Semi-drunken Economic and Social Observations

Watching the various business news channels is always an easy place for a few quick laughs and the occasional deep cleavage shot. On one unnamed channel you have a very pretty brunette dressed in very proper business attire who with a very straight face will tell you why exported Chinese toys made with lead based paint makes that country America’s best friend. The other business channel will try to “entertain” the viewing public with gorgeous ladies sporting plunging necklines and hefty amounts of silicon while proclaiming the glories of the global economy and free markets but always emphasizing the main party line from the parent noise channel.

But common to both is the near incessant whining of what appears to be middle and lower level “Masters of the Universe” complaining of the trials and tribulations of the poor investor worried over protectionist sentiment and anti-capitalist murmurings from the lower classes they feel are unable to understand the bigger global economic picture. These well paid characters all sporting telegenic faces can explain a whole host of economic realities to a watching amen choir wanting reassurances that as long as their bottom line is secure the shrinking middle and working classes just need to be educated to certain facts.

Like the benefits of the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs overseas leads to cheap goods we can buy on credit here. That labor unions aren’t fair to the nice executive who only wants to enjoy his multi-million dollar bonus for gutting or simply through incompetence ruining an otherwise healthy company. And why such things as environmental regulations are un-American and border on the communistic. Some of these fine and upstanding humanitarians go as far to not only wrap themselves in the flag but at times suggest that God is on their side despite the unspoken element of social Darwinism about the cream rising to the economic top.

However, not all is well in the land of unfettered uber- capitalism and its “curious ritualized thievery” if I can borrow something from Steinbeck. The high paid and accomplished financial wizards having worked themselves into a rabid, greedy frenzy just about brought the entire financial house of cards down on us all but were apparently saved, at least for now, but the wise and compassionate actions of the Bush Administration. (Excuse the dripping sarcasm) But surprisingly all Bush got for his efforts recently was a rebuke from his fellow country club members, the Republican National Committee, saying he had embraced socialism. If that wasn’t the face grumbling because the nose wasn’t cut off for spite I’m either far more inebriated than I need to be, or not enough. Making matters worse is the approaching specter of progressivism the collective denizens of excessive capitalism trembling in dread see coming and arriving on January 20^th to ruin all the fun. With great gnashing of teeth the mover and shakers are worried about how President Obama (Damn I still like writing that) will raise taxes, spend money on such silly things like repairing the national infrastructure and schools, begin to break us free of imported oil, work to provide health care to those that can’t afford it, and the most outrageous, raise the minimum wage. Even now it’s relatively easy to see the beginning efforts of the right wing Four Housemen of the apocalypse: fanatic Bible thumpers, proto-fascists Neocons, shrill pro-lifers, and the aforementioned uber-capitalists. All will be pooling their efforts to blunt any reforms that the Obama Administration begin, work to actively sabotage any enacted, and to discredit him both politically and personally so he can be defeated in 2012.

Even as that knowledgeable Alaskan angel of foreign affairs, geography, and the Constitution Sara Palin looks out her window at Russia, that stoic example of moral certitude Mitt Romney stands firmly on his current principles du-jour, and laughing boy Mike Huckabee strums his guitar with all of them looking longingly at that house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue there are a few things they need to understand. While it is a very scary possibility that any of the three could, given outright errors on the part of President Obama or unforeseen situations that condemn his administration, win the White House in 2012 their victory would could be very short lived.

Even with the unprecedented participation of both African-Americans and Hispanics that helped elected Obama if you actually listen to a large chunk of this country you will still hear some disquieting rumbles. For the working class that were completely left out of the Great Republican Supply Side Economic Scam since its inception in the early 80’s and those of the middle class that have seen their livelihood slip away since then the various economic booms have largely left them by the wayside while the rich and very rich have prospered. People that once could depend on factory jobs that would allow them to buy a house, raise a family, and send the kids to college now find themselves relegated to non-unionized service jobs that pay far less with little to no benefits. These people are not idiots, while some have put themselves in that spot many more have paid the price for increased corporate profits from near slave labor wages overseas that suck jobs away. They see the grinning corporate executive driving the company leased Jaguar reveling in the yearly bonus while they are denied a pay raise because annual profits didn’t grow fast enough. Often times what pay raise they receive evaporated after the yearly increase in health care benefits is factored in. These families are also asked to send their sons and daughters to fight for the country but yet the huge majority of the children of the rich and powerful sit on the sidelines. It’s easy to hear about people cutting back on crucial medication because cut rate health care benefits won’t cover the drugs. And parents that saved for years so their children could attend college and have a better life than them now find that goal out of reach.

It is a huge mistake by all the financial wizards, corporate executives, and the country club elite to not understand that their excessive lifestyle is being noticed by those who despite doing everything they should do still find themselves falling further behind. In small groups you can hear the whispered astonishment from the lower ranks of the economic ladder as demands from those occupying the spacious offices upstairs come down calling for understanding and sacrifice from those who simply don’t have much more to spare.

Those controlling the levers of finance warily await President Obama with them and their media sycophants claiming that he will bring socialism, pestilence, and destruction. So worried are these people that the ugly face of racism surfaced in the campaign, by those claiming a true faith in the teaching of Jesus, and even now. But maybe its isn’t Obama these people need to worry about, he is after all and much to the contrary of his political enemies, a moderate and pragmatic man. But maybe it’s the growing mass of those falling economically behind. A growing class of people who are underemployed, relegated to the service industries. Living without basic health care wondering how they will take care of their aging parents and praying that the strange mold on their shoulder just goes away. And those unable to afford college for their children unless they offer them up for military adventures that again largely benefit the rich and powerful.

Maybe it’s the rich and powerful that should be most actively supporting President Obama and his coming efforts to try and bring back some sort of economic and social balance. Because while total economic collapse appears for now to have been avoided the New Year offers no promises that the worse is behind us. And if it isn’t, if for some reason the economic house of cards being propped up does completely fall apart and another Depression hit us and the rich, safely perched above the chaos, continue to be immune America is no different from any other country. In that a tipping point could be reached in which no country is ever more than three meals away from a revolution. But hey, nothing like that could ever happen in this country. It’s as unthinkable as say the smarts guys and gals in the American banking system screwing up or the mighty American automotive industry going under.