You recall hearing the old expression “One too many times to the well,” don’t you? If it were a song, we could make it the theme song for the entire Republican agenda. The tale was in vogue back when water was almost free. But even then, water was limited. A well, for example, has only so much water to give up. If we pump it and pump it too often, sooner or later it will run dry. It is the tale of taking beyond our needs.  It is the story of greed.

This tale also summarizes the past hundred years or so of American history. More particularly, it is the story of how corporate America and their stooges in Congress have set up the apparatus that takes money from our pockets and deposits it into the pockets of the wealthy. It is not a circular stream, however, rather it flows but one way, from us to them—just like the well that gets lower and lower as it pumps more and more.

As I write this, I can hear Donald Trump’s voice in the background assuring his thousand dollar per head inaugural audience that “we are going to win.” I can assure you, he damn well means to do what he is saying. He intends to win by pumping America dry. He intends to drain the swamp (that’s you and me) until we have nothing left, while his coffers sloppeth over with the lifeblood that once was ours. He intends to pump us dry.

Case in point: He intends to introduce legislation for creating a $1 trillion infrastructure fund for rebuilding America’s highways, bridges, railroads, etc. But if you believe that he (and his rich friends) intend to pay their fair share into said fund, you had better recheck the fine print on your voting stub. They have no such intention.

He will give them a tax credit (of 18 percent) to fund projects, while you and I pick up the other 82 percent. They will then pick and choose from among the most expensive and most lucrative ventures, while imposing tolls on us to pay them back plus profits, thus putting a double whammy on us. Of course Trump and his cronies will take credit for the fixes, while you and I are expected to applaud while we pay all the bills.

They have a lot of experience in this con game. Today, whenever you see a toll highway or bridge, you can pretty well bet that all the future proceeds have already been sold to foreign investors. In exchange those investors have paid the present value of all our future toll dollars to the building contractors. And so we are left to foot all the bills—the construction costs and the tolls, while the contractors walk with their money back plus huge profits, the foreign investors pocket a decent return on investment, and we are left holding an empty bag, aka the well that went dry.

Repeat this scenario again and again, and guess what? The rich will have it all, we will have nothing.  It's when the national well runs completely dry (and we are almost there now), that we might discover the truth. The great bulk of our wealth will be locked away and in private accounts somewhere in the Cayman Islands, or the Guernsey Islands, or Lichtenstein, or Switzerland, or the Bahamas, or Hong Kong, or somewhere over the rainbow.  The ultra rich will have yachts and mansions hither and yon, while we are left to wither and die on the vine of deceit.