tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post6068869585502493655..comments2024-03-15T20:25:28.637-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: Older and younger generationsDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-66452799801233201912011-11-12T00:42:30.474-05:002011-11-12T00:42:30.474-05:00Aristides,
I do not believe that the current cri...Aristides, <br /><br />I do not believe that the current crisis is a result of the European welfare state. Paul Krugman sums up my thoughts more succinctly than I probably could in his article today when he says, "the nations now in crisis don't have bigger welfare states than the nations doing well - if anything, the correlation runs the other way. Sweden, with its famously high benefits, is a star performer, one of the few countries whose GDP is now higher than it was before the crisis. Meanwhile, before the crisis, 'social expenditure' - spending on welfare-state programs - was lower, as a percentage of national income, in all of the nations now in trouble than in Germany, let alone Sweden.<br /><br />Oh, and Canada, which has universal health care and much more generous aid to the poor than the United States, has weathered the crisis better than we have." I have also heard from my friends in Australia that they have far social safety nets than Americans and their economy is still fairly stable.<br /><br />If you care to read Krugman's entire article on the issue, it can be found at: http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Euro-crisis-is-not-due-to-failure-of-welfare-2264783.phpMistyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05672938360949726730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-61562393274376757082011-11-08T17:22:30.362-05:002011-11-08T17:22:30.362-05:00DK speaks wisely and has prompted several thoughts...DK speaks wisely and has prompted several thoughts.<br /> <br />First, there is precious little left of the ‘traditional political process’ because the past 40 Biblical years of ‘revolution’ have led to identity-politics and thence to symbolic politics and thence to celebrity politics, while simultaneously reducing the pols to ‘deal politics’ (think of a used-car salesman focused on only one thing: getting the deal closed and the sale made before closing time).<br /> <br />Second, the New Left of the late Sixties(whatever its strengths and possibilities) is no more; the Post-modern Left of today is a fundamentally different entity, and its embrace of the Universal Solvent of pure and unrelenting skepticism against any possibility of a common-weal or a Beyond or any Higher Law or Higher Things or Larger or Common Narrative operates as a black-hole, sucking in any genuine political life around it.<br /><br />Third, ‘liberation’ is useless as a concept until one has defined the nature of the being-to-be-liberated; otherwise there is no way of knowing if a change you wish to impose upon it leads towards a more genuine life for the ‘liberated’ entity, or leads away from a more genuine life and toward a more deranged life for the entity.Throwing a fish into water is or is not liberating depending on what type of fish and what type of water: a freshwater fish ‘released’ into salt water is not, strictly speaking, liberated.<br /> <br />Fourth, ‘respect’ is an excellent thing. But one must first have respect for one’s own position, and that includes the responsibility of ensuring that the position itself is worthy of respect. But in light of the third point how can one ‘respect’ a non-liberating dynamic if ‘respect’ means accepting it?<br /> <br />Fifth, modern politics is no longer about rationality. Identity Politics has drunk far too deeply of the wells of totalitarian agitprop and manipulative mass advertising and the manipulation of (rather than the genuine enlightening and informing of) public opinion; current politics seeks the limbic, rather than the prefrontal-cortical, response and indeed avoids the latter like vampires avoid holy water.<br /> <br />Sixth, given the damage wrought by the past 40 Biblical years of identity politics, ‘many revolutions all at the same time’ (one of Gerald Ford’s most unfortunate verbal misadventures), and the Pomo assault on Western Civilization, the Beyond, and any possibility of large or common Meaning, there is no longer a conceptual basis for trying to form a New Deal-type alliance.<br /><br />Plus, of course, the ‘civic infrastructure’ called the Citizenry has been allowed to rot away, and indeed has purposely been ‘deconstructed’. To borrow a trope from our modern-day cadres of the Illuminatae, ‘it’s not your grandfather’s America anymore’. Agreed: that America and that Citizenry is gone, baby, gone. Hey, hey, ho, ho – it was deconstructed.<br /> <br />Seventh and last: the one historically redeeming aspect of the First Gilded Age was that it took place in a context where the Framing Vision and the ideals and characteristics associated with it and required for it were still in place, capable of influencing the course of incorporating the post-Civil War corporative wealth-creation into some sort of service to the common-weal. That context is gone now and there are for all practical purposes no nationally shared ideals (or a national community to hold them) that might act as brakes or rudder for the Second Gilded Age.<br /> <br />I discuss these points often on my site, especially my recent essay on Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 book “The Grand Chessboard” in light of our situation 14 long years later. My site is Chezodysseus at blogspot.<br /> <br />PublionPublionhttp://chezodysseus.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-40429079416463669652011-11-07T15:18:47.051-05:002011-11-07T15:18:47.051-05:00The reason there are no good paying jobs is becaus...The reason there are no good paying jobs is because Wall Street has exported them and has given the few that are left to workers it has imported, both legal and illegal, because they will work for wages far lower than any American would.<br /><br />Since a bipartisan vote by Congress granted permanent most favored nation status to China and President Clinton signed it, we have lost over 5.5 million manufacturing jobs alone. Those aren’t just blue collar jobs, but also white collar ones such as engineers and chemists. Our government could take measures to bring back those jobs, but with both political parties being in the pocket of Wall Street, such action is most unlikely.<br /><br />Mr. Friesen echoes a familiar complaint of youth that the 9-5 jobs he worked were “restrictive and unfulfilling”. The sad fact is that the vast majority of jobs are tedious, unrewarding and low paying. <br /><br />Considering how incompetent and corrupt America’s overpaid top executives have proven themselves by the companies they have driven out of business and the taxpayer handouts they have requested, it is entirely possible that Friesen and his fellow travelers could do a better job at the helm of our major corporations for a fraction of the cost and would certainly find such work to be anything but “restrictive and unfulfilling”. Unfortunately, the reality is that this will never happen. The good ole capitalist network insures that only filthy rich fellow travelers quality for such positions, no matter how incompetent or corrupt they may be.<br /><br />The “Occupy” movement seems to be interested in implementing a European style welfare/socialist state for America, so every worker has well paid “unrestrictive and fulfilling” employment, “free” health care, subsidized housing and food. We can see how well that has worked in Europe!<br /><br />Jin Liqun, chairman of the board of supervisors of China Investment Corp recently said of that, "If you look at the troubles which happened in European countries, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare society. "The labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than hardworking."<br /><br />The rest of us working hard to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table working jobs which are “restrictive and unfulfilling” will likely have about as much sympathy for the “Occupy” demands as we did for the Wall Street bailout.Aristidesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-36142932029634991072011-11-07T14:08:06.223-05:002011-11-07T14:08:06.223-05:00"If you look at the troubles which happened i...<b><i>"If you look at the troubles which happened in<br />European countries, this is purely because of the<br />accumulated troubles of the worn out welfare<br />society. I think the labour laws are outdated. The<br />labour laws induce sloth, indolence, rather than<br />hardworking. The incentive system, is totally out <br />of whack.<br /><br />"Why should, for instance, within [the] eurozone<br />some member's people have to work to 65, even<br />longer, whereas in some other countries they are<br />happily retiring at 55, languishing on the beach?<br />This is unfair. The welfare system is good for any<br />society to reduce the gap, to help those who <br />happen to have disadvantages, to enjoy a good <br />life, but a welfare society should not induce people<br />not to work hard." </i> ---Jin Liqun, </b>the supervising chairman of China's sovereign wealth fundAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-9967033027366108312011-11-06T14:52:05.259-05:002011-11-06T14:52:05.259-05:00Business Week article last week or so on this topi...Business Week article last week or so on this topic("not your 60s hippies protests" or similar title. The author said that in the 1960s hard hatted workers attacked antiwar young protestors and injured 70 people. Young people were only talking antipolitics but now are talking finances and the workers and unions are joining the protests. <br /><br />An article on one of the so-called "horizontal" organizers Graeber, 50 years old ex-professor, with working class self educated parents , who participated in anarchist rule over Barcelone in 1930s. He got in on this during/after Seattle protests so from this man's background the whole thing has long historical roots.<br /><br />Young people will always be soul-searching and at the front of revolutions. I read also the Generational Dynamics blog and he tries to keep a strict scientific anaylsis according to the generational theory and maintains that the big protests in Iran were never going to come to a revoltuion but would fizzle out as it was like USA in the 1960s, a generational awakening. So yes, 30s workers and student protests should be made the basis of any comparison as anonnymous said. That is "scientific" in the cyclical historical sense, regardless of the nonsense the people said. The results and the surrounding circumstances are what is important in this case.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-26143135548013418692011-11-06T09:58:29.775-05:002011-11-06T09:58:29.775-05:00Professor
Great commentary, about so many things,...Professor<br /><br />Great commentary, about so many things, music, history, idealism, politics here and there, persons prominent and obscure.<br /><br />So many things here cry out for comment, approval, qualification, disagreement,<br /><br />but too much here, really, <br /><br />to address in a comment,<br /> <br />without doing injustices to how it hangs together as a statement.<br /><br />All the best,<br />GMBozonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18078858723231122013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-39759235583196218702011-11-06T08:39:03.084-05:002011-11-06T08:39:03.084-05:00I see the parallels, but it might be even more ins...I see the parallels, but it might be even more instructive to compare both with the activites and speechs of the youth movement of the 1930s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-25758638526936080432011-11-06T07:31:45.690-05:002011-11-06T07:31:45.690-05:00I agree OWS is liely to peter out or turn nastily ...I agree OWS is liely to peter out or turn nastily impotent. <br /><br />Here's something your contributors might like to know:<br /><br />The White House has sent a request for “Input”, see WhiteHouse.gov/Advise<br /><br />Here’s what I sent: <br /><br />GOALS<br /><br />1. Create jobs rebuilding our infrastucture. Take money from Defense budget and corporate & farm subsidies. Put at least 1 million back to work doing this. Fund only contractors who meet existing Federal laws.<br />2. Restructure and rebuild our K-12 schools; innovate tech & science schools. Integrate employer apprenticeships with higher education.<br /><br />FEDERAL ACTION<br /><br />1. Hold hearings to indict financial manipulators (Henry Paulson, Mozilla, on down) who caused this crisis. Jail those who broke laws. Insist banks write down housing losses and collect all taxpayer funds from them, AIG, etc.<br />2. Establish a new WPA (Work Projects Admn) to oversee & coordinate infrastructure contracts.<br />3. Establish scientific review of all energy sources: oil, gas, coal, solar, wind, etc., and set up impartial panel to "pick winners" -- i.e. safest nuclear plant design, most efficient solar etc, then standardize regulations on these winners (like France did with nuclear).<br /><br />COMMUNITY ACTION<br /><br />Implement the aboveBob in NCnoreply@blogger.com