Cycles afresh

I titled my last post cycles in american history and found since that Arthur Schlesinger had a book of the same name. I can't believe that slipped past me considering I'M WRITING MY MASTER'S THESIS ON HIM and it deals mostly with the subject I'm writing about. I'm quite ashamed but have added it to my 5 page single-spaced bibliography. Professors keep telling me not to continuously add sources and just write because I'll never cover everything, but this book fills a pretty vital area that was missing so I have to make an exception. Only about five hundred extra pages :( Oh well.

There are just a few random thoughts I wanted to share. Ever since Huffington Post was bought out or merged or whatever with AOL I have been taken off their mailing list so consequently I haven't read much over there. Last night I decided to take a look at what they were saying about the debt crisis. Pretty much what I expected but it seems more academics are posting their thoughts, just an impression. However, the commenters in most cases were even more adamant than at Salon that president obama got exactly what he wanted, in other words sold us all out. Yes, the gop fanatics are terrorists bent on wrecking the economy and government to destroy his presidency but he plays along. A line in Willy Wonka always sticks with me at times like this. "Wait, stop, don't." In as calm a voice as possible, the chocolateer urges one of the bad little children to stop their destructive behavior that is against his own rules.

In addition to reading things that are not good for my stress level I commented on a fb thread concerning economics. Most of the thread was pretty reality-based but one wingnut had to jump on and catch my ire. My friend asked who the super-rich people getting tax breaks were and offered the usual suspects, actors and sports heroes. Celebrities are the only super-rich people visible in mainstream america I guess. Perhaps this is why more americans identify with rich people than oppose them, hedge-fund managers, ceos, rentiers, and other shameless greed-heads have effectively erased themselves from public consciousness. When one girl derailed the thread by suggesting that anyone who doesn't give obama campaign contributions will be getting tax hikes I kind of lost my military bearing. But I pulled my punches and addressed everyone instead of just her by suggesting that people who haven't studied economics should really refrain from spouting talking-points and slogans that they adsorbed by osmosis from someone paid to structure them in the most obnoxious way possible. Coincidentally also in the way most divorced from reality possible as well.

And, in true woe-is-me style, got this response from her "So I should shut up, go to work, pay an @ss load in taxes, because nothing I say can make a difference? I don't need a $70000 education to tell me that is b.s." I guess I should feel sympathy for her, but I don't. Pity maybe, that kind of ignorance takes work. Or at least the ability to structure a pity party/guilt trip in an incredibly mean-spirited way. I don't know, was I supposed to apologize for someone's willful ignorance? Teach her something about macroeconomics? This was her prescription for, I guess a fair, tax system: "Staright percent for everyone no deductions and no return. Call it 17% of gross income for people and 30% for businesses." If you don't care enough to fix typos before making a completely unqualified pronouncement why should anyone listen to you? Especially when you would find some reason to be angry about it, were this enacted as policy.

I don't mean to pick on her, which is why I didn't name her, but this goes a long way to explain why we can't have an honest policy discussion. Working class people have every right to be angry, and it is not even suprizing that they cannot focus their anger on the source of harm. It is simplistic but needs to be restated often that the invisible rich have gamed the system for their benefit and your loss. Even people with no education should be able to understand that, but the invisible rich have gone to great lengths to conceal and misdirect the siphoning of productive labor and the wealth it generates upward to unproductive speculation. Yes, you, the worker, generates wealth. Yes, you, the consumer, produces jobs.

The debate over economics is a cycle in history that rhymes but the basics are always the same. Those who own or control great wealth against those who own or control little but their own labor. Marx may have been mistaken on the character of society after the revolution but in many ways his critique of capitalism really holds up after so many years. Technology changes, political regimes vary over time and place, and sometimes workers can shame or force capitalists to be a little less vicious towards their daily lives. Human nature however, does not change. Therefore, the same battles have to be fought every generation on some scale, complacency or lethargy and fear infects social classes, and other classes take advantage. Sometimes conflict results in revolution, other times in tyranny or reaction. Americans are pretty used to small changes, most working class people just can't accept when radical forces alter society in a major way.

Don't take my word for it, look these things up yourself. Once you start learning it is hard to stop. But if you are too lazy to question your assumptions and just get bitter and angry toward others, don't be suprized when you are ignored.