In the many past economic disasters that capitalism is heir to, Thanksgiving was always particularly troubling. It’s a day of supposed feasting with friends and loved ones. If there isn’t enough money to put the feast on the table, people feel particularly defeated. As old Marxists we felt better than most because it was the rotten system that was failing, not us. It resulted in families banding together and making a feast out of whatever we could contribute.
My German father was a great herring fan. Many a 1930’s dinner, including Thanksgiving, was made up of a variety of herrings and potatoes. I remember him going to the lower east side to buy a small barrel of matjes herring, together with a huge round pumpernickel, and bringing them home on the subway. The celebration part of the dinner was some kind of cake that the women seemed to magically cook up.
I believe we avoided the kind of depression and anxiety that I see in this present crisis precisely because we experienced the crisis as being just another sign that capitalism was collapsing. That made it a joyous occasion as we saw our future Jerusalem of socialism right there over the horizon. Now I must admit that while I don’t see any new Jerusalem over the horizon, I do think we will all live through these rough times a little smarter and less willing to accept the hype that “we can have it all.” Yes, this party is over until the next one.
I have often written about how we radicals of the thirties, unbeknownst at the time, ended up saving the capitalist system. We did it by demanding all those reforms that became known as the New Deal. Man! We marched, picketed, protested at every City Hall and all the way to Washington raising hell for new benefits for the working stiffs of America. And boy did we get them. That’s what saved capitalism and it will probably happen again. I would credit the election of Barak Obama to the growing resentment of the electorate over the present economic crisis.
So far I am unimpressed with the selection of Obama’s team. There is a difference between people who know the Washington bureaucracy, and people who have new ideas. I believe there are capable people outside of the Washington insiders. There are bright young people who were the heart of the Obama campaign who can be quick studies for the politicking that goes in the nation’s capital. I spent a year there as a lobbyist representing a union, and I don’t think it took me longer than a month of lunches and dinners to understand the workings on Capital Hill. The people who elected Obama are the people who organized these grass roots campaigns throughout the country. They represent the new political force. He was elected by young political activists. It is essential that people from that group be highly represented in the new administration.
What I would love to see is somebody organizing all those Obama campaigners into a new organization of Youth for a New America. Whatever the title.
Lastly, as the government continues the process of “bailing” the sinking ship, maybe my notion of public advocates on the Boards of all the bailout banks and companies seem to be emerging in a number of different places. That might just be us “slouching to socialism.” Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you Kate. N.H.W.Y.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
What is to be Done?
It’s winter here now and we are busy battening down the hatches as we prepare for the cold. Kate is busy cutting the ornamental grasses and Rosa Rugosa. I am putting the riding mower to bed for the winter and closing up as many openings as possible. Our Solar roof panels are working just great, so we are looking for additional ways to cut down on oil consumption. We are looking for advice on how to store the sunshine that floods our living room all day. Any suggestions?
Now to the title question: What is to be done? We are still in the glow of the Obama victory and reality is just beginning to hit. Paulson continues to whine out explanations about the 700 billion bank bailout that seem to satisfy no one. Why aren’t the banks starting to lend? Wasn’t that the purpose of the bailout? The automobile lobby wants in on the 700 as do lots of other corporate screw ups and my hunch is that all this mess will just be left for the incoming President. Isn’t that generous of the Bushies.
I am not at all certain what Obama’s thinking is regarding how to deal with a “crisis of capitalism.” I know that phrase has long lost its popularity, yet I believe that’s what we are experiencing. One way to know that is the argument between the free marketeers and the Keynesian tinkerers. The marketeers are insisting that if everyone would just mind their own business and leave the market alone, it will do just fine in getting itself back to some kind of equilibrium. The problem with that idea is that it leaves the rich richer (like the Hedge Fund scoundrels) and the poor poorer (as the thousands loosing their jobs each month). The middle class is in the process of being launched back into the out of work, unemployed poor. So what’s Obama to do?
He needs some fresh thinkers who really are CHANGE people. So far I am unimpressed with his choices for the Change Team. Looks to me like far too many holdovers from the Clinton “third way” crowd. I am not sure what Obama’s ideas are when it comes to the economy. Yes, I do remember his mentioning redistribution of wealth, but how we do that is a very tricky question. Taxing the rich. Great. Increasing entitlements, universal health care, unemployment insurance, stabilizing social security--all good things. But one big problem remains. Jobs. How to create jobs?
FDR spent a lot of money on Public Works that built the Triborough Bridge, Jones and Orchard Beach, many of the Lodges in the National Parks, etc. People who never lifted a shovel in their lives were out digging drainage ditches along the Bronx River Parkway. I don’t think that would be applicable now. We simply have come too far for people to be sent back to shoveling. I just don’t see that happening.
Now Ronald Reagan had a great idea. His expansion of the military budget created thousands of well paying jobs in the defense industries. I thought of it as a great new WPA. And because these were Federal contracts, the workforce included minorities on a scale never seen in private employment. The Federal non-discrimination clauses in all the contracts meant really well paying jobs, for example, black welders at the Electric Boat Company building atomic submarines. As we get out of the Iraq nightmare I have no doubt that the military is going to want to rebuild. That means there will be an all out push pull between the infrastructure rebuild folks and the military. How Obama will come down on that I don’t know. What I do know is that the infrastructure needs a lot of rebuilding. Problem is, that work is highly automated like paving roads, or very specialized like rebuilding bridges. It doesn’t lend itself to hiring lots of people on an assembly line to build military Hummer’s or tanks.
All of this is to say that Obama needs to find ways to use the talents of at least some of those wonderful people who got him elected. They are young, energetic, and I am sure have a lot of new ideas as to how we can make this a better world. That energy needs to be harnessed and used to help find new and different solutions to old problems.
Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.
Now to the title question: What is to be done? We are still in the glow of the Obama victory and reality is just beginning to hit. Paulson continues to whine out explanations about the 700 billion bank bailout that seem to satisfy no one. Why aren’t the banks starting to lend? Wasn’t that the purpose of the bailout? The automobile lobby wants in on the 700 as do lots of other corporate screw ups and my hunch is that all this mess will just be left for the incoming President. Isn’t that generous of the Bushies.
I am not at all certain what Obama’s thinking is regarding how to deal with a “crisis of capitalism.” I know that phrase has long lost its popularity, yet I believe that’s what we are experiencing. One way to know that is the argument between the free marketeers and the Keynesian tinkerers. The marketeers are insisting that if everyone would just mind their own business and leave the market alone, it will do just fine in getting itself back to some kind of equilibrium. The problem with that idea is that it leaves the rich richer (like the Hedge Fund scoundrels) and the poor poorer (as the thousands loosing their jobs each month). The middle class is in the process of being launched back into the out of work, unemployed poor. So what’s Obama to do?
He needs some fresh thinkers who really are CHANGE people. So far I am unimpressed with his choices for the Change Team. Looks to me like far too many holdovers from the Clinton “third way” crowd. I am not sure what Obama’s ideas are when it comes to the economy. Yes, I do remember his mentioning redistribution of wealth, but how we do that is a very tricky question. Taxing the rich. Great. Increasing entitlements, universal health care, unemployment insurance, stabilizing social security--all good things. But one big problem remains. Jobs. How to create jobs?
FDR spent a lot of money on Public Works that built the Triborough Bridge, Jones and Orchard Beach, many of the Lodges in the National Parks, etc. People who never lifted a shovel in their lives were out digging drainage ditches along the Bronx River Parkway. I don’t think that would be applicable now. We simply have come too far for people to be sent back to shoveling. I just don’t see that happening.
Now Ronald Reagan had a great idea. His expansion of the military budget created thousands of well paying jobs in the defense industries. I thought of it as a great new WPA. And because these were Federal contracts, the workforce included minorities on a scale never seen in private employment. The Federal non-discrimination clauses in all the contracts meant really well paying jobs, for example, black welders at the Electric Boat Company building atomic submarines. As we get out of the Iraq nightmare I have no doubt that the military is going to want to rebuild. That means there will be an all out push pull between the infrastructure rebuild folks and the military. How Obama will come down on that I don’t know. What I do know is that the infrastructure needs a lot of rebuilding. Problem is, that work is highly automated like paving roads, or very specialized like rebuilding bridges. It doesn’t lend itself to hiring lots of people on an assembly line to build military Hummer’s or tanks.
All of this is to say that Obama needs to find ways to use the talents of at least some of those wonderful people who got him elected. They are young, energetic, and I am sure have a lot of new ideas as to how we can make this a better world. That energy needs to be harnessed and used to help find new and different solutions to old problems.
Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Here Comes the Hard Part
Back in July of 2008 I wrote a blog, “Cool It on Obama.” At the time there was a lot of criticism from the left that he wasn’t fighting hard enough and needed to take off the gloves and so forth. His campaign strategy was to present himself as someone who could be trusted with his fingers on the trigger of the planets very existence. And guess what? I believe that’s exactly what worked. With the world in an economic meltdown he was seen as the good steady hand needed at the tiller. The economic meltdown was probably the number one issue that got him elected. The number two issue was the idiocy of Sarah Palin and her dumb-speak. As one Republican reporter put it, “How could McCain possibly see her as a President?” That did it for him. Andrew Sullivan was going to vote for Obama.
The expectations that ordinary people have about what the Obama victory means to them has me concerned. Elevated expectations can lead to very serious social unrest. I am reminded of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty. At that time I was Deputy Manpower Commissioner for Youth Employment during the Lindsey years. I had a first hand involvement with people in the Ghettos.They really expected that poverty and all its horrors was somehow going to end. And when it didn’t, as their frustration boiled over, I watched their anger erupt in the streets. I was glad to hear Obama say that change will take time and even a second term. That’s good, but I sure hope that message gets to those whose expectations are way up there.
There have also been numerous comparisons of the present situation to previous recessions and the great depression of the thirties. In some ways the solutions offered in the thirties were easier than those offered today. To begin with, there were no safety nets. That meant we could organize and agitate for Home Relief (now called Welfare), Unemployment Insurance, the right to organize into unions, and Old Age Insurance (Social Security). All of that helped F.D.R create “The New Deal.”
Obama has far less choices. And based on his campaign promises he has a huge agenda. He needs to sift out a couple of priority issues and concentrate his efforts. He can’t spread himself too thin or nothing will happen. Yes, of course his administration can extend Unemployment Insurance. He can help people stay in their homes through a “Reconstruction Finance Corp,” another New Deal invention. But what does he do about banking, auto, credit card, health care, and the rising unemployment crisis? These are complex issues and not subject to easy solutions. His administration will control the House and almost control of the Senate. This will give them an opportunity to create a whole new role for the government in running the economy.
The Bush Administration has been bailing out the banks in order to keep credit markets functioning. Okay, that’s just fine, but that bailout should result in the Government sitting on the Board of the bank it bails out in exactly the same way as if Warren Buffett or Carl Icahn bought a couple of million shares. After all, it is the taxpayers’ money and they should have a say as to how the bank spends that money.
That brings me to the crisis in the auto industry. If we were to follow the ideology of the free marketeers, we would let them sink or swim the best they can. That would make General Motors a sick patient heading to the bankruptcy ward. My concern is for the thousands of GM employees who, through no fault of their own, would be the ones to suffer the most. GM’s top executives and managers have already milked that golden calf to assure their own lifetime security is lived in the manner they are accustomed to. It’s the poor guy or gal on the assembly line or the retired auto workers who are really going to get the shaft. Again, through no fault of their own. It’s not the auto workers who decided to make Hummers while Toyota was making the Prius.
I believe the Government should make every effort to keep the auto companies in business as they did in the banking crisis. If there is any meaning at all to the talk about saving manufacturing jobs, the two million jobs in the auto industry should be a top priority. These are some of the best manufacturing jobs in the country. If Obama is serious about helping the middle class, these are the folks most in danger of losing that status. (They used to be called “the working class,” but people did not like that designation so we changed their designation to “middle class.” I am not quite certain who is now left in the working class?)
So what should the government do? As in the banking or housing crisis any money the government puts up should give them that many seats on the board of GM, Ford or Chrysler. When Ross Perot bought a bunch of GM stock, he got himself on the Board and raised a lot of hell. The free marketeers will go berserk when they hear such a proposal. It violates their ideology of letting the sinking free-market boat float to eventually right itself. And well it might, but in the meantime it will be the hourly employees who will do the drowning. And of course there will be the right-wing nuts who will accuse the administration of drifting toward socialism. Well, if every time the government steps in for a rescue it’s considered socialism, then we are pretty far down that road already. For example, here are some of the institutions that are totally run by the government: the military, the fire fighters, the postal service, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, etc., etc. Maybe that’s what we are doing, “slouching to Socialism.” What a great idea.
I was glad to hear that the Obama’s are going to take a new puppy to the White House. Another great idea. Maybe all of us just need a puppy to help us through some tough days ahead. The trouble is that puppy also needs to eat. Okay, second thoughts. How about a Gold Fish?
Thanks Kate. N.H.W.Y.
The expectations that ordinary people have about what the Obama victory means to them has me concerned. Elevated expectations can lead to very serious social unrest. I am reminded of the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty. At that time I was Deputy Manpower Commissioner for Youth Employment during the Lindsey years. I had a first hand involvement with people in the Ghettos.They really expected that poverty and all its horrors was somehow going to end. And when it didn’t, as their frustration boiled over, I watched their anger erupt in the streets. I was glad to hear Obama say that change will take time and even a second term. That’s good, but I sure hope that message gets to those whose expectations are way up there.
There have also been numerous comparisons of the present situation to previous recessions and the great depression of the thirties. In some ways the solutions offered in the thirties were easier than those offered today. To begin with, there were no safety nets. That meant we could organize and agitate for Home Relief (now called Welfare), Unemployment Insurance, the right to organize into unions, and Old Age Insurance (Social Security). All of that helped F.D.R create “The New Deal.”
Obama has far less choices. And based on his campaign promises he has a huge agenda. He needs to sift out a couple of priority issues and concentrate his efforts. He can’t spread himself too thin or nothing will happen. Yes, of course his administration can extend Unemployment Insurance. He can help people stay in their homes through a “Reconstruction Finance Corp,” another New Deal invention. But what does he do about banking, auto, credit card, health care, and the rising unemployment crisis? These are complex issues and not subject to easy solutions. His administration will control the House and almost control of the Senate. This will give them an opportunity to create a whole new role for the government in running the economy.
The Bush Administration has been bailing out the banks in order to keep credit markets functioning. Okay, that’s just fine, but that bailout should result in the Government sitting on the Board of the bank it bails out in exactly the same way as if Warren Buffett or Carl Icahn bought a couple of million shares. After all, it is the taxpayers’ money and they should have a say as to how the bank spends that money.
That brings me to the crisis in the auto industry. If we were to follow the ideology of the free marketeers, we would let them sink or swim the best they can. That would make General Motors a sick patient heading to the bankruptcy ward. My concern is for the thousands of GM employees who, through no fault of their own, would be the ones to suffer the most. GM’s top executives and managers have already milked that golden calf to assure their own lifetime security is lived in the manner they are accustomed to. It’s the poor guy or gal on the assembly line or the retired auto workers who are really going to get the shaft. Again, through no fault of their own. It’s not the auto workers who decided to make Hummers while Toyota was making the Prius.
I believe the Government should make every effort to keep the auto companies in business as they did in the banking crisis. If there is any meaning at all to the talk about saving manufacturing jobs, the two million jobs in the auto industry should be a top priority. These are some of the best manufacturing jobs in the country. If Obama is serious about helping the middle class, these are the folks most in danger of losing that status. (They used to be called “the working class,” but people did not like that designation so we changed their designation to “middle class.” I am not quite certain who is now left in the working class?)
So what should the government do? As in the banking or housing crisis any money the government puts up should give them that many seats on the board of GM, Ford or Chrysler. When Ross Perot bought a bunch of GM stock, he got himself on the Board and raised a lot of hell. The free marketeers will go berserk when they hear such a proposal. It violates their ideology of letting the sinking free-market boat float to eventually right itself. And well it might, but in the meantime it will be the hourly employees who will do the drowning. And of course there will be the right-wing nuts who will accuse the administration of drifting toward socialism. Well, if every time the government steps in for a rescue it’s considered socialism, then we are pretty far down that road already. For example, here are some of the institutions that are totally run by the government: the military, the fire fighters, the postal service, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration, etc., etc. Maybe that’s what we are doing, “slouching to Socialism.” What a great idea.
I was glad to hear that the Obama’s are going to take a new puppy to the White House. Another great idea. Maybe all of us just need a puppy to help us through some tough days ahead. The trouble is that puppy also needs to eat. Okay, second thoughts. How about a Gold Fish?
Thanks Kate. N.H.W.Y.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Thank You Sarah?
Yes, I know you might be thinking the boy has gone cuckoo. But hold on there. She has helped us to reintroduce the idea of socialism. Some day, not in the far too distant future, when a candidate for President is accused of a socialist idea he or she may say “absolutely, and it is the best solution to our present crisis.” Let me go back a little here.
During the great depression of the thirties I was a teenager and did a hell of a lot of marching, picketing and protesting. We were demanding social justice. The key word here is SOCIAL. And very close to it is the whole idea of socialism. I might describe it as an economic system based on social and economic justice for all. In our present system of dog eat dog capitalism, the biggest share of the economic pie goes to the top two percent of the population. Socialists, including Jesus, believe that is an unfair distribution of the wealth.
Back in the thirties, as a result of our marching, singing, and protesting, we were able to achieve a little bit of socialism and it is called SOCIAL SECURITY. There were other pieces of our social agenda, including unemployment insurance, home relief, and a Wagner Act that guaranteed the right of workers to collective bargaining. I think these socialist programs saved the capitalist system from its own destruction. The Social Democratic governments of Europe have been on this path since the thirties. They have learned that the best way to avoid social unrest is to achieve some economic stability via the road to socialism. That has given them the best universal health care systems in the world. Would I characterize these countries as socialist? No, I think not. What they offer is a willingness to compromise the “free market” notion of capitalism for some socialism, as needed.
In the present economic meltdown, low and behold the government jumps in to give a little economic support to the banks in order to keep the system afloat and avoid an explosion of social unrest. It’s the social unrest phenomena that scares the daylights out of the powers that be. So they try a little socialism to keep things under control. Sarah Palin, yapping that Obama sounds like a socialist, doesn’t have a clue what she is talking about. Any politician promising government intervention, be it Medicare, Medicade, or prescription drug payment, is talking socialist ideas. That brings me back full circle to Social Security. Remember when George Bush, Cheney, et al were going to privatize it? They learned pretty quickly from the reaction of seniors that there was going to be no fooling around with this great socialist idea.
Assuming Obama is our next President, I would hope that he borrows handily from the tool bag of socialist ideas about how to deal with the present crisis. Of couse it would be even greater if we had a functioning Socialist Party in this country that could actively educate the public about what socialism is all about. I know there are a lot of historic reasons why this hasn’t happened in our recent history. I do believe this period may be coming to an end. The present crisis is going to have profound effect on how our existing system works. The current worldwide intervention in the free-market system will make the market less and less free.
PS. Best news for Tuesday is that the bookmakers out of Las Vegas are giving the odds to Obama to win.
Thank you Kate. N.H.W.Y.
During the great depression of the thirties I was a teenager and did a hell of a lot of marching, picketing and protesting. We were demanding social justice. The key word here is SOCIAL. And very close to it is the whole idea of socialism. I might describe it as an economic system based on social and economic justice for all. In our present system of dog eat dog capitalism, the biggest share of the economic pie goes to the top two percent of the population. Socialists, including Jesus, believe that is an unfair distribution of the wealth.
Back in the thirties, as a result of our marching, singing, and protesting, we were able to achieve a little bit of socialism and it is called SOCIAL SECURITY. There were other pieces of our social agenda, including unemployment insurance, home relief, and a Wagner Act that guaranteed the right of workers to collective bargaining. I think these socialist programs saved the capitalist system from its own destruction. The Social Democratic governments of Europe have been on this path since the thirties. They have learned that the best way to avoid social unrest is to achieve some economic stability via the road to socialism. That has given them the best universal health care systems in the world. Would I characterize these countries as socialist? No, I think not. What they offer is a willingness to compromise the “free market” notion of capitalism for some socialism, as needed.
In the present economic meltdown, low and behold the government jumps in to give a little economic support to the banks in order to keep the system afloat and avoid an explosion of social unrest. It’s the social unrest phenomena that scares the daylights out of the powers that be. So they try a little socialism to keep things under control. Sarah Palin, yapping that Obama sounds like a socialist, doesn’t have a clue what she is talking about. Any politician promising government intervention, be it Medicare, Medicade, or prescription drug payment, is talking socialist ideas. That brings me back full circle to Social Security. Remember when George Bush, Cheney, et al were going to privatize it? They learned pretty quickly from the reaction of seniors that there was going to be no fooling around with this great socialist idea.
Assuming Obama is our next President, I would hope that he borrows handily from the tool bag of socialist ideas about how to deal with the present crisis. Of couse it would be even greater if we had a functioning Socialist Party in this country that could actively educate the public about what socialism is all about. I know there are a lot of historic reasons why this hasn’t happened in our recent history. I do believe this period may be coming to an end. The present crisis is going to have profound effect on how our existing system works. The current worldwide intervention in the free-market system will make the market less and less free.
PS. Best news for Tuesday is that the bookmakers out of Las Vegas are giving the odds to Obama to win.
Thank you Kate. N.H.W.Y.
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