Just when was this period of time when America was great? Because it’s looking more and more like the early twentieth century. Then, a few men had amassed enormous wealth. Small businesses were bought up and shut down to stifle competition. Prices kept rising because anyone who tried to come in with a better product at a better cost was quickly put out of business. That seems pretty close to what’s going on today. CEOs travel around the world on their private planes, going from one luxury mansion to another while the cost of living for working families keeps rising. Groceries, gasoline, not to mention rent or the cost of owning a home, all have steadily increased, and rapidly increased since the rise of the super rich.

Is there a correlation? I suspect there is. Technology is right there in the middle of it, maybe at the root of it too. Technology has allowed companies to offload many of the costs of doing business onto the consumer. For instance, how often do you get a paper statement in the mail these days? Not often at all and in many instances you pay a fee for that service. While it may be fine to skip the paper invoices, where did that savings to the company go? It went right into the exorbitant salaries of the executives and the shareholders. Self checkouts have saved companies billions, maybe even trillions. Prices continue to rise though because the wealthy not only need that money, but deserve it too.

When job cuts are made at an organization, who benefits? I heard one woman on the news the other day saying she hoped the savings being found in the Education department would be passed on to the states. I had to laugh. Those savings are going to fund tax cuts for the rich. How is it possible that billionaires many times over care anything about the poor? The poor are there for them to take advantage of, and to be afraid of. After all, the extremely wealthy, with a few exceptions, believe that every one is just like them. Willing to do anything to set themselves up with so much money they never have to worry again. Because they are ruthless, they believe everyone else is too. They live in a world where everything is cut-throat, get the other guy before he gets me. The fact that there’s a whole world out there who simply want to work for a living, have enough to raise their family and have a little fun once in a while, is alien to them. That money might not be the be all and end all of life is deeply offensive to them. People who want more from life than money are considered losers. They are to be stamped out because without the masses working as hard as they can funneling money into the hands of the few, how can they amass their enormous fortunes?

There’s talk about this new return to the greatness of America putting humans on Mars. Just what kind of a place is Mars going to be? It looks extremely likely that everyone will work one hundred and twenty hours a week until they are used up, then cast aside to make room for the next guy to make his sacrifice. Slaves to the ultra wealthy. A few women, slaves as well, will be there for servicing the men. I wish all the ones who want that kind of a world would just go on and go. If you can’t make it to Mars, set up some space stations somewhere in between. When you look back down to Earth maybe you’ll see us losers waving good-bye.