The End Of The Future Or ... Barack Obama - Working Class Hero

The signs are everywhere.  Good news is only good for not being as bad as it could be, and the bad news is much worse than most grasp.  The signs are hard to read as the lights are going out.  A general stumbling in the blind is desperately clutched at as forward motion.  Welcome to the darkening.

Yesterday, as the Michigan Republican nominating primary was testing voters' preference for the Romney versus Santorum brand of poison, Obama was stumping in Detroit before a United Auto Workers union crowd, numbering some 1700.  He was both bragging about and defending his so-called bail-out of the American auto industry.  Obama correctly observed that his actions prevented the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, while the two leading Republican candidates opposed the rescue plan.  He went on to deflect conservative criticism of his actions as payback to his union supporters by reminding the audience that the UAW was asked forced to accept wage reductions, especially for new hires, and benefit cuts for thousands of retirees.  Wild cheers followed.

So, there you have it.  Save your job, work for less, suffer more.  And don't forget to thank me for it.  This is union busting in all but name only.  Tragically, this is from the head of a Democratic party which rhetorically continues to support strong unions and fair labor standards.  Even more egregiously, this blatant extortion of the weakest among us comes as the richest ruling class in the history of the world daily grows ever richer and more powerful. 

We are reduced to siding-in with those who carve the flesh from the most vulnerable.  The young are desperately seeking any kind of employment, too often to no avail, and have no choice in the matter. But at least they can kid themselves that there is still time to get things right.  The old well know they can't do much about it, and are just trying to ride out a tougher and rougher end game.  And just think, we once were a nation which was all about the future for the young and vibrant as well as the older and settled.

Would anyone really care to argue that the system is not broken?

It's The System, Stupid

Yes, we need to fix it; it's definitely broken.  And that is why so many of us are broken and still not healing.

Economic conservatives, which includes all Libertarians, Republicans, and many false Democrats, are the only ones who uniformly seem to believe that this corporatist, largely unregulated and essentially union free economic model we have followed for the last thirty years is the paradigm of perfection. And that the responsibility for all suffering and woe belongs to us.

That is why cads like Rick Santorum can profess their love for hard working, non-college educated laborers.  They really love them.  They most especially love to keep them working very hard without union representation, in the absence of strong labor standards and laws, and for a very, very long time, with no hope of retirement and Social Security until it's just about time to step into the grave.

Why would anyone with a brain, let alone a heart, love these greedy bastards back?

Black And White

Yes, I know we haven't gotten to St. Patrick's Day yet.  There are still parades and block parties to stage, and lots of green to display.  But these perilous times demand our full attention to the facts.  Everything in black and white, until further notice. 

That applies to everyone except "educated" Republicans.   What prompts that observation is a new post today by Paul Krugman on his blog:  This Tribal Nation.   Please read it, you will be amazed.  I was.  But if you don't have the time to take it all in, here is what it says:  New studies show that the more educated a Republican, the stupider he or she is likely to be.  Not kidding here. This is far too serious.

This means Santroum was right in criticizing Obama for suggesting that all of our kids should go to college.  At least he was right when it comes to Republicans.  Turns out that those Republicans with college degrees are far more inclined to ignore facts and empirical evidence in all matters, in order to cling to their tightly held and incorrect doctrines. They are more likely to be wrong, and absolutely convinced they are right, on all sorts of provable matters ranging from economics to the physical sciences.

An example of such is the claim Santorum makes that most of our problems arise because Satan is attacking this country.  He and other "educated" Republicans really believe crap like that.  All this time I just thought they didn't know as much as they should, but it turns out they don't know a damn thing.

Driving Snakes

Now that we've survived another Mardi Gras blow-out, we somewhat gratefully return to a quieter and more sober pace of life, as we enter Lent.  However, along the penitent way there appears a rather exuberant interruption here in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.  We do that more or less the same as Mardi Gras; nearly as wild, but much shorter.  We display the green and orange colors in recognition of the contribution of the Irish to our city.

And as St. Patrick is remembered for having driven the snakes from the fields of Ireland, this seems an appropriate time to return to keeping watch on the level of venom in the political arena.  On the Republican side it goes without saying that they are all quite lethal.  It seems that for now Santorum is slithering his way to the top of the pit.  Reports are his so-called Super Pac has just received another one million dollars in a single contribution made by a Louisiana businessman.  That should buy plenty of poison.  If this sort of thing continues, the whole den of vipers over there will wind up driving themselves from the field.

Meanwhile, zerO seems to have things well in hand, at least politically.  He's got it on cruise control and is taking in all the significant tourist stops for a presidential campaigner.  The largely economically illiterate mainstream media are obligingly buying into the "Happy Days Are Here Again" scenario.

But with Europe in or headed for recession, and Greece perhaps ultimately headed out of the eurozone, the potential for wide ranging and dramatically disastrous economic consequences could prove zerO snakebitten after all.

It's What We Do ... YAY!!!!

I figured that draping the blog in our carnival season's purple, green and gold for the last week and a half would adequately explain my long absence.  But if not, then there you have it.  As for explaining or describing New Orleans' Mardi Gras and Carnival, no one ever has and I'm certainly not going to try.  In any event, the big Fat Tuesday is tomorrow and then it's back to the ashen road of common existence.  See you then.

On The Way Up ... To The Next Step Down

In case you're still wondering, this was the meaning of  Clint Eastwood's silly Super Bowl half-time commercial: nothing.  Clint Eastwood himself has no meaning, and, as far as I'm aware, neither has anything he has ever said.    

But there are other people who have a lot to say, all the time. One such person is Ralph Nader.  I happened to catch a little snippet of him on C-Span's Book TV last weekend.  I didn't have the time to take in but a minute or two, so I don't know much about the context.  It matters little, though, as his comment needs no adornment, refinement, or elaboration. 

Mr. Nader told his audience that average real wages in America peaked in 1973, and have been in almost continuous decline ever since.  What the second part of that statement indicates is that even in those brief and few periods when wages showed some increase, the upturn has never fully closed the gap opened during the down-side slide.  Now, there is something of  clear and considerable meaning and consequence to all of us.

Like many of you, I have long been aware of the remorseless degradation of the value of work in this country, reflected in that statistic.  But Nader's citation reminded me of its relevance and importance to the current conversation about the improving economy.  Hence, I made a mental note to dig up some official documentation of the numbers for use in this discussion. 

To my good fortune, Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman, another person who always has a lot to say, and whose blog I read regularly, almost immediately short-stopped my need to research the matter.  On February 7th, Mr. Krugman posted a piece on his blog which not only precisely cited the data documenting the factual basis of Nader's comment, but also graphically described the collapse of certain social norms directly consequent to the devaluation of work and dissipation of employment opportunities generally. Take a look, especially at the second graph tracking the dismal collapse in wages, and we'll have a final thought on what it implies about the long hoped for incipient recovery.

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The Krugman piece:

Wages and Values

Let me talk some more about the sudden fashionability of bemoaning the deteriorating values of working-class Americans, by documenting the points David Frum made.
So, as Pew says, there really has been a drastic decline in marriage rates among less educated Americans:

What could be causing that? Well, it could be some kind of cultural contagion from liberalism, or something; as Mike Konczal says, there’s kind of an odd absence of causal stories in the latest “values” thing.
But it could also be this, from EPI:

Should we really be surprised that young men, confronting the reality that they won’t earn anything near as much in real terms as their fathers did — and that they will be even further from having what society sees as an adequate income, because even Adam Smith acknowledged the importance of social norms in defining prosperity — don’t marry and raise families the way the previous generation did?

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So, okay, by now what all this says to us in the context of the current day should be pretty clear.  It suggests very strongly that when and if the "recovery" does take hold, and indeed is completed, we still will not have even gotten back to where we were before the big dip.  To be sure, the super-rich will have continued to grow richer, just as they have all throughout this three or four decades long  period of overall national decline.  But it could well be that average workers will find their level of economic well-being topped out at a lower level than was enjoyed prior to the come back.  A great deal of basic structural change in our political and economic system will have to occur for that to work out differently in the future.  Discussion of those matters will have to wait for another time. 

For now, suffice it to say that instead of experiencing an overblown, ginned-up, Hollywood-styled half-time in some imaginary America versus The World - Economic Super Bowl, what we are really going through is more like intermission in yet another economic horror show double feature.

The Catholic Case For Single Payer National Health Insurance

I stopped practicing Catholicism when I started getting good at it.  I feel one should be careful not to take things too far.  I just wish the permanently unmarried men who run the Catholic Church felt the same way. 

For example, they should consider the difference between conviction and compulsion in terms of their religion's foundational teachings, and desist from their relentless doctrinal chaining and flogging of the flock.  I take as my texts today references from both the Old and New Testaments regarding free will, human dignity, and the inspiration to behave morally.  It is a modern parable, if you will, on the virtue of convincing the conscience versus the vice of compelling the flesh. 

In the beginning, so we are told, there was but one prohibition.  It was to refrain from eating of the tree of life.  Of course, we are then given to see that human nature comes equipped with a taste for experimentation and an inclination to step outside the bounds of strict instructions, no matter the source.  And we are encouraged to recognize that carelessly indulging these features of our condition carries the potential for quite unpleasant consequences.  Please notice, however, that the signal instructive Old Testament lesson here is entirely dependent on the fact that such a tree had been planted in the garden in the first place, and hence was available for sampling. Similarly, Jesus, according to the New Testament,  once offered a thought aimed at discouraging the practice of stoning.  Again, notice that He did not take away the stones, rather only counseled against seeing ourselves fit to punish others with them.   Surely, we would be forgiven for concluding the overriding message in both of these citations is that moral behavior can only be the product of free will.  Nothing else is morally worth a damn, or worth damning.

But the hierarchy of the Catholic Church apparently has another opinion on the matter.  They seem to have little faith in the efficacy or sufficiency of their mission to preach and persuade in the name of the Lord.  No, they insist on constraining their followers to behave morally, at least in the context of Catholic teaching, by denying them the wherewithal to do otherwise.  That is why they are currently campaigning for an exemption from the provision in federal law which requires employer supported health care insurance  to cover the cost of prescription contraception.  They assert this is an issue of religious liberty.  But is it?

Since religion is generally comfortable dealing in absolutes, let's say a few things about the law in absolute terms.  There is absolutely nothing in the law which restricts the Catholic Church or any other religion from holding and espousing any moral position or point of view, and proselytizing the whole world, including their own employees.   There is absolutely nothing in the law that requires hospitals operated by the Catholic Church to provide any particular health care service.  There is absolutely nothing in the law which requires any doctor to write prescriptions for contraceptives or to perform any particular procedure.  There is absolutely nothing in this provision of the law regarding religious faith or practice whatsoever.  So, where is the problem?

Well, it rests in the unfortunate fact that most working age people in this country receive health care insurance as a function of their employment compensation.  And the law has an interest in safeguarding the rights of employees who receive these benefits as a condition of employment.  In this matter, access to a particular medically approved and physician prescribed drug is guaranteed to all such employees, regardless of the identity of the employer.

The Catholic Church, however, not being content to simply enlighten its employees with admonitions regarding morally appropriate behavior, insists on the right to deny them the means to behave otherwise, on the grounds of religious liberty.  This quite ironically departs dramatically from respect for the essential role of free will in moral action, as discussed earlier.  And it seeks to replace the right to proclaim religious beliefs with the license to compel agreement.

All and all, it is at least another compelling argument for a single-payer national health care system.  Such would relieve employers from the burden of being expected to supply health insurance as part of employee compensation, it would finally guarantee universal coverage, and it would end the present confusion between the right to believe and preach religion freely versus the right to coerce behavior.  Moreover, the Catholic Church could continue to operate hospitals just as it does today, providing the services and level of care they see fit to provide, while being reimbursed just like all other hospital facilities.   In the end, we will have solved a serious problem that has for far too long bedeviled us.  But if the Catholic Church would wish to tackle any other exorcisms, I'd say they're on their own.