The US corporate state spends trillions of dollars on predatory wars necessitating the building of some 200 bases around the world. Meanwhile the US capitalist class is on a strike of capital and hoards a few trillion dollars more as it wages a war at home eliminating jobs and social services in an effort to force workers and the middle class to pay for the crisis of their system.
The capitalists’ assault on workers is reducing our buying power as they refuse to invest their cash, (what they call “private” capital) in the economy and job creation because they have so little faith that their system is functioning at a level that will bring a satisfactory profit. So they want to create more demand in their economic system as it abandons 30 million or so to the dole queue and millions more to a life on poverty wages. I should add that there is no such thing as “private” capital as the source of their accumulated wealth is human Labor power. Their wealth is the collective product of workers stolen during the Labor process---the product of human Labor that they don’t pay for.
They are using all sorts of tricks to wring more money from workers’ pockets to get this spluttering engine going. The trillions of taxpayer monies they’ve pumped in to the economy one way or another is well known but now they’re dragging out the dregs of the barrel. The climate is such in the US that the politicians in the two Wall Street parties have to make statements about the rich and the greed of those who “don’t play by the rules” (they have rules for robbery in capitalism). Obama is turning up the heat as the election approaches (a year away is an “approach” in US election campaign time) talking about making the rich pay their fair share as is Jerry Brown, the governor of California who is aiming to introduce taxes on high earners. “Shared sacrifice” is the mantra and is a mantra the Labor hierarchy can get behind as they throw the resources at their command behind Obama and the Democrats for 2012.
The precious market having failed miserably, US capitalism is looking to other means of revenue. The State Lotteries, what actually amount to a tax on the working class under the cloak of “entertainment”, are being “vamped up” in an effort to give the system some legs. Arizona has raised its State Lottery jackpot and has introduced scratch cards that cost more but have larger payouts. The campaign to wring more money from the working class in this fashion is very creative. Arizona State Lotteries advertising budget is up 50% and is clearly worth it as more colorful cards are on view in stores aimed at the Latino population in particular. Well this is interesting. If you’re one of the super exploited undocumented workers from south of the border or a Mexican farmer driven off his land by NAFTA forced to head north for work, and happen to buy a winning ticket would you be able to keep the cash?
With workers hard pressed for cash and opposed to raising taxes (on them rather than the rich) what better way to squeeze more money out of us than encouraging addiction to gambling for the presently non- addicted and feeding the addiction among those already there. “You have politicians not wanting to raise taxes right now….so lotteries are a good way to raise money” says David G. Schwartz a gaming expert at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.
Other US states are following Arizona’s path. In Tennessee the Wall Street politicians are considering allowing the state’s lottery sellers to accept credit and debit cards In New Jersey, Democrat Annette Quijano has introduced legislation to let addicts buy the tickets on their smart phones. Best yet is what’s happening in Florida where that state is partnering up with Wal Mart stores. This would be a major step forward for the 1% in the short term as Wal Mart is not involved with lottery sales outside of Puerto Rico. And it’s exactly what the average Wal Mart customer (and employee) needs—easy access to gambling. Wal Mart is “The brick wall that every lottery in the country has wanted to break through” says David Bishop a Florida State Lottery official.
Yes, Wal Mart will save us.
Arizona officials want to privatize the Lottery system with the governor’s Commission of Privatization and Efficiency recommending the state hire an outside contractor. There are some lone voices opposing the growth of the lotteries. Minnesota state Senator David Hann calls the moves “reprehensible” adding “The last thing we want to be doing is telling people to go out and gamble” when they are “struggling financially.”
But gambling has nothing to do with it surely, I say to myself. There is no way in this good Christian country where family values are so important that the government, would encourage such an addiction knowing that spent rent money, children going hungry, marital break-ups, alcoholism and even suicides and family annihilation's are the products of such addiction. Our politicians pray and go to church; I’ve seen them on TV.
The madness of the system is that the more workers they lay off because there’s no profit in putting them to work, the more they reduce our purchasing power and the less we can buy. Increasing state revenue by encouraging gambling, a sort of trick or as I said, roundabout tax on the working class adds even more fuel to this fire---it’s a disaster.
This is what they call introducing civilization in to our midst. Capitalism, the casino economy.
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