Let me begin with the biggest fraud of them all, the communist government of the People's Republic of China. This pseudonym of a country and the kleptocrats who constitute its power elite, do not allow unionization and thus permit slave labor by the proletariat in a communist country. They are so incensed at the humiliation by the West of their middle kingdom, that they wish to have their revenge, by coercing their own citizens to perform indentured labor to snub the imperialists, so that the power elite's princes and sundry party hacks can get rich. No wonder their former running dog of a prime minister to the maniac Mao, said that it was too early to tell the outcome of the French Revolution, which followed the era, when an aristocrat could exsanguinate his tenant to warm his cold feet by the peasant's blood, before he exercised his right to sleep with and sample the sexual capability of another newly married peasant's wife, on the night of her wedding. 

I am sure the average citizen of China is grateful, that there is no starvation and these eighty- hour workweeks in dangerous sweatshops are being performed as patriotic duty to the combined tunes of the "Internationale" and "The east is red" or whatever jingle the Politburo members hear when they are put on hold by their Swiss bankers, while the bankers tally the latest figures of their secret stashes. Thus this abominable cancer of a government feeds on its own body politic to insatiably proliferate the wealth and power of a few malignant leaders in an inexorable insane march to the disillusionment, if not death of the whole nation. 

Russia, the fountainhead of Marxism is on a neighboring spoke, but still leading to a meltdown from the spider's venom. It has a unique constitution, which includes freedom of speech for all, but freedom to steal, only for the chosen few. This people's paradise in Kafkaesque fashion has metamorphosed overnight into an oligarchy of criminals. It has found an original way, for it does not coerce its people into slave labor. No sir, it insists on regular working hours, it just doesn't pay its employees and issues IOUs. It has learnt at the feet of the masters viz. the capitalists. The pathetic state of these communist giants is the reason why respectable communists have fallen on their swords. Thank God! 

Ever since the enlightenment of Buddha, we have heard much propaganda in favor of the middle way. This is called the socialist path. It is like the code of conduct of the teaching faculty or the police of some American inner cities. Don't teach or punish, sit tight and don't make waves, but be sure to collect what is owed to you. India in its former incarnation is another spoke. No real effort is made to improve the lot of the people except for mouthing slogans, allowing corruption to flourish and playing the new version of the old rhyme game-Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, computer chief. There is freedom of speech and freedom to die. This is capitalism at its worst, masquerading as socialism, with policing by thieves and robber barons, who come in secular, religious or atheistic flavors, but stink equally bad, and are closet members of the cult of Thugs. 

Now I will give equal recognition to Pakistan and the Islamic military path to hell, so as not to fuel its inferiority complex, because this desire for equality and not to be considered an outcaste, is its second raison d'etre. The first is to provide a segregated battlefield for different brands of Muslims to kill one another in the hope of achieving a paradise with eternally youthful nubile houris to service the martyrs or some such high theological and metaphysical objective. Robber barons abound and roam the jungles, which constitute this entity. They are dangerous and heavily armed and when they get rich enough, after becoming presidents or prime ministers, are given asylum by Islamic countries like UK and Saudi Arabia. No wonder the minority Christians rioted against the rich Pakistanis given asylum in Bradford. The two deadliest spokes, which are adjoining and mutually enhancing each other's lethal potentialities to beggar their own poor and are the piece de resistance of my analytical offering are Mexico and the United States.

Mexico borrows heavily in dollars from US banks and then the money is siphoned off by crooked Mexican presidents, cronies and sundry bandits, with inability to repay by the country of Mexico. It goes hat in hand to the US government, IMF, World Bank etc, which lend it the money, so that US banks and rich investors are repaid. The condition of these loans is further devaluation of the peso, decimating the savings and earning capacities of the poor Mexicans, who migrate illegally across the border with the sole despicable, malicious purpose of embarrassing high- level federal appointees during their confirmation hearings before the senate. This shows complete disregard for the charity shown to them, by paying them unreported, less than minimum wage level, paltry sums for sundry personal expenses, while they live free of charge in a small section of a spacious three car garage and get free leftovers to eat.

The US government on its own part, makes the average taxpayer foot the bill for these loans and thus subsidizes the foolhardy loans, unwisely given by the rich to undeserving credit risks. The incompetent bankers and lying hypocrite cabinet secretaries are then shunted to the World Bank, so that they can add economic terrorism, to other failings on their resume. It proclaims from rooftops its neighborly and moral concern for Mexico, thus shoving NAFTA down the throat of the ignorant American public. This lowers the wage levels in USA and puts a thumbscrew on the unions, whose leaders would sell their near relatives for a good price, so why not their membership? Then the government administers a coup de grace by declaring an amnesty for illegal aliens, earning their eternal gratitude, for being locked in servitude in minimum wage jobs. This puts a damper on the hopes of less educated and unskilled citizens. The cycle repeats itself regularly and is one of the reasons that the average American family is on a treadmill to nowhere and has to run to stay in the same place. 

The past history of Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile is replete with terror of the military juntas or extreme rightist groups. Peru and Colombia have the unique distinction of having rightist and leftists terrorizing the population and all of them constitute a prominent radial spoke causing death of ordinary citizens. It is Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, which stand out for wanton cruelty and barbaric executions of their own citizens by the ruling Taliban and the rebel faction respectively. They have amputated the limbs of children in Sierra Leone and stoned people to death in Afghanistan.

Lastly, we come to the miscellaneous spokes like Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, Tanzania etc. where purposeful lack of education and development were actively chosen by leaders to perpetuate their rule and ethnic rivalries, with thievery by leaders to cause the worsening of the poor. Tanzania's case is of well meaning ineptness. Other more complex, varied causes have led to the deteriorating living standards in Indonesia, Thailand, Zimbabwe etc. The moral of the story is that pretty much all forms of government, like the spokes of a spider's web are detrimental to the economic health of the less affluent. Perhaps the Common market and Scandinavian countries have a better way and seem to offer their least capable citizens a safety net.