Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.
If you really want to start an argument about fundamentals of U.S. identity, forget the predictable and stale “my dog’s better than your dog” (even though the dog and we have the same master) Duopoly games. Instead, question the claims of a class-less, “all men are created equal” society; question the claims of capitalism and our corporate culture; question, in other words, the way Occupy and related movements are doing.
What follows are thoughts from people doing some of that kind of questioning. Agree or not with the analysis, or with conclusions, the fact that the questions are being asked is essential. And doing it for a little over six months (the life of the Occupy movement) without changing the System is much less a sign of a weakness of the movement than it is of the entrenched, unlimited financing, Corporate / Duopoloy / 1% System. Along, of course, with the fact that lots of non-1% people really, really, really don’t want to question a System that is so fundamental to how they define themselves as U.S. citizens.
From Occupying democracy: A moral revolution for social justice”:
There are many philosophical justifications for favoring the wealthy and powerful. The Gospel of Wealth, Social Darwinism, Manifest Destiny, God’s Will and ‘trickle-down economics’ are but a few of the rationales … (which) assert the inherent superiority of those who are wealthy, powerful and privileged by appropriating God, Destiny, Darwinism or Capitalism in a profoundly self-serving manner. …
Pointing out such things will, of course, not go unchallenged. In Stemming the tides of protest:
As the living conditions of ordinary people inevitably worsen under capitalism and as its wars cause increasing devastation, tides of protest rise up from the population. The ruling elite then seek to stem these tides before they reach flood state.
The role of giant corporations in US and world economies is, of course, a key factor. At AlterNet:
Historically, corporations were understood to be responsible to a complex web of constituencies, including employees, communities, society at large, suppliers, and shareholders. But in the era of deregulation, the interests of shareholders began to trump all the others. How can we get corporations to recognize their responsibilities beyond this narrow focus? It begins in remembering that the philosophy of putting shareholder profits over all else is a matter of ideology which is not grounded in American law or tradition.
See also How American Corporations Transformed from Producers to Predators:
For the past three decades, top executives have been rewarding themselves with mega-million dollar compensation packages while American workers have suffered an unrelenting disappearance of middle-class jobs. … As the Occupy Wall Street movement has recognized, concentration of income and wealth of the top ‘1 percent’ leaves the rest of us high and dry.
How well is all of this working for the Corporatists? U.S. Corporations are sitting on an all-time-record $3.6 trillion in cash:
Corporate America’s $3.6 trillion behemoth pile is not a sign of success, it’s a sign of failure. It’s a sign that policymakers and regulators have abdicated their role as ‘free market’ referees and simply thrown in the towel giving the deep-pocket guys everything they want.
And how well is it working for the “99%”? Bank ‘Persons’ Preferred Over American Citizens:
Between 2006 and 2008 the collapse destroyed nearly $12 to $13 trillion of household and nonprofit organization assets or net worth. … Then ‘job creators’ destroyed 8.5 million jobs between December 2007 and December 2010 … .
And by the way, even among those at the top, things aren’t equitable: Study: Corporations Pay Women CFOs 16 Percent Less Than Men.
Robert Reich looks at what’s happening, and asks, Whose Recovery?:
Luxury retailers are smiling. So are the owners of high-end restaurants, sellers of upscale cars, vacation planners, financial advisors, and personal coaches. For them and their customers and clients the recession is over. The recovery is now full speed.
But the rest of America isn’t enjoying an economic recovery. It’s still sick. Many Americans remain in critical condition. …
And at the NY Times, Steven Rattner states, “The Rich Get Even Richer.” Read it for details, but one stat: In 2010, the bottom 99% averaged an $80 increase in pay (adjusting for inflation). At the 1% top, the 11.6% increase was $1,019,089.
If you’re interested in how some of those at the top spend their increasing incomes, check out 10 Most Obscene Lifestyles Choices of America’s 1% Elite.
That corruption is a part of all this is so well-known it’s easily ignored, or simply accepted as a fact of life. One example of asking questions, though, is in Congress and Legalized Corruption.
As long as the “legalized corruption” continues, there’s no reason to think things will significantly improve for the 99%. In Capitalism in US runs dry, economics professor Richard Wolff responds to the question, “Where do you think the US economy is right now?”:
The crisis that was bad in the US, then became bad somewhere else (in Europe), is heading back to America to give us as many problems now as we see the Europeans having, but we will have them a little bit later. …
Any questions?
(“Evil Corporation” Flag via Addicting Information)
To me, this has been one of the more profound arguments against the notion that lowering taxes on business and the wealthy will lead to economic growth. There’s no shortage of capital right now. There’s a shortage of reasons to use it, which is what economists refer to as “demand”.
BTW, I’ve got the perfect poster for the Obama 2012 campaign. Don’t you all feel inspired now?
HA!
So do I:
Obama/Biden 2012
Saved GM/Killed Bin Laden
zzzzzz seriously, spare us. that was pathetic the first 200 times you posted it.
“Vote for Obama, he bailed out a company and ordered the murder of a foreign national! USA! USA!”
Pathetic.
The death of bin Laden, while it is not nothing, isn’t making my life any better, nor anyone else’s that I can see, at least if you ignore the defense industry.
Credit for bailing out GM goes to George W. Bush, as far as I’m concerned. He had to ignore the ideologues in his own party to do it. Obama just continued that policy, as he has most of what Bush did.
Contrasted with ten million people who are still out of work following the crash and likely to stay there for years to come, a financial sector that’s being looted by its leaders (who are not being prosecuted because they’re also Obama’s best buds in the whole political world), and our continued fruitless involvement in one war while threatening to start another useless war, I think Obama’s accomplishments look awfully penny ante.
You sound like a commie, pinko, fellow traveler. Sounds like something Karl Marx would have said; oh! that’s right, he did, sort of. Marx , when he was talking about the race to the bottom and concentration of wealth was of course referring to capitalism without controls. What made capitalism work in this country was capitalism with rules; or regulation if you will. You could go all the way back to the ICC. The teamsters were not all warm and cuddly but truckers made good money and had good benefits. Now they work their asses off and make nothing. When the airlines were regulated the fares were higher but the service was good, dependable and professional. Banks, wall street and corporations are just like dogs; keep them on a leash and everybody’s happy. I wish just one politician, just one, would stand up and say it: we’ve given the rich everything they wanted and they gave us nothing. They are responsible for the plight of so many, but it was the many who gave them the license to steal. The weapon was supply side economics, deregulation and the stripping away of controls on the banking sector. Put everything back the way it was; that’s all it takes. Elect people who will put it back the way it was; it’s almost too late, but not quite.
What made Capitalism work in this country was 80 years of slavery followed by 150 years (and counting) of immigration by people desperate to work for next to nothing, combined with almost limitless natural resources to be ruthlessly exploited.
Capitalism only works for 1 percent of the population- and that’s not the population creating the wealth. Call that statement whatever you want- Communistic, Socialistic, Un-American, but don’t attempt to call it false, unless you want to try to rewrite history.
For a long time capitalism worked for more than the one percent in this country. I think it is you who are rewriting history to suit your own idea of what this country is. The immigrants who came here were without a doubt used and abused by, in most cases, other European immigrants. As time went on their lives improved, they were able to send their kids to school and earn a decent living. In many cases it was unions that made this possible . This country has and has had many problems, but I think your going a little to far. The statement I made about communism and Marx was a joke; get a grip.
You get a grip, and learn some history. “As time went on their lives improved….” for some, that is true. Some were dead, killed in mine explosions, factory fires, starvation, exposure, etc. “They were able to send their kids to school….” which kids? The ones that weren’t Breaker Boys in the PA steel mills, or followed their parents into the mines, or went to work on the streets when they were eight? “….and earn a decent living…” What do you mean by “decent living?” Most of them were poor and stayed poor, and passed their poverty on to their kids. They continued to be abused by the owners for generations.
“In many cases it was unions that made this possible…” not until the 1930s. Before that, unions were busted by hired thugs, or the police, or the military. Because the government was of, by, and for the Interests, not the People. Learn a little about the Senate of the Gilded Age- how many Senators took their orders from Big Oil and Big Steel and couldn’t give a damn about the immigrants you think were “getting ahead.”
Next time you want to lecture me or anyone else about history, learn a little first. This country was built on the back of oppressed poor people- Indentured Servitude, then Slaves, then Immigrant Labor, from Jamestown to “Harvest of Shame” and beyond. Come back when you’ve done some homework.
Capitalism also worked great for people injured on the job, people who could serve as cannon fodder in World War I, and the great mass of laborers who could look forward to no reward for decades of hard work other than dependence on their children for the final years of life, after they had been used up and thrown away by their wonderful masters—errr, “employers.”
Your not telling me anything I don’t know; I simply chose not to right a book. What you describe has happened in every industrialized country on earth at one time or another. But it was in this country where the oppressed poor had a chance to change things. Where would you rather be a coal miner, here or in China. You obviously enjoy wallowing in the dark history of this nation, but what your really lamenting is man’s inhumanity to man, that is not something that is native to this country; and lets not forget, all those horrible people you rail against came from somewhere else and brought their cultures with them. Those cultures had no problem with using the poor to get rich, it’s been going on since BC. I stand by my original post, capitalism can work with controls; Roosevelt proved that. What didn’t work was Vietnam and Lebanon and Grenada and Panama and Iraq one and Iraq two and Afghanistan and maybe even Korea. Finally, I find it hard to believe you are a teacher, you seem a little unhinged.
Even there, it’s better to be part of the 1%. Just about everywhere else, the gap is bigger.
Hi Joyce
“That corruption is a part of all this is so well-known it’s easily ignored, or simply accepted as a fact of life. One example of asking questions, though, is in Congress and Legalized Corruption”
We say all of these wonderful, inteligent things, and then we go out during “election” and support the “lesser of the two evils”…still I love you all anyway!
I thought I would have enough time to express my thoughts (more than this), but it seems like I get here later and later…but I will make an effort to share them later…I really enjoy this blog.
By the way Richard wolff never looks down when he speaks…one of my favorites.
Hey all, interesting comments. I — liberally independent, and no way I’ll play the “lesser of two evils” voting games person that I am — very much appreciate people taking time to talk about these complicated and essential questions.
The only economic system that works for benefit of the majority is a well regulated capitalist sytem. Look no further than Canada. Canada has always had a strong regulatory regime for the banking and financial service industries and strong environmental regulations. During the Geat Depression if the 1930′s and the Great recssion of 2008-2010, not a single Candian bank went bankrupt while thousands of banks in the US went bankrupt and large financial instituitons had to be bailed out by US taxpayers.Canada has strong environmental regulations and Canada has never had environmnental disasters of the magnitude that routinely occur in the US (Prudeaux Bay, BP Gulf oil spill,three mile island, mining disasters).
Corporations understand that to do business in Canada you have to accept the strong regulatory regimes. Canada was affected, as waere all countires, by the near Global Financial collapse of 2008 primarily due to the decline in exports.
The economic systems advocated by the extremists of the left and right have always produced failure.