August 11, 2022
MOVCAC Contributor: Sean P. Keefe
Comedy is most funny when the absurdity of a joke contains a hint of truth with which the audience can identify. The most talented comedians hold a mirror to society and show the absurdity that we often miss in our daily lives. George Carlin’s bit about the elite class being a big club is funny because we see the corruption, the money laundering, and the unequal justice our elites engage in and accept it because it’s just the way it is. I suppose it is easier to accept these class distinctions when we are all prospering. As is discussed in Simple Truths for Complicated Times – Conclusion, we are no longer all prospering. The economic asteroid careening toward western civilization will not destroy the elite class. It was created and hurled toward We The People by the elite class.
I suppose the transfer of wealth from workers to the elite has been going on since the creation of economic systems. Many people believe the entire role of the government is to peacefully facilitate this wealth transfer. Usually, this transfer is subtle and easily explained away by economists and academics alike with flowery words and esoteric concepts. It may be hard to find any silver lining in the Covid plandemic, but the exposure of this systemic robbery of the American people must surely be considered a positive result.
It was so obvious the money people knew what was happening by June 4, 2020. The following excerpt from CNBC (Jim Cramer: The pandemic led to ‘one of the greatest wealth transfers in history’) gives a quick and dirty summary:
The coronavirus pandemic and corresponding lockdown made way for “one of the greatest wealth transfers in history,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Thursday.
The stock market is rising as big business rebounds from state-ordered stoppage of nonessential activity, while small businesses drop like flies, the “Mad Money” host said.
“The bigger the business, the more it moves the major averages, and that matters because this is the first recession where big business … is coming through virtually unscathed, if not going for the gold,” he added.
As reported by The Guardian on October 7, 2020:
A report by Swiss bank UBS found that billionaires increased their wealth by more than a quarter (27.5%) at the height of the crisis from April to July, just as millions of people around the world lost their jobs or were struggling to get by on government schemes.
Is it odd that just as our governments were telling us to stay home, close our businesses and apply for unemployment; the richest citizens of the world were growing wealthier by the day? It is important to remember that while they were stealing our wealth and future, they were hiding existing treatments that the Department of Defense identified as curative as early as April 2020 (DOD Documents: Ivermectin and Hydroxychloriquine – Curative).
It’s a big club and you ain’t in it!
Unfortunately, that is not the only example of the elite class stealing from the peasants as the government elected to protect the people helps in this wealth transition.
On his first day in office, Resident Biden signed an executive order killing the Keystone Pipeline. Oil and gas prices immediately responded:
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil (WTI)
On November 2, 2020, the price of WTI was 36.81/barrel. By February 19th the price had risen to 59.25, and it sits at 109.71 as of June 21, 2022. Isn’t it convenient that the price of oil, and thus of gas, is predicated on future contracts? Meaning, the price of oil does not reflect the cost of getting it out of the ground today, but rather the price they expect to pay in the future based on supply and demand pressures.
The peasant class sits back and watches as energy costs soar. The government points the finger at the oil companies and complains that they aren’t drilling enough. The oil companies point the finger at the government and complain that they cannot afford to invest in new drilling when the government is overtly saying they plan to end fossil fuels. The people on the left end of the political spectrum support the environmental gobbledygook of the government and blame the evil capitalist companies, while the people on the right believe that the government intervention to artificially suppress supply is to blame. Divide and conquer.
While the people on the right and left are pointing fingers, the government and their crony capitalist accomplices are raking in political contributions and windfall profits, respectively. The executives of the oil companies are never going to be penniless. As the government destroys the petroleum industry, there will be plenty of executive level positions within new green companies awaiting their soft landing from the golden parachutes provided to all players of the game. Remember the AIG bonuses paid with taxpayer dollars after the housing collapse of 2008 (After Rescue, Bonuses Still Flow At AIG).
How many billions are now being transferred from working moms and dads, young adults just beginning their careers, and those struggling to find ways to afford to get to work, to the pockets of big oil? Inflation is the most regressive tax the working class pays.
Remember, it’s a big club and you ain’t in it.
There are numerous examples of our government colluding with big business to the peril of We The People: Big Tech is coordinating with our government to infringe on our first amendment rights to free speech; stock market regulators at the SEC continually ignore the use of naked shorts by large investment firms illegally tamping down profits for retail investors; and the agribusiness industry supported by our government is doing everything in its power to destroy the family farm industry.
Finally, there is Ukraine.
Big media and government operatives have done everything in their power to get the American people to support their war in Ukraine. Never forget that Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and Mitt Romney all had family members making money in Ukraine. Prior to the Russian special operation begun in February, Ukraine was universally known as the most corrupt country in Europe. We have since learned (confirmed by the Department of Defense) that the U.S. government does indeed fund (through firms associated with Hunter Biden) biolabs in Ukraine.
The U.S. government recently approved over $40 billion in funding for Ukraine’s military operations. Do the American people understand that the average servicemember will not see a single dime of that money? Those funds are provided for the purchase of equipment and systems that are created by, sold by, and maintained by military contractors. These monies will find their way through military contractor corporate boards. Again, it will be executives that will benefit from the profits created by this war.
There are very upstanding and respectable words for this transfer of wealth when corporations and governments are performing the activities:
For your health
For the environment
For democracy
When these activities are undertaken by the Mafia, drug cartels, and others identified as criminals, there is a less respectable term used:
Money Laundering
As always, follow the money. What was hidden in the past is in the open today. We just need to recognize it, call it out, and prosecute the criminals. Just because the criminals sit in cushy government positions, corporate board rooms, and executive suites doesn’t mean they are any less damaging to We The People. In fact, I would argue they are more damaging.