The best political comment I have ever heard in my life: "“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” Thanks, Ken. And thank you, Prof.
Unfortunately, as Reich's article shows with Clinton, even when we win, there's no guarantee the sharks won't still take over. I feel strongly that a lot more might have been achieved but for Obama's choice for chief of staff, a real saboteur, and some of his other choices. Who our winners surround themselves with is critical. I note that Biden's choices seem on point.
As I understand it, what has been proposed is a temporary cease-fire. We need a permanent cease-fire followed by negotiations and probably by a UN occupying force to maintain peace in the area while it is rebuilt. The Israeli government cannot be allowed to continue its control of Gaza.
Biden is not the problem - it’s been Netanyahu for a decade actively working against peace during an era when the world had to face down the rise of Islamic terrorism. Biden inherited American policy towards Israel, which had for many decades been a central element of American foreign policy.
I think Netanyahu, like so many aspiring autocrats, is the problem. He is not working for the betterment of the Israeli people, only for the betterment of himself and his cronies.
I was thinking over the weekend the next logical shot for Biden would be to turn on Netanyahu at the UN. And lo and behold it looks like he's doing it.
I haven't read the resolution but I hope it's strong.
One of Biden's strengths is also a fault here: he's intensely loyal. But he has a line and I think it's here.
It's incredible what Biden has accomplished! Beyond anyone's expectations and in spite of unbelievable obstructionism and regressive and anti- democratic forces.
Ron , what's happening in Gaza is gut wrenching, however no one in the last 100 years has been able to solve the conflicts. America and Isreal have been allies for a long time. True allies don't abandon each other especially in public view, like a true friend they try to counsel a friend who gone astray. Biden is in a no win situation with the Isreali Hamas war. He can't make it stop. He started with quiet diplomacy and has now gone public with an agenda of peace. I wouldn't be surprised if Russia and Iran covertly instigated the Hamas butchery as the perfect distraction from Ukraine and wedge of division in the US
and the world. We know Netanyahu ignored warnings from his military that Hamas was planning something. Let's not forget that the U.S.right supports Netanyahu and Netanyahu has been kissing up to Putin and denying Ukraine arms and support. Given these limited issues, how else would you handle the situation. FDR did amazing things for tus, the people, and combating Hitler. His major failure was being conned by Stalin and abandoning Poland and eastern Europe to the absolute dominance of the Russian bear.
Since we are discussing History, everyone should consider parallels between Hitler's Siege of Leningrad and Israel's siege of Gaza. Look it up. Over a million civilians were deliberately starved. Can we allow that?
The US policy on Israel has been misguided for decades. Israel’s oppression and abuse of Palestinians has been going on ever since Israel was created in 1948. This directly conflicts with America’s basic values. Why have we cast a blind eye on this?
My thoughts exactly. The Pubs used to be the party against Communication and expansionist policy by the Russians and Chinese. How do they explain their current lack of support for Ukraine and our allies in Asia, except as self-serving politics and power acquisition and retention? By the time of Yalta, FDR was ill after dealing with strong enemies on two front for years and a real need to end WW2 and bring our boys home.
Was avoiding the topic at hand intentional? Now is not a good time to be diverted from the issue Prof. Reich wrote about. The issue for this election is whether America goes further into an economic and educational decline because our policies are driven by the desire of many capitalists to become even wealthier.
The disaster is because of Netanyahu, a tyrantical strong man. He has no true interest in the common good. Biden has made amazing strides against him without destroying Israel. That is the challenge Biden faces, how to protect Gaza without destroying Israel. His ideas of going around Netanyahu like the port to bring aid and involving Egypt in peace talks are brilliant. If you have better ideas, don't be a naysayer, send them to the while house.
The port is supposed to take two months, which is far too long. Even if it were already there, how is the aid going to be delivered once it arrives on land? UNRWA has the infra-structure to do it, but the US has cut all funding for the agency based on completely unsubstantiated claims from Israel that 12-13 UNRWA employees out of 13,000 were working for Hamas. The Gazans need help NOW! The US needs to resume the funding of UNRWA.
Gaza is horrific, yes. But we need to recognize that the amplification through social media, primarily TikTok, has become part of the challenge if not an impediment to solving a complex situation.
What Russia has done in Ukraine is far worse in terms of loss of life and systematic torture and genocide. TikTok is not really so concerned about this conflict. We should start asking why. Could it be algorithms that slant coverage towards Gaza because that is more helpful to the CCP? Hard to say.
TikTok looks all too much like Russia 1 and Russia 24 to me in terms of its ability to deliver rapid and non-stop emotional content. This precludes any kind of thoughtful process. Yet another example of why social media needs at a minimum transparency and better strong regulation.
After seeing the death and devastation one's emotional response is to agree.
Propose a better solution than Biden, that is likely to work!!!!!
If you can, that would make you the greatest diplomat in the world
This is a no win situation for Biden, most likely covertly orchestrated by Iran and Russia to divert attention and supplies to Ukraine. It is the perfect perfect diversion from the great info and subversive megalomaniac - Putin, aided by the right wing extremist.
Its Netanyahu who has failed to protect the good Israeli people and now devastate the Palestinian People to prove and maintain his false leadership.
In my mind, it's Biden's Justice Department, which has been so weak & timid in pursuing accountability for treacherous crimes committed by Republicans in Congress & the Trump administration, that is his weakest link.
Blame or credit Putin (& ultimately Trump) for the Gaza tragedy whose root was the handing over of classified government information on Israeli military operations by Trump to Russian officials, who, in typical crafty Putin fashion, eventually passed it onto Iran or Hamas, who together planned the attack on Israel, celebrating Putin's birthday, October 7th, therewith diverting global attention from Russia's brutal war on Ukraine & Western aid from Ukraine, while causing turmoil in US society, turning many liberals against Biden & improving the electoral chances of Moscow's man, Putin's puppet, the Siberian Candidate. Brilliant move by Putin!
That’s crap. The Hamas attack was at least in part caused by Israel’s decades long oppression of Palestinians. Israel invited those attacks and they will continue if a two-state solution is not implemented.
How does one handle people whose reason for existence is your extermination?
From the HAMAS covenant.
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).
And who has declared; "We are a nation of martyrs" and will keep coming back again and again until Israel is obliterated.
What does one do, in the face of a religious war (a Jihad) against you?
One that is 1400 years old: From the hadith of al Bukhari and the HAMAS covenant.
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).
This started when Muhammad had the Jewish tribe of Banu Quaryza beheaded six at a time in the market of Medina .
That’s a convenient lie. The Palestinians want to live peaceful lives free from Israeli abuse and oppression. Of course they hate Jews. Why would they not given the way the Israeli Jews have treated them?
That is a great fear, Devki — and it may well be driving behaviors we will be SO sorry for later {people are being blown up and are starving to death!}, but Trump coming back to the White House [or any Republican, actually] IS a great fear.
In the end, do we have to be as ethical as possible, anyway?
CAN we be ethical in this world?
These questions themselves scare the hell out of me. ….
Yes, and Wall Street attempted to mount a coup in 1933 to remove FDR and replace him with a fascist dictator.
It was called the Business Plot. Smedly Butler who had been chosen lead the coup told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, which included the father of George H. W. Bush, Prescott Bush, and the media ridiculed the allegations, but a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed most of Butler's testimony.
America has had fascist leanings for sometime. Biden has a tough battle ahead.
Yes, and yet he wasn't my first choice. I'm so thankful he got the nomination. He's the right person at the right time. A lot like FDR was, come to think of it.
I think he may perhaps have been perfect for a different setting. He struggles (along with the party) to even heard by the other side. Compromise is so difficult these days. There is no backroom for deals anymore, and you have Trump wielding tremendous power outside of the Presidency to obstruct progress of any kind through his influence on the Republican legislative members. I fully support Biden, but I do not think he has proven to be the best ever. He has had little opportunity to do so. Maybe somebody else could have done better, it is hard to say.
As JKG might have said: As long as the rich can get more tax cuts, they will support anyone who will do that. Pure Self-interest. As Ted Kennedy said on the floor of the Senate: "How much money is enough?" Their answer seems to be: there is never enough wealth.
And yet, it seems such unthinking self-interest. They breathe the same polluted air, live on the same planet in peril ... The problem is that they think money is the only thing ... not a means to an end, but an end in itself. Almost like a politician who wants power just to have power rather than actually do worthwhile things with it. What is the point?
Admittedly, Biden and the democrats are way out of touch with a world, politically and internationally, for which they have been tone deaf. They work from an old political playbook. They never think out of the box. Let's be clear here, that said, no one is going to tell Netanyahu and his right wing cabinet what to do! Biden has very little influence here.
Bridget — this guy Paul has blinders on. He only looks in one direction, and he makes sure his Ultra-Right apologist excuses are brightly painted on the walls in that direction.
He’s upset about “forgiving” loans, but not about mismanaging and preying on student borrowers for their entire lives, seeing the amounts they owe GROWING annually in spite of making payments for years — being denied their relief after working for decades in public service, being charged higher interest rates than anyone else, being denied bankruptcy relief while rich people like Trump dump their obligations on the rest of us time and again.
And just because Republican SAY Biden threw the borders open doesn’t mean he did. We have had a bill in Congress to improve border security for months, but Republicans would rather keep bitching than do anything good, so they block it.
{And he thinks we have a “merit” system — does he know what a “legacy” is, or someone whose parent buys them into an Ivy League spot with a donation? Does he know DEI includes the idea of equal ACCESS and OPPORTUNITY, which means we all have a chance, not a guarantee? He’s just ignorant.
Larry Summers, Wall Streets envoy. The only agenda he has is Wall Street, financial institutions and Goldman Sachs. Robert Rubin was a Goldman Sachs CEO, Timothy Geithner worked under Rubin and Summers, and Summers was his mentor.
Summers is the grey emminence, the man behind the curtain, of the Clinton and Obama administration, and most likely the reason we don't have Medicare fofr all and were stuck with the ACA which leaves tens of millions uninsured, or underinsured.
Summers is responsible for all bad things, economically, IMO. From Clinton, through the Bank bailouts and failures into his opposition to Bideonomics
You should take a look at some of the rule changes being proposes in regards to the derivatives held by the big financial institutions? Goldman Sachs and some others hold derivatives amounting to $203 trillion! They want to be exempt from margin calls in times of "market volatility." Just them ... not the ordinary guy. They get to make wild bets while being shielded from the consequences if things go south. The OCC out forward the rule change and it is in consideration. As one source said, their holdings in derivatives seems to portend the burst of the bubble of everything.
Biden’s choices are better for the common good, in part, I think because he remembers a time before trickle down economics existed. The glorification of greed never advances the common good. From what I’ve observed, it doesn’t lead to enhanced happiness even for the greedy.
Another example of why Biden's long experience is a boon. And yes, totally, neoliberalism and the ratification of greed have sucked so much joy out of our civic and private lives.
Don't forget that Clinton had to contend with the Conservative Revolution; it gave Republicans control of Congress, and it continues to paralyze Congress. If Democrats don't gain Congressional majorities next year, we will have chaos, even w/o Trump.
Exactly. This fantasy that the present Supreme Court would ever allow states to throw any national candidate off their ballots was a pipedream, and wouldn't have made any difference (write ins). Ultimately, people need to be responsible for who is elected. No one is going to "save" them, like in superhero movies. We live with heroes every day (soldiers, sailors, marines, nurses, doctors, teachers, etc.) who help us everyday but don't get anywhere near the recognition they deserve.
Ken, you are right, and when it comes to heroes who don't get the recognition they deserve is especially true of mothers. Mother's Day should be a national holiday, and they should get all the care they need.
As I recall it, the GOP used the argument about not allowing single party (Democratic party) to hold power over all three branches. As a result, they were able to sidetrack a lot of the Clinton policies. Alternatively, they seem to think it's OK as long as it's the GOP that has the control of all three branches, their long-term project that is only now coming into focus. We have to work hard at getting an overwhelming vote count in November so that there can be no doubt about the outcome - and the Dems are going to need to have single party (filibuster-proof) control in all three branches to get the economy and the country back on the right track - the track that Joe Biden has begun to direct us towards a better future for ALL AMericans, not only the rich.
Totally agree! We could then pass the existing two voting rights bills, and start instituting ironclad protections for our democracy, which trump has revealed as depending on honorable behavior, and the Republicans have not been acting with honor for sure since Gingrich deliberately destroyed bipartisanship and made quite clear Mitch McConnell denied Obama his right to name SCOTUS Justice. Plus a lot of other changes that need to be made. And no more bills that expire in 10 years and get voted out, such as the assault weapons ban.
But this time, we have a democrat and team who believes in the bottom up economy and they are taking steps to make it happen. This is the time to change the tide.
Bottom up middle out focused on pollices on enabling workers to support families and local businesses, their local communities, and building a stong economy.
In fairness to Obama, (and I am NOT a Summers fan) Obama was looking at an economy in meltdown which was dragging the global economy with it.
And he was our first Black president.
And he had no national experience.
2009 was not the time to change course on the economy -- it was the time to restore confidence in the financial system. Obama brought in Summers and the banks relaxed.
Much as FDR brought in Woodin for Treasury -- who was Republican and an industrialist in 1933.
Do I wish Clinton or Obama had done more?
I don't know. Jimmy Carter was a one term president because he tried to do those things. Clinton and Obama got things done in their second terms.
Given how god awful bad Republicans are at actual governance, a disappointing Democrat is still the safer bet.
Obama bailed out the banks (OK, maybe necessary, but not a good thing), but left average citizens completely out to dry (inexcusable and unforgivable). He had the votes to pass single payer, which he'd promised to do, but instead made a back-room deal that was a gift to the insurance companies. Meanwhile, ACA premiums keep going up and up (higher than employer-sponsored policies), with high deductibles and so-so coverage, and unless one is destitute (which rightly triggers more assistance), it's a burden to meet the costs.
Being the first Black President and having no national experience aren't excuses---he pledged he could do the job. No, surrounding himself with Wall Street CEOs was NOT the way to go.
He was miraculous on the campaign trail. Once in office, though, he was just another bought politician.
As for what Clinton got done in his second term, yeah, there was NAFTA and the repeal of Glass Steagall, two "accomplishments" which brought about that 2008 crash. Neither anything to be proud of.
Obama DID NOT have the votes to pass single payer because Joe Lieberman was in the Senate and blocked it.
Of course, he could do the job. And as much as you think he should have done more, he got the first health insurance bill passed since LBJ. Your employer provided insurance is only doable now because of Obamacare.
Obama got things done. People like you have pie in the sky goals AND NEVER GET ANYTHING ENACTED INTO LAW. To call him a bought politician is BS.
I don't know whether you were an adult in 2008 or you're just clueless, but yeah, when the global financial system is melting down, you want Wall Street guys to help you stop it.
Because singing kumbaya doesn't do a damn thing.
NAFTA has nothing to do with 2008 as far as I know. Do you have evidence to to the contrary?
Republicans also controlled both the House and the Senate in 1999 -- with 55 seats in the Senate. Please explain how Clinton is responsible for anything other than signing a Republican bill passed by a majority Republican Congress repealing Glass Steagall?
Last question -- did you by any chance sit out the 2010 midterms?
But, I would still rather have a Democratic administration, even when disappointing, than any Republican. And this is why I've been happy to see the rise of Dark Brandon, reading all their beads.
IMO. Robert inadvertently or indirectly lays his finger on the problem. Larry Summers, he is the grise eminence behind the woes of the Democratic party, which of course is "Wall Street" and those international financial institutions of which Bill Clinton so enthusiastically promoted.. he mentioned them no less than 21 times and when he left office, essentially broke, they rewarded him with his own NGO, the Clinton Global Initiative,
Summers wasted no time jumping on the neophyte and naive Obama, who then proceeded to bail out the banks, actually Goldman Sachs, which was the real winner of the "too big to fail scheme:" It's competitor Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail.
Try hard to remember, Lee, that Obama did NOT “proceed to bail out the banks.”
Try to remember that members of Congress debated vociferously that bailing out banks was absolutely necessary to keep the whole economy from tanking, and was the only thing the government could do — AND the financial sector blamed low-income homeowners for defaulting on loans and causing the recession and the resulting failure of investment institutions, when it was the financial sector that engineered the whole mess, with the Bush administration doing NOTHING to head off the disaster for literally years that the country was being warned about the overheated real estate market.
When it blew up, the country was convinced to blame the mess on the people who took out mortgages, not the corporations that perverted them, bundled them into “products” and kept selling the bundles as AAA, even when they were lower than junk.
And Congress passed a bank bailout bill in 2008, even though most people didn’t want it, and NOBODY tried to pass a homeowner bailout bill, because everybody was mad at homeowners, and Obama was handed the bailout when he walked into the White House in 2009. [Sadly, with people like Summers in tow — dammit.]
I wonder why nobody gets all pissy about how Bush didn’t help homeowners —or even try to….
And Lehman F-ing Brothers did not fold on Obama’s watch. He wasn’t even elected until November, 2008,, and inaugurated in January, 2009, and Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September, 2008.
Just cut it out, Lee.
I am NOT a fan of the Obama administration and the Wall Street Crew, but just be fair. YEAH, he was descended on by a lot of people way more experienced in Washington than he was, but he also had a large Chicago cadre, and I’m not fond of a lot of Chicago attitudes.
Even is they are NOT influenced by Straussians.
But right now, we have a choice between Joe Biden who IS trying to be president for the PEOPLE — or some Republican who’ll help us get the Project 2025 off the ground.
So, some folks don’t want to vote for Biden. OK, then vote for YOURSELF, because voting NOT BIDEN, no matter who you tick or write in, is a vote for a Republican Win.
Completely self destructive. Totally spiteful. I think.
You might also like the interview with John Nichols also on YouTube which deals with JKG's influence on FDR's administration, and why he was dumped from the 1944 Democratic Party ticket. Also an example of a possible turning point in history.
Winning politically will solve little because the problem is our corrupted system. Reread Professor Reich’s essay. The Dems didn’t help when they could have, and they won’t, again, because our system is now corrupted!!!
In the past, our Constitution gave us, We the People, all of the inalienable rights and powers to ensure that our government and economy would represent and serve us ALL.
But everything changed for the worst when SCOTUS rigged and corrupted our system against us by creating corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine of money as speech. It corrupted our system and shifted the power balance in favor of the rich and the powerful, and against We the People.
Overlay this history with the one layed out in this essay and you will clearly see the cause of our government and economic dysfunction. The rich and powerful have always been seeking more, but now that they have succeeded in system change, they are getting what they crave.
Enough! Let’s change our system back and reclaim our rightful power. Ken never understood that his optimistic economic theories could only come to fruition in a government of and by the people.
The We the People Amendment is the only thing that can and will save us. HJR54 will end corporate rule and legalize democracy, but only if y’all step up and demand it.
And lastly, ask Professor Reich to help lead this movement. MoveToAmend.org is now an official partner organization of MoveOn.org! Inequity Media should be, as well.
Let’s over-rule SCOTUS and restore good government of and by We the People! Let’s restore and build our renewable energy economy that works for all.
The rich and powerful will always want to ruthlessly rule the world. It’s up to us, We the People, to set their limits, and say NO!
ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS MORE. Yes on getting out the VOTE. Yes on registering young people and pushing back on GOP attempts to disenfranchise 18-20 year olds. Yes on the We the People Amendment. Yes on the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Yes on Ranked Choice Voting and Proportional Representation.
Let’s elect people qualified to govern, who want to govern, and who are willing and able to follow through on what Biden has pushed through with insufficient support and outright obstruction. And LET’S DEMAND long-term, sustainable PRO-VOTER reforms.
It’s NOT ENOUGH to get Biden back in the White House for another term. Here in NC, the maps are so gerrymandered that we are swerving toward autocracy under a GOP supermajority that now sees fit to run the most objectionable candidates possible: Robinson? Morrow?
I truly believe we are in another critical moment in our history. People do NOT understand that, because our education system—and the MEDIA—has kept us too ignorant and uninformed to effectively participate in democratic self-governance.
Many states have electoral reform movements actively working for changes to how the system works. IF YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM, please learn. RepresentUS, FairVote, and RanktheVote.
Biden is not Clinton or Obama. I was super hatched throughout that period. I was IRATE when Clinton and Obama tried to placate Republicans and appointed many to their administrations. We learn from history and intelligent people DO NOT REPEAT IT.
When I analyze the appointments in this administration, we have come a long way, and credit is due.
Working on Move to Amend does not preclude 100% support for Democrats.
I ask Robert to partner with Field Team 6. 3 million new registrations can win. To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
For sure, Lawrence, winning this election will not solve our problems. But LOSING this election will cement the demise of democracy.
If we don’t stay in the game and keep their feet to the fire, we wont really have won, anyway.
We don’t have TIME to wait for someone else to appear on the political horizon. We have what we have, and some of what we have IS good! Don’t condemn all of it.
I just posted a similar observation. I want to note that Biden's choices appear to be consonant with real wins. So let us not mourn for the past, but fight for our future.
I personally don't begrudge anybody anything. All I ask is they pay their fair share.
It pisses me off, especially when I just paid my taxes, is that I am subsidizing entities like BIG OIL and BIG PHARMA. Big oil fixes prices via OPEC, a foreign entity and their primary backer, Saudi Arabia, controls the largest oil refineries in the US and companies like Exxon. High energy prices support Russian aggression in the Ukraine, in our elections, and Iran's proxy wars.
You have exposed yourself many times as "a taker" and not a "maker." UB the fool.
Planes are falling out of the sky because Boeing was taken over by managers who put short term profit ahead of responsibility. They ruined a culture of responsibility that understood that dedication to quality preserved long term profits . Stock option compensation for Boeing Execs caused the rot who opted for short term profit rather than the long term strategy that had served Boeing so well . And the USA with international domination of the jet market. Gone. High paying jobs : Gone. A lucrative slice of GDP shrunk.
Humans have never needed an excuse to be selfish. We start out that way as babies and the rich and powerful stay corrupted and infantile.
But it shouldn’t be a matter of what the rich want. Our Constitution gave us, We the People, all of the inalienable rights and powers to ensure that our government and economy would represent and serve us ALL.
Professor Reich failed to mention how the Powell Memo set a new and disgusting course for both our government and economy. How SCOTUS rigged and corrupted our system against us by creating corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine of money as speech.
Overlay this history with the one layed out in this essay and you will clearly see the cause of our government and economic dysfunction. The rich and powerful have always been seeking more, but now that they have succeeded in system change, they are getting what they crave.
Enough! Let’s change our system back and reclaim our rightful power. Ken never understood that his optimistic economic theories could only come to fruition in a government of and by the people.
The We the People Amendment is the only thing that can and will save us. HJR54 will end corporate rule and legalize democracy, but only if y’all step up and demand it.
And lastly, ask Professor Reich to help lead this movement. MoveToAmend.org is now an official partner organization of MoveOn.org! Inequity Media should be, as well.
Let’s over-rule SCOTUS and restore good government of and by We the People! Let’s restore and build our renewable energy economy that works for all.
The rich and powerful will always want to ruthlessly rule the world. It’s up to us, We the People, to set their limits, and say NO!
The question that keeps nagging me is why Reich and the other Ivy leaguers were so gullible concerning ridding the country of the "dinosaur" industries in order to "make room" for the high tech industries that never happened. Reich wanted to be more humane about it, but nevertheless bought into it. Of course it was a move by corporates to use cheaper labor. Could it be that if you wanted to promote your career you had to get on the bandwagon?
Keeping the common good straight ahead in the wheel house should prevent personal gain from blinding political influencers. I'm only a nurse, but I risked my job and career to do the right thing for those I was responsible for. Why don't politicians and those in government do the same?
They didn't replace steal, textiles, and auto making, hence the Rustbelt. In what universe could it be imagined that it would have? steal, textiles, and automobiles weren't obsolete and still very necessary all over the world.
The problem was the lure of cheap labor. AND the end run around US regulations which did not exist in China and the other cheap labor markets. Those promoting a global economy should have insisted that bringing US standards of regulation had to happen first to equalize the gap between American and developing countries manufacturing costs. Clinton and Obama failed us in that respect.
Yes, and those self-serving ends were the elimination of anti-trust enforcement, the lowering (or elimination!) of taxes, and the de-regulation of its affairs. Mission f***ing accomplished.
Very well put. Am currently viewing JKG's 1977 PBS series " The Age of Uncertainty" which I found on YouTube. Very inciteful. Deals with human psychology, which I believe drives most of the decisions we make, which JKG deals with very well.
It seems to me that the Libertarians and Republicans got their moral justification for selfishness, from Ayn Rand, who preached "the virtue of selfishness", and added the dripping hatred for bleeding heart liberals, as dilusional idiots.
Since being indoctrinated in the 60's with this bull, I have occassionally observed the cult spreading, taking seed in the gullible, who think that they also could be included in the image of the novel's heros.
But, her heros had no history. They were fictional characters, who it would seem were transported from never never land, without any life support, fully educated and guided by their superior intelligence, and ability to arrive at their snobish superiority by logical inference.
In real life, people are born with an empty brain, and depend on their immediate environment in filling that void with a world view. More often than not, they are raised surrounded by society believing in fictional ideas of about life. In any case, they are dependent on their family and society for their support, growth and education.
But the political views of these believers in selfishness as a guide, typically lack any acknowledgement of the role of a giving society in the ability to survive at all.
People are not like Tigers, lonely hunters after a year of motherly support. No, we depend on a cooperative society all through life. Now the Republican party, with it's support of lies and force to make the 'superior' richer, and everyone else poorer is leading to the collapse of our society and the cooperation necessary for civilization.
"“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
@UC. Government is the majority’s tool to force a few selfish people to share the fruits flowing from the productivity of the whole American society, which those few selfish people keep trying to claim for themselves only. Progressive taxation, along with regulation and monopoly-busting, is key to equitable distribution of society’s total wealth. Forget Ayn Rand - read Galbraith.
@Paul. You have a nuanced view of the question. The underlying issue is whether you think those entrepreneurs and capitalists you mentioned function in some kind of vacuum? Or do they exploit the riches (including human riches) of our society. Economists think its the latter (most mainstream economists anyway). A key argument I am making is that equitable taxation enables equitable distribution of consumption, and all those entrepreneurs depend on consumption, either directly by consumers or indirectly via the total demand in the economy. Rich people will get richer, arguably, if everyone is richer.
Ford, Edison and Musk have more than money in common. Antisocial, antisemitic and probably paranoid.
No corporation has a conscience. Some may have a sense of noblesse oblige. Think of folks like Buffet.
As a society everyone benefits when we give aa helping hand to the less fortunate. Roughly 15 % of the population is dysfunctional and needs help. Any money they have is immediately spent. Keynes was right. Ultimately everyone prospers.
Thanks so much for your work and commentary and stubborn persistence in reminding us what is happening --what has happened --to justice in the American economy. I was finishing graduate school at Harvard while you were at lunch that day -- it's likely that a few hours later I was downstairs drinking beer with my buddies, because the Faculty Club inexplicably allowed in graduate instructors. Happy days. But not so happy was our realization of precisely what you are talking about: watching the fairly benign New Deal state be taken apart by Reagan and his ilk--while we watched, embarrassed by that presidency and irate at the wreckage of hope and opportunity he represented and brought on. And here we are.
Reagan lit the fuse that blew up the world’s greatest country…the one with the most hope for a meritocracy and a society transcending the old class systems of the past. Reagan blew it all up. Many Dems clawed back, not the least of whom were Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama. And now the corporate monolith has joined forces with the Confederate revanchists to implode the very core of America’s Constitutional existence.
Kris, you have accurately named the Reagan efforts to undermine our nation. In addition, he denigrated our government while he was benefiting directly from it. He and his crew depended on "psychics" and seemed to listen to them more than people who actually knew the truth. The biggest thing Reagan brought to the White House was ignorance, a virtue in Republican circles, it seems. You don't have to know anything about welfare, for example, but you can whine and lie about "welfare queens." Reagan was a mess but he was an actor. My sister accurately says that being president was his best acting job.
His best acting came forth when he faced the Congressional Committee investigating the Iran/Contra affair appearing as the senile old man who called his wife mommy. It kept him out of jail and gained multiple roadways in America to be named after him.
I smirk every time I take the Ronald Reagan Turnpike in Florida. What dumb asses we are.
MJ, the most inforiating part is that the people around Reagan knew perfectly well that he was inept and by the end of his first term was even slipping further into incompetence, yet said little about it that mattered. The same is true for Trump and yet, here we are, an ignorant criminal toddler-man heading deeper into dementia is running for president in one of our major parties. That is simply insane!
Shall I quote Galbraith to you? Have you heard of the
"Horse & Sparrow theory?"
In 1982, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote the ""trickle-down economics" that that David Stockman was referring to was previously known under the name "horse-and-sparrow theory," the idea that feeding a horse a huge amount of oats will result in some of the feed passing through for lucky sparrows to eat."
All of what Kris wrote, but also, Reagan ratified greed. Until Reagan, there was a social agreement that untrammeled greed was terrible for our society. That government had a function to play in regulating and restricting greed. And, that decent people, good people, knew better than to display such greed. Those were values in our society, until Reagan. Reagan ratified greed.
He went out of his way to destroy the parts of government that helped the average American. He broke unions (although he himself had been the president of SAG.) He had secret dealings with the Iranians BEFORE AND AFTER he was elected.
And of course, he completely blocked family planning for Central and South America.
When you whine about immigrants leaving poor countries for the US, thank Ronnie.
Reagan is why you don't elect stupid people to high office -- even if you liked their TV show.
Wonderful tribute and beautifully ‘therapeutic’ to know men like you and Galbraith are fighting the good fight! Thank you for your service to our nation!
Ken Galbraith was, of course, a Canadian by birth. His book The Scotch is a sardonic look at his roots in southwestern Ontario, and he never lost interest in Canada and Canadian politics. He made a point of praising the first budget of the New Democratic government I led in the early 1990’s , which made substantial public investments in housing, public transit, social transfers, diversity and inclusion. He wrote and phoned me often. Your memoir brings back many memories, and I was proud to welcome him in the Premier’s office when he was speaking at the University of Toronto next door. He was exactly as you described him. Bob your own voice is just as important these days and I enjoy so much your great energy and wit, as I first did when our paths crossed in Oxford many years ago. Keep it up ! Bob Rae ((now at the UN in New York).
But Bob you joined the Liberals ! They base policy on the latest polls rather than principle. And Canada will be lucky to escape a Poilievre majority government come the next election. A Tory minority is the best that can be hoped for, The hatred Justin inspires is everywhere- yes downtown Toronto too. 2025 will be a triumph of reactionary politics because Justin has a complete lack of imagination. And guts. A complete flake .
Obviously Ken was an optimist. You are a realist Professor Reich.
There is a huge gap between the wealthy elite and the middle and lower classes. The people who can afford to pay higher taxes have instead paid politicians to help them get wealthier and pay less in taxes. Thus America has a two tiered system of justice and everyone knows this! In America everyone is created equal @ birth and that’s where it ends. Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has gotten away with his despicable behavior for his entire adult life. As long as there is a two tiered system he will continue his criminal ways!
Keith, alas, we aren't even born equal at birth as is now being made clear after the Dobbs case. Folks are finally looking at what people living in poverty are dealing with when they are forced to give birth, often to children with severe disabilities that those rich guys want nothing to do with supporting. In addition to their huge wealth, much of which came through inheritance and bad inheritance law while a lot of the rest happened to have a good idea at the right time: Amazon's Bezos and Meta's Zuckerberg, for example. The "idea" guys were not fully grown emotionally and now don't have to grow up. That's what we are dealing with, entitlement and immaturity along with the addiction to money and power that often accompanies such entitlements and immaturity.
It's kinda like when simultaneously Neanderthals and Cro Magnons walked the earth. The human race appears to be splitting into two not-so-equal subspecies, although likely not so successfully.
Beautifully written. Unfortunately, the loudest voices tend not to be the wisest. Greed has always pushed to the top and with a corrupt SCOTUS the fix is in. Add in equity groups buying up even social services and rural hospital lands and our demise is at hand. Eventually there will be nothing left to buy or manipulate. I miss the time when real conversation with men and women of great intelligence and social consciousness were seen as models for good. Today we're back to tribal religiosity and the day of the grifter and con.
Excellent article, Robert - almost a book of history and economics. While reading, I was glad you mentioned 'Second Gilded Age,' which a lot of historians seem to favor. I agree with the overall concept, except for one thing. Let me explain. Mark Twain devised the term Gilded Age in a sarcastic nod to the aphorism "gilding the lily," itself a sarcastic take on EXCESS. During the Civil War 1861-5, the plantation South (about 850 of the wealthiest men in the USA, running a feudal society consisting essentially half of slaves and half of feudal serf-sharecroppers except for some skilled tradesmen in a few cities. Bottom line, the North rose upon some 25 years previous of growing industrialization to an explosive industrial revolution during that war. (need to cut through a lot of history to make a point). European powers cautiously stayed neutral to see who would win, but in the end sided with the Union. The newly United states were able to launch into a big chunk of the surviving Atlantic trade triangle (minus South, minus slavery) and bring back especially toward the UK the industrial skills & resources that the North had in fact mostly heisted from the British half a century earlier (think of the Fall Line industries in New England). The South continued to produce cotton, tobacco, etc but not with outright slavery per se; rather with white and black sharecroppers in a restrictive, self-destructive madness of deconstruction during Reconstruction. Meanwhile, get this: it's been estimated that upward of 1000 of the wealthiest US families farmed at least one daughter out to the often financially distressed British great titles...think of Consuelo Vanderbilt, for example... a century later, Lady Diana Spencer's family could trace ties back with both US and UK aristocracy. Above all, the biggest surprise is that when the world was lurching toward World War Two, our President FDR (who had lived in Germany for several years as a child) united with a very special British chap... Sir Winston Churchill... whose mother Jenny Jerome was in fact a United States heiress from a billionaire New York City family. Jerome Avenue in Manhattan/Bronx is named for them; so is a mining town in Arizona (what else: Jerome, AZ). What this all points to is that after the Civil War, for several generations, the United States sort of reunited with the British empire in complex ways... and after a lot of ups and downs including the Great Depression of the 1930s, rose to historically unheard of power and wealth in a new industrial surge given to the US oligarchs as a gift of fate (or Hitler and Mussolini, the stupid European fascists). That follows a similar, somewhat lesser industrial rewind in World War One (also high factory output, wealth, etc). BUT now we come to the crucial difference that concerns me. Yes, we fought a needless war in Vietnam for all the wrong reasons (appeasing DeGaulle, who was a historical rhubarb, appeasing the McCarthy paranoids...) followed by the nation's fabric being torn apart by the South's refusal to accept integration... resulting (after the Nixon/Agnew corruption and horror) in the rise of the South... when the Southern Democrats were abruptly switched by their owners to the new Reaganist vendetta...So in 1980, Ronny Ray-Gun won by a landslide. He destroyed the Savings & Loan Industry as the first of the popular FDR reforms the corporations have been seeking to destroy... yes, Reagan was a total idiot or whatever you called him in your article, but he had that smarmy, fake Calvinist preacher tonality... two most memorable quotes briefly: "If Medicare becomes law, we will never again be a free people" (1965, during LBJ's term); and about the million poor he threw onto the streets by cutting charitable (and necessary) aid: "If they are on the streets it is because that was the choice they made." Last note quickly about Reagan: amid all the chaos and corruption (bailouts etc due to Bush corruption etc) Reagan left the biggest peacetime deficits in US history up to that time. So much for all his lies and stupidies. Now to the kicker. Yes, we are once again going through a sort of Gilded Age of excess wealth for the few and growing poverty for most of us... but the difference is that there is no British empire to hook into. Instead, we have a chaotic seeming world that more resembles the chaos at the end of the western Roman empire (for example) leading to a half millennium or more of dark ages. The Roaring (irrationally exuberant) 1920s were run by successive corrupt GOP administrations (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) who made all the wrong decisions, ending in the Great Depression. By luck, World War Two bailed out the industrial power of the USA. If we are again on the verge of financial and social chaos as during the 1920s (indeed, with our own fascist Dump on the rise again, with his simple people, Proverbs 1, marching obediently and eagerly with their assault rifles shouting Sheep Heil!) then there will likely be no British empire to soften our fall... Instead, we may face a new dark ages enemy, if the BRIC nations can succeed in being a real counterpoint. So to sum up, I agree we're in a second Gilded Age, but I see no conquest of Hawai'i, no Spanish-American War of the 1890s, and no apparent U.S. empire to follow as happened by about 1900. Think of all that this way: historians often refer to the final chaotic century of the Roman Republic as "an empire in all but name." Pre-Caesar Rome was a democracy on which the US is in many ways modeled, along Enlightenment touches; just think of the Sergeant at Arms carrying an ancient Roman lictor's staff to the podium to signal Congress (in a rotunda much like the Pantheon) is in session. Think of the very word republic, from Latin res publica, the People's Business. The USA after 1893 was in effect an empire in all but name. After the fall of our Soviet adversaries in 1991, our oligarchs outsourced the popular jobs and rights, often based on a destructive, fanatical Calvinism that has haunted our states since before 1776. Those oligarchs are now often foreigners wearing US caps and in fact Maga hats to mislead the Simple People. Hearking back to your affectionate history of JKG, I tend to agree with your guarded worries. I have not given up yet. I am not by nature a pessimist but a fighter. I think we can still rescue our country. But we need to get the Good People to wake up, and the Simple People to follow better leadership. If the forces of Slimy Mitch and Nauseating Newt, not to mention child molester Denny Hastert (for a time GOP's 2nd in line to the Presidency) can prevail in November 2024, then that may in fact be a dark turning point in our history. Sorry this was a long post. Better a long post and a bright future than a dark past. JTC
Among political pundits there is no better in history than Reich & Hartmann (Reich a little more economic, Hartmann a little more political, but both strong on both), especially on when, how & why the US has declined so much in certain fundamental ways. And they're doing their best to warn us about the future, using the past as a predictive guide. They have both been very accurate in their predictions. Our leaders would be wise to pay a lot more attention to them.
I am struck, when reading your reflections by the enduring value of Galbraith’s (and your) work to counter two persistent and enduring myths of capitalism: Adam Smith’s Invisible hand allowing us to think that an economy will course correct without intervention, and that through reinforced selfishness we will (eventually) serve a common good (and we all know what Keynes said about the long term!) Thank you for this important reflection Prof. Reich!
It’s so sad that this sort of economic education is not taught in the junior and senior years of public high schools, even more so in our public Junior Colleges and Universities! In America, the working population, is not taught that they are the most important part of our economy! The labor of the people is not recognized as a product, worthy of a respectable price, but simply as a tool to build more wealth for those at the top!
This is the main concern - just talk to young people - they have no idea how our country of democracy works or how authoritarian type governments operate. I find it fascinating to talk to my accupuncturist that was born in China and moved to USA to go to school but ended up staying here. She tells me about life for her family that remains in China. What freedoms they do not have. How the government tells you where to live and previously how many children you can have. The Chinese society so divided between city and country dwellers that there are problems finding people in your “ status “ to marry. Imagine that control environment in USA? The news ( including Facebook) is completely filtered as to not allow western information or propaganda. My accupuncturist was banned from using the Chinese FB and can only call her family on the phone. Imagine that control in USA ? Young people in USA are unaware.
For all intent purposes Trump skipped school altogether--
The man had his GPA sealed and locked away in a safe at Wharton School. Trump began his secondary educational experience in 1959 at the New York Military Academy. He was sent there because he was uncontrollable, and the thought line was the school would teach him structure and discipline. He floundered there until 1964 where he had a rather short stay at Kew-Forest. From there Trump started at Fordham University in 1964 and stayed until 1966. Things became a bit blurry when Mr. Trump transferred to Wharton School in 1966, he seems to have stayed there until 1968, at such time we hope he graduated. In the illustrious resume of his collections of schools attended, we find The University of Pennsylvania mentioned, why we don't really know. However, Wharton has his GPA and class records sealed and locked away from inquiring eyes. Why? The man has cheated at virtually everything since he began to speak. I personally have never known a more worthless human being. Why anyone would find comfort in supporting an idiot such as Mr. Trump is beyond me. Fools love company.
Progwoman--Wharton is the location of his last known educational "Opportunity." It is here where his GPA and other records are currently locked up for safe keeping.
Maureen, I like your question so much, I’m going to try and answer it.
In essence, Powell “unionized” the uber-wealthy by giving them an identity, then giving them their purpose - defeating the working class by accumulating wealth. The union of the uber-wealthy was a meeting of minds, an alignment of goals, ambitions, desires, and rewards - not a conspiracy.
Given a strong identity, and a simple purpose the uber-wealthy began transferring more and more wealth into private hands, where the working class could not touch it.
All the while, the newly organized uber-wealthy were working in “common cause” they were insisting that labour unions were evil, communist, socialist plots, schemes and conspiracies. Unfortunately, working people believed them and destroyed our own base of power.
Today, instead of marching beside union members on picket lines, tiny numbers of people are out protesting a thousand different causes – and arguing over whose cause is the most important. I’m done with these causes and 100% of my political energies and resources are going to labour unions. You will find me in union halls. I’ll bake cookies, make coffee, hand out information, babysit and do anything else I can to make unions strong again.
raffe, you are right about the destruction of unions by rich guy propaganda. That anti-union thing is still strong. I was a member of a teacher's union and so many of the members have no idea the value of what they have. They in some ways, are insulated from what nonunion workers experience. Our union was somewhat different because what we can get in salaries and benefits depends so much on the state's and community's budgets. Our community being extremely depressed has a tiny tax base despite having a university, a casino, a sports stadium, and a large hospital within it. For example, our people at the top of the pay scale have had no raise in about ten years while the lower levels have gotten significant raises. It took 24 years for me to reach the top while at the same time, with a tiny raise, we began to pay 7% of the cost of our medical insurance. We didn't get a raise to cover that increase. Even with all that, our teachers are doing better than teachers in other places with either a weak union or none at all. In addition, people can't be fired just because a principal doesn't like them. No one has to meet an administrator related to an accusation without a union member to accompany them. How can we get people to see that unions have tremendous value? This past summer's union efforts for auto workers did help, but people in jobs with no union tend to resent those who do have unions, blaming them for the fact that they don't have benefits and a reasonable salary. The addicted rich want that kind of discontent because it allows them to convince poor workers to accept their lot or get fired. It's been really effective.
I have been a Union member for over 50 years. During that time I worked in the building trades and held Union Officers and delegate positions in the Carpenters Union.
I have long believed that unionism is and always was a social movement. I’m not talking about us versus them. I’m talking about a real connection between people who help each other. Not just other Union members but everyone in your community. It can be that way and I visualize and act in my life accordingly. There is real power when people realize their commonalities and work together to achieve mutual goals. You are not alone in your work. There are still millions of us working together for a better life and community.
Zupan, you spoke to the facet of unions that elude those who have not belonged. In a word, you spoke of come-unity. My union put me through high school and then college and in the doing, earned my heart and mind - and undying loyalty.
Over the following decades, I felt the absence of a union in my professional life acutely as I navigated decades of sexual harassment, sexism, nepotism, wage theft, impossible demands, and unfairness on my own. Along the way, I saw so, so, so many people being placed in danger, abused and discarded, all in the name of "j-o-b-s" it infuriated, frightened and appalled me. I have returned to the union fold, as a volunteer, organizer and activist repeatedly, for I could not stay away from that wondrous feeling of come-unity. If our community is not healthy, no work can be done. That is the reason, that unions are first and foremost, all about community - and jobs are a secondary consideration.
Thank you for replying. It is good to know you are out there, somewhere.
Fortunately I moved to Canada; the Supreme Court here fairly recently declared unionization a human right as laid out in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I was teaching university in Alberta; by provincial law, post-secondary faculty could not unionize. As soon as the Supreme Court decision came down, we unionized. The university tried (unsuccessfully) to break the union, but that's another story.
I think there is too much emphasis on a single memo, or a single person like Reagan, as moving the course of history. The Powell memo would have zero effect if there were not a supportive environment . The Powell memo would likely never have been written if there were not the right envirornment.
The best political comment I have ever heard in my life: "“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” Thanks, Ken. And thank you, Prof.
The moral of the story is that unless we win politically, we are at the mercy of sharks.
Unfortunately, as Reich's article shows with Clinton, even when we win, there's no guarantee the sharks won't still take over. I feel strongly that a lot more might have been achieved but for Obama's choice for chief of staff, a real saboteur, and some of his other choices. Who our winners surround themselves with is critical. I note that Biden's choices seem on point.
I think Biden is the closest thing to perfect since FDR
I would agree except for one glaring issue: Gaza. Biden's handling of this situation has been an absolute disaster!
The U.S. has proposed an immediate and sustained cease fire to be voted on today.
As I understand it, what has been proposed is a temporary cease-fire. We need a permanent cease-fire followed by negotiations and probably by a UN occupying force to maintain peace in the area while it is rebuilt. The Israeli government cannot be allowed to continue its control of Gaza.
If the U.S. was that eager for a ceasefire, then why did the U.S. veto two U.N. ceasefire resolutions?
Vetoed by Russia and China. Both acting in their own 'interests' like the GOP. Oh wait.......
Biden is not the problem - it’s been Netanyahu for a decade actively working against peace during an era when the world had to face down the rise of Islamic terrorism. Biden inherited American policy towards Israel, which had for many decades been a central element of American foreign policy.
I think Netanyahu, like so many aspiring autocrats, is the problem. He is not working for the betterment of the Israeli people, only for the betterment of himself and his cronies.
All Biden needs to do is cut off the military aid and weapons.
Biden working hand in glove with Netanyahu is a problem! With US bombs sent to Israel, the problem is ongoing.
I was thinking over the weekend the next logical shot for Biden would be to turn on Netanyahu at the UN. And lo and behold it looks like he's doing it.
I haven't read the resolution but I hope it's strong.
One of Biden's strengths is also a fault here: he's intensely loyal. But he has a line and I think it's here.
He's finally convinced the course he has been on hurts America more than it helps.
It's incredible what Biden has accomplished! Beyond anyone's expectations and in spite of unbelievable obstructionism and regressive and anti- democratic forces.
Ron , what's happening in Gaza is gut wrenching, however no one in the last 100 years has been able to solve the conflicts. America and Isreal have been allies for a long time. True allies don't abandon each other especially in public view, like a true friend they try to counsel a friend who gone astray. Biden is in a no win situation with the Isreali Hamas war. He can't make it stop. He started with quiet diplomacy and has now gone public with an agenda of peace. I wouldn't be surprised if Russia and Iran covertly instigated the Hamas butchery as the perfect distraction from Ukraine and wedge of division in the US
and the world. We know Netanyahu ignored warnings from his military that Hamas was planning something. Let's not forget that the U.S.right supports Netanyahu and Netanyahu has been kissing up to Putin and denying Ukraine arms and support. Given these limited issues, how else would you handle the situation. FDR did amazing things for tus, the people, and combating Hitler. His major failure was being conned by Stalin and abandoning Poland and eastern Europe to the absolute dominance of the Russian bear.
A lot of what you say is dead straight, Collen.
When a situation as dire and obscene as Gaza happens — we cannot sit by … Biden has to take a stand, even if he cannot call the shots.
Yes, we’ve been a staunch and loyal ally of Israel, We were the first to recognize them. We have to expect — even demand — decency from their leaders!
Hooray for Schumer’s courage!
Since we are discussing History, everyone should consider parallels between Hitler's Siege of Leningrad and Israel's siege of Gaza. Look it up. Over a million civilians were deliberately starved. Can we allow that?
The US policy on Israel has been misguided for decades. Israel’s oppression and abuse of Palestinians has been going on ever since Israel was created in 1948. This directly conflicts with America’s basic values. Why have we cast a blind eye on this?
My thoughts exactly. The Pubs used to be the party against Communication and expansionist policy by the Russians and Chinese. How do they explain their current lack of support for Ukraine and our allies in Asia, except as self-serving politics and power acquisition and retention? By the time of Yalta, FDR was ill after dealing with strong enemies on two front for years and a real need to end WW2 and bring our boys home.
Churchill pacted with Stalin, see his memories. The U.S. did nothing...
Was avoiding the topic at hand intentional? Now is not a good time to be diverted from the issue Prof. Reich wrote about. The issue for this election is whether America goes further into an economic and educational decline because our policies are driven by the desire of many capitalists to become even wealthier.
The disaster is because of Netanyahu, a tyrantical strong man. He has no true interest in the common good. Biden has made amazing strides against him without destroying Israel. That is the challenge Biden faces, how to protect Gaza without destroying Israel. His ideas of going around Netanyahu like the port to bring aid and involving Egypt in peace talks are brilliant. If you have better ideas, don't be a naysayer, send them to the while house.
The port is supposed to take two months, which is far too long. Even if it were already there, how is the aid going to be delivered once it arrives on land? UNRWA has the infra-structure to do it, but the US has cut all funding for the agency based on completely unsubstantiated claims from Israel that 12-13 UNRWA employees out of 13,000 were working for Hamas. The Gazans need help NOW! The US needs to resume the funding of UNRWA.
Gaza is horrific, yes. But we need to recognize that the amplification through social media, primarily TikTok, has become part of the challenge if not an impediment to solving a complex situation.
What Russia has done in Ukraine is far worse in terms of loss of life and systematic torture and genocide. TikTok is not really so concerned about this conflict. We should start asking why. Could it be algorithms that slant coverage towards Gaza because that is more helpful to the CCP? Hard to say.
TikTok looks all too much like Russia 1 and Russia 24 to me in terms of its ability to deliver rapid and non-stop emotional content. This precludes any kind of thoughtful process. Yet another example of why social media needs at a minimum transparency and better strong regulation.
The Digital Republic by Jamie Susskind. https://theconversation.com/estonia-is-a-digital-republic-what-that-means-and-why-it-may-be-everyones-future-145485
It does indeed need that, Dr. Doug.
An absolute disaster is to much I think, but he could have been more dominant to Netanyahu. Hunger as weapon and revenge is terrible...
We are talking about genocide so I stand by my comment.
Those are Hamas talking points.
It is not about Revenge Tom.
And we have used hunger as a weapon, all nations do, It is called siege warfare.
The naval blockades of Belgium and Germany in WWI brought Germany to Versaille.
We did the same to Germany and Japan in WWII.
I don’t think anyone could have handled Bibi better - stop blaming USA for Israel’s overreach
Biden could have stopped all military support for Israel.
Gaza will follow Biden even if he chooses to not discuss it. It is the elephant in the room Congress supports against the people's objections.
After seeing the death and devastation one's emotional response is to agree.
Propose a better solution than Biden, that is likely to work!!!!!
If you can, that would make you the greatest diplomat in the world
This is a no win situation for Biden, most likely covertly orchestrated by Iran and Russia to divert attention and supplies to Ukraine. It is the perfect perfect diversion from the great info and subversive megalomaniac - Putin, aided by the right wing extremist.
Its Netanyahu who has failed to protect the good Israeli people and now devastate the Palestinian People to prove and maintain his false leadership.
In my mind, it's Biden's Justice Department, which has been so weak & timid in pursuing accountability for treacherous crimes committed by Republicans in Congress & the Trump administration, that is his weakest link.
Blame or credit Putin (& ultimately Trump) for the Gaza tragedy whose root was the handing over of classified government information on Israeli military operations by Trump to Russian officials, who, in typical crafty Putin fashion, eventually passed it onto Iran or Hamas, who together planned the attack on Israel, celebrating Putin's birthday, October 7th, therewith diverting global attention from Russia's brutal war on Ukraine & Western aid from Ukraine, while causing turmoil in US society, turning many liberals against Biden & improving the electoral chances of Moscow's man, Putin's puppet, the Siberian Candidate. Brilliant move by Putin!
That’s crap. The Hamas attack was at least in part caused by Israel’s decades long oppression of Palestinians. Israel invited those attacks and they will continue if a two-state solution is not implemented.
This disaster was years in the making and Biden is coping as best he can.
True, but his best is not good enough. We need someone who will stand up to Bibi and cut off all aid.
How does one handle people whose reason for existence is your extermination?
From the HAMAS covenant.
Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).
And who has declared; "We are a nation of martyrs" and will keep coming back again and again until Israel is obliterated.
What does one do, in the face of a religious war (a Jihad) against you?
One that is 1400 years old: From the hadith of al Bukhari and the HAMAS covenant.
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).
This started when Muhammad had the Jewish tribe of Banu Quaryza beheaded six at a time in the market of Medina .
This is religious, historical mumbo jumbo. Many, if not most Muslims are secular, as is also true of Jews.
People are foremost people more interested in leading a happy life than in becoming martyrs.
Good question Lee!
Ask the Irish and the English how they got past subjugation and violence for 400 years !
Diplomacy, forgiveness, understanding and progression towards trust with the HOPE that cooperation wins over violence and fear.
That’s a convenient lie. The Palestinians want to live peaceful lives free from Israeli abuse and oppression. Of course they hate Jews. Why would they not given the way the Israeli Jews have treated them?
Biden can’t do a damn thing about Gaza. Netanyahu has been waiting for this for years. Loving it! It’s his move.
His hands are tied. Trump looms as possible president
That is a great fear, Devki — and it may well be driving behaviors we will be SO sorry for later {people are being blown up and are starving to death!}, but Trump coming back to the White House [or any Republican, actually] IS a great fear.
In the end, do we have to be as ethical as possible, anyway?
CAN we be ethical in this world?
These questions themselves scare the hell out of me. ….
Yes, and Wall Street attempted to mount a coup in 1933 to remove FDR and replace him with a fascist dictator.
It was called the Business Plot. Smedly Butler who had been chosen lead the coup told a congressional committee that a group of wealthy industrialists were planning a military coup to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, with Butler selected to lead a march of veterans to become dictator, similar to fascist regimes at that time. The individuals involved all denied the existence of a plot, which included the father of George H. W. Bush, Prescott Bush, and the media ridiculed the allegations, but a final report by a special House of Representatives Committee confirmed most of Butler's testimony.
America has had fascist leanings for sometime. Biden has a tough battle ahead.
Yes, and yet he wasn't my first choice. I'm so thankful he got the nomination. He's the right person at the right time. A lot like FDR was, come to think of it.
Exactly, it is not the man, it is the quality of a team...
I think he may perhaps have been perfect for a different setting. He struggles (along with the party) to even heard by the other side. Compromise is so difficult these days. There is no backroom for deals anymore, and you have Trump wielding tremendous power outside of the Presidency to obstruct progress of any kind through his influence on the Republican legislative members. I fully support Biden, but I do not think he has proven to be the best ever. He has had little opportunity to do so. Maybe somebody else could have done better, it is hard to say.
As JKG might have said: As long as the rich can get more tax cuts, they will support anyone who will do that. Pure Self-interest. As Ted Kennedy said on the floor of the Senate: "How much money is enough?" Their answer seems to be: there is never enough wealth.
And yet, it seems such unthinking self-interest. They breathe the same polluted air, live on the same planet in peril ... The problem is that they think money is the only thing ... not a means to an end, but an end in itself. Almost like a politician who wants power just to have power rather than actually do worthwhile things with it. What is the point?
Admittedly, Biden and the democrats are way out of touch with a world, politically and internationally, for which they have been tone deaf. They work from an old political playbook. They never think out of the box. Let's be clear here, that said, no one is going to tell Netanyahu and his right wing cabinet what to do! Biden has very little influence here.
Our policy is Oslo revisited.
Re Likud, Israeli polls show otherwise.
It's a coalition.
Congress wrote laws forgiving student loans for public service.
The last administration kept screwing up the applications.
The Biden administration
By the way, did you get a PPP loan? Did the company that employs you get one? Do you remember bailing out the banks in 2008?
Did your bank get rescued?
Bridget — this guy Paul has blinders on. He only looks in one direction, and he makes sure his Ultra-Right apologist excuses are brightly painted on the walls in that direction.
He’s upset about “forgiving” loans, but not about mismanaging and preying on student borrowers for their entire lives, seeing the amounts they owe GROWING annually in spite of making payments for years — being denied their relief after working for decades in public service, being charged higher interest rates than anyone else, being denied bankruptcy relief while rich people like Trump dump their obligations on the rest of us time and again.
And just because Republican SAY Biden threw the borders open doesn’t mean he did. We have had a bill in Congress to improve border security for months, but Republicans would rather keep bitching than do anything good, so they block it.
{And he thinks we have a “merit” system — does he know what a “legacy” is, or someone whose parent buys them into an Ivy League spot with a donation? Does he know DEI includes the idea of equal ACCESS and OPPORTUNITY, which means we all have a chance, not a guarantee? He’s just ignorant.
Paul has no clue what he’s talking about.}
so speaks the Trump troll. Climb back into your shell
And you can see that in how former Obama staffers continue to snipe at Biden.
I wonder what Obama could have accomplished if he had listened more to Joe Biden than David Axelrod and Larry Summers.
Larry Summers, Wall Streets envoy. The only agenda he has is Wall Street, financial institutions and Goldman Sachs. Robert Rubin was a Goldman Sachs CEO, Timothy Geithner worked under Rubin and Summers, and Summers was his mentor.
Summers is the grey emminence, the man behind the curtain, of the Clinton and Obama administration, and most likely the reason we don't have Medicare fofr all and were stuck with the ACA which leaves tens of millions uninsured, or underinsured.
Summers is responsible for all bad things, economically, IMO. From Clinton, through the Bank bailouts and failures into his opposition to Bideonomics
Larry Summers is not your friend: https://jacobin.com/2020/07/larry-summers-biden-campaign-economic-policy
Saddddddddd! Summers’ economic philosophy, baddddddddd!
You should take a look at some of the rule changes being proposes in regards to the derivatives held by the big financial institutions? Goldman Sachs and some others hold derivatives amounting to $203 trillion! They want to be exempt from margin calls in times of "market volatility." Just them ... not the ordinary guy. They get to make wild bets while being shielded from the consequences if things go south. The OCC out forward the rule change and it is in consideration. As one source said, their holdings in derivatives seems to portend the burst of the bubble of everything.
Test
Yes, exactly.
Bingo, Bridget.
Biden’s choices are better for the common good, in part, I think because he remembers a time before trickle down economics existed. The glorification of greed never advances the common good. From what I’ve observed, it doesn’t lead to enhanced happiness even for the greedy.
Another example of why Biden's long experience is a boon. And yes, totally, neoliberalism and the ratification of greed have sucked so much joy out of our civic and private lives.
Don't forget that Clinton had to contend with the Conservative Revolution; it gave Republicans control of Congress, and it continues to paralyze Congress. If Democrats don't gain Congressional majorities next year, we will have chaos, even w/o Trump.
Exactly. This fantasy that the present Supreme Court would ever allow states to throw any national candidate off their ballots was a pipedream, and wouldn't have made any difference (write ins). Ultimately, people need to be responsible for who is elected. No one is going to "save" them, like in superhero movies. We live with heroes every day (soldiers, sailors, marines, nurses, doctors, teachers, etc.) who help us everyday but don't get anywhere near the recognition they deserve.
Ken, you are right, and when it comes to heroes who don't get the recognition they deserve is especially true of mothers. Mother's Day should be a national holiday, and they should get all the care they need.
I have issues with Clinton not just handling but pandering to Wall Street and some classist {if not racist} sectors.
But you’re right about next year — ANY Republican currently on the horizon is damaged by the Party’s platform and plans for Project 2025.
Amen
As I recall it, the GOP used the argument about not allowing single party (Democratic party) to hold power over all three branches. As a result, they were able to sidetrack a lot of the Clinton policies. Alternatively, they seem to think it's OK as long as it's the GOP that has the control of all three branches, their long-term project that is only now coming into focus. We have to work hard at getting an overwhelming vote count in November so that there can be no doubt about the outcome - and the Dems are going to need to have single party (filibuster-proof) control in all three branches to get the economy and the country back on the right track - the track that Joe Biden has begun to direct us towards a better future for ALL AMericans, not only the rich.
Totally agree! We could then pass the existing two voting rights bills, and start instituting ironclad protections for our democracy, which trump has revealed as depending on honorable behavior, and the Republicans have not been acting with honor for sure since Gingrich deliberately destroyed bipartisanship and made quite clear Mitch McConnell denied Obama his right to name SCOTUS Justice. Plus a lot of other changes that need to be made. And no more bills that expire in 10 years and get voted out, such as the assault weapons ban.
Yess, yesssss, and yessssss.
But this time, we have a democrat and team who believes in the bottom up economy and they are taking steps to make it happen. This is the time to change the tide.
Bottom up middle out focused on pollices on enabling workers to support families and local businesses, their local communities, and building a stong economy.
Agree totally, Victoria. As soon as Obama tapped Summers and Geithner, it was obvious that the fix was in.
In fairness to Obama, (and I am NOT a Summers fan) Obama was looking at an economy in meltdown which was dragging the global economy with it.
And he was our first Black president.
And he had no national experience.
2009 was not the time to change course on the economy -- it was the time to restore confidence in the financial system. Obama brought in Summers and the banks relaxed.
Much as FDR brought in Woodin for Treasury -- who was Republican and an industrialist in 1933.
Do I wish Clinton or Obama had done more?
I don't know. Jimmy Carter was a one term president because he tried to do those things. Clinton and Obama got things done in their second terms.
Given how god awful bad Republicans are at actual governance, a disappointing Democrat is still the safer bet.
Obama bailed out the banks (OK, maybe necessary, but not a good thing), but left average citizens completely out to dry (inexcusable and unforgivable). He had the votes to pass single payer, which he'd promised to do, but instead made a back-room deal that was a gift to the insurance companies. Meanwhile, ACA premiums keep going up and up (higher than employer-sponsored policies), with high deductibles and so-so coverage, and unless one is destitute (which rightly triggers more assistance), it's a burden to meet the costs.
Being the first Black President and having no national experience aren't excuses---he pledged he could do the job. No, surrounding himself with Wall Street CEOs was NOT the way to go.
He was miraculous on the campaign trail. Once in office, though, he was just another bought politician.
As for what Clinton got done in his second term, yeah, there was NAFTA and the repeal of Glass Steagall, two "accomplishments" which brought about that 2008 crash. Neither anything to be proud of.
Obama DID NOT have the votes to pass single payer because Joe Lieberman was in the Senate and blocked it.
Of course, he could do the job. And as much as you think he should have done more, he got the first health insurance bill passed since LBJ. Your employer provided insurance is only doable now because of Obamacare.
Obama got things done. People like you have pie in the sky goals AND NEVER GET ANYTHING ENACTED INTO LAW. To call him a bought politician is BS.
I don't know whether you were an adult in 2008 or you're just clueless, but yeah, when the global financial system is melting down, you want Wall Street guys to help you stop it.
Because singing kumbaya doesn't do a damn thing.
NAFTA has nothing to do with 2008 as far as I know. Do you have evidence to to the contrary?
Republicans also controlled both the House and the Senate in 1999 -- with 55 seats in the Senate. Please explain how Clinton is responsible for anything other than signing a Republican bill passed by a majority Republican Congress repealing Glass Steagall?
Last question -- did you by any chance sit out the 2010 midterms?
If so, thanks for the Tea party.
It was so disappointing.
Very much so. Obama even had me believing on Election Day, cynic that I am. Well....I was shaken from my delusion in short order!
But, I would still rather have a Democratic administration, even when disappointing, than any Republican. And this is why I've been happy to see the rise of Dark Brandon, reading all their beads.
IMO. Robert inadvertently or indirectly lays his finger on the problem. Larry Summers, he is the grise eminence behind the woes of the Democratic party, which of course is "Wall Street" and those international financial institutions of which Bill Clinton so enthusiastically promoted.. he mentioned them no less than 21 times and when he left office, essentially broke, they rewarded him with his own NGO, the Clinton Global Initiative,
Summers wasted no time jumping on the neophyte and naive Obama, who then proceeded to bail out the banks, actually Goldman Sachs, which was the real winner of the "too big to fail scheme:" It's competitor Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail.
Try hard to remember, Lee, that Obama did NOT “proceed to bail out the banks.”
Try to remember that members of Congress debated vociferously that bailing out banks was absolutely necessary to keep the whole economy from tanking, and was the only thing the government could do — AND the financial sector blamed low-income homeowners for defaulting on loans and causing the recession and the resulting failure of investment institutions, when it was the financial sector that engineered the whole mess, with the Bush administration doing NOTHING to head off the disaster for literally years that the country was being warned about the overheated real estate market.
When it blew up, the country was convinced to blame the mess on the people who took out mortgages, not the corporations that perverted them, bundled them into “products” and kept selling the bundles as AAA, even when they were lower than junk.
And Congress passed a bank bailout bill in 2008, even though most people didn’t want it, and NOBODY tried to pass a homeowner bailout bill, because everybody was mad at homeowners, and Obama was handed the bailout when he walked into the White House in 2009. [Sadly, with people like Summers in tow — dammit.]
I wonder why nobody gets all pissy about how Bush didn’t help homeowners —or even try to….
And Lehman F-ing Brothers did not fold on Obama’s watch. He wasn’t even elected until November, 2008,, and inaugurated in January, 2009, and Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September, 2008.
Just cut it out, Lee.
I am NOT a fan of the Obama administration and the Wall Street Crew, but just be fair. YEAH, he was descended on by a lot of people way more experienced in Washington than he was, but he also had a large Chicago cadre, and I’m not fond of a lot of Chicago attitudes.
Even is they are NOT influenced by Straussians.
But right now, we have a choice between Joe Biden who IS trying to be president for the PEOPLE — or some Republican who’ll help us get the Project 2025 off the ground.
So, some folks don’t want to vote for Biden. OK, then vote for YOURSELF, because voting NOT BIDEN, no matter who you tick or write in, is a vote for a Republican Win.
Completely self destructive. Totally spiteful. I think.
Totally nuts.
Sane people, please, VOTE BLUE.
You might also like the interview with John Nichols also on YouTube which deals with JKG's influence on FDR's administration, and why he was dumped from the 1944 Democratic Party ticket. Also an example of a possible turning point in history.
Winning politically will solve little because the problem is our corrupted system. Reread Professor Reich’s essay. The Dems didn’t help when they could have, and they won’t, again, because our system is now corrupted!!!
In the past, our Constitution gave us, We the People, all of the inalienable rights and powers to ensure that our government and economy would represent and serve us ALL.
But everything changed for the worst when SCOTUS rigged and corrupted our system against us by creating corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine of money as speech. It corrupted our system and shifted the power balance in favor of the rich and the powerful, and against We the People.
Overlay this history with the one layed out in this essay and you will clearly see the cause of our government and economic dysfunction. The rich and powerful have always been seeking more, but now that they have succeeded in system change, they are getting what they crave.
Enough! Let’s change our system back and reclaim our rightful power. Ken never understood that his optimistic economic theories could only come to fruition in a government of and by the people.
The We the People Amendment is the only thing that can and will save us. HJR54 will end corporate rule and legalize democracy, but only if y’all step up and demand it.
Luckily it’s easy to grow this movement of the people. The winning strategy is at movetoamend.org Sign on at movetoamend.org/motion Sign your organization on at movetoamend.org/organizations Get your candidates for public office signed on by demanding that they sign the pledge to amend, at movetoamend.org/pledge Ask your union to spearhead this movement at movetoamend.org/labor-caucus
And lastly, ask Professor Reich to help lead this movement. MoveToAmend.org is now an official partner organization of MoveOn.org! Inequity Media should be, as well.
Let’s over-rule SCOTUS and restore good government of and by We the People! Let’s restore and build our renewable energy economy that works for all.
The rich and powerful will always want to ruthlessly rule the world. It’s up to us, We the People, to set their limits, and say NO!
ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS MORE. Yes on getting out the VOTE. Yes on registering young people and pushing back on GOP attempts to disenfranchise 18-20 year olds. Yes on the We the People Amendment. Yes on the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Yes on Ranked Choice Voting and Proportional Representation.
Let’s elect people qualified to govern, who want to govern, and who are willing and able to follow through on what Biden has pushed through with insufficient support and outright obstruction. And LET’S DEMAND long-term, sustainable PRO-VOTER reforms.
It’s NOT ENOUGH to get Biden back in the White House for another term. Here in NC, the maps are so gerrymandered that we are swerving toward autocracy under a GOP supermajority that now sees fit to run the most objectionable candidates possible: Robinson? Morrow?
I truly believe we are in another critical moment in our history. People do NOT understand that, because our education system—and the MEDIA—has kept us too ignorant and uninformed to effectively participate in democratic self-governance.
Many states have electoral reform movements actively working for changes to how the system works. IF YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THEM, please learn. RepresentUS, FairVote, and RanktheVote.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Biden is not Clinton or Obama. I was super hatched throughout that period. I was IRATE when Clinton and Obama tried to placate Republicans and appointed many to their administrations. We learn from history and intelligent people DO NOT REPEAT IT.
When I analyze the appointments in this administration, we have come a long way, and credit is due.
Working on Move to Amend does not preclude 100% support for Democrats.
I ask Robert to partner with Field Team 6. 3 million new registrations can win. To protect American democracy, reach out to millions of unregistered likely Democrats using a dedicated database using every outreach method possible (phone and text, postcard, email and targeted ad, and in-person too), where new Democratic voters will make the most impact – in the most flippable states and districts.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
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For sure, Lawrence, winning this election will not solve our problems. But LOSING this election will cement the demise of democracy.
If we don’t stay in the game and keep their feet to the fire, we wont really have won, anyway.
We don’t have TIME to wait for someone else to appear on the political horizon. We have what we have, and some of what we have IS good! Don’t condemn all of it.
VOTE BLUE, and stay in the struggle for good.
Interesting observation, but it would appear from what the Professor share that even when “we win” other forces prevail.
I just posted a similar observation. I want to note that Biden's choices appear to be consonant with real wins. So let us not mourn for the past, but fight for our future.
Yea, verily, Victoria.
Vote for people who will block Citizens United.
And expand the Supreme Court.
A vote for a Republican is a vote against democracy.
Voting for a Republican is tantamount to voting FOR a recession.
The only good Republicans are pushing up daisies. Harry Truman
A society that invests in its people, and not just the wealthy, has a lot more people who can be productive and self sufficient.
Galbraith was a brilliant thinker, but even a brilliant person can get some things wrong. Still, he was a strong voice for the common good.
Sometimes, yes. For decades before Reagan, we were on a better track.
The forces of oligarchy prevail because we have not had the wherewhithal to reach people with reason!
The Internet is not perfect, but we need to use it to REACH people.
Actual sharks are nicer folk than the human kind.
Very much so!
I like to think of it as Social Darwinism... red of tooth and claw. Humans succeed better by cooperative strategies as well.
I personally don't begrudge anybody anything. All I ask is they pay their fair share.
It pisses me off, especially when I just paid my taxes, is that I am subsidizing entities like BIG OIL and BIG PHARMA. Big oil fixes prices via OPEC, a foreign entity and their primary backer, Saudi Arabia, controls the largest oil refineries in the US and companies like Exxon. High energy prices support Russian aggression in the Ukraine, in our elections, and Iran's proxy wars.
You have exposed yourself many times as "a taker" and not a "maker." UB the fool.
AGREE with all. Don’t forget the way in which the tax system has been rigged to favor “losses” in real estate.
I’ll try to get Trump on the line for you. He can explain it.
This is not your first rodeo. State whether or not when you were a federal financial services regulator you were a taker and not a maker.
How can you support someone who stole from kids with cancer? Hates dogs?
Started an insurrection?
So Paul, were you a "federal financial regulator" before 2008?
"planes falling out of the sky" due to DEI sounds like a Fox News created slogan to trigger mass hysteria.
What makes you think white men get hired based on merit?
Also, the GD pilot landed the MF plane without a MF door.
Your DEI fantasies aside, this is a quality control problem not a pilot problem.
Planes are falling out of the sky because Boeing was taken over by managers who put short term profit ahead of responsibility. They ruined a culture of responsibility that understood that dedication to quality preserved long term profits . Stock option compensation for Boeing Execs caused the rot who opted for short term profit rather than the long term strategy that had served Boeing so well . And the USA with international domination of the jet market. Gone. High paying jobs : Gone. A lucrative slice of GDP shrunk.
For shame!
My understanding about Boeing is based on more than what I have read in the news.
I had a friend who worked for their helicopter subsidiary all his life, doing their quality control. It was top notch for most of his career. But fell
apart when top management changed in his last few years.
So you're saying we should stop hiring white men as pilots and doors won't fall off?
Because pilots all run around with welders checking the plane?
The culture changed when they bought McDonnell Douglas and succumbed to the Wall Street short term stupidity.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/boeing-737-max-corporate-culture/677120/
If that were true, my blue state would not be propping up the failed red states.
Talk about income redistribution!
Yawn
Humans have never needed an excuse to be selfish. We start out that way as babies and the rich and powerful stay corrupted and infantile.
But it shouldn’t be a matter of what the rich want. Our Constitution gave us, We the People, all of the inalienable rights and powers to ensure that our government and economy would represent and serve us ALL.
Professor Reich failed to mention how the Powell Memo set a new and disgusting course for both our government and economy. How SCOTUS rigged and corrupted our system against us by creating corporate personhood and corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine of money as speech.
Overlay this history with the one layed out in this essay and you will clearly see the cause of our government and economic dysfunction. The rich and powerful have always been seeking more, but now that they have succeeded in system change, they are getting what they crave.
Enough! Let’s change our system back and reclaim our rightful power. Ken never understood that his optimistic economic theories could only come to fruition in a government of and by the people.
The We the People Amendment is the only thing that can and will save us. HJR54 will end corporate rule and legalize democracy, but only if y’all step up and demand it.
Luckily it’s easy to grow this movement of the people. The winning strategy is at movetoamend.org Sign on at movetoamend.org/motion Sign your organization on at movetoamend.org/organizations Get your candidates for public office signed on by demanding that they sign the pledge to amend, at movetoamend.org/pledge Ask your union to spearhead this movement at movetoamend.org/labor-caucus
And lastly, ask Professor Reich to help lead this movement. MoveToAmend.org is now an official partner organization of MoveOn.org! Inequity Media should be, as well.
Let’s over-rule SCOTUS and restore good government of and by We the People! Let’s restore and build our renewable energy economy that works for all.
The rich and powerful will always want to ruthlessly rule the world. It’s up to us, We the People, to set their limits, and say NO!
The question that keeps nagging me is why Reich and the other Ivy leaguers were so gullible concerning ridding the country of the "dinosaur" industries in order to "make room" for the high tech industries that never happened. Reich wanted to be more humane about it, but nevertheless bought into it. Of course it was a move by corporates to use cheaper labor. Could it be that if you wanted to promote your career you had to get on the bandwagon?
Keeping the common good straight ahead in the wheel house should prevent personal gain from blinding political influencers. I'm only a nurse, but I risked my job and career to do the right thing for those I was responsible for. Why don't politicians and those in government do the same?
In 1990, those "high tech industries" were computers and software.
I don't understand why you think they didn't happen.
Apple. Intel. Microsoft. Cisco. Facebook. Google.
They didn't replace steal, textiles, and auto making, hence the Rustbelt. In what universe could it be imagined that it would have? steal, textiles, and automobiles weren't obsolete and still very necessary all over the world.
The problem was the lure of cheap labor. AND the end run around US regulations which did not exist in China and the other cheap labor markets. Those promoting a global economy should have insisted that bringing US standards of regulation had to happen first to equalize the gap between American and developing countries manufacturing costs. Clinton and Obama failed us in that respect.
To really bring it back, we would almost have to create our local economies, and bypass the people who control things now.
Just a few observations from another one of my favorites worth attention:
https://youtu.be/7k0xres4ASw?si=jHWZJgnMpD-8qAcH
That conservative point of view was often expressed in the frequent debates between Ken and William
F. Buckley . I always admired the view
that the “ public purpose “ is too
often given short shift in a “free
market “ economy . Ken’s point was that once the large corporation had
settled its micro economic level of
profit maximization, it turned to
more self serving ends - like
thwarting labor unions, privatization
and electing Republicans. He was a
giant / same as RR .
Yes, and those self-serving ends were the elimination of anti-trust enforcement, the lowering (or elimination!) of taxes, and the de-regulation of its affairs. Mission f***ing accomplished.
Very well put. Am currently viewing JKG's 1977 PBS series " The Age of Uncertainty" which I found on YouTube. Very inciteful. Deals with human psychology, which I believe drives most of the decisions we make, which JKG deals with very well.
It seems to me that the Libertarians and Republicans got their moral justification for selfishness, from Ayn Rand, who preached "the virtue of selfishness", and added the dripping hatred for bleeding heart liberals, as dilusional idiots.
Since being indoctrinated in the 60's with this bull, I have occassionally observed the cult spreading, taking seed in the gullible, who think that they also could be included in the image of the novel's heros.
But, her heros had no history. They were fictional characters, who it would seem were transported from never never land, without any life support, fully educated and guided by their superior intelligence, and ability to arrive at their snobish superiority by logical inference.
In real life, people are born with an empty brain, and depend on their immediate environment in filling that void with a world view. More often than not, they are raised surrounded by society believing in fictional ideas of about life. In any case, they are dependent on their family and society for their support, growth and education.
But the political views of these believers in selfishness as a guide, typically lack any acknowledgement of the role of a giving society in the ability to survive at all.
People are not like Tigers, lonely hunters after a year of motherly support. No, we depend on a cooperative society all through life. Now the Republican party, with it's support of lies and force to make the 'superior' richer, and everyone else poorer is leading to the collapse of our society and the cooperation necessary for civilization.
Hence, Ayn Rand's entire body of work, so beloved by the GOP. At least, the few remaining literate ones....
Kerry Trucero: OMG, that IS good!
"“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
I have to FRAME that!
Thanks for sharing!
💯
@UC. Government is the majority’s tool to force a few selfish people to share the fruits flowing from the productivity of the whole American society, which those few selfish people keep trying to claim for themselves only. Progressive taxation, along with regulation and monopoly-busting, is key to equitable distribution of society’s total wealth. Forget Ayn Rand - read Galbraith.
@Paul. You have a nuanced view of the question. The underlying issue is whether you think those entrepreneurs and capitalists you mentioned function in some kind of vacuum? Or do they exploit the riches (including human riches) of our society. Economists think its the latter (most mainstream economists anyway). A key argument I am making is that equitable taxation enables equitable distribution of consumption, and all those entrepreneurs depend on consumption, either directly by consumers or indirectly via the total demand in the economy. Rich people will get richer, arguably, if everyone is richer.
So Paul, are you arguing for an expanded estate tax?
Because it's hard to argue that dividend collecting heirs are productive.
See Trump, Donald for example. Not to mention Junior, Ivanka and Eric. Or Kushner.
Ford, Edison and Musk have more than money in common. Antisocial, antisemitic and probably paranoid.
No corporation has a conscience. Some may have a sense of noblesse oblige. Think of folks like Buffet.
As a society everyone benefits when we give aa helping hand to the less fortunate. Roughly 15 % of the population is dysfunctional and needs help. Any money they have is immediately spent. Keynes was right. Ultimately everyone prospers.
Ford gave us Hitler.
Undocumented anonymous troll.
Usually I find it's someone who can't spell.
@Bridget. LOLOLOL!
Thanks so much for your work and commentary and stubborn persistence in reminding us what is happening --what has happened --to justice in the American economy. I was finishing graduate school at Harvard while you were at lunch that day -- it's likely that a few hours later I was downstairs drinking beer with my buddies, because the Faculty Club inexplicably allowed in graduate instructors. Happy days. But not so happy was our realization of precisely what you are talking about: watching the fairly benign New Deal state be taken apart by Reagan and his ilk--while we watched, embarrassed by that presidency and irate at the wreckage of hope and opportunity he represented and brought on. And here we are.
Reagan lit the fuse that blew up the world’s greatest country…the one with the most hope for a meritocracy and a society transcending the old class systems of the past. Reagan blew it all up. Many Dems clawed back, not the least of whom were Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama. And now the corporate monolith has joined forces with the Confederate revanchists to implode the very core of America’s Constitutional existence.
Trickle down economics, deregulation, encouragement of mere self interest and greed. And a touch of white supremacy.
Kris, you have accurately named the Reagan efforts to undermine our nation. In addition, he denigrated our government while he was benefiting directly from it. He and his crew depended on "psychics" and seemed to listen to them more than people who actually knew the truth. The biggest thing Reagan brought to the White House was ignorance, a virtue in Republican circles, it seems. You don't have to know anything about welfare, for example, but you can whine and lie about "welfare queens." Reagan was a mess but he was an actor. My sister accurately says that being president was his best acting job.
His best acting came forth when he faced the Congressional Committee investigating the Iran/Contra affair appearing as the senile old man who called his wife mommy. It kept him out of jail and gained multiple roadways in America to be named after him.
I smirk every time I take the Ronald Reagan Turnpike in Florida. What dumb asses we are.
Give em one for the gipper, indeed!
MJ, the most inforiating part is that the people around Reagan knew perfectly well that he was inept and by the end of his first term was even slipping further into incompetence, yet said little about it that mattered. The same is true for Trump and yet, here we are, an ignorant criminal toddler-man heading deeper into dementia is running for president in one of our major parties. That is simply insane!
Throw in anti worker anti labor unions to rounding it out.
Lols? What a sad thing to have to troll people’s wonderfully written essays. You should try reading them sometime.
Trickle down economics was the Republican description of their policies.
Most of us defined it as "piss on my head and tell me it's raining."
OMG, Undocumented, if you are serious, then, Ignorance is part of your MO. If you are just baiting, you are not good at it, so which is it?
Shall I quote Galbraith to you? Have you heard of the
"Horse & Sparrow theory?"
In 1982, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote the ""trickle-down economics" that that David Stockman was referring to was previously known under the name "horse-and-sparrow theory," the idea that feeding a horse a huge amount of oats will result in some of the feed passing through for lucky sparrows to eat."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki
Trickle-down economics
All of what Kris wrote, but also, Reagan ratified greed. Until Reagan, there was a social agreement that untrammeled greed was terrible for our society. That government had a function to play in regulating and restricting greed. And, that decent people, good people, knew better than to display such greed. Those were values in our society, until Reagan. Reagan ratified greed.
I'm not sure what the best Russian translation is. . .
@Bridget. LOLOLOLOL!
I guess you’re too ignorant to know of or understand social contact theory. LOL…
Social contract theory, yes. And attacked by the rightwing viciously, as reflected in that troll.
@UC. Start with the Constitution. Then study FDR and his administrations. It’s not a simplified, monolithic cult - it’s a whole culture.
Do you want to start with the corruption or the stupidity?
Reagan's cabinet had the second most criminal indictments of any presidential administration.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/09/facebook-posts/many-more-criminal-indictments-under-trump-reagan-/
He went out of his way to destroy the parts of government that helped the average American. He broke unions (although he himself had been the president of SAG.) He had secret dealings with the Iranians BEFORE AND AFTER he was elected.
And of course, he completely blocked family planning for Central and South America.
When you whine about immigrants leaving poor countries for the US, thank Ronnie.
Reagan is why you don't elect stupid people to high office -- even if you liked their TV show.
Or venal people. Ronnie was a GE flac after all .
I read that comment to be self explanatory.
Tankies
And so many of your Harvard colleagues joined the Greed Heads who have prostituted their Harvard education and its ideals
..this was already noted, yet you felt compelled to grind it in? ..hmmm
I have said this before but let me say it again:
Professor Reich you are a good man. The world needs more people like you more than anything else.
Wonderful tribute and beautifully ‘therapeutic’ to know men like you and Galbraith are fighting the good fight! Thank you for your service to our nation!
Ken Galbraith was, of course, a Canadian by birth. His book The Scotch is a sardonic look at his roots in southwestern Ontario, and he never lost interest in Canada and Canadian politics. He made a point of praising the first budget of the New Democratic government I led in the early 1990’s , which made substantial public investments in housing, public transit, social transfers, diversity and inclusion. He wrote and phoned me often. Your memoir brings back many memories, and I was proud to welcome him in the Premier’s office when he was speaking at the University of Toronto next door. He was exactly as you described him. Bob your own voice is just as important these days and I enjoy so much your great energy and wit, as I first did when our paths crossed in Oxford many years ago. Keep it up ! Bob Rae ((now at the UN in New York).
But Bob you joined the Liberals ! They base policy on the latest polls rather than principle. And Canada will be lucky to escape a Poilievre majority government come the next election. A Tory minority is the best that can be hoped for, The hatred Justin inspires is everywhere- yes downtown Toronto too. 2025 will be a triumph of reactionary politics because Justin has a complete lack of imagination. And guts. A complete flake .
Obviously Ken was an optimist. You are a realist Professor Reich.
There is a huge gap between the wealthy elite and the middle and lower classes. The people who can afford to pay higher taxes have instead paid politicians to help them get wealthier and pay less in taxes. Thus America has a two tiered system of justice and everyone knows this! In America everyone is created equal @ birth and that’s where it ends. Trump was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has gotten away with his despicable behavior for his entire adult life. As long as there is a two tiered system he will continue his criminal ways!
Keith, alas, we aren't even born equal at birth as is now being made clear after the Dobbs case. Folks are finally looking at what people living in poverty are dealing with when they are forced to give birth, often to children with severe disabilities that those rich guys want nothing to do with supporting. In addition to their huge wealth, much of which came through inheritance and bad inheritance law while a lot of the rest happened to have a good idea at the right time: Amazon's Bezos and Meta's Zuckerberg, for example. The "idea" guys were not fully grown emotionally and now don't have to grow up. That's what we are dealing with, entitlement and immaturity along with the addiction to money and power that often accompanies such entitlements and immaturity.
It's kinda like when simultaneously Neanderthals and Cro Magnons walked the earth. The human race appears to be splitting into two not-so-equal subspecies, although likely not so successfully.
Beautifully written. Unfortunately, the loudest voices tend not to be the wisest. Greed has always pushed to the top and with a corrupt SCOTUS the fix is in. Add in equity groups buying up even social services and rural hospital lands and our demise is at hand. Eventually there will be nothing left to buy or manipulate. I miss the time when real conversation with men and women of great intelligence and social consciousness were seen as models for good. Today we're back to tribal religiosity and the day of the grifter and con.
Excellent article, Robert - almost a book of history and economics. While reading, I was glad you mentioned 'Second Gilded Age,' which a lot of historians seem to favor. I agree with the overall concept, except for one thing. Let me explain. Mark Twain devised the term Gilded Age in a sarcastic nod to the aphorism "gilding the lily," itself a sarcastic take on EXCESS. During the Civil War 1861-5, the plantation South (about 850 of the wealthiest men in the USA, running a feudal society consisting essentially half of slaves and half of feudal serf-sharecroppers except for some skilled tradesmen in a few cities. Bottom line, the North rose upon some 25 years previous of growing industrialization to an explosive industrial revolution during that war. (need to cut through a lot of history to make a point). European powers cautiously stayed neutral to see who would win, but in the end sided with the Union. The newly United states were able to launch into a big chunk of the surviving Atlantic trade triangle (minus South, minus slavery) and bring back especially toward the UK the industrial skills & resources that the North had in fact mostly heisted from the British half a century earlier (think of the Fall Line industries in New England). The South continued to produce cotton, tobacco, etc but not with outright slavery per se; rather with white and black sharecroppers in a restrictive, self-destructive madness of deconstruction during Reconstruction. Meanwhile, get this: it's been estimated that upward of 1000 of the wealthiest US families farmed at least one daughter out to the often financially distressed British great titles...think of Consuelo Vanderbilt, for example... a century later, Lady Diana Spencer's family could trace ties back with both US and UK aristocracy. Above all, the biggest surprise is that when the world was lurching toward World War Two, our President FDR (who had lived in Germany for several years as a child) united with a very special British chap... Sir Winston Churchill... whose mother Jenny Jerome was in fact a United States heiress from a billionaire New York City family. Jerome Avenue in Manhattan/Bronx is named for them; so is a mining town in Arizona (what else: Jerome, AZ). What this all points to is that after the Civil War, for several generations, the United States sort of reunited with the British empire in complex ways... and after a lot of ups and downs including the Great Depression of the 1930s, rose to historically unheard of power and wealth in a new industrial surge given to the US oligarchs as a gift of fate (or Hitler and Mussolini, the stupid European fascists). That follows a similar, somewhat lesser industrial rewind in World War One (also high factory output, wealth, etc). BUT now we come to the crucial difference that concerns me. Yes, we fought a needless war in Vietnam for all the wrong reasons (appeasing DeGaulle, who was a historical rhubarb, appeasing the McCarthy paranoids...) followed by the nation's fabric being torn apart by the South's refusal to accept integration... resulting (after the Nixon/Agnew corruption and horror) in the rise of the South... when the Southern Democrats were abruptly switched by their owners to the new Reaganist vendetta...So in 1980, Ronny Ray-Gun won by a landslide. He destroyed the Savings & Loan Industry as the first of the popular FDR reforms the corporations have been seeking to destroy... yes, Reagan was a total idiot or whatever you called him in your article, but he had that smarmy, fake Calvinist preacher tonality... two most memorable quotes briefly: "If Medicare becomes law, we will never again be a free people" (1965, during LBJ's term); and about the million poor he threw onto the streets by cutting charitable (and necessary) aid: "If they are on the streets it is because that was the choice they made." Last note quickly about Reagan: amid all the chaos and corruption (bailouts etc due to Bush corruption etc) Reagan left the biggest peacetime deficits in US history up to that time. So much for all his lies and stupidies. Now to the kicker. Yes, we are once again going through a sort of Gilded Age of excess wealth for the few and growing poverty for most of us... but the difference is that there is no British empire to hook into. Instead, we have a chaotic seeming world that more resembles the chaos at the end of the western Roman empire (for example) leading to a half millennium or more of dark ages. The Roaring (irrationally exuberant) 1920s were run by successive corrupt GOP administrations (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) who made all the wrong decisions, ending in the Great Depression. By luck, World War Two bailed out the industrial power of the USA. If we are again on the verge of financial and social chaos as during the 1920s (indeed, with our own fascist Dump on the rise again, with his simple people, Proverbs 1, marching obediently and eagerly with their assault rifles shouting Sheep Heil!) then there will likely be no British empire to soften our fall... Instead, we may face a new dark ages enemy, if the BRIC nations can succeed in being a real counterpoint. So to sum up, I agree we're in a second Gilded Age, but I see no conquest of Hawai'i, no Spanish-American War of the 1890s, and no apparent U.S. empire to follow as happened by about 1900. Think of all that this way: historians often refer to the final chaotic century of the Roman Republic as "an empire in all but name." Pre-Caesar Rome was a democracy on which the US is in many ways modeled, along Enlightenment touches; just think of the Sergeant at Arms carrying an ancient Roman lictor's staff to the podium to signal Congress (in a rotunda much like the Pantheon) is in session. Think of the very word republic, from Latin res publica, the People's Business. The USA after 1893 was in effect an empire in all but name. After the fall of our Soviet adversaries in 1991, our oligarchs outsourced the popular jobs and rights, often based on a destructive, fanatical Calvinism that has haunted our states since before 1776. Those oligarchs are now often foreigners wearing US caps and in fact Maga hats to mislead the Simple People. Hearking back to your affectionate history of JKG, I tend to agree with your guarded worries. I have not given up yet. I am not by nature a pessimist but a fighter. I think we can still rescue our country. But we need to get the Good People to wake up, and the Simple People to follow better leadership. If the forces of Slimy Mitch and Nauseating Newt, not to mention child molester Denny Hastert (for a time GOP's 2nd in line to the Presidency) can prevail in November 2024, then that may in fact be a dark turning point in our history. Sorry this was a long post. Better a long post and a bright future than a dark past. JTC
Among political pundits there is no better in history than Reich & Hartmann (Reich a little more economic, Hartmann a little more political, but both strong on both), especially on when, how & why the US has declined so much in certain fundamental ways. And they're doing their best to warn us about the future, using the past as a predictive guide. They have both been very accurate in their predictions. Our leaders would be wise to pay a lot more attention to them.
Thank you, sir, for a most educational post.
I love your knowledge of History. I hope your optimism prevails .
I am struck, when reading your reflections by the enduring value of Galbraith’s (and your) work to counter two persistent and enduring myths of capitalism: Adam Smith’s Invisible hand allowing us to think that an economy will course correct without intervention, and that through reinforced selfishness we will (eventually) serve a common good (and we all know what Keynes said about the long term!) Thank you for this important reflection Prof. Reich!
Sweet, beautiful shares Bob, thank you so, so much for this gift to us.
It’s so sad that this sort of economic education is not taught in the junior and senior years of public high schools, even more so in our public Junior Colleges and Universities! In America, the working population, is not taught that they are the most important part of our economy! The labor of the people is not recognized as a product, worthy of a respectable price, but simply as a tool to build more wealth for those at the top!
This is the main concern - just talk to young people - they have no idea how our country of democracy works or how authoritarian type governments operate. I find it fascinating to talk to my accupuncturist that was born in China and moved to USA to go to school but ended up staying here. She tells me about life for her family that remains in China. What freedoms they do not have. How the government tells you where to live and previously how many children you can have. The Chinese society so divided between city and country dwellers that there are problems finding people in your “ status “ to marry. Imagine that control environment in USA? The news ( including Facebook) is completely filtered as to not allow western information or propaganda. My accupuncturist was banned from using the Chinese FB and can only call her family on the phone. Imagine that control in USA ? Young people in USA are unaware.
For all intent purposes Trump skipped school altogether--
The man had his GPA sealed and locked away in a safe at Wharton School. Trump began his secondary educational experience in 1959 at the New York Military Academy. He was sent there because he was uncontrollable, and the thought line was the school would teach him structure and discipline. He floundered there until 1964 where he had a rather short stay at Kew-Forest. From there Trump started at Fordham University in 1964 and stayed until 1966. Things became a bit blurry when Mr. Trump transferred to Wharton School in 1966, he seems to have stayed there until 1968, at such time we hope he graduated. In the illustrious resume of his collections of schools attended, we find The University of Pennsylvania mentioned, why we don't really know. However, Wharton has his GPA and class records sealed and locked away from inquiring eyes. Why? The man has cheated at virtually everything since he began to speak. I personally have never known a more worthless human being. Why anyone would find comfort in supporting an idiot such as Mr. Trump is beyond me. Fools love company.
Progwoman--Wharton is the location of his last known educational "Opportunity." It is here where his GPA and other records are currently locked up for safe keeping.
Sorry, I thought your comment might be construed as thinking Penn and Wharton were separate. I'll take it down.
Progwoman--I may be wrong; it has happened before. Leave it up.
Sadly, you were right, Dr. Reich.
"starting in the late 1970s, the trend reversed itself": Do you think the Lewis Powell Memo had anything to do with that?
Maureen, I like your question so much, I’m going to try and answer it.
In essence, Powell “unionized” the uber-wealthy by giving them an identity, then giving them their purpose - defeating the working class by accumulating wealth. The union of the uber-wealthy was a meeting of minds, an alignment of goals, ambitions, desires, and rewards - not a conspiracy.
Given a strong identity, and a simple purpose the uber-wealthy began transferring more and more wealth into private hands, where the working class could not touch it.
All the while, the newly organized uber-wealthy were working in “common cause” they were insisting that labour unions were evil, communist, socialist plots, schemes and conspiracies. Unfortunately, working people believed them and destroyed our own base of power.
Today, instead of marching beside union members on picket lines, tiny numbers of people are out protesting a thousand different causes – and arguing over whose cause is the most important. I’m done with these causes and 100% of my political energies and resources are going to labour unions. You will find me in union halls. I’ll bake cookies, make coffee, hand out information, babysit and do anything else I can to make unions strong again.
raffe, you are right about the destruction of unions by rich guy propaganda. That anti-union thing is still strong. I was a member of a teacher's union and so many of the members have no idea the value of what they have. They in some ways, are insulated from what nonunion workers experience. Our union was somewhat different because what we can get in salaries and benefits depends so much on the state's and community's budgets. Our community being extremely depressed has a tiny tax base despite having a university, a casino, a sports stadium, and a large hospital within it. For example, our people at the top of the pay scale have had no raise in about ten years while the lower levels have gotten significant raises. It took 24 years for me to reach the top while at the same time, with a tiny raise, we began to pay 7% of the cost of our medical insurance. We didn't get a raise to cover that increase. Even with all that, our teachers are doing better than teachers in other places with either a weak union or none at all. In addition, people can't be fired just because a principal doesn't like them. No one has to meet an administrator related to an accusation without a union member to accompany them. How can we get people to see that unions have tremendous value? This past summer's union efforts for auto workers did help, but people in jobs with no union tend to resent those who do have unions, blaming them for the fact that they don't have benefits and a reasonable salary. The addicted rich want that kind of discontent because it allows them to convince poor workers to accept their lot or get fired. It's been really effective.
IMHO the deed was done because Nixon's southern strategy worked. The FDR coalition was destroyed.
raffey,
You are my hero!
I have been a Union member for over 50 years. During that time I worked in the building trades and held Union Officers and delegate positions in the Carpenters Union.
I have long believed that unionism is and always was a social movement. I’m not talking about us versus them. I’m talking about a real connection between people who help each other. Not just other Union members but everyone in your community. It can be that way and I visualize and act in my life accordingly. There is real power when people realize their commonalities and work together to achieve mutual goals. You are not alone in your work. There are still millions of us working together for a better life and community.
Zupan, you spoke to the facet of unions that elude those who have not belonged. In a word, you spoke of come-unity. My union put me through high school and then college and in the doing, earned my heart and mind - and undying loyalty.
Over the following decades, I felt the absence of a union in my professional life acutely as I navigated decades of sexual harassment, sexism, nepotism, wage theft, impossible demands, and unfairness on my own. Along the way, I saw so, so, so many people being placed in danger, abused and discarded, all in the name of "j-o-b-s" it infuriated, frightened and appalled me. I have returned to the union fold, as a volunteer, organizer and activist repeatedly, for I could not stay away from that wondrous feeling of come-unity. If our community is not healthy, no work can be done. That is the reason, that unions are first and foremost, all about community - and jobs are a secondary consideration.
Thank you for replying. It is good to know you are out there, somewhere.
Thank you.
Fortunately I moved to Canada; the Supreme Court here fairly recently declared unionization a human right as laid out in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I was teaching university in Alberta; by provincial law, post-secondary faculty could not unionize. As soon as the Supreme Court decision came down, we unionized. The university tried (unsuccessfully) to break the union, but that's another story.
Powell has been blamed for a lot of ills, and rightly so.
I think there is too much emphasis on a single memo, or a single person like Reagan, as moving the course of history. The Powell memo would have zero effect if there were not a supportive environment . The Powell memo would likely never have been written if there were not the right envirornment.
Dr. Galbraith was a hero of mine.
Many thanks for writing this remembrance. We mustn’t give up! Marcia Schlafmitz
Once again, thank you Dr. Reich for your articles.