Evil Geniuses is Kurt Andersen’s latest book. It reads like a crime novel. Unfortunately it isn’t a novel. But it IS a discussion of a crime. A crime largely inspired by monumental GREED, but also twisted, corrupted ideology.
Buy this book! Read it. Think about it. Discuss it. This is a sad story of how what was once the greatest human success story was deliberately dismantled. That was the American period of 1947 – 1975. You can read all the statistics proving this. Or talk to those fortunate to have lived it. I know. Because I was there.
1947-1975 America was the result of l900-l9l5 and 1933-65 reforms. The INTENT was to create a society in which ordinary people could and would thrive. They did. It wasn’t perfect. But it was America’s peak.
America was blessed by one of our greatest presidents, by one of the two greatest Supreme Court Chief Justices, and by “The Greatest Generation” of people. After World War II they were our neighbors, our teachers, our bosses.
This was “too good a deal” in the eyes of the “right,” especially the rich and corporations. They didn’t want to share the wealth America generated – so they decided to change the rules. They’ve been very successful – thus “Evil Geniuses.”
Some of you may not wish to accept Andersen’s indictment. First, consider he is NOT alone. Second, understand who he is talking about. From 1865 to 2021, the rich and corporations have attempted to sabotage ANY effort to restrain their greedy behaviors. Document by examining 1865-2021 labor history. Employers have done virtually anything, including murder to squash ANY labor resistance. Research WHY antitrust laws were written. Read Jules Archer’s book, “The Plot to Seize the White House” – the true story on the July-November, 1933 plot. Read Charles Higham’s “Trading With The Enemy” – “An Expose of the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949. Read Edwin Black’s “IBM and The Holocaust” – how IBM greatly aided the most evil government of all time. Research how the “right” and Republicans have resisted 20th century social safety net reforms like Social Security, labor rights, civil rights, Medicare.
All of this is YOUR background to “Evil Geniuses.”
Start with this, from page 203: “the rules of our economy were rewritten as a high-stakes game of musical chairs….our economy since 1980 has been a particularly sadistic version of the game.” YES – YOU are playing this twisted form of “musical chairs” in real life. And, as in the game, there is only one winner: the top 1%
Next, we go to page 299. Conservative federal judge Richard Posner: As a member of Congress “you are a slave to the donors. They own you. That’s [the] real corruption, the ownership of Congress by the rich.”
The key chapters are: “Raw Deal: What Happened in the 1980s Didn’t Stay in the 1980s;” ‘The Rule of Law;” “How Wall Street Ate America;” ‘Ruthless Beats Reasonable;” ‘Winners and Losers in the Class War.”
The key statistics are on: pages ll8-l22 “The Decade When Everything Changed and Our Present Was Created: 57 Data Points [what’s good for big business, Wall Street and the rich – and what’s bad for YOU; on pages 190 & 295 – how rigging the rules costs YOU $10,000 every year; on pages 292-295 “Nobody but the Rich [and nearly rich] Got Richer: 27 Ways the Pie Is Cut Differently Now”
The key events are: a speech [1970] and a famous memo [1971] by future Supreme Court Justice; Supreme Court decisions “Buckley-Valeo,” “Bellotti,” and “Citizens United” which increasingly allowed speech to be money [meaning the richer you were, the more “speech” you were entitled to!!!]; President Reagan’s crushing of the 1981 PATCO strike [the war is over]; the creation of numerous “conservative ” [many say reactionary] legal groups to provide “scholarship” [many say twisted reasoning] and judicial candidates; ending the “Fairness Doctrine” in 1987 which enabled the subsequent rabid truth twisting and lies on various media.
The key people are: 5 right-wing billionaires funding most of the groups that do the undermining; the Reagan Administration who began the governmental subversion; 1969-2021 Republican judicial appointees to federal courts who’ve often done the legal undermining; the various legal far right groups that bring “test cases” to the courts to undermine the 1789-1979 American system.
Some perspective for YOU on greed and comparative incomes: if Joe SixPack graduates high school and works 18-68 making $50,000 every year, his lifetime, TOTAL earnings would be $2.5 million. If Suzie Sorority graduates college and then works 22-68, her lifetime TOTAL earnings would be $4.6 million. The U.S. president makes bout $400,000 a year, as THE most important person in the world. SO
Why does ANYBODY make $5-10-20-30 million in one year??? Do you really believe that person “earned” this, “deserves” this – EVERY year???????
America has always had “rich” people. I worked for one. He treated people fairly. And when he died, it seemed like half the local community was there – the line to talk to his widow and kids was out the door. It was out the door when I left.
The difference, then and now – balance, restraint, norms, self-imposed limits and societal limits on what was acceptable. These “old fashioned” restraints are gone – replaced by endless, never-satisfied GREED.
In 2020, Stuart Stevens, a 25-year top Republican election operative said these words [pages 368-370]: “those of us in the Republican Party built this moment [the COVID-19 crisis],” because “the failures of the government’s response to the coronavirus can be traced directly to some of the toxic fantasies dear to the Republican Party…Government is bad. Establishment experts are overrated or just plain wrong. Science is suspect.”
Stuart Stevens wrote “It Was All A Lie How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump.” [2020]
If YOU want seriously to know why 2021 America doesn’t work for the lower 90% – Andersen’s “Evil Geniuses” STARTS your journey. Unfortunately, the plot to erase the 1947-1975 middle class “golden age” is all too real. The work gradually, deliberately unfolded during the infamous 1980-2020 period. The right and the rich have won – at least for now – if YOU allow it.
From pages 386-87, consider what the future COULD be: from the London “Financial Times,” April, 2020: headlines –
“VIRUS LAYS BARE THE FRAILTY OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT”
‘RADICAL REFORMS ARE REQUIRED TO FORGE A SOCIETY THAT WILL WORK FOR ALL”
Then, some of what “these ultimate Establishment conservatives” wrote”
As western leaders learnt in the Great Depression, and after the second world war, to demand collective sacrifice you must offer a social contract that benefits everyone. Today’s crisis is laying bare how far many rich societies fall short of this ideal…We are not really all in this together…Better paid knowledge workers often face only the nuisance of working from home….Radical reforms – reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades – will need to be put on the table….Redistribution will again be on the agenda…..Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix.”
SO – my friends, my fellow Americans – what does it mean to be an “American?” What does it mean to be a “human being?” What does it mean for people to “live with dignity” in the internet age?
Kurt Andersen has told you what the greedy “top 1%” wants. Is this what YOU want – for yourself, for your children, for your grandchildren? If not, speak up!!! Get organized!!! Stop voting Republican [the party that can no longer nominate Lincoln, Teddy R, Eisenhower – their best}.
2016-2021 has been an embarrassment, an awful black stain. We’re better than that, aren’t WE? Prove it.
With Justice For All 