From the very beginning of the fledgling Union of thirteen sovereign states, we have had political leaders who expressed great fear that the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of few would destroy any hopes of individual entrepreneurs and small business endeavors. And, they were right.

As the nation grew and expanded to the west, the conflicts and problems of inter state trade began creating conflict between States Rights and free access to national markets. The powers of federal and state became a bigger and bigger issue.

In the early twentieth century, Teddy Roosevelt’s administration led the assault on huge corporations and their economic power to dominate. markets and deny free enterprise by smaller companies and individuals. Anti trust laws were enacted that denied monopolistic practices. Administrative policies were put in place to regulate business practices to protect the public and small businesses.

This created a demarcation line between big business and wealth and small local or regional business and working class citizens. That line had always existed but now it became political. For about the next eighty years those who supported regulation and restrictions held sway. But, in the late years of the twentieth and the early years of the twenty first century, deregulation began to take place.

Intra and inter state banking came into the works. Huge holding banks were established. Mergers in both manufacturing and service oriented businesses became commonplace. Foreign investment and multinational corporations began crowding out even some of the larger U.S. corporations. Congress enacted legislation that benefited and encouraged outsourcing and off shoring, through tax incentives and freedom from environmental and worker protection regulations.

We have exported our manufacturing business and imported those products. That leaves only service industries for our workers, and, you can’t export those services. Thus our trade balance has become more negative and the value of our dollar has decreased.

Service jobs will not fully employ our workforce. Unemployed workers cannot purchase goods, whether domestically produced or imported. Unemployed workers cannot take advantage of services provided for fees. Eventually there won’t be enough unemployed workers to man the soup lines. They will all be on the receiving side of the table.

Now that’s full fledged recession turned into a depression that rivals or eclipses the 1930s depression.

What can we do? Bailouts are a temporary fix at best and when that money is gone, we’ll be right back where we started. We will be another day older and deeper in debt. We’ll still owe our souls to the company store.

We had better begin putting some regulations and protections back in place that will protect small business entrepreneurs and working class people. We had better begin dismantling the huge corporations that have taken control of our economy and manufacturing industries. We had better enact tax reforms that equalize opportunity to advance for all folks instead of accelerating the growth of the super rich at the expense of the lower and middle class masses.