{"id":167,"date":"2021-02-26T07:04:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T07:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/?p=167"},"modified":"2021-03-01T23:11:09","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T23:11:09","slug":"the-social-contract-is-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/?p=167","title":{"rendered":"The Social Contract is a Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You\u2019re dating yourself \u2026 but remember (no) back in the 90\u2019s when Newt Gringrich (yes if you are young that is a name) and the Republicans crafted that \u201cContract with America,\u201d and how almost immediately the joke (a primitive meeemmm<\/em>) became \u201cContract on America,\u201d and funnily enough, that\u2019s just about what it turned out to be?  Isn\u2019t that just the tits? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, this new and improved social contract between government and its citizens placed greater responsibility for sustaining society on the citizens, and freed up businesses to do as please.  Nii-hii-hhice<\/em>.  It\u2019s guuud to be Gub\u2019mnt, and even better to be BigBiz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now this is funny.  I like this.  Like, dar\u2019near more\u2019n 200 years earlier at the exact \u2026 same \u2026 time \u2026 as the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE [aHAHA!] that Adam Smith described those moneyed individuals that made up BigBiz in 1776 (manufacturers\/merchants = the folks who built stuff and sold stuff) and called them the \u201cmasters of mankind\u201d (really?  \u201cmasters\u201d?  of everybody?  seems a little arrogant\/they poop(ed) too\u2013digress) and identifies \u201call for us, none for others\u201d as the controlling economic dogma \u2013 the \u201cvile maxim\u201d \u2013 for the wealthy \u2026 an evil gospel, so to speak.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

haHA!  Yeh.  Wow.  That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith said that if society failed to keep businesses in check (hello taxes \/ greetings regulations) it would likely result in a consolidation of power (does everyone have Googly eyes?) and monopolization of markets (Xfinity? I know that’s you Comcast, hussy in a tight dress) in the moneyed classes (hello BigBiz!) at the expense of the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUT!  The masses will be fine because \u201ccredit.\u201d  I get that.  Tickling my monkey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wealthy get that way and stay that way because they are horrible people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well I consider myself to be a horrible person\u2014wait. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could that mean I am intended to be wealthy, yet I am behaving in a manner that is entirely contrary to my innate nature (see 1 Tim. 6:10) \u2026 or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wealthy are not horrible people, and the notion of hoarding resources to the destruction of others is perfectly acceptable human conduct \u2026 or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suppose then we need to define \u201chorrible\u201d for purposes of this exercise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps later.  Moving on<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALSO! also found out (this movie was so cool) that James Madison (one of the actual<\/em> guys who signed the actual<\/em> US Constitution back in 1787 whoo-hoo!) believed that it had to be written is such a way as to \u201cprotect the minority of the opulent from the majority\u201d because safeguarding property rights is \u2026 like \u2026 why \u2026 we\u2019re all \u2026 y’know … here.  Gimme the stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate \u201cRequiem for an American Dream\u201d with Noam Chomsky is an easy, informative watch on the tubes ofYou, and he describes how wealth is power and power is politics and politics is power and wealth is politics and ad infinitum, and that humans have been in this particular money = mess for a long, long time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even written into the Constitution.  Yesss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I thought democracy was about the Voice<\/u><\/strong> of the Peeeople<\/em> in the Laws<\/u><\/em> that Con<\/u><\/strong>trol<\/em> Their<\/em> Liiives<\/u><\/em> \u2026 oh, wait.  Is that laughter?  No?  moving on<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looks like this whole democracy thing was a sham too, good to know, because the guys writing the founding document \u2013 oh wait; were those \u2026 \u201cmasters of mankind\u201d \u2026? hunh \u2013 intended to shelter their stuff with the implicit interpretation of wealth as power, and institutionalizing the protection of wealth as the first principle of a burgeoning nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living under debt is so prevalent that the latest masters of mankind have coined a new phrase:
   the Precariat; the proletariat in a precarious financial and economic state \u2026 awesome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick distinction with a difference:  finance = money, economics = markets \u2026 \u00e0 la food, clothing, shelter concern the economics\/economy, whereas paying for those things involves the financial \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sum, welcome to the Precariat = the working poor with few resources and less access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also this book of cold manipulative genius called \u201cThe 48 Laws of Power\u201d \u2013 read it, human-sucksteristicness confirmed \u2013 and 7th<\/sup> law is to get others to do all the work while you take\/get all the credit \u2026 which sounds a lot like the \u201cvile maxim\u201d of the wealthy.  {Ezekiel 34:3<\/em>}  Hmmm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps all those so-called \u201cmasters of mankind\u201d could do us a collective favor by embracing more of the \u201cmankind\u201d and less of the \u201cmaster\u201d \u2026 but that\u2019s asking entirely too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will every society formed by man fail for greed?  I think yes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buuuttt \u2026 and here is where GOD! sent me a little reminder \u2026
see Voltaire\u2019s quote: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in the alternative, people just have to stop being poor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how to do that when the educational, financial, and economic systems of the nation coupled with the policies and practices of government are explicitly designed to maintain that abundance of the poor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ya know \u2026 at his time … George Washington & friends? … buncha terr\u2019rists.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heh. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re dating yourself \u2026 but remember (no) back in the 90\u2019s when Newt Gringrich (yes if you are young that is a name) and the Republicans crafted that \u201cContract with America,\u201d and how almost immediately the joke (a primitive meeemmm) became \u201cContract on America,\u201d and funnily enough, that\u2019s just about what it turned out to … <\/p>\n

Read the full post →“The Social Contract is a Hit”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-debt-monkeys-the-credit-circus","category-stayaway"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moneyaintmath.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}