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During the post-World War II prosperity, we built the interstate highway system, assisted European recovery from the war, developed the H-bomb and delivery systems such as Polaris, with minimal impact on the national debt. By 1973 the economy had stagnated. Tapped out consumers could no longer sustain the rate of economic growth necessary to provide full employment or desired stock market profits, according to my friend, who blogs for Bitcoin Profit Erfahrungen. The Reagan revolution put corporate America on the dole, substituting government contracts for flagging public demand, while reducing corporate taxes. Politicians’ promises that corporate profits would trickle down to the public proved false. Each individual’s share of the national debt was 6,000 when Reagan left office, but his policies, endorsed by both corporate political parties, leaves each U.S. man, woman and child 62,000 in debt today. Will multi-national corporations deny responsibility to repay national debts?

Trump’s administration has incurred the largest annual deficit since 2012. Over-stimulation of the economy accelerates both economic and ecological death spirals, propelling us faster toward disaster. The Democratic Party enables the plutocrats by perpetuating the myth that our economic system can be reformed. Power only yields to superior power. We can meekly accept the roles the plutocrats assign to  us or assert our humanity by working to preserve the things we love.

Socially acceptable ways to resist include:

• Opting out by retiring early if you can.

• Joining/forming local cooperatives.

• Demanding imprisonment of white-collar criminals.

• Borrowing, renting and bartering, reducing the need to manufacture more stuff.

Anti-social tactics include:

• Patronizing the untaxed under-the-table economy.

• Planting fake quantitative data in computerized business systems, triggering bad decision-making.

Our world’s material and human resources are too precious to waste on production of tasteless junk! Withdrawal from our consumption/production addiction will be painful but need not be fatal if we defend ourselves from corporate retaliation by developing micro-grids to power public utilities when the national grid fails and other self-help strategies. Let’s get to work!

John E. Gibson

Owatonna