Show Me the Money and I will Show You Shenanigans: From the Personal to the Collective

There are consequences to avoiding our fate, especially at the collective level and especially when we have been given stark warning.  In this case, the warning came from Franklin D. Roosevelt and it is as much about the interior domain of the collective as well how it manifests at the highest corporate and government levels.  Clothed by interest groups shaped by fear and greed, the ensuing garment hides self-interest while emphasizing the fine fit of those who have prospered.  The warning Franklin delivers is about ignoring our social responsibility at the same time we scapegoat those who have not succeeded.  The consequence is a putrefaction of our thought process, a shrillness to our emotional responses, and a fatalism about a better future.

From Becoming Conscious of Capitalism:

The economic bill of rights highlighted a scar in the American psyche. Roosevelt’s time in office, which included a failed coup d’état directed against him, deepened the resolve of factions opposed to government intervention.  From this moment on, a widening split would cleave those who believed in federal intervention from those who perceived arrogance in a government that addressed questions of economic distribution. Read more...

Filmed presentation of FDR's speech on an Economic Bill of Rights: