10 oxymorons for the US economy

Whenever I think of US economy and their elites the following oxymorons come to my mind. These oxymorons reflect the pain of the people. The elites come up with a good-for-nothing vision and plan and execute it without and democratic input.

Retire Rich

Most demographic statistics shows that in US baby boomers are heading towards retirement. They were dreaming of retiring rich after giving close to or more than 40 years of their service to the economy, they are unable to retire now. The 2009 Great American Depression wiped out the wealth of these people who were ready to retire. The government and the congress has cut the retirement benefits, social security and health benefits for these people. The evil politicians have made sure that everyone who is in workforce should work till the day they die.

Middle Class

If you are in the middle of some category or ranking it means you don’t belong to a class but a mass. The way politicians all around the world portray as if middle class is going to have a class lifestyle is a blatant lie. The middle class is called middle class it is because it is getting squeezed both by the employers and the government. More and more people are falling below middle class in US. The evil politicians bend the laws and break the barriers for the benefit of companies to provide people only wages and no benefits. The 2009 depression pushed many people off the middle class cliff into the pit of poverty.

Self Regulation

The businesses in capitalistic societies are being portrayed as honest companies which follow rules of self regulation. Self regulation is an oxymoron. If you ask a company to write the list of rules and regulations that they would like to follow. You will pretty much get a blank paper. Self regulation is an oxymoron. Another term that is closely related to this deregulation. The corrupt politicians will tout that deregulation brings innovation and effiency in market. Trust me deregulation is corruption.

Reserve Currency

If there is one thing that the Chinese are good at it is undoubtedly hijacking the US vision. China in the last few years has hijacked two major visions of US. The AIIB started by China is the beginning of the end of Bretton Woods institutions. I really feel proud of China. China is also replacing US as the largest trading partner for more and more countries. US already lost top trading partner spot with many countries to European Union. The latest US vision hijacked by China is the addition of Chinese Renminbi to SDR bucket of IMF. Most of the countries don’t go to IMF for bailout they go to China for bailout. Look at the recent investments of China in Latin America (US’s backyard). The Obama administration gave dumb and silly reasons for countries not to join the China led AIIB. Much to the embrassment of Obama administration most the US allies joined the bank including UK, Germany, Australia and France. US is trying to convince Japan not to Join AIIB but the problem is Japan is the top investor for China and has no choice but to indirectly support it.

Free Trade

After the tragedy of NAFTA, US politicians became wise enough not to call Trade Agreements as Free Trade agreements. Look at the name of TTIP³ and TPP². The free trade agreements are becoming vehicles for companies to setup offshore operations and not bring the profit earned back to US and in essence don’t pay their fair share of tax. The way TPP was negotiated was like a conspiracy. The TTIP is expected to create market monopolies and increase the price of pharma products that will directly increase the soverign debt.

Superpower

History has taught over and over again that superpowers are neither super nor powerful. Looking at the current real economic situation of US the people and politicians in US must be ashamed to call this country a superpower. The concept of Superpower is evil and outdated. This is the age of “People Power”.

Minimum Wage

This is another oxymoron. The crony capitalists and their supporting politicians want a full employment slavery system disguised as legal market place. The irony of minimum wage is that people who earn minimum wage will mostly end up below poverty line after paying their fair share of taxes or sometimes even before paying the tax. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. If someone in this country is working more than 2000 hours per year then it means the government failed to provide better and affordable lifestyle for its people and that country should not talk about human rights. If someone is making $7.25 per hour for 2000 hours an year. They make $14,500 if they are single parent then this income is directly below poverty level in US¹. These people who earn minimum wage mostly don’t get any insurance and paid time-off benefits.

Equal Opportunity

This is one oxymoron that I will always laugh at whenever I see a job posting. I guess this term is used only in legal sense not in conscience sense. There is indirect discrimination when it comes to job opening. The H1B and L1B visas should be renamed to slave visa. These are the people who are getting ripped off the most by both the government and the companies. They don’t have any safety net in this country and yet US touts itself to be an example for human rights and worker rights. If the government does not clear the green card for backlogged countries in 2016 then more American workers will lose their job to workers from India and China. These visa systems with huge back logs in green card process for India and China is not helping the market place to be a level field. Employers are favoring these H1B and L1B workers because they will stick to the company for decades. The so called smart politicians who wanted to increase the H1B visa fees for Indian companies should know that it is at the end the client who pays for everything and they will even sack the American workers to pay for the increased visa fees.

Worker Protection

This is another oxymoron that politicians use to cheat workers in this country. Protection never saves a job only empowerment saves a job. The government and companies don’t invest much in developing the human resources of this country and they get stale after a decade of work and eventually need to be replaced with fresh talent with global experience. These politicians who portray as if they stand for American workers are behind the scenes ripping of these workers by supporting free trade agreements to ship jobs across the continents and reduce unemployment benefits. I really don’t know when the workers in this country will wake up to this truth.

Federal Reserve

I read in one of the Nehru’s books that when asked about the Indian Civil Service during the British era, he said “It is neither Indian nor civil nor a service”. This is what comes to my mind when I think about Federal Reserve. This is a very shady central bank which does not provide a clear definition of its owners and operations. I have only one question for the federal reserve when US dollar is no longer backed by gold then why is Federal Reserve having so much gold⁴. I highly recommend people to read two books to know the real history of Federal Reserve. They are The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by Edward Griffin and The Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins.

Day by day I am seeing more people suffering in this country. When I was working in New York city I used to go to Liberty Island almost every week to see the statue of Lady Liberty. It was such an inspiration and hope for me during the great depression. The poem on its pedestal says “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. I guess the US politicians mistook it and are now making their masses tired, poor and breathless. After all these it is hard to say but I will still say it God Bless America.