On My Elitist High Horse George Will Is No Friend of Joe Sixpack

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George Will’s column (Candidate on a High Horse) this past Tuesday joins Hillary Clinton in questioning whether Barack Obama insulted working class voters with his comments on religion and guns. The article suggests that Obama's condescending rhetoric was influenced by an obscure Columbia University professor who died 11 years before Obama "matriculated” there. Of course, only George Will would use words like “matriculate” in a column that purports to expose the elitist views of others. But, then again, what do you expect from the bow-tie-wearing disciple of Bill Buckley, whose aristocratic mannerisms were so annoying?

In the article, Will explores the lofty ideas of economist John Kenneth Galbraith on how the "bovine public" can be manipulated under the supervision of a "progressive elite." Of course, Will doesn’t deign to explore the “elitist” views of Professor Carroll Quigley who taught Hillary’s husband at Georgetown, and who Bill quoted several times during his acceptance speech at the 1992 Democratic Convention. That would be getting just a bit too close to revealing who the real "elites" are.

Will didn't need to turn to the economist, Galbraith, or to the philosophy of Obama's professors at Columbia to explain how the public is manipulated. He could have simply looked at his own profession, and the well-known tactics of "yellow journalism" practiced by newspaper magnates like Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The latter was known for his influence in promoting public support for the war in Spain, and he was once reputed to have told his correspondents, "you furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." Sensational wars sell newspapers. If you happen to be part of the military industrial complex, they also sell lots of other things too.

Selling wars of aggression to Joe Sixpack has been refined to a science since the days of Hearst. But, after Joe Sixpack starts feeling the effects of inflation or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the "elites" simply move on to the next phase of the marketing campaign, which often coincides with an election year. Without missing a beat, the newspapers start talking about “limousine liberals” who can't relate to us working stiffs. Or, they point out how George Herbert Walker Prescott Bush couldn't quote the price of milk (or was it Bob Dole). And even though Bill Clinton assured Americans that he could feel our pain, he too was eventually exposed as an elitist for getting $500 haircuts.

George Will likes to use an economist like Galbraith to give his column gravitas, but he doesn’t mention inflation as a source of discontent for Joe Sixpack. Surely George Will knows that a barrel of oil cost less than $40 when Bush’s war began. And yet, he passes up a golden opportunity to explain to Joe Sixpack how such inflation is tied to the Iraq war and the loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. Certainly George Will is smart enough to know that the fiat money created by the Federal Reserve is needed to wage expensive wars, and that it benefits those who receive the newly printed dollars first, namely government contractors like Halliburton, who get the money before the full effects of the monetary inflation set in. But, George Will doesn’t waste time educating Joe Sixpack about those economic realities, and he sneers at guys like Congressman Ron Paul who dare to talk about it. And Will certainly isn’t going to direct the attention of Joe Sixpack to budget cuts for the Veterans Administration while the rest of the federal budget balloons through the stratosphere.

It is ironic that Will invoked the ghost of Galbraith who once famously said, "The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled." Although he served in four successive administrations, Galbraith was not part of the Nixon Administration when the gold standard was completely abandoned. The ability to create money out of thin air (hence the term “fiat” money) made it much easier to conceal the true costs of the Vietnam war and the expansion of government. When Nixon’s monetary policy resulted in inflation (i.e., the very definition of an increased supply of money) and unemployment, he simply imposed wage and price controls that would make any totalitarian proud. And now, the ruling “elite” in both parties are ready to go even further down the path of totalitarianism by putting the Federal Reserve in charge of the entire faltering economy even though the Fed (with no real opposition from either party, with the exception of Ron Paul) caused the mess in the first place.

What did the Fed do to cause the problem and how will the Fed’s solution make things even worse for Joe Sixpack? The Federal Reserve made credit incredibly cheap by holding rates artificially low (at “emergency” levels) for several years. During this period, banks and brokerages originated sub-prime loans and floated mortgage-backed securities that would never have been created in the absence of artificially cheap credit. The credit bubble is now (predictably) starting to burst, but the Fed is preparing to bail out the banks and brokerages by simply inflating the money supply further, which will be used to purchase the bad loans and worthless securities that are held by the failing banks and brokerages.

Why should Joe Sixpack worry if the banks and brokerages fail? After all, Joe probably doesn’t have more money in the bank than the FDIC insured limit of $100K, right? And, shouldn’t the banks and brokerages be allowed to fail since they made billions in fees from originating the now failed loans and from floating the now worthless securities? Wouldn’t Joe Sixpack lose his house if he defaulted on the loan(s) he obtained? Probably. So there’s no way that Joe Sixpack should end up paying the tab to bail out banks and brokerages, right? Wrong. When the Fed increases the monetary supply to accomplish the bail out, the banks and brokerages will benefit first, and then the inflationary effect of the increased monetary supply will be felt (i.e., “paid for”) by Joe Sixpack here and across the entire globe.

That’s the game plan. Joe pays for it all. Call it inflation, a hidden tax or outright theft. Whatever name you use, it represents a heist of monumental proportions. Robin Hood in reverse. Steal from poor old Joe Sixpack, and give to the ruling class. As the presidential candidates accuse each other of being elites, they are confident that Joe Sixpack will never catch on. In fact, the real elites will urge Joe Sixpack to tar and feather anyone who suggests that Joe has been manipulated using patriotism, faith, or outright fear. And Joe Sixpack will respond on cue. Instead of admitting colossal mistakes at the ballot box and on the battle field, Americans will simply transform the mistakes into saints like FDR or Abe.

Speaking of saints, Pope Benedict will be in the U.S. this week, and he is not likely to canonize George W. Bush anytime soon. In fact, Benedict did not even attend the State dinner being held in his honor by the White House. Benedict will do his part to combat the forces of evil by saying that we must not allow ourselves to be afraid. Benedict will also say, once again, that religion should not be used to incite violence. The neocon pundits will say that Benedict is standing up against Islamofascism and Ahmadinejad in Iran, and unfortunately, the Muslim world has its own version of Joe Sixpack who will play right into the neocons' hands.

When the public is so easy to manipulate, both at home and abroad, can there be any real obstacle to the "elites" who want to send Joe Sixpack off to war? The biggest obstacle to such warmongers is someone like the Pope, whose patriotism begins and ends with the Kingdom of God, and whose message is directed equally at Western nations who try to impose “democracy” (a false religion) on others through violence. Unfortunately, the easiest way to prevent Benedict’s message from really sinking in among the citizens of the world would be to…start another war….

Anyway, getting back to George Will’s article, I guess the only thing I really have to say is that I’d rather have a beer with Benedict XVI (preferably a nice German lager) than a shot of Crown Royal with Hillary any day, and I don't expect McCain, Obama or George Will to show up at my favorite tavern anytime soon. If only we could figure out a way to elect Dr. Paul as President so that he can not only end the shooting wars, but also the failed War on Drugs too. Then Joe Sixpack might really start catching a break.

April 19, 2008