From Democracy to Dictatorship by Arun D Ellis - book 2 in the Corpalism series

The Independents - Economics on a postage stamp

“So please welcome Ben Clarke.”

The young man standing in front of them could have challenged Stephanie White in her claim to be the youngest candidate, unless he was one of those fortunate people who carried age with such carelessness that it refused to show. He was attractive in that way that some young people are; energy and enthusiasm adding to the mix.

“Hello, as introduced I’m Ben and I’m standing for Cobham, in Surrey in the next general election, and before you make the connection, yes I’m a Chelsea fan but that’s not why I picked Cobham. I was born and bred there so have a prior claim.”

A few people in the audience laughed, he also got a few jeers from supporters of other teams.

“I’m often mistaken as being younger than I am, in which case you might be wondering about my credentials – My PhD is in Economics and in the last year I’ve been undertaking a study of energy costs, interest rates, exchange rates, taxes, and employment levels, and how all these things correlate.”

A combined sigh rippled through the room; it had a ‘rather you than me’ constituent to it. Ben grinned, obviously in his element.

“The first thing I want to say is that I concur with the statements made by Colin and Marissa, that our jobs have been exported to the 3rd world where wages are minimal, that the rich have quadrupled their wealth by investing in emerging markets, whilst starving the UK of investment. But I’m not here to repeat what they have so eloquently described…I want to talk to you about the false premise of ‘trickle down’ capitalism, that notion touted about that if the rich get richer, then the rest of us we will also get richer.” He paused and looked around the hall, “It’s such an astounding assertion, you’d think no-one would really have the nerve to say it, you’d think that no-one would be stupid enough to fall for it, that no-one would be naive enough to believe that such a scenario could be true.”

Ben ran his hands along the rostrum and continued, “Now, let’s just consider for a second what they hope to achieve by saying that if the rich get richer, some of that wealth will ‘trickle-down’ to the poorer sections of society... they are hoping that we will sit idly by whilst they take a larger slice of the profits, allowing them to get richer; to take even more of the pie than they’ve been doing thus far.
And we are to do this because, according to them, if they get richer they will use the money to create more opportunities and, therefore, create a bigger economy, which will in turn mean that the rest of us will also get richer.”

He waited for his words to permeate, aware that his ideas took a while to be absorbed. “Let’s think about that for a minute, they are saying let them have more of the money and they will in turn create more profits. Well I have to say there is no evidence that this has ever occurred or could ever occur in fact the only truthful thing about the whole concept is that they are definitely taking more of the profits and leaving less for everyone else.”

He waited a few moments; until his audience became restless, then continued, “If you consider that the world economy is working at its optimum output, that manufacturing is creating as much as it can, that consumers are buying as much as they can, that lenders are lending as much as they can then the economy can only be the size it is. It can only grow with increased demand and productivity which is related to increase in the consumer population which means the market can only grow in proportion to the growth in demand. So if we do what the rich want and allow them to take more of the profits for themselves then it simply reduces the amount of money left for everyone else, this is the reality.”

Ben paused, “but if this is the reality and it is so obvious why then do we allow ourselves to be fooled by the argument? How are we fooled by the argument if it is so obviously flawed? Well, firstly because we trust those telling us. This is significant. Secondly we have the illusion of getting a bigger piece of the pie. How is this so?”

He raised his arms and looked for answers in the crowd, “We appear to be better off because our lifestyles are always being compared to that of our parents or our grandparents; compared to them we are ‘better off’.” He did the ‘inverted commas’ thing with his fingers, “Or are we? What are we judging things against?”

Ben waited for the audience to think for a bit, then answered for them, “We have more ‘things’ than our grandparents had; TVs, washing machines, dish washers, CD players, new kitchens, access to a car, we ‘own’ our homes. If we judge our lifestyles against our parents then yes, again we have more and better ‘things’; Colour TVs, mobile phones, PCs, the Internet, DVD players, all the latest gadgetry; we look at these things and think that we must be better off. Ipso facto; we are ‘better off’ therefore we must be getting a bigger slice of the pie.”

He shook his head, “Not so…what we miss, what we ignore when we come to that conclusion are three things. One: that in our grandparents’ day a lot of those things had not been invented so were not available to buy. Two: in our parents’ time these things were more costly to produce and less affordable whereas today they are mass produced which means they are cheaper to buy. But the third thing we ignore is by far the most critical; spending power and the debt factor and I say we ignore the debt factor at our peril.”

He felt the audience stir; possibly calculating their own level of indebtedness. “Back in the 50s a middle class family could live in a decent sized house, probably rented, possibly council owned, in a well kept street. For some there would be a family car and for most there’d be all the current ‘modcons’ and a seaside holiday. The important thing to note about this is that it would have been achieved on one family income and very little debt, that’s the point, that’s the measure we should use.”

There were a few noises of agreement and a smattering of applause as the audience got the point, “Today it takes two incomes for the average middle class family to achieve what was achieved in the past by one. Even with two incomes most middle class families are struggling with huge mortgages, crippling education debt, child care costs, rising inflation, constant marketing pressures to buy the latest gadget, stress of the long hours spent at work, guilt due to the few hours spent at home. They live with the horror of TV advertising turning their children into junk food addicts, with the flood of internet options isolating their children and the de-socialisation that results … the list of worries goes on and on. But the point is, the average middle class family has less available income today than their parents did.”

Ben took a sip of water from a bottle, “Back in the 50s people had some growth potential in their earning power… if they needed more money the wife, at home with the children, could get a job and bring in extra money. But where’s that growth today? Both partners are already working flat out and they are still struggling with bills, the mortgage, and their mounting debts. There’s no growth potential there. Today we have to work longer hours with less freedom, less upward mobility, less spending power, more debt, more bills and far bigger mortgages.” He pointed out at the audience, “And there is the reality of allowing the rich to take more of the pie than their fair share.”

There was loud applause from the floor.

“Now with regards to this powerfully rich and elite group, exactly what are they doing for their extra money? I mean what can a CEO achieve in a working day that means he or she, and I accept Stephanie’s point that it is usually a ‘he’, is worth several hundred million or even a billion per year? What decisions can they possibly make? What can they do that is worth so much? They can’t bend time so that they work a hundred hours in any given 24 hour period, they can’t make decisions that will suddenly produce millions of pounds and they don’t do any actual work. They make decisions about the long-term strategy based on financial projections provided for them by accountants like Marissa,” he swung round to smile at her, and then swung back, “and on market analysis done by people like me, and the 99% do the work. This is what creates all profits that these companies make, not the actions of the greedy and self opinionated 1%; this tiny minority who have managed to trick everyone into believing that they are somehow superior beings with supreme intellect, with incredibly huge brains.”

He looked around the hall, “It’s all a con and do you know who has helped them run this con? Do you know who has helped make all of this possible? Economists and politicians all of whom have taken the pieces of silver, as Marissa said, to allow the greedy to lie and take more of the pie because in taking their pieces of silver the economists and politicians have themselves gained more of the pie. Make no mistake; the people these greedy rich, economists and politicians have taken their extra pieces from are we, the people; ‘the 99%’.”

He stopped speaking, and looked round the room, taking his time, then he spoke with quiet authority and a hint of threat, “I say to you, it is time to start taking it back.” He turned abruptly and walked back to his seat to a rousing cheer from his audience.

Hope you have a nice week

Cheers

Arun




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