The Private Sector is Doing Fine

The end of democracy and defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of the lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.  Thomas Jefferson

Earlier this month President Obama made the comment that “the private sector is doing fine”, for which the right has excoriated him.  Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney claims the President is “out of touch” with mainstream America.  I suppose it all depends on your definition of just who is the private sector. 

Is the private sector the company CEO’s or the workers that they exploit?  Working class Americans are struggling, but CEO’s and other corporate executives are living the good life and piling up the cash with impunity. All while the republican machine continues to vilify the working class and singing the praises of corporate greed.

When Governor Romney and his surrogates pontificate on the state of the economy we often hear about the “job killing” regulations and restrictions that President Obama has imposed on US business.  That claim is a bald-faced lie. 

Millions of American workers are unemployed or under employed, but corporate profits are at record highs.  Corporations are flush with cash, but that cash is going into the pockets of executives and stock holders, not for job creation or payroll increases for workers who may have experienced salary reductions or at best no salary increase for several years.  The web site Oregonstrongvoice.org reported last year (07/2011) that compensation for corporate CEO has increased 23% from 2010 through 2011.  The same article reports that the record profits are due to “reductions in wages and benefits”, and that labor compensation is at a 50-year low relative to US GDP and company sales.

Writing for MarketWatch, Rex Nutting reported in July 2011, that according to the US Commerce Department for the years 2008 – 2010 corporate profits were $343 billion higher than previously estimated, but that income for workers and families was $265 billion lower than estimated over the same period.   

Earlier this year, (April 4, 2012) Matt Krantz wrote in USA Today that US business interest reported a 6.7% profit growth, on average, for the first quarter of 2012.  It was the tenth consecutive period of profit growth with 81% of companies exceeding expectations.  Still the American worker is suffering.  The record profits for companies and the dire straits many workers are suffering are the result of unmitigated greed.  It seems the republicans and their backers have taken Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” to a new level believing greed is godly. 

I say this because so many conservatives base their worldview and their politics on their interpretation of Christianity, and biblically speaking, they have that interpretation very wrong.

The Bible has much to say on greed and on how society should treat the poor and down trodden, those Jesus calls “the least of these”.  In the story of the Israeli exodus from Egypt God supplied daily food for His people in the form of Manna.  The people were instructed to gather what they needed for each day.  They were not to store the food up for long-term use, only enough to feed themselves and their families for that day.  In Leviticus 19 God instructs the Israelites on harvesting their crops, and when doing so they are not to pick the fields and vineyards clean, but are to leave some around the edges, and any crops that are dropped should be left for “the poor and the foreigners living among you”.  The Mosaic Law is replete with instructions on proper treatment of the poor and needy, all of which stand in stark contrast with the current mindset of the political right in America. 

Additionally, Jesus himself had much to say about the treatment of the poor and much of it directed at the religious leaders of his day.  However, one of his most scathing critiques, known as The Parable of the Rich Fool is recorded in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 12.

15Then he (Jesus) said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”  16Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’  20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’  21“Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Let me be clear, there is no sin in being rich the sin lies in greed.  Storing up more than we can ever use in our lifetime is a sign of greed.  Today US corporations exceed the greediness of Midas.  Right wing ideology is driven by greed and a fear that someone is trying to take something away from them.  They begrudge the worker a fair days pay and decent benefits all in the name of profit.  Now that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, the influence of money in politics has no end.  If we choose to worship at the altar of profit to the detriment of our fellow citizens then we are indeed hastening the demise of our republic.

President Obama is not the one out of touch.  The vaunted “private sector” which the right trumpet as the savior of all things economic is doing quite well, record profits tell the story.  The ordinary people are the ones suffering unjustly at the hand of corporate greed.  Allowing republican ideology in its current form to occupy the halls of government will only exacerbate our economic malady.