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Why the Idiocy About Unemployment?
My wife, a labor economist, is upset with NPR's "The Take Away" (and many other news programs) for reinforcing the myth that somehow the unemployed are to blame for not having a job. We all should be angry as well because the jobs just aren't there. In fact, the latest unemployment statistics show that there are five unemployed workers available for every vacant job. Why blame workers when it's so clear that Wall Street's reckless gambling caused the jobs crisis?
By now, you'd think we'd have buried this issue. But like Dracula it refuses to die. And so, I return to the subject with the hope of driving a stake through its heart and giving it a proper burial. Among the claims we need to put to rest:
1. Extended unemployment benefits are causing unemployment. Extending benefits for the long-term unemployed will only encourage them to sit at home on their extended derrieres and let vacant jobs go begging.
What jobs? We're down 8 million since the start of the Great Recession. We aren't even creating enough new jobs to keep up with population growth. So what jobs are the unemployed not taking?
Every child knows how to play musical chairs. When you take away 8 million chairs, a lot of people are forced to scrounge around looking for seats that aren't there. Providing nourishment for the chairless is not the cause of the disappearing chairs. It's just the decent thing to do.
Why is this so difficult to grasp? And why are so many people angry at the long-term unemployed and not at the bankers who actually created this mess?
Economist Dean Baker suggests that the Republicans are trying to keep unemployment as high as possible right now because they think that high jobless numbers will spell disaster for the Democrats in November. And if we give the unemployed extended benefits, that money will act as a stimulus, generating more jobs. Well, we can't have that! It's better for the Republicans if the economy stays in the ditch.
But what about Obama and the Democrats? Why aren't they at the barricades, fighting for the unemployed? They could be flooding the talk shows with a raucous defense of the jobless. They could be putting ads up all over the country, explaining why the long-term unemployed deserve our support. They ought to be ridiculing any politician or pundit who argues against jobless benefits. Where the hell is their outrage?
Instead, even as the unemployment crisis continues, the Democrats are pushing austerity and deficit reduction--the financial industry's pet issue. If the Democrats are so worried about unemployment benefits deepening the deficit they should start plugging that money hole by raising taxes on billionaire hedge funds executives. Just ask the billionaires to pay the same income tax rates as the rest of us, instead of dodging behind the lower capital gains rate. Is that really such a hard sell, Democrats? If the public knew that the top ten hedge fund managers were averaging $900,000 an hour (not a typo) during the worst economic year since the Depression--and paying lower income tax rates than the rest of us--the American public would be outraged. Of course, to push this plan the politicians would need to have the guts to upset billionaires.
(Meanwhile, Timothy Geithner is signaling that the Administration will hold down capital gains taxes on the super-rich.)
But even the gutless ought to know that blaming the unemployed for unemployment is insane --not to mention incredibly mean-spirited.
2. Unemployment is caused by "structural" problems in the labor markets. Labor
markets have to be freed from constraints like decent pensions, a
reasonable retirement age, and adequate health care benefits. These
public benefits -sometimes known as the social wage -- are keeping
employers from hiring. So, sorry, Americans, we'll just have to work
longer and harder for less.
This chilling proposal, now on the lips of Republicans and Democrats
alike, will clearly make the markets happy. But what about the rest of
us?
Is this grim belt-tightening really going to bring back the 8 million jobs we lost?
If we cut the social wage, corporations certainly will save on labor costs and accumulate more cash. But will they productively invest it? Not according to Yves Smith and Rob Parenteau, They argue that corporate America greatly prefers to pocket the cash and use it for gambling on Wall Street:
To develop new products, buy new equipment or expand geographically, an enterprise has to spend money -- on marketing research, product design, prototype development, legal expenses associated with patents, lining up contractors and so on. Rather than incur such expenses, companies increasingly prefer to pay their executives exorbitant bonuses, or issue special dividends to shareholders, or engage in purely financial speculation. But this means they also short-circuit a major driver of economic growth.
3. The only real jobs are private sector jobs. You see, only the private sector can rescue our economy because the jobs they create spring from consumer supply and demand, not the dictates of corrupt or know-it-all politicians. When you work for the public sector, you're practically on the dole because your wages come from tax dollars. That's quasi-socialism.
Has anyone noticed that private industry has been on the public dole for decades? We have millions of alleged private sector jobs funded by the Defense Department and through subsidies for industries from sugar to oil, and of course banking. We've given so many tax dodges to corporate America that most companies pay almost no taxes at all. The idea of a purely private sector is pure fiction, a soothing fairy tale for Tea Partiers and faith-based, free-market ideologues.
Despite all the perks we've been giving to corporate America, it's not at all clear that the private sector will ever again create enough decent jobs to support a middle class society in this country. Right now the economy is supposedly growing, but employment isn't. So what is growing? Well, the obscene bonuses and pay packages of corporate America and Wall Street --- the only growth that counts for our financial elites.
We're at a critical point in the jobs crisis. Nearly 30 million of us don't have jobs or have been forced into part-time jobs. It's not like there's no work to do. We have millions and millions of kids to educate. We desperately need to slash our energy use--and with an army of workers, we could weatherize every home and business in the country. Our bridges and roads will take decades to repair. We need to build an entire national system of efficient public transit.
When Wall Street is in trouble, we come to the rescue with trillions in bailouts. We've poured hundreds of billions more into two wars. But when it comes to investing in our people to get needed work done, we can't seem to summon the will or find the cash.
There's a one-sided war going on between financial elites and the rest of us. They've engineered the economy to enrich themselves at our expense, with Wall Street taking the lead.
The numbers don't lie: In 1970 the top 100 CEOs earned approximately
$45 for every dollar earned by the average worker. By last year, it was
$1,081 to one. (See The Looting of America.)
There is no economic theory that can explain this obscene gap. It has
nothing to do with talent or productivity or even luck. It's just raw
power. And the only thing that financial power understands is
countervailing power in the form of a popular mass movement - a
movement that only can start once we stop blaming ourselves for the
jobs crisis.
We have our work cut out for us.
57 Comments so far
Show AllAdaptation on a theme by George Lakoff:
How grand the profits enjoyed by the new "framers" who get to manage the national dialog in a manner that ensures they get to keep the bread while the rest get the circus.
Liberal economists such as James Galbraith, Paul Krugman, Dean Baker, Joseph Stiglitz, and Max Frad Wolff deserve credit for disputing the current asinine deficit mania and rightly insisting that employment is the key to recovery.
But they all seem to refuse to "get it". "Structural problems" means the system of predatory corporate capitalism is rigged against workers having jobs, livable wages, benefits, unions, and being middle class. The deficit mania is a useful distraction from the urgent need for a massive jobs program, and both major parties and the corporate media are all too happy to push that distraction endlessly to protect their power and wealth and that of their Corporatist-Militarist overlords. And the ignorant, mis-informed US public seems to be swallowing this propaganda with little disagreement.
The Corporatist-Militarist Ruling Class wants only desperate low-wage workers who will either forego decent wages and benefits, or else enlist in the Empire's colonizing military under the illusion that that will give them a "better life".
Sociopaths are in power, and these well-meaning liberal economists refuse to see that bitter reality.
Your right, but it's work that pays nothing but endless grief from the same goons and jackals that have wrecked the economy and are now intent on reducing as many of us as possible to the status of serfs.
"And the only thing that financial power understands is countervailing power in the form of a popular mass movement..."
No name given here for which popular mass movement Mr. Leopold is thinking of. If he actually has one in mind. Perhaps his mass movement is just a nebulous idea at this point.
Can anyone here suggest what form this popular mass movement might take? Would it be a Ghandi like movement where we all march down to the sea and make our own salt? Or would it be more of a Castro type movement where we slip into the dense forests of the mountains and fight the good fight of a revolution.
Perhaps, like the Palestinians we could throw rocks at the tanks.
Would it be a mass movement which gives political power to a single party which promises change? Giving that party control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives. Already tried that?
The mass movement that people in the U.S.A. are most likely to join is the mass movement from the couch in front of the TV to the bedroom for a good night's sleep (or not so good).
As for me, it is time for a little nap.
I actually think we should be massing to remake our democracy, like according to Dylan Ratigans four step perscription: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/fix-america-fix-the-polit_b_633052.html. Or outright campaign finance reform, aka fixcongressfirst.org
But I think this doesn't have broad public support. Instead much of the public will vote in Republicans this fall and call that democracy. In about 6 years, they'll be totally sold out and there'll be some kind of conflagration. 'Time for a little nap'? I wish I could sleep for the next 6 years.
Tell me again why the unemployed aren't out in the streets protesting this grotesque monstrosity of fascism? Even those with jobs get out in the streets in Europe - but then, they're not afraid of their government. Americans have to learn to fight for what they want - a decent living, healthcare, education, and all the rest. Freedom isn't free, and nobody is going to hand it to you. When millions of Americans flood the streets, day after day - then they will get a decent lifestyle - and real freedom. Until then, they can be as pussy-whipped as they like - and out on the streets without a home or job. The wealthy criminals aren't into charity. Live free or die. And sometimes a few people have to die so their families and communities can be free.
Good concise comment.
Europe also doesn't have the seamless propaganda syatem the US has.
The only worker uprisings we will see here will be reactionary ones demanding the devolution of even more power to the powerful.
The media in Europe isn't perfect either but at least most people there don't fall for it.
When I was in Europe earlier this year, I noticed a huge difference between the way the unemployed were treated there compared to the US. I agree that millions of Americans would have to take to the streets but I also believe that this requires the unemployed to be motivated into fighting for justice rather than be pushed into settling for lower quality lower paying jobs out of fear of society looking at them as "incapable of making it in the job market". There is also a difference between the way small businesses operate here vs in Europe. Here, most small businesses fold their tents too easily to corporate takeovers which isn't as much the case in most European nations. It is tough getting most Americans to think like Europeans where it counts but I am still working on it out in my area. If you live in the US, don't give up either.
I gave up on the US because I DID live in Europe - and saw how different their lifestyle and values were, compared to unhappy, greedy, selfish Americans who self-destruct. I know what it's like to go down the street from shop to shop, picking up the day's groceries, etc, while visiting with neighbors and making new friends. Or to visit with friends and neighbors in the local cafe each afternoon or evening (except for Fridays, when everyone is headed out on vacation). It's a whole different world - but Americans don't fit in. They lack the courage, the diligence, the intelligence to create a livable society. They're too insecure - mostly because of the way they live... too insulated from the 'real world' - and too soaked in propaganda and nationalism.
The international banksters and hedge fund managers have tanked Greece, and other EU countries are in their sights.
The strong Democratic Socialist countries, with strong worker protections, health care, and education systems are all targeted by these international criminals who want world wide feudalism.
The main reason that Europeans have such a different lifestyle, is that they actually get something for their tax dollar like health care, higher education, paid family leave, strong labor laws with mandatory weeks-long paid vacations.
Imagine not having to worry about life's basics, so you could concentrate on other pursuits in life without the constant fear cloud hanging over your head.
Though few, some cities in the US have lifestyles and culture closer to European, such as Portland Oregon. The emphasis is on community, local businesses not chains, public transport, etc.
"Imagine not having to worry about life's basics, so you could concentrate on other pursuits in life without the constant fear cloud hanging over your head"
You just nailed an important answer to the question of why the populace of the United State is paralyzed.
That "cloud of fear" not only keeps us from enjoying life _ it keeps us from becoming more politically active and educated.
It keeps us from forming an active Labor movement.
It also keeps us from venturing out to start new businesses, or to pursue work we enjoy more or to do volunteer work. To get to know our friends and families better. Keeps us worn and exhausted. It is also deliberate. Which makes the methods of the ruling class even more insidious and cruel.
You just described an abusive relationship - Americans kept isolated and in fear. It's hard to break out of an abusive relationship - the abuser holds all the cards. And there seems to be nowhere to go anyway - especially in a country that offers no social safety-net to ordinary people. We have to get out in the streets - and then organize, not the other way around. People have to get together around a common cause before they can actually organize - getting out into the streets, meeting your neighbors and others in your predicament - will offer up the cause under which to organize. It's the only way it will ever happen - but it's awfully lonely (and probably dangerous) to be the first one out there. Maybe you'll get axed before you succeed in attracting even one more supporter - but somebody else has to take your place. There is only one way out - all of us supporting each other, no matter the cost. Even if that means losing your job, your house - and even your life. Freedom isn't free - it's bought with the blood of those willing to fight for what they want (and need for a 'civilized' society).
Thank you. The Conservative Right portrays Europe as some sort of deadly nightmare. As long as most Americans have to fight just to stay employed, and, at best, get around 2 weeks paid vacation a year, we can't afford to actually visit Europe and see for ourselves.
It wasn't easy for me to get enough time to go overseas and I did have to take a lot of unpaid leave. However, I had relatives in Europe I had never met in my life and they were helpful in reducing some of the expenses. The conservatives in Europe are nothing like the American conservatives though some may be getting there sort of. Compare the European conservatives of most nations in Europe to most Americans and they are to the left of the American "Left".
Sadly, the only people I've seen "in the streets" and vocal have been the Tea Party members.
Tell me again why the unemployed aren't out in the streets protesting this grotesque monstrosity of fascism?
Millions of the unemployed will vote for the Republicans this November.
Sad, but true, and many will also vote Democrat, which is also sad.
"My wife, a labor economist, is upset with NPR's "The Take Away" for reinforcing the myth that somehow the unemployed are to blame for not having a job."
NPR - National Putrid Radio.
Drink seawater, NPR!
Drink Gulf Coast Seawater
It's wacky, but under neoliberalism (and I am no neoliberal!) you are responsible for your own unemployment because you failed to make yourself sufficiently employable. It is seen as the worker's responsibility to be constantly anticipating, upgrading and reskilling to meet the needs of the market, to make an enterprise of him or herself -- the entrepreneurial self. This is an ideology, remember.
nellemason: Since as far as I can tell this comments board doesn't feature "permalinks" for each comment-- someone please correct me if I'm wrong-- I'm reposting most of a typically long-winded comment from this past January, slightly refurbished, that IMO perfectly corresponds to your point; see if you agree.
__________________________
... Your comment reminded me of a period [c. mid-1990s] when I was part of a state unemployment agency "Rapid Response" team during a local employer "downsizing" pandemic. We conducted information sessions for large groups of soon-to-be-unemployed workers in the Philly, PA area-- from US Steel in Langhorne to the Naval Shipyard in South Philly.
I was on the benefits side, which was fairly cut-and-dried. But the Employment Service reps, who traditionally worked in unemployment offices to place claimants in new jobs, were there to offer a more motivational perspective.
One woman really took this role seriously, and had a natural "preaching" style. I really think she was (is) good-hearted and meant well.
But her shtick was to try and sell career steelworkers or shipyard workers on the Brave New World of a changing economy. The short-term goal was to encourage these workers to enroll in training (generally, government-subsidized (TAA) programs)-- not to "build upon" existing job skills in a vanishing manufacturing base, but to acquire New, More PORTABLE Skill-Sets appropriate to a service economy.
I recall her making statements like, "'My' steelworkers in Pittsburgh are now health-care workers, computer technicians, etc." Well, OK.
Beyond this, however, the Job Service reps explained that the "old" idea of working for a single employer for a lifetime was a thing of the past. Now, those joining the workforce would be best served by acquiring Portable Skill Sets that would enable them to achieve a sort of "serial" career. (They didn't call it that.)
In this Brave New World, it was a given that jobs were transient and of limited duration. Workers would instead be like birds, flying to the next tree as soon as the one they were nesting in either keeled over, or shook workers from their branches ostensibly to avoid keeling over.
"My 24-year old daughter has already worked for three different companies!", the rep would note. "That's how working life IS for this generation."
Thus, the New Age worker would permanently cultivate a habit of self-promotion-- keep that résumé updated, be vigilant for new opportunities, stay "agile" in the knowledge that job-seeking is a permanent condition. Not to mention developing long-term "self-reliance" by using individual retirement financial options instead of counting on a company pension.
Since most of the groups we talked to were pretty much stunned and disgusted by their predicament, they mostly just listened politely but unenthusiastically. Since I heard this pitch over and over, it became increasingly hollow and painful.
It sounded exactly like one of those approaches that sounds viable in theory, perhaps, but makes for an exhausting and crushing "lifestyle": a game of Musical Chairs that never stops.
Incidentally, I don't clearly remember how health care (insurance) was addressed in this vision. I'm pretty sure they fudged the question, partly by postulating that "good", if impermanent, jobs would still offer health benefits.
I know a few-- OK, two-- people who strike me as naturally programmed for this type of "serial employment", but who've done this voluntarily. One is an administrator who's worked in the geriatric care sector; she changes jobs about once a year, seemingly effortlessly.
It strikes me as very much an artifact of their temperament-- they really LIKE job-jumping, for whatever reason. More power to them. [...]
__________________________
The "Entrepreneurial Self" indeed.
""'My' steelworkers in Pittsburgh are now health-care workers, computer technicians, etc.""
USWA Steelworkers made at least $25/hr - in the 1970's
Healthcare workers and computer technicians make $8 to $12 per hour - and work long hours, no vacations, or sick leave.
"Entrepreneurial Self" bullshit, indeed!
I love your posts, Man, thanks for re-posting that one. It calls attention to a vital point _ whether or not we're going to accept the smug establishment line that we're delusional 'dinosaurs' because we expect a certain standard of fair treatment from our corporate Overlords.
The dialogue you quote from your earnest former co-worker is all too familiar now. While there's some truth in having to adjust to changing circumstances _ eg an overcrowded world and new technology _ much of it still sounds like a load of crap peddled by management who don't want any resistance to exporting work and chopping benefits.
And, the bosses will talk as if the worker needing to give up on economic security and become a poorly paid "independent contractor" is part of an inenvitable force of nature, like the weather, instead of a scheme originating from the bosses themselves - to enrich themselves at the expense of the worker.
Didn't Harry Reid say he was going to push fot the (retroactive) extension again after Byrd's replacement is in place to break the filibuster?
I believe there are a lot of middle-aged white folks out there, disenfranchised by downsizing and the loss of home value, pensions and 401Ks, savings depleted after putting the kids through college...
After years of right wing blather about unions, ACORN, socialist plots... these people are going to realize they have been distracted as their jobs and treasure have been stolen. Eyes should really start to open as the righties refer to Social Security as some sort of unfunded, unsustainable liberal entitlement that needs to be phased out. November could be quite an unpleasant surprise for the Tea Parties and Fox News pundits.
I have no idea what to do about jobs. So many maunfacturing jobs have been replaced by technology or outsourced, and consumerism has to fade as more and more people have no income. At the same time we need to get off the fossil fuel economy ASAP. I guess its time to learn how to enjoy life in a third world country.
We as a nation need to learn how to more with less. Our gravy train is coming to an end and only the uber-rich already know this (which is why they've been grabbing everything that isn't nailed down.) By the time the masses finally shake off the myths and illusions we're going to be up a creek without a paddle, without a boat and with one granola bar that we all are going to have to share.
Bullshit.
Which capitalist boss are you here shilling for?
Not a word about the fact that people are reproducing like bunnies at a time when resources are shrinking, as though everyone always has a right to have as many bundles of joy as they want. Well, what we get with that line of reasoning is a huge surplus of labor that benefits the uberwealthy and makes life for the rest of us less than joyful. I certainly am not denying that Wall Street is f-ing us all over. But we have the power to shrink the population and improve our individual economies and reduce our impact on the environment. Just pull out.
"Not a word about the fact that people are reproducing like bunnies ....". Nature has a way of taking care of overpopulation - its called die-off. Eventually, there WILL be too many people for this world to support. At that point, a combination of state-sponsored violence & some sort of killer plague will reduce our numbers, just as it should be .....
Please Portland Oregon isn't even close at all to Western Europe. I've been there and lived in Oregon. Oregon to my knowledge never had much of a social safety net. Now none of the USA has any social safety net thanks to Slick Willy. We have the law of the jungle as applied to people.
Oregon was good on the environment, but it wasn't good on the social safety net. Without a social safety net, all goes to hell.
Canada is still a much more civilized country than the USA by a country mile. This country is too much into giving rich and the super rich all they want and saying to hell with the rest in the anything but traditional hierarchal way. Give all to the parasitic wealthy who've never had to earn a living in their lives.
We make the money that they rob us of, and that's the truth. As it used to be said on the island of Britain "Those who produce the wealth should share in the fruits of their labor."
Of course, that was BB (before Blair), Maggie Thatcher's illegitimate son).
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Please Portland Oregon isn't even close at all to Western Europe. I've been there and lived in Oregon. Oregon to my knowledge never had much of a social safety net. Now none of the USA has any social safety net thanks to Slick Willy. We have the law of the jungle as applied to people.
Oregon was good on the environment, but it wasn't good on the social safety net. Without a social safety net, all goes to hell.
Canada is still a much more civilized country than the USA by a country mile. This country is too much into giving rich and the super rich all they want and saying to hell with the rest in the anything but traditional hierarchal way. Give all to the parasitic wealthy who've never had to earn a living in their lives.
We make the money that they rob us of, and that's the truth. As it used to be said on the island of Britain "Those who produce the wealth should share in the fruits of their labor."
Of course, that was BB (before Blair), Maggie Thatcher's illegitimate son).
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Americans can't oust the oligarchy because Americans want to BE the oligarchy. Everyone wants to be a millionaire. The more the rich kick them in the teeth, the more voters flock to the polls to elect rich people. Until voters wake up and realize that our Constitution gave us a Constitutional plutocracy rather than a democracy or a republic, the oligarchy will retain sufficient consent of the governed (votes) to claim legitimacy. If you want change, join the half of Americans who don't vote and stop delegating your power to rich people. Because they'll use that power to ensure that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer--that's what oligarchies do.
I have never wanted to be in the oligarchy, but you are correct that maybe half of Americans do have this selfish delusion and thus they keep voting in favor of the rich because they think they or their children will finally make it into the club.
But, as George Carlin so wickedly put it, "They're never going to fucking let you in!"
"Not voting" is not the answer.
The two parties could care less that half the people don't vote, and could care less if 75% or 90% don't vote, as in many local elections. So far, the lack of voting hasn't solved anything.
The Democrats and Republicans are only interested in power and they could care less if only 3 people of 300 million vote, as long as their party gets 2 of the 3 votes, and of course, those in power are going to vote for themselves. The answer is supporting and voting for independent parties and third parties in an attempt to build a counter movement against the Dems/Reps.
Direct-sabotage actions against polling places perhaps? Smashing the voting machines with hammers - like the Luddites smashed the industrial looms?
We have a large unemployment because of what Slick Willie did to us with his Nafta deal.
How much help did we give Corporations who moved to China and Mexico? When will the people be told the truth about this sellout?
How come some 30 million of us are unemployed and Slick Willie is now worth 100 million $$$$ and counting?
I think a lot of folks do know the truth about NAFTA, actually.
But I also think that the majority fall into the "vote for the other team" trap.
For anyone unhappy with what NAFTA and other Corporate Globalization "free-trade deals" have done to the people here in the U.S. and in many other countries:
The Red ("Republican") Party is just as mixed up in this stuff as Clinton and his Neoliberal (economically) fellows in the Blue ("Democratic") Party. Most -if not all- of the Red AND Blue Party candidates this summer (primary) and fall for most -if not all- of the Offices you will be voting for will be as dirty rotten Corporatist as Slick Willie himself.
Choose very, VERY carefully.
Use an anti-NAFTA and anti-NAFTA-type-deals position as a "litmus test".
Be prepared to vote for a small party "with no chance" in order to hold true to this.
Be prepared to abstain from voting as well.
Unless we break the "vote for the other team" cycle of mass delusion, we will never achieve (again) the sort of genuine Federation of Democratic Republics that the Founders imagined.
So let's BREAK it already!
-matti.
Talk of "mass movements" may be all well and good, but we CAN do something much easier and more simple than this as a first step.
This November, refuse to vote for any candidate for any Office that fails to pledge to act from a pro-Full Employment position when elected.
Easy.
Don't just vote for "the other team" than the one "in power" to "get back" at them for their "failures" (Red hasn't negated Blue, or vice versa, in quite a while).
Vote -or refuse to vote- on a candidate-by-candidate basis with Full Employment as a "litmus test".
Watch out for empty promises and pay attention after they take Office to make sure they follow through.
Finally, encourage everyone you know to do likewise.
Simple.
Getting more ambitious, I think that organizing an online "NO-vote tally" would be a "game-changing" action for those interested in real democracy to take this year. The secret ballot is sacred, but I for one would have no problem with registering an e-mail address on a site (like here on CD) and specifying the elections I chose to abstain from voting in because of lack of suitable candidates. This sort of Election Day testimonial data could be backed-up with official "undervote" numbers once those are in. Then they should both be HEAVILY PROMOTED, so that the NO-voters empire-wide could get a real idea of the size of their group, and therefore its substantial -and untapped- strength.
Such a tally-site -even though it would be "unofficial"- could become a very useful tool for various groups and small parties, and perhaps those pro-democracy folks "working the inside" of the Blue and Red parties as well.
Food for thought...
Have fun,
-matti.
Just to clarify: EVERYONE should ALWAYS vote, even if you turn in an unmarked ballot. Not voting is the most idiotic inaction of all.
This is supposedly a mature economy.
For those money seeking entrenpenuers, it means that most of the best money dodges are already being exploited or are drying up. Such as cheap overseas labour, or cheap oil. A growth in green energy and associated jobs is not happening fast enough. All the best finanicial dodges, from subprime mortgages to CDOs have already been burnt up or are still burning. The funny money is going into gold at the moment, which indicates a profound mistrust of any sort of decent investment.
The mature economy also implies the "full earth" economy. Still powered by fossil fuel factory mass industrialisation, there are more people than resources to support them, and far fewer real jobs than people, and income and power inequality is massive, on both global and national scales.
In fact its a post mature, aging and senile economy. Its got poor memory, poor mobility, does not know how to take extra care while suffering from a dozen different pathologies, and responds badly to medication. There is also no known cure, while remaining on present policies, which have rapidly aged our environment and the economy which feeds on it. Its various parts are so interdependent that each sickness in one part spreads to become a sickness in all.
To get back towards some form of economic maturity requires a reduction in the demands made on the environment. That means less wars, less fossil fuel burning, less meat production, and less global dependency. Policy and incentives to need support environmental health as number one priority. Anything else is a shorter path to global death. The more jobs that can go into supporting the environment, the greater the possibility of recovery.
Excellent post. Completely agree. Now copy and paste that over on Marketwatch in the "Comments Screener" section of any remotely relevant article, and you will have done your good deed for the day. Answer any replies, and you will have done your good deed for the night as well. [You do have to register to create an identity on there, but don't worry... it doesn't cause you any spam grief at all.]
"It's just the decent thing to do. Why is this so difficult to grasp?"
Because the likes of Huffington Post (original publisher of this article) run ads from the likes of General Electrik designed to create warm fuzzy feelings for the "masters of the universe" so that when it comes time to hear comments on what went wrong those warm fuzzy feelings kick back in and the lies are happily gobbled up.
Keep running those ads, Huff Post, to keep stoking the fires of mass oppression.
Does any sane person pay any attention to advertising anymore? Perhaps the advertising on Mike Malloy, Thom Hartmann, etc., but other than that, I for one do the opposite of whatever big corporate advertisers tell me. I'm certainly not bothered by money flowing away from the Wall Street fascists toward the Huffington Post! They'll never buy me out, and they'll never compromise the HuffPost... you can count on that.
Speaking of leeches, did not the banksters get huge bailout after they criminally tanked the financial system?
The crooks got money from the government and think they are due it.
The rich are twisted.
High unemployment with no protection drives down wages and creates a pool of labor willing to sacrifice themselves and their families.
Is there anything else we need to know to see why people who favor steep social hierarchies and strong coercion should oppose welfare and unemployment insurance and favor strong and violent police and military forces instead?
The people coerced are not just those who lose jobs, but all who fear to lose their own and fail to negotiate better for fear of losing what they have.
When we begin dragging the billionaire CEOs and all their minions out into the streets by the scruff of their pampered necks, yanking them out by their $400 ties, perhaps, and making them face a little street justice, then we will have started addressing this grotesque injustice. Class divisions have never been more stark, and yet millions of Americans are apparently prepared to vote for the very assholes who have literally ruined their lives already. How can we get these ignoramuses to stop watching Fox Fascist News and listening to rightwing hate radio every day? They're already convinced WE'RE the problem, not the billionaire class, so there's really no way to reach them thru appeals to liberal/left analysis.
Even if they hate the bankers Obama admires and trusts to rejuvenate this shambles of an economy they have personally wrecked for their own obscene gains, they still believe LIBERALS are far worse. And they consider Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid liberals! Breaking thru this dense cloud of stupidity is an undertaking none of us has any idea how to go about. Corporate media is far more powerful a tool for keeping the ignorant permanently ignorant than our piddling efforts on sites like this, where we basically just keep preaching to the choir, with a few exceptions occasionally dropping in to stir up trouble with rightwing trolling. The fascist impulse in this country is simply far more tempting than appeals to reason or compassion.
Here's a partial answer to your question: Everyone blogging/commenting on this site should vow to take just as much time blogging/commenting on conservative sites, such as www.marketwatch.com. Here's a link to a list of more of their sites: http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2009/03/the_50_most_popular_websites_o.php
A little "leakage" of truth into these sites will gradually turn heads, and you can actually find some quasi-rational bloggers who will engage in a civil debate (on occasion). Mostly, though, this is not for the squeamish, as it can get quite brutal doing "battle" with these nuts.
Just wanted to say, it is great to see this written, at a Dem apologist site like Huffington Post no less:
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"There's a one-sided war going on between financial elites and the rest of us. They've engineered the economy to enrich themselves at our expense, with Wall Street taking the lead.
The numbers don't lie: In 1970 the top 100 CEOs earned approximately $45 for every dollar earned by the average worker. By last year, it was $1,081 to one. (See The Looting of America.)
There is no economic theory that can explain this obscene gap. It has nothing to do with talent or productivity or even luck. It's just raw power. And the only thing that financial power understands is countervailing power in the form of a popular mass movement - a movement that only can start once we stop blaming ourselves for the jobs crisis.
We have our work cut out for us."
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So OK, as others have pointed out, that leaves the whole "organize a movement to disempower the super-rich super-empowered elites" thing undefined. But at least it is a realistic assessment of the source of our problem.
A lot of questions but i think I know how to get the answers--use class analysis. Democratic and Republican leaders are parts of the ruling elite. These people have a strong class identify and it is solidified by contempt for working people. How many working people are in Congress? A more common story is how despite a working class family background they are proud that they have pushed well beyond this and no longer have to do physical labor--paid by the hour? In fact the politicians most likely to sell you out are the very ones who talk most proudly about their humble origins, how they had to work for everything they got. Bill Clinton for one comes to mind. Just behind their appeal to the "people", just below the surface of their walk in the Labor Day parade are phenomenal egos which think they know better and deserve the power that they have because of their accomplishments, because they have moved beyond their parents situation. Is this a great country or what? Better to have a patrician like Ted Kennedy represent you than someone who by his own heroic efforts has risen above his working class origins and yet calculates how to claim this as a step on his way to power. In Pennsylvania we have the self professed man of the people, the "real Democrat: Joe Sestak running solely out of his desire to represent ordinary people against the Washington Bureaucracy. Aren't we lucky.