I am no fan of authority. I've worked against it, with it, in it and as it. The need to challenge it constantly I found surprisingly common and supremely necessary in every iteration. So, I do not lightly say that without coherent, forceful and responsible leadership, the OWS movement is going nowhere but down, probably at its own hands.
The recent flag burning in Oakland was the work of fools or worse. I am not going to waste my time or the reader's time arguing the point. How's that for an authoritative statement? Well, my little dears of the OWS, you should not only get used to it, you should crave it. It is the only hope you have. Indeed, it is the only hope we have of building a real movement of value and accomplishment.
Think of Dr. King in the 60s, and his commitment to non-violence. If the Civil Rights movement had not had his strong and unyielding leadership on that commitment, the more radical and/or intentional provocateurs would have killed the cause in its crib. Nothing would have been accomplished. So, whether the stupidity comes from within or the attack comes in the form of mischief cooked up by plants from the outside, a progressive movement needs leadership to overcome it, stick to an effective course of action, win support, and outlast the opposition.
New Orleans Labor Voice
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
To The Moon, Alice!
Only those of a certain age or mavens of old-timey t.v. show reruns will recognize that comic-hollow threat, oft issued by Ralph Cramden to his wife, Alice, in The Honeymooners. Whether for entirely appropriate and sound reasons or just overdone political correctness, things have changed dramatically. Even two truly great thespians, like Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows, could no longer squeeze a smile out of that classic scene, wherein an overgrown galoot offers his physically petite wife a free lunar cruise courtesy of a right cross, as she icily, confidently, and silently responds with a killer "stuff it, buster" stare. Although other things have changed as well, some things never do. Mitt Romney reminded us of that last night.
One change is that Romney has gotten much better at debating Gingrich. We're told he hired a new debate coach to help him in this regard. I suppose Mitt won't get the pleasure of firing this new service provider, as the results seem to have showed up rather well last night. A particular instance was the exchange in which Mitt effectively ridiculed Newt's lunar lunacy. But one wonders what it says about Mitt that a debate coach was required to arm him for such an easy take down. Still, there is even more to be said about what was revealed in this colloquy. And it may make Mitt want to rethink the debate coach service after all.
Newt's whole pie in the sky moon shot is based on getting private business to take on the project. Mitt responded that he would fire any business associate who approached him with such an idea. He thereby admitted that the private sector wants one thing and one thing only: immediate profit, and lots of it, for the least amount of effort. Time and time again, it has been proven that we are going nowhere as a nation and a people by following that philosophy in our governance. Last night, Romney and Gingrich both stipulated as much, but they are too stupid to realize it. Only "We the people" can do the heavy lifting of moving civilization forward. That is the job of government. Business is something else again.
One change is that Romney has gotten much better at debating Gingrich. We're told he hired a new debate coach to help him in this regard. I suppose Mitt won't get the pleasure of firing this new service provider, as the results seem to have showed up rather well last night. A particular instance was the exchange in which Mitt effectively ridiculed Newt's lunar lunacy. But one wonders what it says about Mitt that a debate coach was required to arm him for such an easy take down. Still, there is even more to be said about what was revealed in this colloquy. And it may make Mitt want to rethink the debate coach service after all.
Newt's whole pie in the sky moon shot is based on getting private business to take on the project. Mitt responded that he would fire any business associate who approached him with such an idea. He thereby admitted that the private sector wants one thing and one thing only: immediate profit, and lots of it, for the least amount of effort. Time and time again, it has been proven that we are going nowhere as a nation and a people by following that philosophy in our governance. Last night, Romney and Gingrich both stipulated as much, but they are too stupid to realize it. Only "We the people" can do the heavy lifting of moving civilization forward. That is the job of government. Business is something else again.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
The Shock Of Recognition
Manufacturing????? What's that?
Yes, zerO's main theme last night came with every ornament and adornment except a loudly unspoken and much needed admission by the phony leaders of the equally phony Liberal establishment that has grown up in the last 40 years in this country. Ahem, that is that the only genuine Liberalism is economic Liberalism. Everything else is mere capitulation to the most rapacious rip-off class of plutocrats the world has ever known. And that a broad middle class simply cannot be sustained in the absence of continued commitment to the creation of real wealth, through real work, not bullshit financial abuse.
You could hear it and see it in his tone and manner. ZerO finally gets it. We have damn near thrown it all away, and it scares the hell out of him. It should scare you, too.
Yes, zerO's main theme last night came with every ornament and adornment except a loudly unspoken and much needed admission by the phony leaders of the equally phony Liberal establishment that has grown up in the last 40 years in this country. Ahem, that is that the only genuine Liberalism is economic Liberalism. Everything else is mere capitulation to the most rapacious rip-off class of plutocrats the world has ever known. And that a broad middle class simply cannot be sustained in the absence of continued commitment to the creation of real wealth, through real work, not bullshit financial abuse.
You could hear it and see it in his tone and manner. ZerO finally gets it. We have damn near thrown it all away, and it scares the hell out of him. It should scare you, too.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Downpression
Long before anyone outside of Arkansas had ever heard of Bill Clinton, the world was going to hell for American workers. Clinton didn't draw up the road map to our economic dead end, but he did lock in the GPS coordinates, and stomp on the gas. He screwed us permanently by passing the Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China (PNTR) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) treaties. He did those things mostly in obedience to the demands of the multi-national corporations, which pretty much own and operate this country and the world. And he also did it out of a misguided notion that exporting traditional American manufacturing jobs would provide a better way of life for the most downtrodden and exploited workers on the planet, while causing industry and workers here at home to graduate to a higher or more sophisticated level of production. The theory being that everyone here would leave the dirty, sweaty, hard work of yesterday's economy behind, and virtually keystroke our way to economic nirvana. It was the tragically misguided modern Liberal idea of a Brave New World economy.
Decades earlier, though, the dumping of high-end, labor intensive manufactured products and commodities on the American market by foreign countries and companies had already begun the process of destroying middle class jobs and living standards. Dumping is the illegal trade practice of selling manufactured products below cost into foreign markets in times of excess productive capacity at home. It is done to keep homeland factories and workers going, and to win market share.
By the early 1970s this predatory practice was well on the way to hobbling the U.S. steel, auto, electronics, and industrial machinery industries. As a result, workers and unions came under immense economic and political pressure. Workers and unions faced job losses, pay cuts, and false blame for the overall social suffering. Cut-throat competition arose among American workers, and unions started to crater from internal as well as external pressure. This really marked the beginning of the end of the American middle class.
At first, some U.S. industries, notably steel and auto, tried to pursue legal redress of the illegal foreign invasion. While there were many instances wherein their claims were validated, the remedies were woefully insufficient, a joke actually. Soon enough, corporations engaged in the production of high-end consumer goods in America began to abandon their own work force for cheaper production capacity abroad. They found it in the form of damn near free or slave labor all around the globe.
This was true even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of China from a communist to a capitalist totalitarian state. Those two events disgorged an almost inexhaustible supply of free workers, at least by our standards, onto the world market. And the response of the modern false Liberals, like Clinton, was to capitulate entirely to the powerful money interests.
They invented a jingoistic and pornographically seductive siren call to the younger American generation. There were essentially two key parts to it. The scruffy, bedraggled, Dickensian rabble of the third world would take on the burden of the dirty, smutty, smoke-stack industries, and thereby dramatically improve their own meager economic circumstances. Most Americans would transition into the high tech information based economy, and do better than ever before. They would do the hard physical work, we would handle the smart, intellectual services, and everyone would live happily ever after. A significant majority of young Americans bought this ugly, privilege-drenched pitch.
Unfortunately, an awful lot of unhappiness has resulted from this echo of empire delusion on the way to the ever after. Not the least of which has been the near destruction of the middle class here as well as in much of the developed world, and the indefinite bondage to landless, forced labor destitution for the majority of the earth's population.
The workers of the privileged world willingly overlooked the perpetual plight of downtrodden, oppressed third world workers, subject to unspeakably dehumanizing working conditions for absurdly low compensation, while kidding themselves that they could enjoy a prosperous future without the need to generate real wealth.
Today, we find ourselves heading up again slightly in terms of the so-called "business cycle." Many no doubt will giddily embrace the relief from the painful "G" force pressure of steep decline. They will delude themselves for a while into believing that the vigor of former times will somehow naturally be restored to their living standards. They will be disappointed.
Again we are going to top out at a lower level of vitality than we enjoyed before the decline set in. The good jobs lost in the crash will not be fully restored. For full recovery to happen, we need a total cleaning out and overhaul of the political and economic system. That may be in the works, go OWS. But for now I would nominate a new word for our lexicon. In Jamaica they call this perpetual pattern of pain and suffering downpression. I think it fits.
Decades earlier, though, the dumping of high-end, labor intensive manufactured products and commodities on the American market by foreign countries and companies had already begun the process of destroying middle class jobs and living standards. Dumping is the illegal trade practice of selling manufactured products below cost into foreign markets in times of excess productive capacity at home. It is done to keep homeland factories and workers going, and to win market share.
By the early 1970s this predatory practice was well on the way to hobbling the U.S. steel, auto, electronics, and industrial machinery industries. As a result, workers and unions came under immense economic and political pressure. Workers and unions faced job losses, pay cuts, and false blame for the overall social suffering. Cut-throat competition arose among American workers, and unions started to crater from internal as well as external pressure. This really marked the beginning of the end of the American middle class.
At first, some U.S. industries, notably steel and auto, tried to pursue legal redress of the illegal foreign invasion. While there were many instances wherein their claims were validated, the remedies were woefully insufficient, a joke actually. Soon enough, corporations engaged in the production of high-end consumer goods in America began to abandon their own work force for cheaper production capacity abroad. They found it in the form of damn near free or slave labor all around the globe.
This was true even before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition of China from a communist to a capitalist totalitarian state. Those two events disgorged an almost inexhaustible supply of free workers, at least by our standards, onto the world market. And the response of the modern false Liberals, like Clinton, was to capitulate entirely to the powerful money interests.
They invented a jingoistic and pornographically seductive siren call to the younger American generation. There were essentially two key parts to it. The scruffy, bedraggled, Dickensian rabble of the third world would take on the burden of the dirty, smutty, smoke-stack industries, and thereby dramatically improve their own meager economic circumstances. Most Americans would transition into the high tech information based economy, and do better than ever before. They would do the hard physical work, we would handle the smart, intellectual services, and everyone would live happily ever after. A significant majority of young Americans bought this ugly, privilege-drenched pitch.
Unfortunately, an awful lot of unhappiness has resulted from this echo of empire delusion on the way to the ever after. Not the least of which has been the near destruction of the middle class here as well as in much of the developed world, and the indefinite bondage to landless, forced labor destitution for the majority of the earth's population.
The workers of the privileged world willingly overlooked the perpetual plight of downtrodden, oppressed third world workers, subject to unspeakably dehumanizing working conditions for absurdly low compensation, while kidding themselves that they could enjoy a prosperous future without the need to generate real wealth.
Today, we find ourselves heading up again slightly in terms of the so-called "business cycle." Many no doubt will giddily embrace the relief from the painful "G" force pressure of steep decline. They will delude themselves for a while into believing that the vigor of former times will somehow naturally be restored to their living standards. They will be disappointed.
Again we are going to top out at a lower level of vitality than we enjoyed before the decline set in. The good jobs lost in the crash will not be fully restored. For full recovery to happen, we need a total cleaning out and overhaul of the political and economic system. That may be in the works, go OWS. But for now I would nominate a new word for our lexicon. In Jamaica they call this perpetual pattern of pain and suffering downpression. I think it fits.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Will To Believe, Or ... False Liberals Take The Easy Way Out
The phrase "natural experiment" is a term of art used in the field of economics. It basically means holding up a hypothetical economic model to real world experience as a means of validating or invalidating a particular model's predictions. Even a casual look at such a practice suggests the inherent weakness of potentially drawing undue conclusions from rather anecdotal evidence. Nonetheless, the power and utility of some "natural experiments" can be very strong and reliable. A good rule of thumb is to impute greater soundness to the larger and more generalized natural or real world experiences.
So, now that we have accumulated literally decades of experience under a system of open and unregulated trade with every hell hole labor abuser and environmental despoiler on the planet, what can we say has been produced? A pernicious and persistent decline of working and living standards for the vast majority of the American population. Repeated cycles of recession, followed by a truly oxymoronicly termed "jobless" recovery, which has excavated an unemployment canyon, the walls of which most of us have no hope of ever scaling.
Generations have already been laid low, and more are heading down. Much of this, mind you, was the handiwork of false liberals like Bill Clinton and others who found it easier to capitulate to the powerful interests, than to actually insist on seeking development of the third world through a more moral and humane way, while safeguarding our own hard-won standards here at home.
More on the failure of these false liberals and our collective tragedy in the next post.
So, now that we have accumulated literally decades of experience under a system of open and unregulated trade with every hell hole labor abuser and environmental despoiler on the planet, what can we say has been produced? A pernicious and persistent decline of working and living standards for the vast majority of the American population. Repeated cycles of recession, followed by a truly oxymoronicly termed "jobless" recovery, which has excavated an unemployment canyon, the walls of which most of us have no hope of ever scaling.
Generations have already been laid low, and more are heading down. Much of this, mind you, was the handiwork of false liberals like Bill Clinton and others who found it easier to capitulate to the powerful interests, than to actually insist on seeking development of the third world through a more moral and humane way, while safeguarding our own hard-won standards here at home.
More on the failure of these false liberals and our collective tragedy in the next post.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Show Me A Picture Of The Money
In the previous post, we borrowed a graph from Paul Krugman's work which he used to demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of fiscal stimulus, even in the age of globalization. We also commented that common sense alone would lead to the same conclusion, and that those who made different claims were either out to lunch or had simply given up on the idea of actively using proven policy measures to resurrect a moribund economy.
Today, we present another useful graphic depiction of an aspect of the current economic times, and would add that anyone who has been around long enough to have worked and earned a living over the last thirty-odd years has come to understand this lamentable development on the strength of bitter experience alone. Further, we would append a note indicating that the combination of the two Krugman graphs, and the accompanying explanations, produces an ineluctable conclusion to which we should pay heed.
Had we not embarked on the blind venture into totally open and unsupervised trade with slave labor, non-democratic nation states over the last three or four decades, we would today be spending much closer to 100% of our dollars on American produced goods, inclusive of the higher end, labor intensive, value added commodities. This not only strongly implies a much higher GDP over that same period, but also that workers would have been employed in much better paying jobs.
And the widening inequality of income and shredding of the middle-class would not have happened.
Here is the Krugman post:
Today, we present another useful graphic depiction of an aspect of the current economic times, and would add that anyone who has been around long enough to have worked and earned a living over the last thirty-odd years has come to understand this lamentable development on the strength of bitter experience alone. Further, we would append a note indicating that the combination of the two Krugman graphs, and the accompanying explanations, produces an ineluctable conclusion to which we should pay heed.
Had we not embarked on the blind venture into totally open and unsupervised trade with slave labor, non-democratic nation states over the last three or four decades, we would today be spending much closer to 100% of our dollars on American produced goods, inclusive of the higher end, labor intensive, value added commodities. This not only strongly implies a much higher GDP over that same period, but also that workers would have been employed in much better paying jobs.
And the widening inequality of income and shredding of the middle-class would not have happened.
Here is the Krugman post:
Things We’re Supposed To Be Quiet About
Apologists for rising inequality often argue that since most Americans’ income has risen despite rising inequality, there’s no reason to complain about inequality other than envy. So it’s worth remembering that we used to expect economic growth to deliver large increases in real income, not just a bit of a rise that’s accomplished in large part through longer working hours; and that a major reason so many have seen such small gains is that a large part of growth has been siphoned off to the very high end.
Lane Kenworthy had a nice chart illustrating both points, comparing median family income with real GDP per family (for those worried about the fine points, it was nominal GDP divided by the CPI, avoiding some technical issues):
You see the contrast: a doubling of family incomes in the post war generation compared with maybe 20 percent since, and family incomes growing in line with GDP before, lagging far behind since, with the difference basically being the rising share of the 1 percent.
This is real stuff, not some trivial envy-driven concern. But we must be very, very quiet about it, right?
Lane Kenworthy had a nice chart illustrating both points, comparing median family income with real GDP per family (for those worried about the fine points, it was nominal GDP divided by the CPI, avoiding some technical issues):
This is real stuff, not some trivial envy-driven concern. But we must be very, very quiet about it, right?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
For The Defense
Paul Krugman has a recent piece on his blog which makes the case for the efficacy of fiscal policy, even in the age of globalization. He has an indisputable point, and, I suppose, a useful one. But on the whole, I feel compelled to point out that it should not be necessary to have to make such a data rich and graphic argument to carry this debate.
Think of it this way: Prior to the age of economic globalization, a nation's economy was akin to a sound, leak free bucket. Globalization can be thought of for purposes of this example as punching several holes in the bottom, such that a certain quantity of investment and productive effort with which we fill the bucket, now runs out from below. Nevertheless, the bucket still fills to some level and holds there as long as the input stream remains steady. If we increase the fill stream and are careful not to make more holes in the bottom, a somewhat larger amount will leak out because of higher head pressure from above, but this same head pressure results from a higher fill level as well.
Anyone who fails to understand the basic physics and math at work here, simply is not being very thoughtful or else adopting a defeatist attitude. We can do much better than accepting either of those two possibilities.
Here is the Krugman post:
Think of it this way: Prior to the age of economic globalization, a nation's economy was akin to a sound, leak free bucket. Globalization can be thought of for purposes of this example as punching several holes in the bottom, such that a certain quantity of investment and productive effort with which we fill the bucket, now runs out from below. Nevertheless, the bucket still fills to some level and holds there as long as the input stream remains steady. If we increase the fill stream and are careful not to make more holes in the bottom, a somewhat larger amount will leak out because of higher head pressure from above, but this same head pressure results from a higher fill level as well.
Anyone who fails to understand the basic physics and math at work here, simply is not being very thoughtful or else adopting a defeatist attitude. We can do much better than accepting either of those two possibilities.
Here is the Krugman post:
Not So Global
Barry Ritholtz sends us to a San Francisco Fed paper from last summer that makes a point on which many people seem confused: despite globalization and all that, the bulk of a consumer dollar spent in America falls on American-produced goods and services.
The reason this matters — or at least one reason it matters — is for discussion of austerity, stimulus, and all that. I often get comments along the lines of “Well, maybe stimulus worked back in the old days, but now it just means spending more on stuff from China”. In reality, that’s nowhere near true.
Why? For one thing, most consumer spending is on services, few of which are really tradable. For another, even if the thing you buy in WalMart says “Made in China”, the price includes a lot of US value-added in the form of transportation and retailing costs.
Here’s the paper’s estimates of the share of personal consumption expenditure (PCE) spent on imports in general and imports from China:
So we’re still a country where about 85 cents of your consumer dollar is spent at home, one way or another. And this means, among other things, that the rules of macroeconomics haven’t changed nearly as much as people imagine.
The reason this matters — or at least one reason it matters — is for discussion of austerity, stimulus, and all that. I often get comments along the lines of “Well, maybe stimulus worked back in the old days, but now it just means spending more on stuff from China”. In reality, that’s nowhere near true.
Why? For one thing, most consumer spending is on services, few of which are really tradable. For another, even if the thing you buy in WalMart says “Made in China”, the price includes a lot of US value-added in the form of transportation and retailing costs.
Here’s the paper’s estimates of the share of personal consumption expenditure (PCE) spent on imports in general and imports from China:
Monday, January 16, 2012
Here's Why
I left it out on purpose. Left what out? Well, the fact that Martin Luther King was in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968 to support striking sanitation workers. And, as the assassination suggests, that was a step too far.
Here's why I omitted its mention this morning. Everyone, white and black, should already know it. Sadly, few do. Also, white union members should not need to know it to appreciate the magnificent accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement on its own terms, as well as King's great service to all of humanity as its leader. Unfortunately, most do. Conversations I had at work today completely confirm the sentiments just stated. Draw your own conclusions.
But I will share with you one last conclusion or conviction of my own: I believe that Martin Luther King was killed precisely because by 1968 he was turning his full attention to the question of economic inequality and class injustice. Union rights are central to the question of economic justice. Had King lived, labor rights in this country may well have survived, too.
Here's why I omitted its mention this morning. Everyone, white and black, should already know it. Sadly, few do. Also, white union members should not need to know it to appreciate the magnificent accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement on its own terms, as well as King's great service to all of humanity as its leader. Unfortunately, most do. Conversations I had at work today completely confirm the sentiments just stated. Draw your own conclusions.
But I will share with you one last conclusion or conviction of my own: I believe that Martin Luther King was killed precisely because by 1968 he was turning his full attention to the question of economic inequality and class injustice. Union rights are central to the question of economic justice. Had King lived, labor rights in this country may well have survived, too.
Conflicted
Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day. At least it was the date of his birth. Today is the day of "official" observance. I put the word official in quotation marks because, most regrettably and despicably, only a tiny percentage of those whose work place is closed for the observance are employed in the private sector. It is a sad fact that for all practical purposes, only public entities set aside a day for proper recognition and reflection.
Even most of the private work places which still enjoy union representation take no time away from the usual schedule. I won't inflict on the reader the words I think most aptly apply to this criminal fact. Suffice it to say I believe that the fact alone is strong enough indictment of the continuing ignorance and deepening depravity of the popular culture. It needs no additional elaboration from me.
The foregoing is the primary reason I always find myself somewhat conflicted on this day. I am deeply embarassed and taken low by my own union and my own culture on the matter. But there is another aspect to my overall disposition on this day. I really think we should withold our collective observance for April 4th, the date on which the greatest unelected popular leader in American history was taken from us by an assasin's bullet.
I know that is not a universal view, even among those who, like myself, hold Martin Luther King in such high regard. Many would rather recognize the date on which we were gifted with his life's commencement. I understand that.
But I would hope that if we could ask him, he would choose to be remembered at the end, after all the work, after all the accomplishment, and, yes, after the ugly deed, with all that remains to be done.
I close with a brief note to the OWS movement. Popular movenments, to succeed, sooner or later take on direction and require leadership. This is not to say that leadership can be had just by wishing for it or even by not consciouly resisting it; no, it must rise up organically. And, I believe it will. So be ready, you have a long way to go, and a lot to do.
Political assasinations are carried out because they work. Popular movements were beheaded in 1968 in this country, and have not been resurrected since. Everything, now, is riding on you.
Even most of the private work places which still enjoy union representation take no time away from the usual schedule. I won't inflict on the reader the words I think most aptly apply to this criminal fact. Suffice it to say I believe that the fact alone is strong enough indictment of the continuing ignorance and deepening depravity of the popular culture. It needs no additional elaboration from me.
The foregoing is the primary reason I always find myself somewhat conflicted on this day. I am deeply embarassed and taken low by my own union and my own culture on the matter. But there is another aspect to my overall disposition on this day. I really think we should withold our collective observance for April 4th, the date on which the greatest unelected popular leader in American history was taken from us by an assasin's bullet.
I know that is not a universal view, even among those who, like myself, hold Martin Luther King in such high regard. Many would rather recognize the date on which we were gifted with his life's commencement. I understand that.
But I would hope that if we could ask him, he would choose to be remembered at the end, after all the work, after all the accomplishment, and, yes, after the ugly deed, with all that remains to be done.
I close with a brief note to the OWS movement. Popular movenments, to succeed, sooner or later take on direction and require leadership. This is not to say that leadership can be had just by wishing for it or even by not consciouly resisting it; no, it must rise up organically. And, I believe it will. So be ready, you have a long way to go, and a lot to do.
Political assasinations are carried out because they work. Popular movements were beheaded in 1968 in this country, and have not been resurrected since. Everything, now, is riding on you.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Coach Katrina
Don't you just hate it when people use comparisons with sporting events to illuminate political or real life phenomena? I do. So, if you do, too, you might want to stop reading this right now. This is one of those times that something - silly or not - has gotten in my head, and just won't fade away quietly. You know, like the quiet way Mitt Romney wants every other Republican presidential candidate to be when it comes to talking about what a greedy bastard he is, as are actually all mainstream and even farther right Republicans, in simple accordance with their well known political and economic ideology.
Here it is: LSU football coach, Les Miles, is incompetent. This is something almost all fans here have known for almost all of the time Miles has been in residence at that position. From the beginning of his tenure, Miles demonstrated a thorough cluelessness and downright zaniness during numerous game situations. Even worse, Miles long ago disgraced himself in a disqualifying manner from holding any position of public leadership by blatantly lying about his personal call of one of the stupidest plays ever seen in football history; which lie was exposed for all to see by a video of him wildly gesturing on the sidelines for the infamous "spike-the-ball" call, with no time left. We all knew he was a disaster in waiting, but that great team, those great kids kept winning, despite him. So, Miles got a pass. Things were going okay, and most fans slipped into a false confidence that the worst would not likely happen. But it did.
It is a lot like the way in which Hurricane Katrina was allowed to bring such massive devastation to our city. We all knew of the very real risk that such a storm could overwhelm our inadequate flood defenses. But nothing really terrible had happened here during the long period between Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Katrina. So most people went along with the ascendant anti-government-spending zeitgeist of the political environment, which was born courtesy of the bigoted reaction against the federal government for outlawing officially sanctioned racial discrimination during the 1960s. This racially motivated, and literally suicidal for the common man, political outlook persists even today. It was the underpinning of a long era of penny-pinching neglect of duty by the Army Corps of Engineers that left us so vulnerable to the catastrophe which ultimately eventuated. And lest anyone doubt that we all knew of the danger in advance, remember that over 90% of this tightly confined metropolitan geographical area successfully evacuated before the inundation, widespread belief to the contrary notwithstanding. Most who did not, could not. If not for the mass exodus, the mortality figures would have matched the original fears of perhaps ten to fifteen thousand, rather than the fewer than two thousand who did perish.
Another example of this eyes-wide-open disaster embrace mentality for ulterior motivations, can be seen in the election of Barack Obama. During the campaign he filled the air with meaningless, empty rhetoric, which perfectly reflected the modern era's abandonment of genuine, hard-hitting liberal economic thinking and policy. Instead, he promised to overcome real class conflicts through striped-suit, civil, lawyerly, board room negotiations between abusers and the abused. This lame approach was clear to anyone paying even the slightest attention, but he became a cult figure for other, which is to say demographic, reasons and we all paraded off to "make history" without having a real banner or standard to march under. Well, we made history all right. Problem is we are still making history, all the wrong kind. We have suffered devastating unemployment levels for longer than any period since the Great Depression. And it continues. The lesson here is that while Obama did not bring on the disaster, his thin and insufficient attempts to turn this mess around have allowed it to persist, and in some sense worsen. Worst of all, though, is we should have known what we were going to get from this President all along. He was not really hiding it from us, but we allowed the excitement of a possible victory by Obama to blind us to his hollowness and insufficiency. This really is a coachable moment.
Here it is: LSU football coach, Les Miles, is incompetent. This is something almost all fans here have known for almost all of the time Miles has been in residence at that position. From the beginning of his tenure, Miles demonstrated a thorough cluelessness and downright zaniness during numerous game situations. Even worse, Miles long ago disgraced himself in a disqualifying manner from holding any position of public leadership by blatantly lying about his personal call of one of the stupidest plays ever seen in football history; which lie was exposed for all to see by a video of him wildly gesturing on the sidelines for the infamous "spike-the-ball" call, with no time left. We all knew he was a disaster in waiting, but that great team, those great kids kept winning, despite him. So, Miles got a pass. Things were going okay, and most fans slipped into a false confidence that the worst would not likely happen. But it did.
It is a lot like the way in which Hurricane Katrina was allowed to bring such massive devastation to our city. We all knew of the very real risk that such a storm could overwhelm our inadequate flood defenses. But nothing really terrible had happened here during the long period between Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Katrina. So most people went along with the ascendant anti-government-spending zeitgeist of the political environment, which was born courtesy of the bigoted reaction against the federal government for outlawing officially sanctioned racial discrimination during the 1960s. This racially motivated, and literally suicidal for the common man, political outlook persists even today. It was the underpinning of a long era of penny-pinching neglect of duty by the Army Corps of Engineers that left us so vulnerable to the catastrophe which ultimately eventuated. And lest anyone doubt that we all knew of the danger in advance, remember that over 90% of this tightly confined metropolitan geographical area successfully evacuated before the inundation, widespread belief to the contrary notwithstanding. Most who did not, could not. If not for the mass exodus, the mortality figures would have matched the original fears of perhaps ten to fifteen thousand, rather than the fewer than two thousand who did perish.
Another example of this eyes-wide-open disaster embrace mentality for ulterior motivations, can be seen in the election of Barack Obama. During the campaign he filled the air with meaningless, empty rhetoric, which perfectly reflected the modern era's abandonment of genuine, hard-hitting liberal economic thinking and policy. Instead, he promised to overcome real class conflicts through striped-suit, civil, lawyerly, board room negotiations between abusers and the abused. This lame approach was clear to anyone paying even the slightest attention, but he became a cult figure for other, which is to say demographic, reasons and we all paraded off to "make history" without having a real banner or standard to march under. Well, we made history all right. Problem is we are still making history, all the wrong kind. We have suffered devastating unemployment levels for longer than any period since the Great Depression. And it continues. The lesson here is that while Obama did not bring on the disaster, his thin and insufficient attempts to turn this mess around have allowed it to persist, and in some sense worsen. Worst of all, though, is we should have known what we were going to get from this President all along. He was not really hiding it from us, but we allowed the excitement of a possible victory by Obama to blind us to his hollowness and insufficiency. This really is a coachable moment.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
A Social Illness
Herewith a note on Romney's infamous killer quote. Yes, it was first taken out of context. What a surprise? But like so many other common political slaps, that overlooks the worst in the remark in favor of going for a quick hit.
Others have made a similar observation a little differently. So, here is why I bring it up again. It is personal, Mr. Romney, you spoiled son of wealth. My mother, like many others today, is into advanced age and needs a significant amount of care and medical service. Although it is somewhat a struggle, she gets along. This is only partially the result of my older brother's consistent, if not constant attention, and my own help; it is mostly because of Social Security and Medicare that my mother and millions more can continue to live in dignity, even in years of steepening decline.
And those are the salient words, Mr. Romney. Both of them. Dignity and decline. My mother's situation encompasses both. But if we were to accept your callous and ideologically blind prescriptions for throwing every social issue on the tender mercies of raw, greed driven free market capitalism, most of us would be condemned to an inevitable demise at the merciless hands of your reactionary dogma. People who can hardly negotiate their own personal toilet unassisted must never be thrown into the parasitical and wasteful maw of the private health insurance industry.
Here's wishing you a long and untended life.
Others have made a similar observation a little differently. So, here is why I bring it up again. It is personal, Mr. Romney, you spoiled son of wealth. My mother, like many others today, is into advanced age and needs a significant amount of care and medical service. Although it is somewhat a struggle, she gets along. This is only partially the result of my older brother's consistent, if not constant attention, and my own help; it is mostly because of Social Security and Medicare that my mother and millions more can continue to live in dignity, even in years of steepening decline.
And those are the salient words, Mr. Romney. Both of them. Dignity and decline. My mother's situation encompasses both. But if we were to accept your callous and ideologically blind prescriptions for throwing every social issue on the tender mercies of raw, greed driven free market capitalism, most of us would be condemned to an inevitable demise at the merciless hands of your reactionary dogma. People who can hardly negotiate their own personal toilet unassisted must never be thrown into the parasitical and wasteful maw of the private health insurance industry.
Here's wishing you a long and untended life.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Not So Great Expectations
Sometimes I get to feeling like the current generation is headed off in life the way Pip from Dickens' Great Expectations started. At least politically, anyway. In that novel, Pip told us he carried his last name on the authority of his father's tombstone, and the word of a sister. Which is another way of saying his mother and father were gone before he was old enough to learn even the family name from them.
When I think of the sense of surrender and hopelessness and despair and cynicism, not to mention near masochistic condescension regarding the efficacy of political grassroots effort and mass protest which characterizes so many young people today, I realize none of them were around the last time this attitude was exposed as just as fraudulent as the oppression which engenders it. And so, many have accepted a life of not so great expectations. The irony is this is precisely the opposite of the lies their oppressors constantly spread about their supposed self-indulgence and claim of entitlement.
I think it's time to kick the liars in the teeth again, don't you?
When I think of the sense of surrender and hopelessness and despair and cynicism, not to mention near masochistic condescension regarding the efficacy of political grassroots effort and mass protest which characterizes so many young people today, I realize none of them were around the last time this attitude was exposed as just as fraudulent as the oppression which engenders it. And so, many have accepted a life of not so great expectations. The irony is this is precisely the opposite of the lies their oppressors constantly spread about their supposed self-indulgence and claim of entitlement.
I think it's time to kick the liars in the teeth again, don't you?
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Screw Your Courage To The Sticking Place
Who wants to be the skunk at a Garden Party? No one, not even me. But, in keeping with the sentiments stated in Ricky Nelson's instructive song, "you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself."
It pleases me to get the facts straight, and, therefore, to nail down the stinking point of just how bad things really are. As if the title of the post weren't hammer enough in that regard, this economy remains a duplicate of another image from Macbeth: "Double, double toil and trouble." Despite the modest uptick in jobs, most potential employees remain far short of sufficient opportunity to toil for a living, and in much more than double trouble as a result.
Yeah, I know the unemployment rate has been inching down the last two months. I also know, that barring any dramatic external disruptions, it will continue to creep along in the right direction. I also know that direction is the most telling factor in Obama's re-election prospects - and God help us if he fails to beat whatever clown the clown party nominates. But, all and all, the news is hardly cause for celebration.
As Paul Krugman makes clear in The Soft Bigotry of Low Employment Expectations, it would take 9 to 10 years of this slow motion type of job creation to get us out of the 11 million job deficit the current and continuing economic crisis has produced. That fact alone implies a horrible lost decade for young newcomers to the labor market, as well as formerly well established workers cast aside in the crunch. Add in the fact that the next round of replacement jobs will pay significantly less on average than those we've lost, and you've got a situation best described only one way: long term decline. And that, my friends, is the most optimistic outlook. Moreover, ten years of simply moderate and steady job growth is not the most likely scenario, given the state of the world at large as well as our own ridiculously dysfunctional political establishment.
Virtually the entire continent of Europe is headed for recession. Yet, the leaders of the euro zone remain wedded to austerity policies which can do nothing but guarantee more severe contraction and prolonged suffering. Clearly we will not find a healthy trading partner there any time soon. Perhaps even more troubling is the nasty problem of significant pockets of fascist style political movements on the grow there as the economies shrink.
It's going to be very difficult to expand this economy rapidly without having access to strong markets for exports. So what about China? Not a chance, they depend more on us than the other way around. And as for Japan, they are still on track to turn their so-called "lost decade" into a lost century.
That means the only traditional avenue for a strong recovery would have to be opened by aggressive stimulus domestically, and that won't happen without a very big push from some not so traditional political pressure. All of which, brings us to the need for courage and tenacity of the type displayed by progressive protest and reform movements during earlier times of economic oppression and political corruption. I for one believe change can and will be demanded and achieved. But a lot more people than the already impressively large contingent of OWS demonstrators are going to have to find a way to screw up the courage and stick with a tough effort to get it done.
It pleases me to get the facts straight, and, therefore, to nail down the stinking point of just how bad things really are. As if the title of the post weren't hammer enough in that regard, this economy remains a duplicate of another image from Macbeth: "Double, double toil and trouble." Despite the modest uptick in jobs, most potential employees remain far short of sufficient opportunity to toil for a living, and in much more than double trouble as a result.
Yeah, I know the unemployment rate has been inching down the last two months. I also know, that barring any dramatic external disruptions, it will continue to creep along in the right direction. I also know that direction is the most telling factor in Obama's re-election prospects - and God help us if he fails to beat whatever clown the clown party nominates. But, all and all, the news is hardly cause for celebration.
As Paul Krugman makes clear in The Soft Bigotry of Low Employment Expectations, it would take 9 to 10 years of this slow motion type of job creation to get us out of the 11 million job deficit the current and continuing economic crisis has produced. That fact alone implies a horrible lost decade for young newcomers to the labor market, as well as formerly well established workers cast aside in the crunch. Add in the fact that the next round of replacement jobs will pay significantly less on average than those we've lost, and you've got a situation best described only one way: long term decline. And that, my friends, is the most optimistic outlook. Moreover, ten years of simply moderate and steady job growth is not the most likely scenario, given the state of the world at large as well as our own ridiculously dysfunctional political establishment.
Virtually the entire continent of Europe is headed for recession. Yet, the leaders of the euro zone remain wedded to austerity policies which can do nothing but guarantee more severe contraction and prolonged suffering. Clearly we will not find a healthy trading partner there any time soon. Perhaps even more troubling is the nasty problem of significant pockets of fascist style political movements on the grow there as the economies shrink.
It's going to be very difficult to expand this economy rapidly without having access to strong markets for exports. So what about China? Not a chance, they depend more on us than the other way around. And as for Japan, they are still on track to turn their so-called "lost decade" into a lost century.
That means the only traditional avenue for a strong recovery would have to be opened by aggressive stimulus domestically, and that won't happen without a very big push from some not so traditional political pressure. All of which, brings us to the need for courage and tenacity of the type displayed by progressive protest and reform movements during earlier times of economic oppression and political corruption. I for one believe change can and will be demanded and achieved. But a lot more people than the already impressively large contingent of OWS demonstrators are going to have to find a way to screw up the courage and stick with a tough effort to get it done.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Dog Wags Person
Woke up to my little doggie in distress and a mess this morning - if you know what I mean. Thank goodness, he seems to be doing better now, and so am I. Not as bad as the BP oil spill, so I don't think I'll ask him for reparations. Besides, he did just as good a clean-up job as BP did here in the Gulf - which is to say none at all.
And so it goes, he back to sleep, me off to work unable to think of much else at the moment, and no time for it anyway. At least it's Friday - Yaaaay! Later.
And so it goes, he back to sleep, me off to work unable to think of much else at the moment, and no time for it anyway. At least it's Friday - Yaaaay! Later.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Ones that Got Away
This is a queer time. What with an election campaign in the making and Republican candidates donning their finest Republican outfits, while Obama slips on something comfortably Democratic, you would think we were all headed for a big to do. Instead, we find ourselves in a rather quiet period wherein the news is calming, perhaps even enchanting, but hardly exciting.
Manufacturing activity is reportedly on the upswing, and even car sales are looking positive for a change. Well, they should. The average American is currently piloting an eleven year old junker-in-the-making down the road as this is being written.
Obama has made some waves with recess appointments to vacant Labor Board positions, and a new consumer protection agency which was languishing without guidance. But as we all recall from school days, recess, however fun and free spirited it may be, soon ends.
We seem to be enjoying a short cook-out round the campfire put on by those workers and consumers who have for now eluded the bear, even as so many of their fellows were devoured. But what comes next is the question left hanging.
Reminds one of something from Frost:
Manufacturing activity is reportedly on the upswing, and even car sales are looking positive for a change. Well, they should. The average American is currently piloting an eleven year old junker-in-the-making down the road as this is being written.
Obama has made some waves with recess appointments to vacant Labor Board positions, and a new consumer protection agency which was languishing without guidance. But as we all recall from school days, recess, however fun and free spirited it may be, soon ends.
We seem to be enjoying a short cook-out round the campfire put on by those workers and consumers who have for now eluded the bear, even as so many of their fellows were devoured. But what comes next is the question left hanging.
Reminds one of something from Frost:
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Back In The Saddle, Again --- Almost
Finally, Christmas lights and ornaments and such are packed away, and the New Year's blowout blown through. Time to focus again on secondary matters, like college football bowl games and pro playoffs. Then, of course comes Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler. As you can see, the joie de vivre in New Orleans keeps us a bit distracted.
What is more, the so-called Republican presidential primary campaign is too ludicrous to watch. I might have lost a lot of money betting against that side of the political spectrum being sodisfunctioal dysfunctional as to make zerObama an almost prohibitive favorite in the coming general election, given the continuing economic disaster and his abysmal mishandling of it. However, that is where we are.
But there is still plenty of drama left in this election cycle, and it will play out in the streets. The OWS is not likely to roll over in the Democratic security blanket just to keep the Republican Boogie Men away. No, this movement is for real; equal in its disdain for most of the Democrats and Republicans.
ZerO made a near fatal mistake when he appointed and maintained a Wall Street pimp, Timothy Geithner, as Treasury Secretary. He doubled-down on the error by discarding Elizabeth Warren. Just when she was riding high like Jeanne d'Arc, he shot the horse from under her for refusing to go it side-saddle, then ordered the matches.
But she escaped, and now is heading for the winner's circle in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race. It won't be the first time a first term senator from there rose up to lead the Democratic Party. Stay tuned, this election cycle will have significant consequences after all.
What is more, the so-called Republican presidential primary campaign is too ludicrous to watch. I might have lost a lot of money betting against that side of the political spectrum being so
But there is still plenty of drama left in this election cycle, and it will play out in the streets. The OWS is not likely to roll over in the Democratic security blanket just to keep the Republican Boogie Men away. No, this movement is for real; equal in its disdain for most of the Democrats and Republicans.
ZerO made a near fatal mistake when he appointed and maintained a Wall Street pimp, Timothy Geithner, as Treasury Secretary. He doubled-down on the error by discarding Elizabeth Warren. Just when she was riding high like Jeanne d'Arc, he shot the horse from under her for refusing to go it side-saddle, then ordered the matches.
But she escaped, and now is heading for the winner's circle in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race. It won't be the first time a first term senator from there rose up to lead the Democratic Party. Stay tuned, this election cycle will have significant consequences after all.
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