On a wing and a prayer

In the 20th century, alone, there have been stock market declines in the 40 percent to 50 percent range in 1901, 1906, 1916, 1919, "The Roaring ’20s that led to the crash of 1929, 1937, 1939, 1973, 2002, 16 percent in 2007 and the horrendous 86 percent in 1932, at the outset of the "Great Depression.”

There’s a class of investors, called "contrarians,” such as the huge Goldman Sachs and Co., who read into the small investor’s euphoria a compelling reason to go to "shorting,” betting against the market and collecting fabulously when the inevitable "busts” commence.

There is the famous legend that, during the boom before the "Great Depression” bust, Joe Kennedy, the father of President Jack Kennedy, had a shoe shine man engage him in a conversation about his own stock purchases. Kennedy immediately recognized the "bubble” and cashed in all of his equities and was one of the few who saved their vast fortunes.

I have written a number of times, the leisure business of most middle class voters is entertainment. Wanna talk about the 49ers, Raiders, Giants, Athletics or the most popular television sports and entertainment shows, man, you’re on! Try to talk about important national issues or politics, suddenly, the audio goes silent and faces go blank.

Unscrupulous politicians know that, so they pay PR people big bucks to come up with short slogans, talking points and bumper stickers as the currency of public counter-debate. Strangers, who recognize me from my column, swiftly pass me by saying, "I don’t want my hard-earned money to go to … (fill in any social program).” As, if I’ve ever suggested that. That is the one short "talking point” which is most likely to win the 2012 elections for the Republicans at all governmental levels, not all the boring Tea Party confections served up at the Republican presidential debates.

The bulk of the middle class voters simply do not seem to know what really happened to them. I keep getting emails about every small-time welfare fraud imaginable and why the illegal immigrants are at the root of the problem. Never once about the massive frauds perpetrated, without punishment, by the major financial institutions.

One would need to be extraordinarily naive to believe there isn’t fraud at every economic level through middle class tax cheating to the really big bucks at the big business and corporate level that hide profits and assets, even abroad, if necessary.

Even though those who have benefited most from tax breaks, at the lowest rate since President Eisenhower, as "job creators,” haven’t seemed to have done anything of the sort in this financial crisis. But, trying to get the wealthy to pay a fairer share of the tax burden has the conservatives, shamelessly, spinning it as "class warfare.”

They keep blaming Obama for the unemployment level at 9.1 percent realizing that almost no voter will remember the 9.7 percent in the second year of the Reagan administration. What do political parties really want? Patriotism and the public welfare, except for warfare, are secondary considerations. What they really want is the power to foster their own agenda. Taking the White House is particularly important because it controls thousands of appointments for the faithful, where they can repeal as many regulations as possible they perceive as cramping the style of their major supporters and financial mentors.

From among the current smorgasbord of policy initiatives being served up by Republican presidential "hopefuls”: Shut down most federal regulatory agencies, especially the Environmental Protection Agency, that protect our health and save our physical heritage for the generations to come; reduce top corporate tax rates; abolish our Internal Revenue Service; eliminate the Department of Education, and if possible the "treasonous” Federal Reserve.

Believe, as that dastardly Supreme Court majority, that corporations are people who have "free speech rights” to pour their copious wealth secretly into elections, cut the top corporate rate to 25 percent (from the current 35 percent), raise the retirement age for Social Security and turn Medicare, Medicaid and other humane services into block grants to states and to the tender mercies of the new crop of Republican governors, where they can take meat axes to all of them, including public education.

How is the 2012 election game to be played? The middle class has been expanded by the G. I. Bill, labor unions and the overwhelming number of voters approving political purveyors of social safety net programs. So, wing it! The G.I. Bill is almost over, castrate the unions and pray that the middle class voters still don’t know what’s hit them.

Keith Kreitman has been a Foster City resident for 25 years. He is retired with degrees in political science and journalism and advanced studies in law. He is the host of "Focus on the Arts” on Peninsula TV, Channel 26. His column appears in the weekend edition.