Over several posts, the mariner has described how dangerous the imbalance of wealth has become because of little or no participation in the growth of profits by middle and lower class workers.

What changes will correct this situation?

One- Elect democrats. The mariner is neither a democrat nor a republican but unity of principle is required. Elect them at all levels of government. There are two reasons for using the Democratic Party: As a rule, democrats are not hoarders by nature. Even the wealthier democrats are sensitive to the state of affairs and believe in doing something about unfairness in the society; conversely, most republicans are hoarders of money and believe if the rich have enough cash, eventually some will trickle down to those other people. This belief is what is causing the imbalance of the economic society today.

The second reason is that the entire government, all the legislatures, all the governors and mayors, all the judges and the President must be in unity to create a change to the economic culture – a moment of chaos, as I have used the word in other posts.

Two- Reestablish the Banking Act of 1933, which in essence separated commercial banks from investment banks and imposed regulations on activities banks could pursue.

Three- Standardize by Federal law all election procedures, including Federal State, and Local elections. Remove abusive, unfair registration requirements that are used to suppress some citizens their right to vote.

Four- Standardize by law that every Commission on Redistricting is occupied by unelected individuals appointed by the highest court applicable, with equal numbers of the two largest parties represented. Include guidelines that deny separated areas for a single district, and populate the districts in reasonable fashion with an attempt to represent the average racial representation.

Five- Standardize by law that any individual campaigning for public office can raise funds only from within the applicable territory covered by the elected position. Make PACS and SUPER PACS illegal.

Six- Create term limits for public office. The primary reason for this change is not to turn over the elected quickly enough to prevent a lifetime in office but to have legislators who are of an age that understand the current culture. The mariner thinks more in terms of an upper age limit than a given number of terms.

Seven- Overthrow the Supreme Court’s opinion that money can vote.

Eight- Pass legislation that tightens significantly and increases the penalty for elected officials who receive gifts of any nature, whether based on assets, post term favors, or by which the elected official may gain personal advantage.

Nine- Eliminate all right to work laws and permit only union or employee owned business practices. Taxable income for stock and bond investments is taxed at graduated levels as investment income increases.

Ten- Reestablish 401k or retirement benefits in every licensed business.

Yes, it is a tall order, especially now that conservative capitalists tightly control the economy. Even one of the ten items will make a difference; two would make a significant difference. The citizenry should tackle them one at a time. The more items that are achieved, the easier and faster the next item can be achieved.

In case anyone wants to call these ten items socialism or communism, he or she is mistaken. The capitalist system is retained but shares its profits more equitably.

Ancient Mariner

One talks about the Social Security going broke, Medicare and Medicaid are too expensive, Union after union is lost through preplanned bankruptcies. Student aid programs, both public school and college loans were never adequate and are continually reduced in budgets.

The retirement class will rise 12 percent by 2025. A significant number of factory workers remain unemployed or earning a pittance of their factory job. Computerization/Internet will remove another group of people from the workforce.

Armageddon is near

Easing the basic need of the workforce, poor and students is a huge issue. Easing workers who ever more rapidly lose their jobs to technology and global economy have no place to reposition themselves in the world of work. The masses no longer participate in capitalist growth.

If salaries remained comparable to the wages fifty years ago and pension plans remained untouchable, as they were before Reagan, and right-to-work laws had not weakened unions, it would be possible to be laid off in one’s fifties and still have a decent financial position. That second job would make a comfortable lifestyle instead of barely keeping enough food on the table.

This juggernaught of cash flowing toward five percent of the population, unfairly lifted from the deserving population in the economy will only increase. That is 18 million individuals out of 317 million citizens. If one prefers the one percent claim, it is 3 million out of 317 million. These differences do not reflect the algebraic curve of wealth as one nears the top; the wealthiest are really, really wealthy compared to the really wealthy below them.

One may agree with the conservatives that the government is too large. This has nothing to do with taxes. Taxes must be raised by incomparable amounts to offset the disappearance of middle and lower class economy. The taxes should be collected by the IRS and flow back to the public in the form of support for the general public. For example, if the Taiwanese government can pay 100% of college tuition, there is no reason the United States cannot do the same. Most developed nations have free or virtually free health care for every citizen. Why can’t the United States do that?

Capitalism has not been kept under control by the Federal Government; it runs rampant and is becoming unbelievably destructive to the general citizenry.

The mariner sees chaos coming.

Ancient Mariner