Last Sunday night Kate and I watched a documentary, “Inheritance,” about the relationships of individual lives during the Holocaust. Probably because both my parents were German, the story of this most tragic time in the 20th Century continues to haunt me. It was with this terrible dilemma in mind that I wrote a poem about my German father’s struggle with his love hate relationship with Germany. So here it is.
PARADOX
My German Papa
Lived with this terrible paradox.
He ran away
Some time around eighteen ninety,
Or who knows?
Always he would speak of the beauty of the Rhine.
The brilliance of Beethoven, Goethe, Schiller, Marx and
“Thus spake Zarathustra.”
There in my papas pantheon of gods
Lay all the answers.
On July fourth in New York Harbor
He and Bruno, a fellow believer, jumped ship.
Walked their way across Brooklyn.
Found a little Germany in Ridgewood.
I forgot to say,
Somewhere along the way
Papa found Bakunin the Anarchist.
He loved him and Anarchist August Babel.
Oh yes, all those Germans, but now he discovered
Coney Island, the Bronx Zoo,
The Metropolitan Opera and the subway too.
“All those people from all over the world.
Sitting standing quietly next to each other
In a packed subway car.
And not at war. Remarkable!,” he would say.
How he loved Wagner, The Ring,
And of course
The Blue Danube Waltz.
He cut a mean figure on the dance floor.
As the darkness of the “marching idiots,”
That’s what he called them, descended,
Papa’s mood began to darken.
There were five of us by then.
Moma, Alice, Hedda, me and Papa.
Realized much later,
In secret Moma stole away to rid herself of an unborn.
Was that to unburden papa?
Instead--she rid herself of herself.
Germany drifts to the Armageddon.
Three little kids and Papa.
He spent so much time fighting back tears.
His Germany sliding into hell and
Three little kids needed to be fed, clothed and sheltered.
How could Goethe, Schiller, Marx help now?
I often wondered.
Somehow three kids
With the help of many good christian socialists,
They grew up.
Ten days after my twelfth birthday
Came the crash of twenty nine.
What happened to Papa?
The country’s depression now joined Papa’s.
Sadness and remorse like a big old turtle
Crowded inside himself.
Often he had spoken of the coming doom.
His beloved fatherland sinking into disbelief.
Oh he tried and tried to understand it
Yet when the dam burst revealing
The charred bodies of the Holocaust
I hear him murmur Goethe, Schiller, Marx, Einstein.
Where are you when I need you most?
Where did his beloved go?
Hardest of it all, I wondered
How could he still love Richard Wagner?
Did the music portend the abyss?
Auchwitz, Bergen Belsen broke my papa’s spirit.
No, he did not die.
He lived a half life.
Painting lovely landscapes and
Silently taking long walks in the woods.
Lying there his life spent.
His voice a faint whisper.
“I don’t think of that far off land anymore.”
And “Oh yes,
I did not know what your mother was going to do that day.”
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Me and General Jones
It was some time in the 80’s. I was invited to be an opening session speaker at a YPO meeting in Aspen Colorado. The YPO is the Young Presidents Organization. It’s membership is made up of presidents or CEO’s under age 40 with companies doing over a million dollars. They come together once a year in what is called a “University” to expose the youngin’s to any new ideas that might help their development. Got it?
I had participated in a few of these Universities to explain the new ways that managers might work with their employees. My subject matter included getting along with unions, how worker participation can boost the bottom line, and managing self managing work teams. This invitation to Aspen was the first time I was asked to participate as an opening day presenter. My subject was about new developments in how to manage a more participatory work place. (I am reconstructing all of this from memory so forgive me if I miss some details.)
I arrived in Aspen the day before the meeting started and ended up with a severe altitude headache. The local doctor suggested I get out of the altitude. He did give me something to get me through my presentation. I hadn’t paid much attention to the opening session until that morning over coffee. I looked at the program and sure enough there was the name of the opening speaker, General Jim Jones, Commander of NATO. As I remember it his subject was something about an adequate defense policy. Keep in mind this was still very much the cold war era.
My God, I thought to myself, how am I going to compete with this guy all tucked out with ribbons and all. This is one of those numerous situations in life when one asks himself the question, “how did I ever get into this”? I thought maybe I could just be sick and leave. No, I never liked playing chicken. So I decided to go ahead with the speech I had planned.
General Jones turned out to be a far better speaker than I figured a General could be. His talk revolved around the importance of a national defense policy with a strong emphasis on our relations with the NATO countries. I was surprised by the intensity of the question answer period. The Young Presidents had a real interest in what was going on in the rest of the world and that was beginning to eat into my allotted time. I thought, “Oh well, you don’t get four star Generals too often at meetings, so these folks really are intrigued with him,” and in some ways so was I. He was forthright, acknowledged what he didn’t know, and repeatedly emphasized the importance of diplomacy as a better approach than a shooting war.
After the Generals standing ovation and a short intermission, I was introduced as the author of “Ten Thousand Working Days” and “a guy who knows a lot about work from the shop floor up.” Recognizing the fact that I was just a guy from the Bronx, and feeling like a Karaoke singer who was just asked to follow Elvis Presley, I shared some of my union vs. company “war experiences” with them. That got a solid laugh. I figured “Okay, I can get through this”.
I spoke of the many new labor management developments that were playing out at the time--quality circles, self managing work teams, employee ownership, and the development of democratic workplaces. All of which was nicely received. There was an extensive question and answer period during which time I noticed that the General had stayed for the whole session. That was another one of those eye opening moments when you realize that your prejudices just caused you to underestimate a person. Happened to me on any number of occasions. (Including a meeting with Senator Taft of Taft Hartley fame.)
After the session concluded to a polite applause, the General made a point of shaking my hand. He said he had really learned a lot from what I had to say and thought at least some of the ideas I spoke of could be applied to the military.
General Jim Jones is Barack Obama’s nominee for National Security advisor.
Thank you Kate N.H.W.Y.
I had participated in a few of these Universities to explain the new ways that managers might work with their employees. My subject matter included getting along with unions, how worker participation can boost the bottom line, and managing self managing work teams. This invitation to Aspen was the first time I was asked to participate as an opening day presenter. My subject was about new developments in how to manage a more participatory work place. (I am reconstructing all of this from memory so forgive me if I miss some details.)
I arrived in Aspen the day before the meeting started and ended up with a severe altitude headache. The local doctor suggested I get out of the altitude. He did give me something to get me through my presentation. I hadn’t paid much attention to the opening session until that morning over coffee. I looked at the program and sure enough there was the name of the opening speaker, General Jim Jones, Commander of NATO. As I remember it his subject was something about an adequate defense policy. Keep in mind this was still very much the cold war era.
My God, I thought to myself, how am I going to compete with this guy all tucked out with ribbons and all. This is one of those numerous situations in life when one asks himself the question, “how did I ever get into this”? I thought maybe I could just be sick and leave. No, I never liked playing chicken. So I decided to go ahead with the speech I had planned.
General Jones turned out to be a far better speaker than I figured a General could be. His talk revolved around the importance of a national defense policy with a strong emphasis on our relations with the NATO countries. I was surprised by the intensity of the question answer period. The Young Presidents had a real interest in what was going on in the rest of the world and that was beginning to eat into my allotted time. I thought, “Oh well, you don’t get four star Generals too often at meetings, so these folks really are intrigued with him,” and in some ways so was I. He was forthright, acknowledged what he didn’t know, and repeatedly emphasized the importance of diplomacy as a better approach than a shooting war.
After the Generals standing ovation and a short intermission, I was introduced as the author of “Ten Thousand Working Days” and “a guy who knows a lot about work from the shop floor up.” Recognizing the fact that I was just a guy from the Bronx, and feeling like a Karaoke singer who was just asked to follow Elvis Presley, I shared some of my union vs. company “war experiences” with them. That got a solid laugh. I figured “Okay, I can get through this”.
I spoke of the many new labor management developments that were playing out at the time--quality circles, self managing work teams, employee ownership, and the development of democratic workplaces. All of which was nicely received. There was an extensive question and answer period during which time I noticed that the General had stayed for the whole session. That was another one of those eye opening moments when you realize that your prejudices just caused you to underestimate a person. Happened to me on any number of occasions. (Including a meeting with Senator Taft of Taft Hartley fame.)
After the session concluded to a polite applause, the General made a point of shaking my hand. He said he had really learned a lot from what I had to say and thought at least some of the ideas I spoke of could be applied to the military.
General Jim Jones is Barack Obama’s nominee for National Security advisor.
Thank you Kate N.H.W.Y.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thanksgiving Thoughts
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.
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 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.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
About Plumbers
All this talk about Joe the plumber could not help but remind me of my plumbing past. I mention this only to give me some credibility to comment on the new fifteen minute hero from Pennsylvania.
Anyone who read “Ten Thousand Working Days” will surely remember the chapter “Plumber.” The year was 1934 and we were in the depths of the depression. I was one of the few lucky kids to have a job. Since that time I have gone on to many things but never lost my plumbing skills. Ask my wife if you don’t believe me. So wherever I have lived I made friends with the local plumbers. The thing about plumbers is they know some of our best secrets. Like for instance, everybody defecates, and it all stinks--rich, poor, old, young, and even Hollywood beauties. I remember going to fancy apartments in NYC. Some very embarrassed young women would point me to the toilet, then hide in shame for the rest of my time there.
Because of this fundamental knowledge of the human condition, most plumbers I have known have a very low tolerance for bullshit, except in cases as the local plumber once said, “if he is a bullshitter himself.” So here we meet McCain’s man from Pennsylvania. Plumbers, who have their own philosophy, would have immediately spotted the fact that he did not have a license. Second, that he “owed taxes” meant he was taking cash for at least some of his work. Any of you living in a small town and who hire locals know this is not an uncommon practice by local craftsmen. Joe Plumber may need a new career once his 15 minutes is over, as the locals may be wondering about his tax problems? Oh I could go on about plumbers, but enough of that for now.
Here we are in the last weeks of the most historic election campaign that I have lived through. (Just turned 91.) As expected, the right wing nuts are going crazy just thinking about Obama winning, so all the stops are out. My hope is that all those young “warriors” that have joined the Obama crusade will be able to pull it off. “God I wish I could have joined them. The most memorable days of my life have been spent in crusades marching and singing and speeching. However this comes out, I just love those new recruits to the band of happy warriors who have made the world a better place and helped make it possible to have a candidate like Obama. That’s what people have done through the years to win the struggle for a better and more equal society.
Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.
Anyone who read “Ten Thousand Working Days” will surely remember the chapter “Plumber.” The year was 1934 and we were in the depths of the depression. I was one of the few lucky kids to have a job. Since that time I have gone on to many things but never lost my plumbing skills. Ask my wife if you don’t believe me. So wherever I have lived I made friends with the local plumbers. The thing about plumbers is they know some of our best secrets. Like for instance, everybody defecates, and it all stinks--rich, poor, old, young, and even Hollywood beauties. I remember going to fancy apartments in NYC. Some very embarrassed young women would point me to the toilet, then hide in shame for the rest of my time there.
Because of this fundamental knowledge of the human condition, most plumbers I have known have a very low tolerance for bullshit, except in cases as the local plumber once said, “if he is a bullshitter himself.” So here we meet McCain’s man from Pennsylvania. Plumbers, who have their own philosophy, would have immediately spotted the fact that he did not have a license. Second, that he “owed taxes” meant he was taking cash for at least some of his work. Any of you living in a small town and who hire locals know this is not an uncommon practice by local craftsmen. Joe Plumber may need a new career once his 15 minutes is over, as the locals may be wondering about his tax problems? Oh I could go on about plumbers, but enough of that for now.
Here we are in the last weeks of the most historic election campaign that I have lived through. (Just turned 91.) As expected, the right wing nuts are going crazy just thinking about Obama winning, so all the stops are out. My hope is that all those young “warriors” that have joined the Obama crusade will be able to pull it off. “God I wish I could have joined them. The most memorable days of my life have been spent in crusades marching and singing and speeching. However this comes out, I just love those new recruits to the band of happy warriors who have made the world a better place and helped make it possible to have a candidate like Obama. That’s what people have done through the years to win the struggle for a better and more equal society.
Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.
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