I going to try to reserve Sunday nights for a little Op/Ed. As always, comments and dissenting opinions are always welcome.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote the "Communist Manifesto" in 1848. This is viewed as one of the most important political writings of all time. In this manuscript, Marx and Engels outline a plan to rid the world of capitalism and replace it with an economic classless system known as "Communism". This is not to be confused with "Socialism" which is a working class led society.
Most of us were witnesses to the fall of the Soviet empire. The images of people celebrating in the streets and dancing on top of the Berlin Wall as it was being demolished by throngs of East Germans finally freed from their Communist shackles is a very strong memory for me. It was an indictment of the Communist way of life -- that it had failed in its endeavor of world domination and in its ability to produce a prosperous economy.
There are those who say, "On paper, Communism is the perfect society -- from each according to their means to each according to their needs. It just hasn't been done right yet". To that, I say that human nature does not allow us to live in a Socialist or Communist environment and that a non-totalitarian Communist society without massive human rights atrocities being committed is unattainable.
The push towards Socialism continues on, however. Don't believe me? Think that I'm a few fries short of a Happy Meal? That I'm saying that the sky is falling? That's fine, I envy you. Ignorance is bliss. Marx and Engels outlined 10 demands near the end of their publication. These 10 things must be attained in order to push a society over the Communist cliff... to the point of no return. Each Sunday I will outline one of these demands and discuss where we are on the road to reaching it. If you like Socialism or Communism, this will be a very optimistic series of posts for you. If you like the Free Market society... well... grab the Prozac.
Demand #1: Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
The next time you get your mortgage statement (if you still have one), look and see who you are sending your money to. It will say something like, "First Bank of Anywhere, LLC" or something harmless sounding like that. What you don't see is who actually backs about 90 percent of the mortgages in this country -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are two companies who are backed by our federal government. They were created as part of FDR's New Deal to act as private companies that would help insure and supplement private mortgages. They have grown into full government-run entities. Until recently, they traded as publicly held corporation on the New York Stock Exchange. Now they don't. Due to the recent mortgage crisis, they acquired security in enough mortgages that they now hold 90 percent of the secondary mortgages in this country. So, chances are that your mortgage is one that is held by one of these two entities. Here is a very informative link that tells you how to determine if your loan is Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5972159_do-fannie-mae-freddy-mac_.html
"So what", you say. "Big deal". Well, government, in general has historically not given back anything it has taken. Remember all those promises like "We will repeal the extra .5% sales tax once the bridges and roads are completed"? 30 years later, you're probably still paying it. So, don't expect that your home loan will be any different. So how does this relate to demand number 1? Your house and the land on which it sits, if you had a mortgage loan on it, are now property of the federal government. When the big banks failed and TARP came in to the rescue, all the property held by those private banks became government property.
Don't expect these these to happen overnight. We will be "nudged" into the right way of thinking by our government a la Obama regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein,
So, yes. We still retain a lot of our private property rights, but little by little, the government will find kinks in the armor and seize what they can. These seizures are usually during moments of "crisis", claiming that a company that is about to fail is "Too big to fail" (remember GM?). Former White House Cheif of Staff put it best:
Eventually, it will be too late, and the concept of private property will be a thing of the past, and thus demand number 1 will be met.
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