Tioga Herald

REVIEW: Morning Joe & book, The Whiteness of Wealth

Thank you, Dr. Dorothy A. Brown (author of The Whiteness of Wealth: : How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans–and How We Can Fix It), adding to the author, Heather McGhee (The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How we Can Prosper Together). The problem is evident with regard to taxes which are designed for the most wealthy individuals in America and that means white people benefit more. Well said.

My problem is in the sub-title of the book. As Stacey Abrams says, “we stand firm on our values, but can compromise on our actions.” I stand with Dr. Brown in the values of human equality which she points out in the title. I have some concerns about the part of the sub-title of “how we can fix it.”

Yes, Dr. Brown gives us some good insight on solutions for the problem. And we should all recognize her for coming up with solutions and standing forth with such solutions. Thank you, Dr. Brown.

My problem, though, for which I have written over and over again, is that people look at capitalism through the lenses and perspectives of the wealthy white people for more than 200 years now. They have played lip service to the ideas defined by Adam Smith whose intent was to change economics of supply siders who are white aristocrats since the Middle Ages (the Dark Ages). The industrial revolution, according to these people, is the result of capitalism. It’s the result of the aristocratic white folks who thought it would be nice to play lip service to Adam Smith. In fact, I argue that the industrial revolution has merely been a repeat of the agribusiness and agricultural plantation systems. The level of impact may have been better for the white Europeans who flocked her voluntarily to work in sweat shops where many died, but the concept is the same as enslavement of Africans. Yes. Slavery is far worse. No denial of that. But the CONCEPT is very similar. Do I make my point in this regard?

What America is facing, as a result of this twisted version of capitalism is something in which the wealthy Roosevelts tried to twist back and who is it that attacks such people? White wealthy ones which newspapers at the end of the 19h and beginning of the 20th Century identified as “fat cats.” I use those words, but sad to say, no one follows suit. Perhaps if I say, “white fat cats?” Sadly, there are many African-Americans who do follow suit with wealth and become “black fat cats,” too. As Whoopi Goldberg said, “we all need to get on the same page.”

Marx, too, opposed this capitalism defined by white supremacist aristocrats. To solve the problem, he suggested something which was adopted by the former Soviet Union in the same way the white aristocracy adopted capitalism to fit the status quo which had already existed. Whether czars or monarchies of Europe, it’s the same thing. Communists using the Marx ideas by playing lip service to them, but creating a the same type of centralized planned economic system which the czars had, but calling it something different and tossing away religion, due to the fault of religion being controlled by hypocrites, and proclaiming a religion of atheism. After all, religion was the “opiate of the masses.” Yes. But God and the spirituality of God is NOT the opiate of the masses. That’s the point people don’t get. Even the Founding Fathers in America, in spite of their embracing enslavement of a people, had a better idea than Marx with regard to their Deist beliefs.

Taking theologian, Adam Smith’s ideas, and turning those ideas to their own favor and continuing the status quo which favored their wealthy asses (they called assets), gave us the industrial revolution and the herding of people into cities and urban areas so they could create a caste system which favored their asses. They allowed small business to thrive in America, but it thrived best in rural areas, not urban areas where big corporate conglomerates and monopolies could rule and drive small business out of existence, creating the same type of centralized planning and control which the Soviets used and which now still exists in Russia. The communists only used black Americans for their own benefit to gain control of the world. Does one think they truly had the human condition in mind? Give me a break. Adam Smith found out that free markets create monopolies and this went against the ideas of Jesus Christ, so he changed his mind in his later years. However, the aristocratic white fat cats embraced Smith’s earlier ideas which give us this idea that “free markets” are good and overlooking what ultimately happens with “free markets” as competition in a capitalist economic system is destroyed and supply side monopolies which regulate the markets as they are able to, with s*** like Citizens United Supreme Court Decision, destroy (deregulation) government regulation – by a third party.

In this sense, These white fat cat aristocrats love deregulation because it means they can also invoke Jim Crow and other laws in “private business” and they work to stop the government from interfering, as we are watching as it happens today in Georgia (and other state) voter suppression laws.

Thus, I see tax reform through the lenses and perspectives I just defined. I agree with the author who spoke on Morning Joe. Tax credits are designed for the wealthy ones which consist mostly of white people. No doubt about this. My take on this is what conservatives in an earlier era in my life said and for which no conservatives today even mention, while CLAIMING to be conservative. There is too damn much of this political spectrum. People saying, “I have to follow what the conservatives are saying.” Or. “I have to follow what the liberals or progressives are saying.” Ultimately, the entire political spectrum is looking at this through false lenses and working to bring people aboard their “ship.” Even the liberals and progressives are doing the same and thus get attacked as being “socialists” or “communists.” Their values are good, but their solutions get sidetracked by false perspectives. I have yet to hear anyone, except some like Joe Scarborough, even come close to saying what the Progressive Bull Moose Party said in the teens of the last century. Who was the leader of this movement? Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

My solution is to abolish the income tax and the sales tax. Replace it all, at national and in states like New York, with the value added tax. It becomes a more transparent tax added to the value of products and not seen by the average person, including not requiring the bull manure of paper work which the average person in America needs to do to file income taxes. For small business people, too, this is better, plus the elimination of the sales tax. They sell the product at the price determined by manufacturer, producer and government. In addition to small business (or other businesses), government could reduce expenses, as well. Business and individuals no longer face a regressive tax which penalizes making an income and, if done properly, could lower the overhead and make for better profit margins, rather than looking for tax credits which help fund corporate welfare primarily for the white fat cats. Think of how much money it costs America to support, financially, tax collectors, accountants, and lawyers, so we have more money for education and healthcare for all, which is sorely needed as teachers, professors, nurses, are often the first ones on the chopping block of economics and commerce. How about putting accountants and lawyers on the chopping block instead and in the process, helping non-white people to succeed in a better human equality environment?

Again. Thanks to Morning Joe in bringing these authors to light. I hope we hear more about this.