Permissiveness of US Laws on Lobbying and Campaign Financing and the Major Problems that go Hand in Hand With That

The Spread of Oligarchy; The Distribution of Assets;

Who Controls Your Money

The ultra-rich are world’s new dictators

Democracy at risk as oligarchy spreads

Oct. 26, 2013 9:26 PM  / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Written by  Christian Caryl

Foreign Policy

Caryl, the editor of Democracy Lab, is a senior fellow at the Legatum Institute and a contributing editor at Foreign Policy. He is also the author of “Strange Rebels: 1979 and the Birth of the 21st Century.”

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, the investment bank Credit Suisse published its annual survey of global wealth. The bank’s report is filled with illuminating findings, but one in particular caught my eye. It has to do with the distribution of assets in Russia, where, as the report notes, a mere 110 people own a mind-boggling 35 percent of the country’s entire wealth. At the same time, 93.7 percent of Russians are worth $10,000 or less.

As the report notes, this makes Russia the country with the greatest wealth disparities in the world. Americans, who are now increasingly concerned about deepening inequality in their own country, might seek some consolation from this dismal conclusion.

Even under present circumstances, wealth in the United States is still spread a lot more evenly than that.

Things could be worse, right?

Well, maybe. But I see little cause for jubilation. Russia is merely the most extreme case of a worldwide trend that potentially represents one of the greatest threats that democracy faces today: the spread of oligarchy.

The problem isn’t just that some people in today’s world are fabulously rich. It’s that disproportionate wealth increasingly goes along with disproportionate power.

Russia, again, offers a textbook example of the dangers. Back in the 1990s, a handful of politically well-connected business tycoons managed to profit from their close relations with Boris Yeltsin’s Kremlin by taking advantage of the privatization of the country’s industrial jewels — above all its vast oil wealth. Those magnates weren’t shy about exploiting their economic power to political ends. They bankrolled Yeltsin’s re-election as president in 1996, controlled ministerial appointments, and dictated government policy. No wonder these businessmen-cum-politicians were soon dubbed the “oligarchs.”

(”Oligarchy” is Greek for “government of the few.”)

One of them, the recently deceased, arch-Machiavellian Boris Berezovsky, engineered the rise of an ex-KGB officer to the prime ministership. Vladimir Putin ultimately proved less than grateful, though. Once Putin became president in his own stead, he was quick to cut his erstwhile patron down to size, forcing Berezvosky into exile.

Putin curtailed the power of other Yeltsin-era tycoons, too (most notably Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who now marks his 10th year of imprisonment in a labor camp), but in their place he raised up a new group of businessmen — many with ties to the old Soviet security services — who owed their fortunes to him. One of them, another KGB alumnus named Igor Sechin, who heads the country’s largest oil company, is regarded by some as the second-most powerful man after Putin himself.

But this isn’t only Russia’s problem.

As has now become apparent, globalization and the powerful economic forces it has unleashed have awarded unparalleled wealth and power to a tiny new elite. 

Call them what you will: the superclass, the plutocrats, the “global meritocracy.”

What they exemplify is the nexus of wealth and political power. And that’s a problem that is increasingly vexing voters in places from London to Kuala Lumpur.

It’s a challenge that takes different forms.

In China, membership in the ruling Communist Party is often the easy road to wealth. Many of today’s political scandals center on the antics of well-connected “princelings,” the descendants of senior party officials who embody the country’s peculiarly potent blend of Marxist-Leninist crony capitalism. Thanks to some remarkable digging by enterprising journalists in recent years, we’ve learned some astonishing things about the scale of privilege enjoyed by the extended families of notables such as President Xi Jinping and ex-Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

But this hardly comes as a surprise.

When you consider that the People’s Republic is governed by the seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party, you’re talking about a tiny number of families who exercise unchecked control over one of the world’s largest economies. In such a setting, it’s only natural that political and economic power are mutually reinforcing.

The situation in China is, of course, the outcome of an economic liberalization program steered by an autocratic elite.

In the countries of the developed West the situation is rather different. The number of players is larger; wealth and political influence are more widely distributed.

But that is presumably small comfort to, say, the Americans who have emerged as losers from the country’s latest Gilded Age. ( Oh and Americans don’t like losing, in case you hadn’t noticed.)

Economic equality in the United States grew steadily during the first three decades of the period following World War II, but ground to a halt amid the stagflation and increasing international competition of the 1970s.

As economist Joseph Stiglitz notes in a recent editorial:

“Last year, the top 1 percent of Americans took home 22 percent of the nation’s income; the top 0.1 percent, 11 percent. 

Ninety-five percent of all income gains since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent. 

Recently released census figures show that median income in America hasn’t budged in almost a quarter-century.”

At the same time, the extraordinary permissiveness of U.S. laws on lobbying and campaign financing has allowed wealthy elites to gain immense sway over the political process.

By now, anyone who follows American politics has heard the stories about the vast sums of cash spent by conservative business magnates like the Koch Brothers; less often discussed, perhaps, are the rich Democrats, such as George Soros or Tom Steyer, who are happy to leverage their wealth to shape policy.

But even less visible are the big corporations and industrial associations who can purchase lawmakers and fix legislation to boost their own bottom lines.

One recent academic study calculates that 40 percent of political campaign contributions in 2012 came from one-hundredth of 1 percent of U.S. households. That figure probably reflects the new economic elite’s growing awareness of its own political power — not to mention the apathy among other segments of the population who feel increasingly divorced from meaningful participation.

The erosion of alternative power centers, such as labor unions, undoubtedly contributes to a sense of rising cynicism and disengagement. It all serves to undermine the promise of America’s democratic system. (Given this context, it’s no wonder that the U.S. Supreme Court is once again weighing the question of limits on individual contributions to political campaigns.)

As a result, the United States is now experiencing a remarkable discussion of the causes of the new inequality and its political consequences. Authors from George Packer to Tyler Cowen are stirring impassioned debate about the perceived breakdown of the American social compact. The new book from economist Angus Deaton, “The Great Escape,” includes a memorable quote from the lawyer Louis Brandeis: “If democracy becomes plutocracy, those who are not rich are effectively disenfranchised.”

Can we stop the trend?

  •  Some — like Cowen, who believes that current inequality is largely a function of technological change — are skeptical.
  • Others insist that we can counter the drift towards government by the few with smart policies designed to level the playing field — above all in education, infrastructure and health care.
  • Measures to limit the role of money in politics probably wouldn’t be a bad idea either (presuming we can find some that actually work). For those who still believe in the primacy of the market, the package might also include measures designed to promote genuine competition in the place of today’s corporate welfare for politically plugged-in superfirms.

This certainly doesn’t mean giving up on capitalism.

As development economists point out, globalization has brought relative prosperity to many around the world who couldn’t even dream of it before. (Think, for a start, of all those Chinese peasants who can now afford three meals a day — unthinkable in times past.) Overall health and development indicators have improved dramatically over the past 50 years.

None of this, however, obviates the need to ensure that the extraordinary benefits accruing to the superstars at the top don’t end up disenfranchising the rest of us. Otherwise the future looks dark.

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Balance of power, being able to control our own money, having access to clear and accurate information about banking practices so that what we do as individuals allows us to make informed and educated decisions, genuine decisions, about our own assets and lives are reasonable requests. Otherwise the future looks dark.

Our experience using METABANK crossed over into the dark zone. We were lied to. Our own cash money was kept from us. METABANK took our cash money first and then made up some far fetched story that was so easy to see through that it was disgusting. Seeing immoral and criminal acts, being lied to and being taken advantage by a power banker which is how METABANK has been acting, not only in the USA, but on a global scale is so extreme that we must speak up and out against how METABANK operates.

Consumers must align, join forces and work collectively for solutions to the problems created by METABANK and any other entity that wants to use consumer’s money as an interest free loan for themselves. METABANK operates as a usurer, a loan shark, in the greediest and most self-centered sense of that has ever existed.

METABANK began as a “THRIFT BANK” which catered to the poorest and most economically fragile citizens from whom they charged exorbitant interest rates and then moved into “COLLECTIONS” which is really what METABANK is all about, the enforcement of collections. METABANK sets up all the rules by which they operate and also retains the right to change the rules without notices. METABANK operates as a scam of consumers. No safe guards are in place to protect consumers from predators like METABANK. Only you as a consumer can protect yourselves.

If we hadn’t been so badly scammed by METABANK as their former customer, we wouldn’t feel so compelled to write this blog…. The reality is that METABANK abused us as their customer so we feel that all we can do is to alert others to prevent from happening to them what we had foisted upon us as a customer of METABANK. We are trying to put into action the “Golden Rule.” If only METABANK had treated us the way we would have liked to have been treated as customers

#1 We would have been pleased with the service we received from METABANK

#2 We would still be doing business with METABANK

#3 We would be endorsing the kind of product offered by METABANK       ………… BUT WE ARE NOT  !!!!!

BUT BECAUSE WE WERE SO ABUSED BY METABANK, WE CANNOT ENDORSE ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE COMING OUT OF STORM LAKE, IOWA.

CONSUMERS, BE WARNED!!! Don’t become a customer of MetaBank. Unfortunately, Meta Bank operates using many different names and they use a partner company to market their prepaid network branded bank cards.

Because METABANK is the largest processor of the Network Branded Prepaid Bank Cards, it will be difficult for you to know if you are a customer of METABANK or one operating in the same manner as METABANK. METABANK has offered classes to other banking entities in their methods so as to normalize their practices.

We are curious about the placement of METABANK advertisements.

When your boss asks you to do work that you perceive to be immoral…..

Exploring the Self-Esteem Related to “Having a Job” any job…. an immoral job may backfire

We have wondered how the METABANK employees who answer the phones as customer service representatives actually feel about what they do.

 

Certainly they must know they are lying to people, ordinary people who are just like them.

 

Statistics show that bank tellers in Storm Lake Iowa earn salaries that place them below poverty level.  How desperate can these phone representatives be? Have they been so mislead that they believe in what they are doing?

If they are ignorant of what they are doing, what will it take for them to realize that they are the ones who are making METABANK’s CEOS super rich while they still live below the poverty level?

Could they understand that by lying to the customers that this is dishonest? For how long can these customer representatives going on perpetuating this lie that makes their CEOs so rich? Certainly there must be something in it for these people to lie to other people who are so much like them at the other end of the phone? What kind of “UNTRUTHS” have these METABANK phone representatives been fed so that they carry out the dirtiest job on behalf of the METABANK CEOs?

At Work: Job, self-esteem tied tightly together

Andrea Kay, Gannett12:57 p.m. EDT August 31, 2013

Feedback on the job can be a buffer against depression.

Work means so much to us Americans that without it some people don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.

That is likely one reason unemployed adults and those not working as much as they would like are twice as likely to be depressed as Americans employed full time. [Feeling stuck in a dead-end job such as being a phone representative for METABANK…. This has got to be a pathetic and hopeless situation for those who are being required to do the dirty work that makes the METABANK CEOs rich and then richer yet.]

STORY: Who’s feeling stressed? Young adults
COLUMN: Workers’ happiness rubs off on profits [ Think about this!!!!!!]

That’s the conclusion of a Jan. 1-July 25 survey of more than 100,000 Americans conducted by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. It says 16.6% of unemployed Americans are depressed compared to 5.6% of those who work full time.

“Self-esteem and self-worth are closely aligned with working,” says psychotherapist Charles Allen, who estimates about 10% of his clients are out of work or worried about losing their job.

When you have a job, you have a continuous source of feedback that you are a contributing member of society, he says. That’s not to say you go to work thinking, “Hey, I’m a valued member of society.” The idea is largely subconscious.

[But what if you are asked to harm innocent people who are just like you whom you only encounter at the other end of the phone??? That can’t feel hopeful in anyway.]

“You feel it in the depths of your brain,” he says.

Being employed helps you feel wanted and that you’re contributing to your finances, says psychotherapist Elizabeth Lombardo. It also gives you social support — “a buffer against depression.”

In his practice, psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert sees a lot of unemployed people who are depressed.

He describes them as usually feeling hopeless and helpless, their sense of identity greatly diminished.

“Employment provides a sense of purpose, … of belongingness,” he says. “Those who are unemployed lack that purpose.”

Some unemployed workers also lack structure, which leads to unhealthy habits like staying up until 3 a.m. then getting up late the next day. That “makes them feel even more different than the employed,” Alpert says.

Being depressed also can affect your ability to seek and keep a job.

Allen’s depressed clients who are unemployed “typically have tremendous difficulty in finding work because they lack energy and drive to engage in a job hunt,” he says. Their pessimism and feelings of worthlessness also contribute to the idea that they won’t find work.

When motivation plummets, you withdraw and “why bother?” prevails, Lombardo says.

A depressed person may not do well in interviews.

“Who wants to hire ‘Debbie Downer?’ ” she asks.

Some people who are depressed can have a tough time keeping a job: They take too much time off, have a lack of drive, don’t concentrate well and sometimes simply don’t care, Alpert says.

[ The term “SIMPLY DON’T CARE” highlights that some people may take a job as a phone representative at METABANK just to have a job. They may understand that what they are doing is immoral, but perceive that there aren’t many other options. This has got to be a sad state of affairs for these employees. If they could see a positive way forward, internally they may be able to ask for the right to treat others fairly…. This situation is predatory on so many levels…. Shame on METABANK CEOs who created this abhorent and offensive scenario.]

They also “often have a poor self-image and lack confidence, two factors that strongly impact job retention and performance,” he says.

Alpert says he also sees a lot of another type of depression — in people who are employed.

It “usually stems from high stress and feeling disenchanted with their job or simply unhappy with the direction their career has taken them,” he says.

Feeling stuck in a position “can bring about a sense you have no control over your situation,” Lombardo says. “Feeling powerless can cause depression. And depression can lead to getting demoted.”

Depression among those with jobs costs U.S. employers $23 billion annually in lost productivity, according to Gallup.

The survey found that depression decreases as income rises. It showed that Americans who earn less than $36,000 annually are nearly three times more likely to be depressed than those who earn more than $90,000 annually.

Depression takes a toll on a person — employed or jobless — as well as the economy.

[We find it impossible to believe that the METABANK Phone representatives who lie to customers can do this in the long term without having some feelings of remorse. We have, of course, made the assumption that they are human beings. How desperate are they that they can continue to lie to people who are a lot like them at the other end of the phone?]

It may be depressing to talk about depression. But the more we know about it and discuss it, the more likely the stigma associated with it will be reduced.  [We believe that America is a sick society at this time. It is imperative that as ordinary people that we insist on humane treatment of each other… this treatment goes both ways, you know… It is the “Golden Rule.”]

And perhaps the people who need help the most will get it.

Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of This Is How To Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want.

 

Note:  Please notice carefully where METABANK and any other Prepaid Bank Card offered places their advertisements 

Solving Customer’s Problems Should Be of the Foremost Importance…. METABANK abused us while we were their customer

Customer Service Solves Problems To Create Loyal Clients

but NOT SO at METABANK

Make it easy for frustrated customers to contact you, get problems solved. You’ll create loyal clients.

In the past 30 days, I canceled service with three companies I’ve used for years.

Customer service was the reason. It was that bad.

 

But I kept my business with another company even though its actual service keeps messing up. That business’ customer service is that good.

Customer-service representatives are everywhere. Anyone with a phone, TV, computer, coffee maker, credit card or insurance; or who buys subscription services or makeup from shady companies advertising on TV has dealings with them.

And let’s not forget about business-to-business customer-service reps. [This is part of how METABANK performs their scam.]

Their numbers are growing by the minute. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the profession will expand 15.5% through 2020.

Call centers alone had almost 23,000 vacant jobs, more than a third listed in the past week, according to CallCenterCrossing, which calls itself the largest collection of call-center jobs. The company cites the health care law, holiday season and general economic expansion as the chief reasons for a rise in call-center hiring.

As long as companies offer things to buy and services to use, folks will need help.

[Customers have over a period of many years now indicated that METABANK and its affiliates, including the Network Branded Bank Card Association, fail when it comes to customer service. We, as former METABANK customers/clients believe, based on our own personal experience using METABANK et al., that METABANK by design treats their customers in an abusive manner. We have been scammed and lied to. We have been treated in an inhumane manner.

METABANK does not offer any kind of model that should be used as a guideline by any other entity…. METABANK relies on numbers and the population is growing rapidly.

METABANK relies on getting partner corporate entities to market their prepaid bank card  a relationship which is in fact one that will increase the rate of decline of that partner company. At first the partner company will experience an initial  spurt that may appear to be great and fabulous; this is the honeymoon, but it is a marriage that is doomed by design. METABANK only wants their partner companies’ list of customers whom METABANK will use for their own financial gain.

In establishing this partnership, METABANK promises to take care of all the collections for their partner. Collections is the dirtiest of dirty work so the partner company is happy to hand over this part of the operation to METABANK. METABANK, as we former customers have found, has an abusive customer service system by design.

When METABANK’s customer serivice representatives basically went through a list of standard lies they had been handed to use for all situation; the lies serve to blame the customer for the problems the customer had encountered using METABANK. However, by design, METABANK created a prepaid bank card which customers load with cash money, and then METABANK limits and controls when and even if a customer will be able to have access to their own money…. This scheme is predatory. It is based upon false and misleading promises.

METABANK is by design immoral. Only consumers can speak up to warn others so that METABANK can be stopped from doing this great scam on the people.]

Companies claim to know how important these front-line jobs are. They say they strive for a “customer-first mindset,” “transparency and accountability,” “positive customer relationships” and “consistent and efficient delivery of superior customer service.”

So why don’t more customer-service reps deliver? Is it the company or the employees?

Likely both.

Workers tell me they want these jobs because they like people. Yet too many companies do everything they can to not let their people talk to us.

Finding contact information can be like a game of hide-and-seek.

Some refuse to talk to you. Take Twitter: [This isn’t a model anyone should follow!!!!!]

My account has had a problem for four months. I’ve obediently followed Twitter’s directions and sent in a dozen requests for help.

I’m still waiting for an answer.

On the other hand, companies such as crowdSPRING help businesses and creative talent find each other and make it easy for customers to communicate with them.

[This concept is an old one that worked. It worked very well. This is what we as consumers expect, but this is not at all what METABANK provides. METABANK uses this concept to catch consumers and their partner companies off guard so that METABANK can get their foot in the door. What META BANK does is an IMMORAL ACT.]

This company posts its phone number on every page of its site. No doubt this springs from the philosophy of co-founder Mike Samson who tells his reps that the spoken word is better than the written word, to say “please” and “thank you” and always end with “much obliged.”

 

People who get into customer service tell me they love to solve problems.

Yet “I can’t help you with that” are the last words that a lot of people hear from a customer-service rep.

  • Those workers either don’t know how to think like a problem solver or don’t think they have the authority to help.
  • Some customer-service reps are plain mean. The other day I asked a one that I could barely hear if she might speak a little louder.   She snapped, “No, I can’t scream.”
  • When you keep getting bad customer service, you wonder why companies keep sending surveys asking how your customer-service experience went.
  • I also often wonder why companies insist that customer-service reps speak canned faux caring phrases like “Have a nice day” after they’ve been mean and obstructive.

Chief Operating Officer Zach Cusimano of Bizness Apps, which makes mobile apps for companies, says his business doesn’t coach reps to use particular phrases.

Company officials do encourage them to “throw in some love” and foster more interactions by saying, “I’m happy to help,” “Please let me know if you have any other questions,” and “Looking forward to hearing from you again.”

[However, if these statements are nothing but empty words with no real response and no action behind them then they are useless. It is our strong impression as former METABANK customers that the CEOs of METABANK have created all of the guidelines, which include a list of rote excuses for why it is always the customers’ fault for any problems they may have encountered. METABANK creates the problems by which they get rich and then richer; METABANK breaks with every expectation that any person would normally expect.

METABANK creates all the rules and retains the right to change all of the rules without notice. This is bad, but on top of that METABANK takes customer’s money and keeps us/them from having access to their own money while using the NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID BANK CARD.

The NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID BANK CARD amounts to being an interest free loan from customers to a very rich bank. The whole concept has been reversed. Potential customers are mislead into taking on such a card by the partner company who is in effect being used as a “PATSY” in this dynamic triangle of abuse of the consumer.]

I contend that more people would like their customer-service jobs and customers would be happier if they did what Jesse Richardson does.

“We love our customers,” Richardson says. She is conscious community officer for Conscious Box, a subscription service for eco-friendly products.

Seriously.

If you want a satisfying career helping solve problems for people who are frustrated, confused and sometimes angry, care for them no matter what.

Find a great company that values them and you.

In the 25 years I’ve counseled people with their careers, most tell me one thing: I want to be of service to others. Here’s your chance.

[As former customers of METABANK we had expected this kind of treatment, but METABANK and the NETWORK BRANDED PREPAID CARD ASSOCIATION act in a predatory manner so that they abuse their customers, only to move onto the next  person so they can dupe that person. The huge size of our population is how METABANK has been able to get away with this kind of scam for as long as they have. Only you can stop this kind of a scam.]

Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of This Is How To Get Your Next Job: An Inside Look at What Employers Really Want.

“Membership” and “Loyality Points” are empty terms that serve to make money for METABANK, not you as a consumer

Please avoid using any product or company associated with META BANK

META BANK simply has their foot in the door at the following establishments:

Logo Companies

Please reconsider where you shop