Capitalism is what made America the greatest economic and military super power on the face of the planet. However, run away capitalism will destroy America, unless it is harnessed. But first, the American people need to know what a harness looks like before they can use one.

For most people "capitalism" means business, but for some people capitalism is a game, similar to the board game "Monopoly". The object of both the board game and the real life game is to build wealth through the accumulation of money, real estate, and corporate equities. But, unlike the board game, which is just for fun, the real life game is played for keeps, and their are real life consequences for the losers.

When I first started playing the board game "Monopoly" I was completely honest and I would win or lose based on the roll of the dice and pure chance. However, I learned that if I was the banker I could slip myself some extra cash and properties, when no one was looking, and I would always end up winning. I knew it was dishonest, but it was kind of fun just trying to see if I could get away with it.

I think that a dishonest mentality is what has happened to some of America's most successful capitalist, and it's this small group that is ruining the game for everyone else.

What if the record high gas prices are really just a collusion and conspiracy among the big oil companies and the formers oil executives, who are now running our government, to fatten their bottom lines? Last year ExxonMobil reported a record profit of $25 billion on record sales of $256 billion.

What if the war in Iraq is really just a manufactured conflict designed to pump billion dollars into the military-industrial complex? The U.S. has been in Iraq for almost three years and the cost is approaching $400 billion dollars.

What if Bush's Social Security privatization plan is really just a scheme to help Wall Street bankers make piles of cash? It is estimated that the cost of establishing and managing these private accounts will be well over $1 trillion dollars over a ten year period.

What if these extremely high federal deficits are really just part of a plan to bankrupt the federal government so that its assets can be acquired for pennies on the dollar? The U.S. government owns assets in excess of $100 trillion dollars and these assets belong to the American people, unless it becomes insolvent, then they will belong to the highest bidder.

It is obvious to me that because of a few dishonest multi-billionaire capitalist players the playing field is no longer level. They have tilted the playing field in their favor by hoarding their wealth, by not paying their fair share of taxes, by manipulating the rules of the game (laws), and by monopolizing their positions of power and influence through ruthless, corrupt, and illegal practices.

One way these capitalist have been monopolizing their positions of power is through the federal tax code. They have successfully lobbied enough government legislators to change the tax code to favor them, and to prevent potential challengers from rising up to their level. In fact, they have been so successful at manipulating the tax code that middle class workers now pay a higher percentage of their incomes in taxes then do multi-billionaires. In fact, the richer you are the less you have to pay in taxes, and even less if you are willing to be dishonest. And if you are willing to be disloyal to America by hiding some of your wealth in one of the off-shore island banking centers, that now hold over $10 trillion dollars from American capitalist, you can avoid paying even more taxes.

America's tax code, which was made legal by the sixteenth amendment to the Constitution, was designed to work the opposite way that it works now. In fact, up until around 1950 most middle class workers were not required to pay any federal income taxes, zero, and the estate tax only taxed the extremely large estates. Also, the top tax rate for the highest income earners was over 90%. It was this type of highly progressive tax code that made America the greatest economic and military super power on the face of the earth, but that all changed starting with the Reagan administration.

The Reagan administration reduced the number of tax brackets from 16 down to 2, and it reduced the top tax rates from 70% to 28%. This change in our tax laws resulted in a huge tax cut for the very rich, and it moved everyone else into a higher tax bracket. These tax cuts coupled with massive increases in military spending caused the federal deficit to skyrocket adding almost $2 trillion dollars to the debt in eight years, and another $2 trillion in the four years following his administration.

The Reagan administration also doubled the Social Security tax resulting in huge surpluses into the Social Security lockbox which were immediately siphoned off to pay for his huge tax cuts for the rich. This tax increase also had the effect of further shifting the tax burden off the rich and onto the backs of middle class workers.

As a result of Reagan's highly regressive tax policies the people paying the highest percentage of their incomes in taxes were self-employed individuals making between $40k - $60k per year.  

Another example of these dishonest capitalist manipulation activities was the Savings & Loan "crisis" of the 1980's during the Reagan administration. Some dishonest capitalist sent their lobbyist to lobby the dishonest politicians in Washington, and these corrupt politicians deregulated the S&L industry. As soon as they did the capitalist went to work robbing the S&L's. Eight years later most of the S&L's were insolvent and the federal government stepped in with a $500 billion dollar bailout. Mean while, a bunch of landowners, developers, and speculators walked away scot-free with a huge mountain of the taxpayers money, including two members of the Bush family.

Then there is the dishonest capitalist game of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants, which kind of go hand in hand. The capitalist who are in the business of trafficking illegal drugs and immigrants do not report these activities, they do not pay taxes to the IRS, they are not regulated by the government (at least not that we are allowed to know about), and they don't directly associate themselves with these transactions.

The illegal drug business in America is estimated to be as high as $100 billion dollars a year. This billion dollar black-market industry has spawn another billion dollar industry to launder that dirty drug money. Some believe the war in Afghanistan was really about getting rid of the Taliban so that drug cultivation could resume.

The illegal immigrant business is just as big and just as profitable as the illegal drug business. The illegal immigrant business has been providing low cost labor for the past 50 years, and during that time this mostly Mexican labor has built most of the real estate developments in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. And now these cheap Mexican laborers are used to maintain all that developed real estate and to work in the fast-food businesses the landlords own.

Now, the dishonest capitalist are working a whole new bunch of scams. Like the scam to rip off the trillion dollar Social Security system through a corrupt privatization plan. The Medicare scam that is giving hundreds of billions of dollars to the already highly profitable drug and insurance companies. The "kill the estate tax" scam so that the dishonest capitalist can keep all their ill gotten gains, forever. And there is the biggest scam of all, the scam to bankrupt the federal government so that it will be forced it to sell off its trillions of dollars in assets for pennies on the dollar to the highest bidder.

If Bush and the Republicans in Congress are successful in getting these scams enacted into law our democracy and middle class is history.

Also, the Forbes list of the "400 Richest Americans" is fiction. The people at the top of this list are not the richest people in America, not by a long shot. The peoples who's names should be at the top of the list are not even on the list. They hide their identities just like they hide their ill gotten wealth. They do this because if the American people ever found out who they are, and how much wealth they posses, their would be a non-stop chorus of public out-cries for more progressive tax laws, criminal investigations, and campaign finance reforms.

I point my finger at President Bush and the Republicans in Congress and blame them, but by now it should be obvious who is whoring themselves for who. And the Democrats in Congress get their campaign money from many of the same people who fund the Republican's campaigns, and they don't want to stick their necks out too far and end up unemployed, or dead.

So it appears that these dishonest capitalist are winning the real life game of "Monopoly", and the politicians in Washington are co-conspirators in this treasonous effort. If these dishonest people win this greedy capitalist game the American people are going to be the losers. And if the American people do lose this game they will need to learn how to live like Mexicans because they will no longer have any real upward mobility, no real opportunities, no real wealth, and no real government representation.

Several of my friends who are self-employed small businessmen are totally brainwashed by the right-wing's propaganda. They believe that a flat tax, no estate tax, Social Security privatization, and a smaller federal government are good for them. When I try to educate them about some of the history and current realities they appear to understand and agree, but then they keep right on parroting the same backwards right-wing ideology. I really don't know what it would take to un-brainwash them, except maybe a harsh dose of reality that hits them directly in their wallets, or hits one of their close family members. However, I'm afraid when that moment comes it will be too late for all of us. Their regret and sorrow will be wasted emotions.    

The American people have been busy rolling the dice, talking to their friends and family members, and watching television when they should have been watching the bankers, lobbying their elected government officials, and suing the corporations that even looked like they might be doing something wrong. I guess if we had been paying closer attention to our history lessons instead of our business lessons, or what silly show is on TV, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.

Most Americans are oblivious to the mess our economy and democracy is in because they still have decent paying jobs, they get to vote, and they have easy access to goods and services. However, by the time the harsh reality of what we lost becomes obvious it will be too late to doing anything about it.

Don't wait until your regret is all of our sorrow before you open you mind to the truth. If you wait until it's to late the "trial of tears" will be from your eyes and it will lead you to a place you don't want to be.

The following quotes, charts, and images should help to clarify my points, and expose the urgent need for immediate corrective actions.

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money powers prays upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln (1864)

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln (1864)

"If we do not attack organized crime with weapons and techniques as effective as their own, they will destroy us." - Robert F. Kennedy

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad for morals; we now know that it is bad for economics." - Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 20, 1937)

"My father told me that all businessmen were sons-of-bitches, but I never believed him until now." - John F. Kennedy

"Economic justice can be measured by the screams of anguish from the very rich." - John Kenneth Galbraith

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." - Dwight D. Eisenhower (January 17, 1961)

"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder." - George Washington

"When I first met the President, he called me 'Pablo,'" Wellstone jokes. "That lasted a day or two. Then they started trying to figure out how they were going to get rid of me." - Paul Wellstone

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason." - Thomas Paine (18th-century)

Bush lies, but the number don't.

Don't be a sheep unless you like the idea of living in a cardboard box under a bridge.