America is in no danger of invasion by any foreign power; no nation would dare to attempt it. But America is in great danger of falling under the control of a relentless force that is threatening it from within. This nation is currently under siege by a powerful entity that has already severely damaged our economy and now has its sights on the dismantling of our democracy.
That relentless force is Corporatism, typically defined as "a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups such as agricultural, business, ethnic or labor on the basis of common interests." That was a description of Corporatism when it existed in a relatively benign state.
That definition has now been updated to: "an association of giant corporations, the wealthiest and most influential Americans, and a large sector of our government." The common goal of these closely connected elements is the control and domination of this nation's agenda and direction. Let's refer to the leaders of Corporatism as corporatists.
To illustrate what these corporatists are up to, let's take the 2008 recession and its aftermath and examine the underlying causative factors. It is generally accepted that this recession was largely caused by the collapse of the housing sector. Further, that the blame for the collapse is to be shared by homeowners who took on loans that they could not cover and mortgage lenders who were guilty of approving mortgages for buyers who were known to be unqualified.
But that reasoning doesn't go deep enough and the causative factors are much more extensive. Yes, the housing collapse was a large contributing factor and mortgage borrowers and lenders must share blame. But we also know that behind the faà §ade that is presented by the mainstream media, Corporatism played a major role. The Wall Street manipulators were allowed to break or bend laws because the Congress had eliminated or watered down regulations and laws governing the financial sector. That was Corporatism in action and it worked beautifully for its members -- but not the people.
In addition to the housing crisis there was a second, very important underlying factor that triggered the recession. When this nation entered the 21 st century workers in America's manufacturing sector still had decent paying jobs that allowed them to enjoy a good lifestyle. But at that time giant corporations who employed millions of Americans were perfecting strategies by which to close plants, lay off their workers and reap the benefits of cheap foreign labor.
This is the point that millions of Americans got caught between a rock and a hard place. Many, who had purchased, expanded or refinanced homes lost their manufacturing jobs and became unemployed. They then could not pay their mortgages, defaulted, and millions had their mortgages foreclosed. These homeowners and workers of America took a terrible financial beating and many millions have yet to recover. Had they not had their jobs eliminated by corporations, it is very possible we might not have experienced a housing crisis.
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