Simple Arithmetic

The most insidious of all the lies foisted by the corporateers upon Americans, and the one that must be the first to fall is the notion that American goods, produced by American workers, will not be affordable to American consumers. That devious message has been predominant in the minds of so many; many who readily admit that this nation spent its first 250 years leading the planet in productivity and standard of living through building, buying, and bartering in American goods amongst American consumers. FUBU!

In the 1930's there were over 2,000,000 registered Socialists in the U.S. Trotsky, who was extensively world-traveled, said that the American worker was the greatest worker on the planet. It was true then and it remains equally true today. Unfortunately, the divide and conquer propaganda of the internationalists has taken root, and the American consumer, driven by consumerism, considers the American worker, his neighbor and brother, to be his economic enemy. This sort of consumer does not realize that "you get what you pay for." Sometimes one even gets a whole lot more than was paid for, in terms of the detrimental effects of unbalanced trade and local unemployment.

If we don’t support our local workers and the companies they work for, then we are all but asking them to pack up and disappear. The erosion of our manufacturing base has evident and tragic consequences. Unemployment and urban blight are only two of the problems. The largest, most striking, most costly, and most ignored is the destruction of the of the local, state, and federal tax base. If a corporation moves to another labor market, the property taxes, the equalizations taxes, the usage taxes, the unemployment taxes, and the payroll taxes from the now-out-of-work employees are no longer collected. This means that schools, roads, police, fire, community health, sanitation, and whole host of other necessary municipal functions must now scramble for funds to operate. Since the amount of money needed never seems to decrease, where does one imagine these operations will find the money? They will do as they have been doing; raising the taxes of everyone else.

We have to get the consumer behind us. Like it or not, that consumer will decide our economic fate, sometimes at the cash register and sometimes in the ballot booth. The beginning of change begins with shattering the facade of corporate benevolence, and showing what the real costs of the current economic and financial policies hold for every American. Once again, it all comes down to simple arithmetic. Please connect the dots and do the math.

The current administration promotes three basic fundamental ideas that underlay their economic policies. These are what I call the three ‘goods’ of Republican economics and the algorithm by which they calculate their own special form of cost-benefit analysis.

1) Unemployment is good. Next time your job is ‘downsized’ or your company moves to Malaysia and some tells you to ‘get a job’, remind him that you are helping the economy by not working! A flooded market lowers wages, and lower wages are good for who again?

2) Outsourcing is good. Sending jobs overseas to be done at a fraction of the cost, no matter how bad the quality is a great thing! Even if these companies still charge the American consumer the same amount for the product. Where exactly does the consumer benefit from this? Oh wait. He doesn’t. Strict adherence to rule #2 also ensures that rule #1 will reach its maximum success.

3) Debt is good. Spending more money than you make is always a good idea to the Republicans, and every household in America is missing out on this clever economic strategy! Why didn’t I think of it? Rule #3 is the inescapable outcome of applying rules #1 and #2, since everyone will end up having to borrow money for their basic needs, and at that point, debt will become a mark of slavery and indentured servitude. Remember the days of 'owing your soul to the company store' ?

Ask yourself, who do these ideas really benefit? Simple arithmetic reveals the truth about these misguided notions.

Above all, we must promote a generational mind-change about how we view wealth, money, and finances. There is already a healthy amount of skepticism regarding economic policy and corporate practices. Most people know it stinks. The key in this matter is to show the long term effects of wrong-minded and self-destructive policies, and most importantly, to shake Americans out of their disengagement and apathy. It will not happen overnight. If we don't change the core of how Americans view 'subsistence', then even if we save one or two generations, the third and fourth will, once again fall prey to the purveyors of economic snake-oil and avarice. If we are going to make changes, let's at least make them stick.

Ultimately, we need legislation that balances the power between worker and owner, just as one seeks balance between the branches of government. In the state of Michigan, former governor and still fat-bastard Engler (R) and the Republican dominated state Senate spent 12 years breaking union power through secret midnight voting sessions and the refusal to allow state labor committees to arbitrate disputes in good faith. Had strong and unambiguous legislation existed, labor would have had some recourse in the courts. It is true that everything changes, but at least we would have a clear legal standard to help us adjust to those changes without being thoroughly shafted in the meanwhile.

Changing minds is crucial, but also requires the backing provided by the practical power of legislation to make it stick. Please, let us stand up for ourselves for a change. We can make this happen in so many ways.

“Every economic system, whether Capitalist or Socialist, denigrates into a system of privilege and exploitation unless it is policed by a social morality, which can only reside in a minority of citizens……Freedom is always in danger, and the majority of mankind will always acquiesce in its loss, unless a minority is willing to challenge the privilege of the few and the apathy of the masses.” (R.H.S. Crossman, from The New Fabian Essays, 1972)