The people at the top 15% of incomes write the articles praising the economy while brokering its declineis a headscratcher for me.
While the medidiots who write the articles praising the economy are almost certainly in the top 15% of incomes (which is in the $70k-$80k a year range, or thereabouts, depending upon whose numbers you believe), your statement would seem to imply that all/most of those at the top 15% are actively brokering the decline of the economy. Is this what you intended?
I'm curious as to what group you really think is actively working towards this decline, and how. It seems to me that a professional eduction (accounting, engineering, computer science, MBA, law, medicine) and a diligently worked-at career with at least a hint of entrepreneurship creates that level of earnings for millions. How does that translate into "brokering the decline of the economy"?
I can surmise that RLK is not pointing out any overt group or confederation of groups as participating in a conscious, nefarious conspiracy, rather, he's describing the tangible effects of the cultural paradigm shift from rational and autonomous individuality, which once characterized the American character, to a borderline psychotic and adolescent mentality which now describes the American psyche. He talks about "the Ring" consisting of the cultural iconographers in mainstream media, entertainment, journalism, academia, and politics, which maintains a self-referencing virtual reality world view, and ignores or delegates to insignificance any ideas not congruent with that world view.
Painting with rather a broad brush, anyone who agrees with Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative is, to this intellectual construct, necessarily a racist, fascist conspiracy to repress minorities and women, and is not worth consideration.
In this construct, major assumptions are posited, instead of investigated. First, it is assumed that American ideology as described in the Declaration of Independence is an intellectual tool to ensure the supremacy of double-jowled, polyester suited Bible thumpers and other unsavory types. Second, it is presumed that non-Western philosophies and collectivist theories promise to solve all problems related to human existence. Last, all non-progressive, (meaning ultimately Marxist based) research and analysis is rejected as invalid.
The plastic, unstable world view held by thes cultural iconographers fulfills that category of grandiose delusion known as totalitarian ideology. It is a closed system of ideas and the only acceptable intellectual exercise in it is the use of its own ideological system. Also, all natural thought, that is, basic common sense, is subordinated to it, and outsiders are treated in a way that conceals other emotions.
The series describes the roots of this world view, observes its historical impact, and demonstrates its theoretical ultimate results.
Again, it is necessary to emphasize that no grand conspiracy is posited, rather, the characteristics of an intellectual climate are analyzed, and the intellectual "weather patterns," if you will, are predicted and observed.
One element is perception and portrayal of the economy. I go back to the old joke Reagan stold and used during his campaign. A recession is when your neighbor is out of a job. A depression is when YOU are out of a job. (And a recovery will be when Jimmy Carter is out of a job.) The perception of the economy is in the hands of people who are distant from it, such as politicians and spindoctors, or in the hands of people unaffected by its deterioration. As a consequence, I do not find many economic realities represented in economic analysis because they are subjectively unimportant to people making the analysis. The figures on people who had been out of work for three months, or six months, or longer are never quoted in economic analysis of the last recession, which many people insist lasted but one year. Unemployment figures indicate it lasted more like seven or eight. I never hear it pointed out that the median adjusted income for white males dropped about $4,000 between 1973 and 1997. It is in the best interests of Democrats and leftists to argue an economic boom started immediately after Clinton assumed the presidency. The Republicans lamely argue that that boom was is the long term effect of the Reagan years. The reality for the average man is nowhere to be found in any of this. It's a virtual reality that leave average people out.
Secondly, there is money to be made in displacing American workers with socialist slave labor or similar labor, then pocketing the short term profits. The caveat here is short term. The long term effect is not considered or is dismissed through deceptive and/or sloppy analysis. As far as the people in this country who are affected, let them eat cake.
We are seeing the economic structure of the United State gutted and the quality of jobs deteriorating in the 50 or 60 percentiles and under.
The educated and wealthy classes in this country tend toward refined Marxism because that is what they were taught by elite educational systems. They are not members of a conspiracy. The conspiracy took place many years ago when the radical left moved into and took over the educational systems of this country, then put into place a system of self-replication.
George Bush is essentially a cluck who has accepted the basic principles of Marxism. Probably he, and others like him, think they are quite educated and smart, and are eager to put into practice that with which they have been programmed. But, as I have pointed out elsewhere, Bush assumes individual income to be public property to be redistributed in service to social benefit.