a few swift strokes.
>
>New age dawning?
>
>As humanity basks in the nurturing rays of a long-awaited sunrise marking
>the dawn of a glorious new paradigm, a determined privileged class is
>determined to make utopia a reality for themselves. Ushering in a veritable
>paradise of free trade, "robust economies", "ownership societies", "freedom
>and liberty", and unprecedented profits generated by massive companies
>unfettered by frivolous government regulation, predatory human beings now
>issue their edicts from corporate skyscrapers rather than moated castles.
>
>Wage slaves and sweat shop laborers have supplanted serfs and chattel
>slaves. Five major corporations comprise 90%% of the mass media in the United
>States. What are their specialties? Shaping public opinion to maintain the
>illusion that one of the world's most rapacious and bellicose nations is a
>"benevolent superpower" and enticing those who fall prey to their charms to
>experience a virtually insatiable desire to acquire more material
>possessions. A brain-washed complacent citizenry perpetually ready to go on
>a buying binge is a wet dream for the ruling elite.
>
>For many, the survival of their families depends upon the meager pay they
>receive from corporate behemoths like Wal-Mart. More fortunate wage slaves
>earn enough to cover the cost of necessities and to attain the goods the
>corporate media push like Ecstasy. Shopping....what a rush!
>
>Between the US Americans who have high discretionary income and the easy
>credit issued to those who don't, demand for consumer goods is nearly
>infinite. With grossly unfair laws (protecting consumers, the environment,
>and workers) squeezing their profits, those ingenious devils amongst the
>ruling elite concluded they would locate in "developing" countries where
>they could truly rape, pillage and plunder. Hence the worsening plight of
>those beholden to their corporate masters both in the United States and
>abroad.
>
>Where is the wealth?
>
>And just how heavily are the world's assets concentrated into the hands of
>the elite? While the United States is by no means home to the entire world's
>de facto aristocracy, it is the "leader of the obscenely rich world" and by
>default is the "leader of the (ostensibly) free world".
>
>For example, Professor G. William Domhoff of the University of California at
>Santa Cruz wrote in 2001:
> "In terms of types of financial wealth, the top 1 percent of households
>have 44.1%% of all privately held stock, 58.0%% of financial securities, and
>57.3%% of business equity. The top 10%% have 85%% to 90%% of stock, bonds, trust
>funds, and business equity, and over 75%% of non-home real estate. Since
>financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing
>assets, we can say that just 10%% of the people own the United States of
>America."
>And thanks to the Bush administration, that 10%% is maintaining a firm grasp
>on what they own.
>
>Pernicious and Enduring Lies
>
>The predator class pacifies its subservient underclass with the myth that in
>the United States and the satellite "free market economies" it has
>established (at gun-point or through the subversive activities of the CIA),
>everyone can become a successful entrepreneur by starting their own
>business. Yet like the lie that all impoverished individuals except widows,
>orphans, and the infirm are responsible for their own circumstances, this
>malicious fairy tale ignores several realities. Like the fiction about the
>impoverished, it assumes that all people are on a level playing field.
>However, that notion is far removed from reality. Some people have a higher
>quality education than others. Individuals receiving a high degree of
>support from friends and family are much more likely to succeed than those
>who have little or no support. While some starting a business have financial
>resources behind them, others have virtually nothing but their drive and
>ideas. Market forces, weather patterns, competition, health, and many other
>variables can serve to make or break a "budding capitalist". And no two
>people are alike or face the same conditions.
>
>Approximately 150 million of those young and healthy enough to work in the
>United States earn a wage or salary. (Versus a relatively paltry figure of
>20 million who are self-employed). 85%% of small businesses fail within 5
>years. Corporate leviathans like Wal-Mart and Microsoft have defied
>anti-trust laws to crush myriad competitors, including many small
>entrepreneurs. Horatio Alger success stories are none too plentiful in the
>"land of opportunity". And the grim reality is that the Goliath corporate
>giants usually prevail against the David small businesses.
>
>In 2003, the average worker in the United States was netting $517.00 per
>week. How much were CEO's taking home at that time? A mere $155,000. 52
>times per year. That is a staggering 301 to 1 differential. In 1982 the
>ratio of CEO to average worker pay was "a mere" 42 to 1. From 1990 to 2003
>US corporate profits rose 128%%.
>
>To further appreciate the obscene avarice of the world's plutocracy,
>consider that the average garment worker in Bangladesh earned 13 cents per
>hour in 2004. The "10%% of the people who own the United States" and their
>counter-parts in nations around the globe are doing very well thanks to the
>blood, sweat, and tears of the remaining 6 billion or so human beings on the
>planet.
>
>Incorporating their Avarice
>
>Corporations are the Holy Grail for the rich and powerful. They provide
>moneyed individuals investment vehicles which afford them extremely limited
>personal liability, financially and criminally. By the late 19th Century in
>the United States, corporations had acquired many of the legal rights of a
>human being. Despite their roots in British colonialism and the deep
>apprehensions of founders like Thomas Jefferson, corporations have come to
>dominate the United States and much of the world culturally, politically,
>and economically.
>
>Jefferson's expression of concern to George Logan in 1816 was well-founded:
> "I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed
>corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of
>strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
>Not only was the aristocracy of moneyed corporations born. Its power has
>grown to such monstrous proportions that it has virtually crushed the life
>from a still relatively nascent social experiment based on democratic ideals
>and Constitutional law.
>
>According to the Center for Public Integrity, the pharmaceutical industry
>alone has spent $675 million lobbying the government to shape public policy
>over the last seven years. The insurance industry spent even more if one
>includes campaign donations. Through their corporate proxies, the moneyed
>elite invest a great deal in the United States' political system. They
>expect and receive a great deal in return.
>
>"Defending" the predator class is an expensive proposition
>
>Spending at a clip of $600 billion per year (including Iraqi Occupation
>costs), the United States accounts for 50%% of the world's military spending.
>As George Bush (the current public face of the world's plutocracy) so sagely
>reminded us, "Free nations are peaceful nations." To manufacture the many
>instruments of peace which prove how free we are, the United States relies
>on 737 defense contractors, sometimes known as the military-industrial
>complex. Of those 737 contractors, a mere five have received government
>contracts totaling $284 billion over the last six years. Lockheed Martin,
>Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics do quite well at
>the public trough. Halliburton has also fared nicely since former CEO Dick
>Cheney took office and helped lie the United States into the Iraqi
>Occupation. Facilitating killing is their business, and business is good.
>
>Sedating the masses with consumerism, spin, fear-mongering and historical
>revisions; lobbying heavily; donating huge sums to political campaigns; and
>maintaining the military industrial complex are powerful means of securing
>the seats of power in DC and Tel Aviv. However, the predator class has yet
>another weapon at its disposal: the revolving door between government and
>major corporations. Men like Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are but two
>stalwarts of the privileged class who have traversed back and forth from
>roles of great influence in major corporations to positions of power within
>the government. But they are not pioneers. Theirs is a path blazed by many
>before them and almost certain to be followed by many after them.
>
>A glimpse of the ugly reality of pathological avarice in action...
>
>To move beyond an abstract analysis of the machinations of the oppression
>and exploitation of most of the human race by a select and privileged few,
>consider one of many specific examples. For years, British and US oil
>interests have enjoyed the complicity of the criminal ruling elite in
>Nigeria in plundering an incredibly valuable natural resource. In return a
>majority of the indigenous people have received land too polluted to farm,
>brutal attacks by government forces, and extreme poverty.
>
>According to an article written for Amnesty International:
> "It's 10 years since the Nigerian Government executed the well-known Ogoni
>writer and human rights campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa. But little has changed for
>the people of the Niger Delta, reports Seth Jordan....
>
> ...Oil was discovered in the Ogoni region in the late 1950s by the Royal
>Dutch/Shell Group....by the 1990s an estimated US $30 billion worth of oil
>had already been extracted, and oil revenues accounted for over 98 per cent
>of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings; the 550,000 local farmers and
>fishermen who inhabited the coastal land had received little except a
>ravaged environment. Once fertile farmland had been destroyed by
>uncontrolled pollution, and virtually all fish and wildlife had vanished.
>Only a handful of local people were employed by the oil companies or
>benefited economically in any way....
>
> "On 4 February 2005, soldiers from Nigeria's Joint Task Force fired on
>protesters from the Ugborodo community at the Escravos oil terminal run by
>Chevron Nigeria. One man was shot and later died from his injuries. Thirty
>other demonstrators were injured by blows from rifle butts and other
>weapons. Neither the government nor the oil company provided adequate
>medical care or helped to transport the injured."
>Nigeria provides a potent example of the blatant abuses of the impoverished
>masses by the privileged few. But sadly, it is but one of many such cases.
>
>While the rapacious individuals who wield the power in this world have
>stacked the deck heavily in their favor, there are glimmers of hope. The
>United States and Israel are both failing in their wars of aggression in the
>Middle East. A wave of democratic socialism is beginning to sweep South
>America. A populist leader may still win the presidency in Mexico. Joe
>Lieberman was ejected. And checks and balances were at least temporarily
>restored in the United States when a federal judge ordered George Bush to
>obey the Constitution.
>
>A collective populist movement is slowly evolving. It is only a matter of
>time before humanity's oppressed put aside their religious, racial, and
>nationalist differences to unite against their common enemy. When six
>billion people act in unison against a few million, there will indeed be a
>new world order.
>
>Jason Miller is a wage slave of the American Empire who has freed himself
>intellectually and spiritually. He writes prolifically and his essays have
>appeared widely on the Internet. He welcomes constructive correspondence at
>willpowerful@hotmail.com or via his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner, at
>http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.