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Nov. 1, 2005 The United States is now controlled by corporate fascists. The American Heritage Dictionary defines fascism as a system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership together with belligerent nationalism. In other words fascism is commercial control of government. Germans of the 1930's had the sense to vote down this form of government (although Hitler ascended to power anyway through a series of murky backroom deals), but Americans stupidly voted in favor of fascism with the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. His administration almost entirely consists of oil company executives and cronies, and oil companies wield so much influence that they were the actual authors of our most recent energy bill--the one passed by both houses of congress and signed by our president who redundantly I call an oil company executive. High prices at the pump are a direct result of the current administration's (blame Clinton too--it all started under his watch) failure to enforce anti-trust laws. Over the past six years the thirty-four oil companies have been allowed to merge into thirteen. For example there is Exxon-Mobil, BP Amoco-Arco, Chevron-Texaco, and Philips-Tosco. Chevron-Texaco alone produces more oil than Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Yemen combined. What this all means is less competition in producing a commodity for which there is an inelastic demand. In our modern society gas is a necessity. We all need to drive to work and heat our homes no matter the price. When oil companies merge competiton declines and as these corporations become more efficient (a supposed boon of capitalism), consumers get burned. While the number of motor vehicles has increased from 189 million to 210 million over the past ten years, the number of gas stations has decreased from 210 thousand to 176 thousand. Oil companies make greater profits with fewer gas stations competing. Moreover, oil companies have decided to carry lower stocks and even close down refineries. Conservative pundits and talk radio liars often blame environmentalists for higher energy prices, but these facts prove they are wrong. Oil companies do not want to build new refineries and actually shut plants down instead of increasing capacity in these existing plants. They purposefully carry lower stocks so they can maximize profits expecially when there are shocks (like the hurricanes) to the market. In March 2001 the FTC released a report stating that there was no collusion between oil companies--a conclusion contrary to what they found. This is a quote from that report: "Conscious choices by the oil industry to intentionally withold supplies led to artificially high prices." Supposedly, this is accidental. By accident, they are making record profits. Unrestricted capitalism is known as Laissez-Faire economics. This policy led to the great depression, and there are many parallels with today's economy. Laissez-Faire economics resulted in a vast inequality of wealth. Today, oil company profits are skyrocketing, and along with big banks (owners of credit card companies), these corporations are sucking up this country's wealth like vampires. At this rate big corporations are going to have all the money, while the common man will have nothing. Corporations will be producing products and few people will have money to spend on them thus creating conditions for another depression. Union membership is declining, and minimum wage (when adjusted for inflation) is shrinking: two trends that also occurred during the 1920's. (During the roaring twenties the Supreme Court actually outlawed minimum wage ruling it to be unconstitutional.) Write your congressman and demand that they do something to break up these modern robber barons. Demand an increase in minimum wage. Join unions. Fight back or suffer the consequences. ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. www.mark-gelbart.com Email: agelbart@aol.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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