I'm going to shamelessly copy comments from a column by Rabbi Emeritus Dow Marmur (Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto) from the Toronto Star today. He said " Those who fight for freedom in the Arab world believe that exposing the powerful elites and their ill-gotten gains is essential to the success of the revolution. Commentators about the looters in London have pointed to the massive wealth of the few and the growing needs of the many. Israelis are rebelling against the high prices of food and housing, against the dozen families that own most of the countries wealth and against the disproportionately high subsidies for the Jewish settlers in the West Bank".
What we are seeing throughout the world is a rapid change by governments from managing for the pulbic good to managing their countries for the good of the elites. As evidence he quotes statistics saying "all the action of the American economy was at the top; the richest 1 percent of households earned as much each year as the bottom 60 percent put together; they possessed as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent".
Throughout the ages some families have accumulated massive wealth. They had choices about what to do with the wealth, hoard it of share it. Money in its own right has no value except for how people use it. They can invest in social enterprise, create jobs, prosperity for the peole or they will eventually lose it when the people rise up as they periodically do such as the French Revolution and even the Amrican Revolution.
It seems that the wealthy today are hoarding their wealth. We see the American government is paralyzed by the rich who resist every effort by liberal politicians to improve the lot of the American public. Right wing politicians and their greedy financiers would rather see the country become third rate than do what is right for the people whose money they have largely stolen anyway.
Eventually the crunch will come and the people will rise up against them. It is impossible to say when or how it may happen but history cannot be denied.
I suggest, humorously, that you are unlikely to cause the "richest 1 percent of households" to engage in a controversial discussion on this subject. If money-grabbing Keven O'Leary is an example (Which he probably isn't) we will need to wait for Hell to freeze over.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I totally agree with your spin on the subject but feel totally inadequate with regards to changing the situation because, as the rabbi implied, governments are controlled by the elite and unless I win a 'Be A King For The Day' competition it seems that we will need to await the revolution.
In fear of digression, I noticed that the rabbi focusses on the "disproportionately high subsidies for the Jewish settlers in the West Bank" rather than the legality of the settlement itself ... but that's another story.
I made a comment in answer to you Bernie but it wouldn't accept it. I didn't even use a no no word or phrase.
ReplyDeleteI guess I did it wrong the first time.
ReplyDeleteYou mean a phrase such as 'Zionist terrorists'!
ReplyDeleteI wrote this Blog posting early in September. Strange what has happened since, the "Occupy Wall Street" protest broke out and has spread all over the world. We are the 99% they say. They are not organized but the mob that created the French Revolution or the mob that met in Freedom Square in Cairo were not organized either.
ReplyDeleteWill the protests change the world? The US government is already beginning new wars is Africa that they will not win so it will take a great deal of people power to change things in America. Is there a candidate for President on the horizon that might change the way the Industrial Military complex controls what happens there and affects all the rest of the world? Obama failed, the next guy may be a Republican and they are even worse in that respect.
There's a revolution brewing in South Africa. The ANC has terminated the president of the Youth League, which seems to have 70% of the black vote.
ReplyDeleteI still can't find this Blog on the Dashboard so cannot create a new blog for today's date.
ReplyDeleteShould I stop this one an resurrect one of the old ones?