{"id":7222,"date":"2013-11-23T11:25:13","date_gmt":"2013-11-23T16:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=7222"},"modified":"2013-11-23T11:28:19","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T16:28:19","slug":"the-stealthy-killer-that-is-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/?p=7222","title":{"rendered":"The Stealthy Killer That is Capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The process is gradual, insidious, lethal. It starts with financial stress in various forms, and then, according to growing evidence, leads to health problems and shorter lives.<\/p>\n

Financial stress is brought upon us by the profit motive of capitalism, which offers little incentive to feed hungry children, to treat the sick, to secure us in retirement, to provide job opportunities for middle-class Americans. Some of the steps in the process are becoming more and more familiar to us.<\/p>\n

1. Giving Half of Your 401(k) to the Banks<\/b><\/p>\n

The Frontline documentary\u00a0The Retirement Gamble<\/a>\u00a0reported that a 401(k) fund earning 7 percent a year with 2 percent in fees would\u00a0lose up to 60 percent<\/i><\/b>\u00a0of the value of an equivalent non-fee fund.<\/p>\n

A 2 percent fee doesn’t seem like much, but the documentary’s claim was close to the truth. Based on the 6 percent\u00a0historical<\/a>\u00a0stock market return, an employee investing\u00a0$1,000 a year<\/a>\u00a0for 30 years in a non-fee fund and then holding the\u00a0accumulated sum<\/a>\u00a0for another 20 years would end up with $269,000. Imposing a 2 percent annual fee would reduce the final total to $127,000, a\u00a053 percent loss<\/i><\/b>. Imposing a 1.3 percent fee, which according to the documentary is the industry average, would reduce the final total to $165,000, a\u00a039 percent loss<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

The financial industry is taking this money from more of us every year. The number of private sector workers depending on a 401(k) instead of a company pension has\u00a0increased<\/a>\u00a0from 12 percent to 68 percent since 1983.<\/p>\n

2. Watching 24,000,000 Children Go Hungry to Avoid Inconveniencing 20 Rich Individuals<\/b><\/p>\n

It’s an unthinkable trade-off, but it’s happening. Although the 2013\u00a0SNAP<\/i><\/b>\u00a0(food stamp) budget of\u00a0$78 billion<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0less than the 2012 investment earnings<\/i><\/b>\u00a0of\u00a020 wealthy Americans<\/a>, SNAP is being\u00a0cut<\/a>\u00a0while not a penny extra is taken from the multi-billionaires.<\/p>\n

The children, who make up nearly\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a048 million<\/a>\u00a0recipients, will now get\u00a0$1.40<\/a>\u00a0for a meal instead of $1.50.<\/p>\n

3. Listening to the “Job Creators” Mock the Truth<\/b><\/p>\n

Casino billionaire\u00a0Steve Wynn<\/a>: “Guys like me are job creators and we don’t like having a bulls-eye painted on our back.”<\/p>\n

Bank CEO\u00a0John A. Allison IV<\/a>: “Instead of an attack on the 1 percent, let’s call it an attack on the very productive.”<\/p>\n

The reality is that corporate profits have\u00a0doubled<\/a>\u00a0in ten years, and the corporate tax percent has been cut in half, while\u00a0millions of jobs<\/i><\/b>\u00a0have been\u00a0lost<\/a>. Some of the job-cutting data comes from\u00a0The Nation<\/a>,\u00a0Market Watch<\/a>, and\u00a0Business Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How did “job creators” Steve Wynn and John A. Allison IV do? The following numbers are taken from their annual 10-K reports, submitted to the SEC:<\/p>\n

From\u00a0Wynn Resorts<\/a>:\u00a0A doubling or more of profits, a reduction in employees<\/b><\/p>\n

—- 2012 Income $728,699,000 \u00a0Employees 16,000—- 2011 Income $825,113,000 \u00a0Employees 16,400—- 2010 Income $316,596,000 \u00a0Employees 16,405—- 2009 Income $ 39,107,000 \u00a0 Employees 18,900<\/p>\n

From Allison’s bank,\u00a0BB&T<\/a>:\u00a0A doubling or more of profits, little difference in employees<\/b><\/p>\n

—- 2012 Income $2,028,000,000 \u00a0Employees 34,000—- 2011 Income $1,332,000,000 \u00a0Employees 31,800—- 2010 Income $ 854,000,000 \u00a0 \u00a0Employees 31,400—- 2009 Income $ 877,000,000 \u00a0 \u00a0Employees 32,400<\/p>\n

4. Feeling the Debilitating Stress<\/b><\/p>\n

Over 200 recent\u00a0studies<\/a>\u00a0have confirmed a link between\u00a0financial stress and sickness<\/i><\/b>. In just 20 years America’s ranking among developed countries\u00a0dropped<\/a>\u00a0on nearly every major health measure.<\/p>\n

Lack of proper health care is one source of that stress. A\u00a0Harvard study<\/a>\u00a0estimated that nearly 45,000 Americans\u00a0lost their lives<\/i><\/b>\u00a0in 2005 due to lack of health insurance.<\/p>\n

In addition to its effects on our physical health, financial stress threatens our mental well-being. Stunningly, one out of every five American adults had\u00a0mental illness<\/a>\u00a0in 2011, as reported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Another recent\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0found that unemployment, whether voluntary or involuntary, can significantly impact a person’s mental health. But only one of two Americans needing mental health care can\u00a0afford treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Grimmer still is the growing\u00a0suicide rate<\/a>, also linked to unemployment<\/span><\/a> and declining wealth<\/a>. The rate has\u00a0accelerated<\/a>\u00a0since the 2008 recession.<\/p>\n

The facts show that we were a relatively healthy people until unregulated free-market capitalism began to disrupt our lives. Now, because of its winner-take-all profit motive, we’re literally fighting for our lives.<\/p>\n

==============
\nThis article was first published at Nation of Change<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span> The link to the original posting is h<\/span><\/em>ere.<\/a> <\/span>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Paul Buchheit is a college teacher with formal training in language development and cognitive science. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, RappingHistory.org, PayUpNow.org), and the editor and main author of “American Wars: Illusions and Realities” (Clarity Press). He can be reached at\u00a0paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.\u00a0 The piece here was published with his permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The process is gradual, insidious, lethal. It starts with financial stress in various forms, and then, according to growing evidence, leads to health problems and shorter lives. Financial stress is brought upon us by the profit motive of capitalism, which offers little incentive to feed hungry children, to treat the sick, to secure us in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-column"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7222"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7225,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7222\/revisions\/7225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}