The transformation of America 

A few days ago I watched a documentary about Noam Chomsky, the possibly misguided guru of linguistic theory, but certainly a prominent spokesman for intellectuals who don't like what's going on in the America around them. There was little in what he said that I didn't know, but he had a way of putting things together, organizing his argument to make his points clear. He talked about 10 points that contributed to the transformation of America that essentially made the rich richer and the gap between rich and poor greater. America was a fairer society in the 1960s. Richard Nixon was the last President who believed in the ideals of the New Deal, a fair go for the common man. After Nixon, the rich elite took steps to enhance their power and wealth at the expense of the rest of the Americans. In the 1960s America was a manufacturing country. People made things, cars for example. Gradually with the transformation of economic theories, libertarianism, free market principles, manufacturing was transferred to lower wage economies, China, Mexico, India, wherever it was cheapest to make things. Those employed in America in making things were displaced by people in places where they were prepared to accept lower wages. In exchange for exporting manufactured good, America imported poverty. In the course of achieving such an outcome, America destroyed its infrastructure by underinvesting, destroyed its educational system by defunding, altered the political landscape by removing limits to politcal contribution and thus ppolitical influence, created a philosophical context in which such changes became not only acceptable, but desirable. The creation of wealth through manufacture was replaced by financial manipulation. Financial controls were removed, with the result that financial collapses occurred, something that never happened during times of stringent financial regulations. Financial collapse led to the impoverishment of the already poor and the middle class, while the wealth of the rich were protected through the principle of 'too large to fail' and large financial institutions were rescued by the state. Socialism for the rich, the poor subsidised the losses of the rich. Financial manipulation also enabled the creation of vast monopolies, which stifled innovation. The response of monopolies threatened by innovative start-ups is to buy them and stifle them. Monopolies are of their nature averse to risks. Trump and his large number of followers are the product of the sense of alienation and disengagement that is the result of this transformation of American economy. Chomsky may not always be entirely right, but he is worth listening to.