BlackNotBlack.com

A Delivery System for Sugar

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been discussing the upcoming U.S. elections with various friends, and I surprised myself by coming up with what I thought was a pretty good analogy for politics. Some time ago I heard a comic say that a cookie is simply a delivery system for sugar. You mix some flour and butter with whatever ingredients you prefer for flavor—peanut butter, for example, or chocolate chips, or oatmeal—and then you add in two cups of sugar. When you bite into the baked cookie the flavors taste great, but it’s the sugar that you were after all along. It’s the sugar you crave. There are other ways to get it—you could simply pour it down your throat. But that would be uncouth, gluttonous, and disgusting to witness. By using cookies as a delivery system everyone is happy.

In exactly the same way, politics are a delivery system for money. It would be incredibly disgusting if the government simply handed bales of tax money to the rich and powerful, so politics serve as the medium of transference. There are various other ingredients, but it’s the transfer of cash that is the ultimate goal. I doubt if Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and the rest truly intended it this way, but there is no doubt that, here and now, politics exist to funnel money upward. This process, unchecked since Republican deregulation and privatization began in the 80s, is the primary reason the gap between rich and poor is vast and widening. We are reminded what the concept of a wealth gap really means when we hear that the richest 225 people in the world have more money than the three billion poorest.

One of the subjects my friends and I discussed was how the Iraq war is a textbook case of disaster capitalism. When nine billion dollars went missing in Baghdad, this was a surprise to everyone except the contractors who had intended to steal the money all along. In Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11, there is a scene in which a convention hall filled with American contractors meet to discuss the impending war. The buzz in the room is electric. The speaker begins by reassuring everyone present that there is enough money to be made on the war to make them all happy. He says, “We’re talking about a very big pie here, and there is plenty for everyone.”

The pie he is referring to is American tax money. Nine billion of it was shipped to Iraq—in actual cash—mostly in twenty dollar denominations. This tax money, which overworked Americans give in exchange for the government’s promise that it will be used to pay the costs of maintaining a healthy and safe society, was instead earmarked for the Iraqi people. I have no quibble there—the Iraqis needed a stable everyday currency, since theirs would be useless. At the time it was suggested that the money would be repaid through oil revenue. But the Iraqis got squat. Instead some of the money was sucked away by contractors who were overcharging the U.S. government for services—i.e. $420,000 for meals which in reality cost $43,000—and the rest was simply stolen. No wonder the room was abuzz in Fahrenheit 9/11. It was going to be Christmas in the fertile crescent.

But it isn’t quite as easy to steal money in a country that isn't shattered by war, so in the United States, sleight-of-hand is needed. Sometimes, in order to facilitate the flow of cash, American politicians use an illusion called “tax cuts”, which invariably are kickbacks to the rich. Sometimes they use a trick called "federal grants", which they give to businesses owned by people who need no financial help whatsoever. But in all cases, money earned by regular American taxpayers is given to rich men and powerful corporations. We have Milton Friedman, among others, to thank for such Machiavellian economics. If there is a hell, non-existent readers, there’s a special one for Milty and all the pseudo tough guys who worship him.

These days American televisions are occupied almost full-time by 2008 presidential candidates, all vying to replace George W. Bush. On one level, replacing jib-jab is a plum assignment, simply because nobody could do worse. After an eight year run that saw environmental laws gutted, the mad dog of business set loose on the American people, and the planet’s first civilization blasted into rubble, the next president could be selected from the ranks of the criminally insane and still outperform G.W. On the other hand, I have yet to hear anything to indicate that the new candidates are going rectify the systemic wrongs that have brought all this to pass. More disturbingly, I haven’t heard anything to indicate that Americans truly expect it. Which means the sugar will be delivered the same as always.

Labels: contractors, G.W. Bush, Iraq

posted by Egan Ehlers @ 8:56 PM