(#116-1) January 25 2015. I write often about the success of the Scandinavians. Well, just look at French. And then consider the implications as far as the U.S. is concerned.

THOSE DECADENT FRENCH—WITH THEIR PRE-DINNER (“cinq a sept “– 5.00-7.00pm) SEX, LONG VACATIONS AND THEIR SHORT WORKING WEEK

JUST LOOK AT THE CHART BELOW. THE FRENCH HAVE INCREASED THEIR PRODUCTIVITY BY 700% SINCE 1950. THE US INCREASE? JUST OVER 300%

MAYBE THE FRENCH KNOW SOMETHING WE DON’T—AND THEY EAT BETTER,  LIVE HEALTHIER LIVES, AND SEVERAL YEARS LONGER TOO

THE GREY LINE IS PRODUCTIVITY—THE BLUE LINE IS PAY. IN THE U.S. THE BLUE LINE (OUR PAY) IS GOING DOWN (WHILE GDP IS GOING UP).

In the U.S., from the end of WW II until about 1973, the National Cake was shared. Pay rose pretty much in line with productivity. Then, corporate America—much shaken by the gains achieved by liberal America, began to fight back. First, corporate America got organized—something it was well equipped to do because it had the financial resources and other expertise. Then it began to suborn the political system to the point where legislation (including the tax system) favored capital over labor.

This highly organized campaign, which has included crushing the unions—particularly in the private sector—has been startlingly successful to the point where an ever increasing share of GDP is going to capital (the shareholders) at the expense of labor (employees).

PRODUCTIVITY UP BY 254.3% FROM 1950 TO 2010 (60 YEARS)—AND PAY UP BY 113.1% THOUGH LARGELY FLAT SINCE 1973 AND NOW GOING DOWN

“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies.,” April 29, 1938. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.

There seems to be remarkably little interest in the fact that U.S. economy (including the tax system) is so blatantly rigged to favor the ultra-rich—and that our political system has been largely bought. And thus American democracy dies—or is it dead already?

We tend to think of a coup as the sudden and normally violent takeover of a government. We need to broaden our thinking. What we have had in the U.S. is a slow and virtually unnoticed coup where the violence has largely been economic.

Either way, the end result is the same—the control of the system by the few for the few. and where it is becoming increasingly hard to tell the difference between Big Business and Big Government (except that it is Big Business that pulls the strings).

That is not democracy. Some call that Fascism. But let’s not think about that. Let’s go back to doing what we like to do so often—poking fun at the French.

VOR words c.250

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