Intro: "You can't fight something with nothing. But as long as Democrats refuse to talk about the almost unprecedented buildup of income, wealth, and power at the top - and the refusal of the super-rich to pay their fair share of the nation's bills - Republicans will convince people it's all about government and unions."
Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
The Republican Shakedown
24 Febraury 11
ou can't fight something with nothing. But as long as Democrats refuse to talk about the almost unprecedented buildup of income, wealth, and power at the top - and the refusal of the super-rich to pay their fair share of the nation's bills - Republicans will convince people it's all about government and unions.
Republicans claim to have a mandate from voters for the showdowns and shutdowns they're launching. Governors say they're not against unions but voters have told them to cut costs, and unions are in the way. House Republicans say they're not seeking a government shutdown but standing on principle. "Republicans' goal is to cut spending and reduce the size of government," says House leader John Boehner, "not to shut it down." But if a shutdown is necessary to achieve the goal, so be it.
The Republican message is bloated government is responsible for the lousy economy that most people continue to experience. Cut the bloat and jobs and wages will return.
Nothing could be further from the truth, but for some reason Obama and the Democrats aren't responding with the truth. Their response is: We agree but you're going too far. Government employees should give up some more wages and benefits but don't take away their bargaining rights. Private-sector unionized workers should make more concessions but don't bust the unions. Non-defense discretionary spending should be cut but don't cut so much.
In the face of showdowns and shutdowns, the "you're right but you're going too far" response doesn't hack it. If Republicans are correct on principle, they're more likely to be seen as taking a strong principled stand than as going "too far." If they're basically correct that the problem is too much government spending why not go as far as possible to cut the bloat?
The truth that Obama and Democrats must tell is government spending has absolutely nothing to do with high unemployment, declining wages, falling home prices, and all the other horribles that continue to haunt most Americans.
Indeed, too little spending will prolong the horribles for years more because there's not enough demand in the economy without it.
The truth is that while the proximate cause of America's economic plunge was Wall Street's excesses leading up to the crash of 2008, its underlying cause - and the reason the economy continues to be lousy for most Americans - is so much income and wealth have been going to the very top that the vast majority no longer has the purchasing power to lift the economy out of its doldrums. American's aren't buying cars (they bought 17 million new cars in 2005, just 12 million last year). They're not buying homes (7.5 million in 2005, 4.6 million last year). They're not going to the malls (high-end retailers are booming but Wal-Mart's sales are down).
Only the richest 5 percent of Americans are back in the stores because their stock portfolios have soared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has doubled from its crisis low. Wall Street pay is up to record levels. Total compensation and benefits at the 25 major Wall St firms had been $130 billion in 2007, before the crash; now it's close to $140 billion.
But a strong recovery can't be built on the purchases of the richest 5 percent.
The truth is if the super-rich paid their fair share of taxes, government wouldn't be broke. If Governor Scott Walker hadn't handed out tax breaks to corporations and the well-off, Wisconsin wouldn't be in a budget crisis. If Washington hadn't extended the Bush tax cuts for the rich, eviscerated the estate tax, and created loopholes for private-equity and hedge-fund managers, the federal budget wouldn't look nearly as bad.
And if America had higher marginal tax rates and more tax brackets at the top - for those raking in $1 million, $5 million, $15 million a year - the budget would look even better. We wouldn't be firing teachers or slashing Medicaid or hurting the most vulnerable members of our society. We wouldn't be in a tizzy over Social Security. We'd slow the rise in healthcare costs but we wouldn't cut Medicare. We'd cut defense spending and lop off subsidies to giant agribusinesses but we wouldn't view the government as our national nemesis.
The final truth is as income and wealth have risen to the top, so has political power. The reason all of this is proving so difficult to get across is the super-rich, such as the Koch brothers, have been using their billions to corrupt politics, hoodwink the public, and enlarge and entrench their outsized fortunes. They're bankrolling Republicans who are mounting showdowns and threatening shutdowns, and who want the public to believe government spending is the problem.
They are behind the Republican shakedown.
These are the truths that Democrats must start telling, and soon. Otherwise the Republican shakedown may well succeed.
Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including "The Work of Nations," "Locked in the Cabinet," "Supercapitalism" and his latest book, "AFTERSHOCK: The Next Economy and America's Future." His 'Marketplace' commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
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Obama is in this category - are we surprised that he doesn't stand up to the Republicans? I have no plans to vote for him or anyone else who fuels their campaigns with corporate money. I am going to be watching what Russ Feingold's new Progressives United PAC does, and who they support. Until we get people in office who are beholden only to their voters and who are not "Koch-head" addicts, we will continue down this path.
....NO MONEY, NO CAMPAIGN, NO JOB!!!
SHOW ME A POLITICIAN WHO CAN RUN WITHOUT
GETTING BIG MONEY.I challenge you!!
Our country is thoroughly corrupt. It is run by big business, and the super rich and it won't change till we have PUBLICLY FUNDED ELECTIONS.
Politicians "make" the rules. Money "makes" the politicians. Voters are either swayed by massive political persuasion, via big money or marginalized by the fraudulent counting of votes, engineered by big money. John Mitchem said the same thing above you in a more concise manner. Progressive Democrats who wished to be viewed as such need to coalesce, leave the party and begin the process of creating a viable third alternative. We're simply "changing tires" on a car with the same engine by electing "blue dog Democrats" or, if there is such a thing, moderate Republicans. And all this will take...of course...money. Where will it come from? Or, conversely perhaps, a lack of money, jobs and opportunities will at last get Americans on the streets, clogging the arteries of debauched Uncle Sam, and demanding the change they must have in order to exist in some semblance of dignity and security. It's happening across the Middle East and it will,at some point happen here, just as it is in Wisconsin right now.
"Fascism should rather be called corporatism, as it is the merging of government and corporate power."
--Benito Mussolini
Bernie Sanders! Hardly spent anything and was reelected by a landslide.
I assume that was sarcasm which makes me wonder how many of us are actually paying attention before sending a neg?
Regardless of what the Democrats may say in public, they are just the same as the Republicans at the bank window. "Republicrats" all.
Study after study shows crime rates go down for every year that individuals spend getting educated.
Governor Rick Perry's refuses federal aid for education. He funnels the state "Rainy Day" monies to his buddies to earn interest on while schools across the state must close.
The corporate tool legislature refuses to cut anything from a fund set aside for luring business to Texas. They seem blind to the fact that educational achievement attracts more industries than impoverished schools. Our ACT/SAT rank in Texas is 47th. Wisconsin's ranking is #2.
The Republican strategy to win in 2012 is to destroy the economy, close schools, dismantle reforms, disrupt social welfare programs, strip funding from Planned Parenthood--so as to blame the Democrats. These people won't stop until we return to feudalism. At least plantation slaves were provided food and shelter. Present day overlords live in gated communities to keep the rabble at bay--out of sight out of mind.
Saturday, Feb. 26, go to a state capitol near you, at high noon--demonstra te Solidarity with Wisconsin. Walk Like an Egyptian!
As this column so accurately points out what they want is someone with the political courage to stand up against the money and for once do the right thing! I'm sure that the Rs are just as unpopular as the Ds right now but scared, ignorant people just flail around hoping for something to save them without knowing why things don't get better. Opportunistic corporate shills exploit this fear and will continue to do so until someone stands up and says no. It's all shameful.
God knows - but as long as he is doing it and the Democrats and Obama are not - shame to say - more power to him!
Keep on truckin', Robert...some of us are staying right behind you. AND WITH YOU!
And if we, WE, allow that to happen, then Obama with his timid giveaways to the rich will not be the only one to have sold us down the river. We will have done it to ourselves.
As Robert Reich said, "The truth that Obama and Democrats must tell is government spending has absolutely nothing to do with high unemployment, declining wages, falling home prices, and all the other horribles that continue to haunt most Americans."
I don't know how many other people feel the same way as I do, but this is Obama's defining moment in history. If he does not quit his appeasement and 'bipartisan' B.S. and use his office to support the people of this country, he is a lost cause. I'll have no more of him. It is time to organize, brothers and sisters.
Unfortunately WHAT most DONT UNDERSTAND IS, THAT ALL POLITICIANS are bought. THEY CAN NOT GET INTO OFFICE WITHOUT MONEY. We need to get ALL money out of politics, by having publicly funded elections. Untill we do, NOTHING will change.
WE are NOT represented only the corporations and the wealthy are.
Unfortunately politics is a bloodsport, too many are fascinated by it. They can't seem to get enough. The minute one election is won, the next is being handicapped. I think the press is pushing it, and it is BAD for the country, for what we have, is constant CAMPAIGNING.
Congrsspeople have said that they start fundraising the day after their election.
Based on Dept of Defense: $751 BILLIONS in Irak, $336 BILLIONS in Afghanistan, 29 BILLIONS in "enhanced security" (what??)and 6 BILLIONS unallocated??? say what? "unallocated"? Have you ever placed an etc. amount in a budget?
Obama lost my confidence when he did not get out of Afghanistan after Karzai said that he just might side with Al Qaeda if we pressured him to treat us as allies. Drop him like yesterday's pork hot dog is what I say.
The term "entitlement" is one that makes my blood boil: There is no such thing. Repugs qualify as "entitlements"p rograms that the middleclass feels "entitled to", as opposed to the military, for example, and things that the US cannot do without. So under the term "entitlements", they lump all programs they don't want to fund: Education, Social Security, welfare... in short, any program that may help the poor and disadvantaged. We need to get this odious term our of the political vocabulary.
However, I have studied the budget numbers, too. The liberal dogma that if we ONLY raised taxes on the rich, the government wouldn't be broke is not true. Although we'd be better off than we are, it's pretty easy to figure out that if the IRS confiscated every penny of annual household income above $500,000 (100% tax rate on the rich) there still wouldn't be enough money to cover our total debt and future entitlements. The 100% tax threshold would have to be much lower. Obama is no fool; his staff must have crunched the numbers for him, too. It is unfortunate he rejected his own bipartisan deficit commission's plan out of hand, contributing to it's political unpopularity on both sides, rather than using it as a starting point toward a more realistic solution to our debt crisis. Give me all the "thumbs down" you want, but neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are talking much sense at the moment, and that means things will only get worse.
Many of the disappointing compromises he has struck, like extending the Bush tax cuts, were made to get other things done. Democrats passed an amazing number of liberal/progres sive bills in the lame duck, many of which would have died if Obama had let the Republicans delay for weeks debating taxes as they threatened to do.
He deserves credit for advancing progressive causes, especially in light of the fantastic political and budgetary obstacles he has faced! Please don’t do what Nadar voters did in 2000, when they gave us eight years of the Bush disaster instead of Gore who would have tackled global warming and avoided Iraq.
If we can't get Citizens United reversed, we must work to change the election finance laws and promote transparent campaigns so Americans will know who is sponsoring distorted political messages and pseudo-grassroo ts organizations. And we ALL need to vote for the best viable candidate! (Mr) Laurie Norton
Ha, good luck on Campaign Finance. Ten years of Koch Brothers' backed unraveling of that protection worked. Now they even have the Supreme Court in their back pockets. They tapped their wealth for a monomaniacal crusade to rule from behind the scenes where there is neither oversight nor elections to stall their American jihad.
How can we expect representative Democracy to survive when a one citizen and most corporations (which the Supreme Court considers citizens) have this much clout. When less than one percent of the population owns 25% of the gross national product how can we expect our representative governmen to work.
The Tea Party is greatly concerned about the founding documents. The Declaration of Independance was written by enlightened people who were trying to break the monopoly of feudalism. This monopoly is coming back..
Hope(TM), Change(TM)--If not now, when?
BTW, the Koch Brothers consider themselves Libertarians.
We're to believe that's OUR fault ???
The capture of Dems in this snare is by design. No doubt, the Right Wing, Corp Controllers have urged donations and buying of Dem politicians over the years exactly to put them in this spot. The question is will they break free, find their voice, do the right thing.....
The American economy today is like a Monopoly game in which one player owns 80% of the Board and the remaining four players own 20 %. That game won't last very long or be much fun to play !
Still -- in the security of the voting booth and of their own free will -- the people vote for this. They are getting what they choose, good and hard, and until they wake up to it not much can be done.
Robert Reich is spot on in his argument.
I love sports metaphors. They are in terms that most people understand, and relate to. They are about rewarding achievement. They are about fairness and playing by the rules.
Actual game playing time was 40 minutes so it cost $1 per minute to watch. Of course, that is much less a cost per minute than a Superbowl or NY Yankee game.
Why do I mention this? Because every seat for the basketball game I attended was filled just as Superbowl stadiums and Yankee Stadium are jammed full. This makes me wonder why we Americans can afford expensive tickets to sports events (that are also televised) but are unwilling to pay increased taxes to eliminate our federal government's budget deficits.
BTW, check out the parking lots at sporting events. You'll have to look hard to find a clunker. Again, we Americans can afford to drive expensive and fairly new vehicles but needed the Bush tax cuts extended for another two years.
An awful lot of our citizens are ANESTETIZED. Sports and entertainment keep their brains mushy. They don't understand what is REALLY going on.
They are like the famous frog in the pot OF WATER where the heat is gradually turned so high, tILL the frog IS FINALLY D E A D.............W AKE UP ALL YOU FROGS. the water is BOILING
It was a sports arena metaphor. It had nothing at all to do with fairness and playing by the rules. In fact, it was to the contrary.
It is obvious to me that we have to get up and tell everyone, the truth; which is:
We, the left, have a proven track record of being correct, nearly all the time.
That is the truth, and I for one, am sick and tired of being called names for speaking the truth.
The poor don't bankrupt a country. Teachers don't bankrupt a state.
Directing the wealth of a nation to a select few is nothing more than recreating a royal, priviledged class. We fought a revolution to get rid of that concept.
WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK.
from the Republican sychophants that give the rich everything, in hopes of getting a crumb tossed their way.
The T party is right on the slogan, right on the problem, terribbly mis-guided on the solutions.
Among our objectives should be the public financing of elections, as well as bringing about the defanging of the US Supreme Court holding in United Citizens. Hopefully Obama will be provided the opportunity to appoint another Supreme Court justice to replace someone on the court who is unlikely to serve much longer due to age or other infirmity.
Obama’s inclination is to appease Republicans. He is also demonstrating a timid failure to forcefully support the unions. Those are not the characteristics needed to lead our nation. If he continues to be more wind than substance, he should be challenged by someone like Senators or Wiener.
These numbers are shocking! Why don't Prof. Reich and Democratic leaders mention them?
Milt Lauenstein
The next year we tax them at 49% of all their income.
The following year, we reinstate the Clinton tax rates.
In two years, we are back to a surplus.
Then, we address rationally; where and how the goverment overspends and how to create a dynamic, progressive tax system.
I know I could survive on 1% of 10 million. Could you?
The best way to compete with cheap labor in other countries is to make better products. Products that the world will be willing to pay more for. That is how America has become the most successful country in the world. You do not come up with better and higher-quality products with slave labor - dejected and demoralized Americans who have to spend all their time and energy worrying about putting food on the table.
Recently I saw a program Piers Morgan did from China. It was an eye-opener. Shanghai is a spectacular city, HUGE and beautiful, and so were other cities, and they have bridges that will blow your mind. You can google: China's amazing bridges. Not to mention the Three Gorges Dam. China is growing by leaps and bounds, and we are back sliding. I don't know if we can catch up.
However...the time has come for progressives to bring the heat. If this means the demonization of the corporate class and their owners, like the Kochs, than so be it.
A simplified version of current events is what the middle and lower classes understand-excu se me for my bluntness. This is not a critique of any one's intelligence level,but an evaluation of our society. The working classes are busy with financial problems and would rather lose themselves in sports and entertainment. It is understandable.
A new version of the struggle must be created. We are all the government. We are the teachers, the police, firemen, and civil servants. A thoughtful mobilization must occcur that can cearly define the true casue and effect of what's going on.
Politically, Obama is willing to let such myths persist without challenge: "death panels", "out of control spending", and all the other emotionally potent but fallacious memes the Republicans coin daily.
Dems follow the polls; they don't change minds and lead the nation.
This is the crux. And it's not a fairness issue. Wealth is static. It's money that's sequestered, hoarded instead of flowing through the economy and generating demand and jobs. Tax wealth - not incomes - and the rich will either spend it, generating jobs, or hand it over to the government to spend, generating jobs.
I suppose, though, that the rest of the world likes Levis as much as we do - and they have more money. Ah well....
I notice that the solar equipment company that got a big donation from us last year has shut down production here and moved its production to China. Seems like a newsworthy subject - but you won't here of in in the US.
When I went to England to go to school I found out how much important stuff doesn't hit the U.S. media. Back in '81 I was in London when it came out that the U.S. peace corps had built a clinic in Peru - and every woman that came in for a birth had her tubes tied - unknown to the recipient. No more pregnancys. The tribe thought it had a curse or something. It was a major scandal all over the world - but the Americans never found out about it.
You can see very plainly that certain 'issues' are verboten to our public media - left, right or wherever. Like the demonstrations at the Republican convention - hundreds of thousands of Americans in the streets protesting - and it did not get on the mainstream news.
It's really scary how our ignorance is played upon.
When my friends hear these numbers, they are astonished and outraged. Why don't we hear them from prominent people?
It presumes that the United States can continue on the path it's on without doing irreparable damage to its original core principles, its world standing, and its ability to sustain the health, and prosperity of its population.
Key people in government and industry have, for too long now, naively followed the notion that the United States principle of protecting freedom extends to allowing for unfettered "free-trade" practices.
Since Americas inception, some have worked tirelessly to relax regulations prohibiting the exportation of industry in order to have products made more and more cheaply, without the corporations that manufacture those products and hold those needed jobs having to put any of their immense profits back into pesky things like paying workers, delivering health care, providing safe working conditions, or any of the other things that build, not just a corporations profits, but a real middle class and a nations economy.
As long as this falsehood about American tradition is taught, followed and preached as gospel we will continue to find ourselves as citizens with the wrong end of the ever-shortening stick.
Wall Street and the stock market, once an apparatus by which companies could raise capital in order to buy raw materials and equipment, has become nothing more than a casino of speculation. more and more of our economy is based on profit taken with NO production. So the dwindling portion of folks who actually produce goods and services are being shouldered with a greater and greater tax burden and getting less and less in return. Our retirement plans have become markers in the betting game, so we've ben forced to accept what is unsustainable because we have to.
Republicans, and most Democrats are beholden to the only people who can help them get elected, those at the top of the Ponzi pyramid. And those near the bottom of the pyramid lend their votes because they fear becoming like those on the tier below, unaware that everyone but the top 1% will eventually suffer the same fate. That 1% will take their money and buy up another economy to plunder, and the rest of us will be left with useless currency in a country that no longer has the means to produce anything.
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