By Michael Mccune: The Rant (US Government auditor for 16 years In Cheyenne, WY. -U.S. Trending To Oligarchic Society (( to Have Michael send you the Rant to your Email contact Him Here (( mccrant@gmail.com))

U.S. Trending To Oligarchic Society

Half a year away from the mid-term elections and America continues to decline financially--despite what the stock markets say. If there is a better way to emphasize the false shekel by the government (Amos 8) it is in today's market values. Market fundamentals have been discarded and the printing press allowed to run making the markets' surge another omen of doom.

 

April's economy numbers are coming in and they are showing March's rise for the emptiness it truly is. Retail sales rose much less then forecast as consumers didn't part with hard-earned dollars. In March retail sales rose 1.5% according to the Commerce Department. That left the opening quarter still less than .2% higher than 2013's first quarter.

 

Economists had been expecting about .4% increase in April but received just under .1% rise for the month.

 

Earlier, the politicians had blamed the lack of sales on the ugly winter weather, particularly in the Northeast. Oddly, this time around, it may show that the eruption of March sales was not due to anything but a release of euphoria because winter's grip had lessened. The dramatic drop in April sales and a return to the miserly growth rate shows the population is once again counting pennies and hoarding its dollars.

 

Despite the evidence, many of the leading economists are seeing a building surge in household spending which promise a solid second quarter. This optimism is based on "a reasonably good pickup in job growth."

 

This optimism may have some validity on the surface, but when digging down through the workforce participation numbers, even with the April gains America is still at a record non-participation rate.

 

Furthermore, this trend is not limited to the U.S. but is reflected across the globe. The percentage of people working in non-government jobs compared to the total population fell to an all-time low of 23.6% of adults. In a survey conducted by Havas Worldwide, a marketing firm, and released in South Africa Tuesday, the percentage of consumers who are looking to acquire "stuff" dropped alarmingly. Only one in three respondents indicated they would be buying material goods in the next month.

 

Andrew Benett, CEO of Havas, stated the survey showed "consumers [across the globe] are moving away from mindless consumption."

 

What was of vital interest to politicians was the more than 10,500 surveyed agreed current economic models are not working for them. They are now trending mainly towards more sustainable products. Of those that live in metropolitan areas, almost 90% indicated they would be sharing cars rather than owning their own in the future.

 

Another point of vital interest to the upcoming elections is income inequality. Liberals tend to announce solutions through magician-style sleight of hand by "redistributing through higher taxes." This only sends more investment overseas to lower tax nations while smothering growth potential here. For the majority of the working class, it finds itself stuck in low-paying service jobs with no hope for upward mobility that had been prevalent through the 1950s-1990s.

 

Recently Bernie Sanders, Independent Senator from Vermont, asked Fed Chair Janet Yellen "if we are still a capitalist democracy or have we slipped into an oligarchic society in which incredible economic and political power are concentrated in the billionaire class?"

 

Russia has a oligarchic society. It uses government to control the markets and concentrates the wealth in the hands of a few. America, since its inception, firmly rejected the idea of a 'nobility class.' But that no longer is true. Government has found it can perpetrate and expand its power and control, during both parties interchangeable reign, by promising more to an ever-growing body of willing recipients.

 

To do so, the government has encouraged monopolies in certain areas of consumption and industry. Examples are energy, cable TV and internet access, banking and healthcare. In order to assist the monopolization it desires, government just didn't act by failing to enforce its antitrust and regulatory powers to limit abuse practices.

 

The recent proposal by Comcast to acquire Time Warner Cable would give Comcast a virtual monopoly. This acquisition will not be challenged by federal regulators because of the close ties the company has with the Obama White House.

 

So here we sit, six months away from the mid-term elections, twiddling our thumbs, listening to the pundits relate how good the economy is doing as they drool over the stock market rise.

 

If we, as the electorate, do not vote to shut down this inefficient, self-serving government, we will suffer dire consequences. Our nation will merely join the list of socialist countries. We will no longer be the beacon of hope or the land of opportunity for the rest of the world. We will become exactly like every other place in the world.

 

We can only change this fate in the voting booth and then by holding those elected to the heat of the fire. Everything and everybody will belong to the government. Instead of collecting taxes all it will be obligated to do is mete out allowances as if we were perpetual 12-year-olds.

 

"I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man."--Thomas Jefferson

 

Data for today's Rant was obtained from the monthly sales report of the Department of Commerce, a report by Engineering News from the information in Havas Worldwide survey results and Economist Peter Morici's op-ed "The Terrible Truth About Income Inequality".