Striking a Balance: How Seeking Profit is Destroying Our Country

The most serious mental illness we all face is our society itself. When looking at a historic timeline, such becomes apparent. We do the same things over and over and expect a different result. At least the general public does. Our politicians and leaders may be more sinister.

Currently, our society has swung manic, and such appears to be a long episode. Our country could be facing total ruin unless its manic state somehow brings about stability. That is unlikely. In other words, our society swings back and forth from conservatism to liberalism, and each extreme is very dangerous, so dangerous that they are very much the same. Most people want stability. They want moderation. The extreme demands destruction that will lead to an impossible purity … pure evil.

However, we have our frustrations and challenges. All too often, a psychopath or other kind of person that lacks any ethics or moral fiber takes opportunity to exploit our anger and say, “Hey, it’s redheaded people that are making your life suck.” He says it enough, so we believe it. He buys news media outlets and has them repeat his eco-chamber message. It does not take long for all of us to want to murder redheads. There is profit in it, just like there was for internment camps in World War II.

I grew up with capitalism and enjoyed many of its benefits. I watched the USSR collapse because of it. What the Soviet Union lacked in its workforce was personal ownership and investment. Three Americans could do what 500 Russians could do. Why? Because the American people were invested in their jobs. They did not have to work 120-hour weeks. They were proud and content. They were invested because they had secure jobs with benefits. They knew their job would be there. My grandfather worked for General Motors all his life. His son worked for another company his whole life. They were not rich but had money. They could cut a check for $70,000 to help a child get a house.  These companies made money. These companies were super rich.

Both my mother and father quit high school. They got jobs, bought 16 acres of land, and had a house built. Today, only Elon Musk could do that. What happened?

The push to maximize profits for a few investors has created the super-rich while impoverishing the middle class and everyone else. Now, we are being told to work 120-hour weeks, unions are being eliminated, and good jobs are being blamed for our current national debt. But these are leaving out the most selfish individuals. Those at the top of the ladder make billions or take billions that they don’t deserve. Our politicians, both democrats and republicans, were very irresponsible. After all, it’s not their money they are spending. It’s ours. The Super Pacs are now funding their campaigns with our dollars.

Investors are taking our money and giving it to the super-rich. That is our money. That is our kids’ money. The investment banker is nothing more than a legalized predator that could care less about the community. They live large; we can all perish for all they care.

The result is catastrophic for our communities. People have no security, no job to count on. Good jobs are being eliminated and filled with part-time “flexible workforce” jobs. These were the jobs that teens used to do for a few extra dollars. These jobs don’t have benefits, no pensions, no nothing but insecurity. This is great for the wealthy. They hoard more and more cash to please their investors. But we all suffer as a result.

It is no secret that many people are suffering from mental health issues such as trauma, anxiety, insecurity, and substance use, and these often result in domestic violence and the abuse of children in the household. Communities break down because people keep moving around. There is no home, no sense of community. Such a lack of attachment can lead to mass shootings and other crimes, as well as an increase in hate groups and terrorist organizations. It’s often within these groups that people find the community they are seeking.

In addition, jobs become just jobs. There is no pride in a job. There is no personal investment in it. In this way, we all become psychopaths or at least anti-social. We become mean, nasty, selfish, ugly, or detached from everyone around us. Anger and hate thrive.

We are mad. We want to blame someone. The politicians tell us it’s the poorest people’s faults. It is those criminals over there. It’s that redhead. It’s the Jewish girl next door, the professor down the street, the woman, the Muslim, or the guy cutting your lawn. It’s never them, the super wealthy.

We cover for them because it’s the American Dream, right? We want to be Jeff Bezos, but the reality is there are very few Jeff Bezoses. Such men turn their backs on us. These individuals have different motivations from the rest of us. Most of us just want a house, a family, and enough money to live comfortably. We don’t need Mars.

When will we wake up and see that the super powerful, those that fund political campaigns, are responsible? Many of our billionaires have decided that democracy no longer works for them. They are willing to dismantle it and fund lawmakers and the courts to play along. Who made this national debt, after all? You? Me, with my student loans? Or was it them, looking to make a quick million or billion for next quarter? How often do some of them go bankrupt?

The wild side of capitalism is monstrous. As the Russians said once, the U.S. will fall apart from the inside out. We will. Greed will kill it, and that is what we are seeing. None of these billionaires focus on family, their wives or husbands, and the kid is just used to make them look less monstrous than they are. Good businessmen do not make good leaders of countries. Governments are human entities that are meant to protect the greater good, not lay siege to it.  Unions provided leverage against super powerful individuals. Both are flawed, but only the unions get blamed. The wealthy are no place to be found.

Look at every form of government in the world. Rich people are at the top, and everyone else is at the bottom. The United States was one of the few nations where the now-extinct middle class mostly ruled along with the super-rich. The rich still had more influence, but we could fight back. The courts assured it. Now, that is all in question.

Corporate greed is cancer. It spreads and kills rapidly and profits only future cancer. Our super wealthy build things up only to rip them down with total disregard for the human cost. Yet, they planned well for themselves. They will leave this country on fire, then spread their disease to another nation. Is this what we have become?

I am like most people. All I want is to have one job, drive a school bus, pay for my apartment, and have enough money to be comfortable. I cannot. I have to work two jobs, and not the one I would love to do. That was my American Dream. I have little interest in being anything like Elon Musk.

I do not want to be a billionaire. I don’t need to be rich.  Something is very wrong, and it’s only right to question those that are doing so well for themselves when all the rest of us are suffering.

Our society is a reflection of ourselves, and it is very, very sick right now. It will never be perfect, but our leaders should try and moderate, keeping society in the middle. Any extreme spells destruction. That does not mean that all radical politicians are bad. We need some sway, but such has to be equal on both sides for the government to function democratically.

History is not on our side. It has always succumbed to severe illness, but can the United States overcome this, just like we did in 1776?

Earl Yarington

The opinions and analyses that Earl writes are his own and are not necessarily the positions or views of his employers, the agencies he supports, or  that of his colleagues. Reach out with comments or questions.