Unintended consequences

Submitted by Lindsay
Melbourne Australia!

If we believe a thing to be bad…it is our duty to prevent it and damn the consequences. - Lord Milner, 1909

(11/2021) Well, the revelations of money laundering, fake off-shore accounts and ‘legal’ criminality are emerging in the hundreds. First was the second edition of the Panama papers, once more published by a group of investigative journalists. Second was the 2021 list of corrupt countries.

Both these lists are fascinating and alarming, the first detailing individual and corporate deals to minimize tax. The second applies to countries, the leaders of some also being on the first list.

These are sad lessons that come, in part, from the rebranding of ‘money’ from a promissory note that promised it could be exchanged for other goods, to an item that could be traded in its own right, as though it was made of the real thing. That reality went a long time ago, when the gold standard was dropped. What took its place was the promise of future profit. That fitted in nicely to the Great American Invention of money as god. As the leading nation in manufacturing, high profits, and conservative laws and values, this was a stronghold that no one else could enter, except by invitation.

With the aid of people like Milton Freedman and Ayn Rand, the slogan ‘greed is good’ became the unofficial one of the rich. When the rich found ways of electing their man as president, things were set for the shift. That is, a reverse Robin Hood plan: Take from the poor and give to the rich.

That culminated in the sheriff being elected, only to find that he was the sheriff for himself and no one else. In disarray, they split, and today you have the first person who deserves the title of President for a long time.

That has not stopped the R&P (rich and powerful) from doing what they do best: hiding their wealth where it won’t be found by the taxman. So, the Panama papers are one step towards shining a spotlight onto some very murky places. You may well know someone on there, as Americans seem to love the site. If you are one, you won’t be reading this.

Now to the index of corruption. This is a British group that began he research and site some ten years ago. They are not the purveyors of false information, and are used by journalists, tax offices and international police forces around the world. The figures below are for 2021.

Before you read the next paragraph, close your eyes and try to think who might head the least corrupt country. There are two – one you may pick, but the other?

In joint first place is Denmark and New Zealand. These are followed by Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. Well, where is the U.S.A.?

While you ponder that, the U. K, Canada and Australia are all at eleven. You and Chile are twenty-five, China seventy-eight, India eighty-six. So, how about Russia? One Hundred and Twenty-Nine, the same as Mali, Malawi, Gabon and others.

Now consider, if you will, the countries that have presidents. Looking at this list the fact becomes obvious – presidents mean more corruption. They get the post because they promise stability, freedom, and justice. They rarely give any of them, because, being human, they are also self-serving. They know how to cosy up to the powerful people, who in turn reward them by support.

Think of Marcos in the Philippines, Guardo in Venezuela as recently as 2019, and the list goes on. It has nothing to do with Democracy or religion, ethnicity or beliefs, because without the system of oversight by a monarch, there is trouble. They also know they have won their position because they deserve to.

Presidents are influenced by vested interests, pressure groups, and rarely try reform, because left-leaning presidents are a rarity. Democracy has become a small ‘d’ affair, citizens have reduced rights and freedoms, and all too often the right to vote is a sham.

One reason for this is the belief that, because they have the top job, they deserved it. Their unshakable belief in their own power makes them blind to equality. Their middle name is Hubris.

So, why did you decide to ditch the British system and go with a Republic? Back when you were a growing asset, a burgeoning colony, Britain had just finished fighting France for control of North America. They won, as you know, but their coffers were nearly empty. Their tax-gatherers were the East-India Company, who had grown to be the preeminent trading organisation in the world. The chief source of money was India and the United States, so parliament decided that a tax on goods would do the trick. At that time, your manufacturing industry was tiny, so they stared with everything to do with paper. That was not nearly enough, so they added hardware. This wasn’t enought, so they made the fatal decision to add a tax to tea.

That allowed the burgeoning independence movement to grow, and only those whose prosperity was tied to the trade in British goods opposed it. The war of independence followed, and became the catalyst for your rise to supremacy. Great industrialists, explorers, and developers came, putting their names into the history books, but the one thing that you didn’t get was the safety valve that is part of the British system.

That means that every piece of legislation has to be approved, and signed, by the Monarch, which is something courtesy of Oliver Cromwell. In most cases, that is a rubber stamp, but it has always meant that individual power-plays are never allowed. Your system worked, because your Presidents had a firm foundation of the meaning of Democracy, were honourable and accountable. That started to erode after the Second World War, when a move for the far right.

But then, America is unique in another way: You are the only country in the world who worships money. That has nothing to do with having a President, it is the inheritance of the first settlers and the riches they found. Great industrialists emerged, oil was found at exactly the right time, industry galloped ahead, the poor went up the slippery slope, a new middle class was created, and what could go wrong?

Power, they say, corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Nixon was your flag-bearer it this, culminating in Trump.

He had only one aim in becoming President – self-glory and profit. What a horrible outcome of greed. People are only human, they say, but given the opportunity, bad people become outright crooks. And looking down the list of your presidents, it is all too clear which party they belonged to. The rich are different. They care less about those that are not. They are blue-bloods and vote blue.

Now for some good news: here in Victoria, Australia, we have thrown off the label of the ‘lock-down’ state. Tomorrow and tomorrow we dine, we travel, grin and catch up. Maybe even get back to the office.