I have always considered Pat Robertson to be a hideous ass, but the video below shows him about as vapidly inane as I have ever seen him. He has been more aggressive, vicious and hateful at other times, but this segment brings "laughably wrong" to a new level. Perhaps it is his advanced age that makes him incoherently lash out at all that he hates, much like Justice Scalia, who is in his own cognitive downward spiral. If so, I would cut him, and Scalia, some slack. But if he is going to remain on TV and spout his nonsense, then he can forget it.
First, Robertson calls for a revolution. He could have stopped there, but I should have known bullshit would follow. You can seen from the video that Robertson is recounting a recent visit to his doctor. He complains that the nurse was asking him many questions, but he admits they are medically related. So the problem with this is what, exactly? The nurse should not be asking you such questions? Really, Pat?
And she, the nurse, was typing the answers into a computer, and thus, a database. What are you saying, Pat? That she should not bother to record the data? And it took a long time, what with all those questions and all that typing? Perhaps medical professionals should skip asking and recording medically relevant information? Because you know better, Pat?
The implication I draw is that Robertson wants us to think his horrific experience was the direct result of Obamacare. He wants you to feel the Affordable Care Act has created new levels of big-government intrusiveness while draining him of his last bit of freedom. Apparently even the omniscient power of his ever-loving god is not enough to save us. I thought we were supposed to pray and leave everything to god, who knows best and always guides us, never lets us down, should always be relied upon, ad infinitum. Revolution is what those secular guys do, 'cause Jesus doesn't whisper in their ear. Hey Pat, millions claim their prayers were answered when the ACA was passed. I guess those prayers don't count.
The inane implication in all of this is that he wants this revolution because:
Nurses never asked those questions before Obamacare;
They didn't record your medical history before Obamacare;
Health care didn't use computers before Obamacare;
There wasn't a lot of paperwork before Obamacare;
Perhaps Pat has forgotten that medicine has been switching to computerized medical records for some time, and for good reason. Who wants to go back to pen and paper? I mean, besides Pat?
And one of the reasons why health care in the US has been so expensive for so long, long before the ACA, is the incredible amount of paperwork brought on by what, liberal bureaucrats? Wrong again, Pat. We have been choking on paperwork beyond what other nations do because of the privatized nature of our health care system, dominated as it was, and mostly still is, by a profit-seeking insurance industry. Europe and Japan provide coverage for all; it's cheaper and it is better. They have not had many thousands of their citizens die each year because they didn't have health insurance. And they didn't have many thousands more file for bankruptcy every single year because they couldn't pay their medical bills, or lose their insurance just because a private insurer didn't want to pay. It is these unacceptable realities that have defined the United States for generations, and that the Affordable Care Act has begun to change.
So Pat, is it asking too much for you to do some homework? There is a reason, whether you like it or not, why France is often regarded has having the best health care system in the world. France! Not the US, and quite frankly, we are not even close, even though circumstances have improved, thanks to the ACA, for America's poorest -- those who had no insurance at all. You forgot about them, didn't you Pat?
For the record, I had good insurance before the ACA went into effect. I have not had to do anything different because of Obamacare. I didn't have to switch, I didn't have to change doctors, no premium hikes, nothing. I'm guessing multi-millionaire Pat Robertson also had good medical insurance before the ACA kicked in. Nothing has changed with his insurance plan; no new doctors, no hike in premiums. Nothing. If he had real issues to complain about, the kind of disaster ideological fucks like Robertson claimed would happen, you know damn well he would have enumerated them in whining detail.
No changes with Pat Robertson either. Same asshole he has always been. But he loves Jesus, so it's OK.
---
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Cheaper Still
Low wages are the prime reason the US economy continues to be sluggish for most of us. Suppressed income, of course, is not to be found on Wall Street, Corporate America, and the rentier class, but it has come to define much of the middle class even as the number of working poor continues to rise.
The US economy depends on consumer spending as the core of economic activity: if there is enough spending, it spurs GDP growth, if not, growth stagnates or even declines. We are, for better or worse, a consumption-driven economy. All economies are, to one extent or another, but the US is especially dependent on it.
For most of the post-war period, Japan, to give one comparison, has depended far less on consumer spending to fuel its own GDP growth. The difference was that Japan emphasized capital investment over consumption. Citizens there consumed less and saved more. All that capital investment created massive over production. That's where exports, disproportionately to America, came in. We consume, Japan saves and exports excess capacity. China and Korea have adopted this model.
Accordingly, some economists argue against policies that encourage savings. A dollar saved means a dollar not spent. While the argument is still made that Americans should save more, the counter argument says that doing so will only slow down the economy: Corporate America, small companies, and the employees that work for them all want everyone to buy their products and services. No customers means no sales, so no profits. It also means no employee paychecks and no tax revenues either.
All of which brings us to low wages; not jobs, not investment, not savings, not manufacturing capacity, but the wages Corporate America pays to the millions of jobs that already exist--it is those low wages are the at the heart of our national decay. Low wages are killing the American dream for many. Wages not only have not kept up with productivity for literally decades, but for many of us, wage declines are accelerating.
As compelling as it is, the specifics of America's evolution into a low-wage nation, complete with an overclass and mandated inequality, seem of little concern to many of us, even as we sense we have been victimized by a rigged system. It has taken years, decades actually, but the cumulative effects of neo-liberal, trickle-down policies, and their southern variation, what I call Dixification, have come home to roost.
The US economy depends on consumer spending as the core of economic activity: if there is enough spending, it spurs GDP growth, if not, growth stagnates or even declines. We are, for better or worse, a consumption-driven economy. All economies are, to one extent or another, but the US is especially dependent on it.
For most of the post-war period, Japan, to give one comparison, has depended far less on consumer spending to fuel its own GDP growth. The difference was that Japan emphasized capital investment over consumption. Citizens there consumed less and saved more. All that capital investment created massive over production. That's where exports, disproportionately to America, came in. We consume, Japan saves and exports excess capacity. China and Korea have adopted this model.
Accordingly, some economists argue against policies that encourage savings. A dollar saved means a dollar not spent. While the argument is still made that Americans should save more, the counter argument says that doing so will only slow down the economy: Corporate America, small companies, and the employees that work for them all want everyone to buy their products and services. No customers means no sales, so no profits. It also means no employee paychecks and no tax revenues either.
All of which brings us to low wages; not jobs, not investment, not savings, not manufacturing capacity, but the wages Corporate America pays to the millions of jobs that already exist--it is those low wages are the at the heart of our national decay. Low wages are killing the American dream for many. Wages not only have not kept up with productivity for literally decades, but for many of us, wage declines are accelerating.
As compelling as it is, the specifics of America's evolution into a low-wage nation, complete with an overclass and mandated inequality, seem of little concern to many of us, even as we sense we have been victimized by a rigged system. It has taken years, decades actually, but the cumulative effects of neo-liberal, trickle-down policies, and their southern variation, what I call Dixification, have come home to roost.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Cheap Labor Only, Please
Manufacturing and trade news do not get much coverage in our mainstream press. Japanese obsess over trade data, as do the Chinese, Koreans, and most others who take manufacturing seriously. This is obvious from reading any of the mainstream and business-oriented newspapers overseas.
Ours? The focus is more on Wall Street, corporate profits, and finance. Our corporate media does not want to spend much time on the implications of large, chronic, and structural trade deficits, except for the predictable paeans to free trade, how much we benefit, and how boorishly stupid you are if you are not a committed free trader. Honest analyses of how we arrived at our current condition are rare; most commentary is ideologically driven tripe that contends workers are overpaid and investors need more profits.
To be sure, we have all read of the decline of American manufacturing. And for those who are determined to know, many websites and blogs, especially those hosted by academics, cover these subjects very well. But while complaints about Chinese currency manipulation and the hazards of doing business in China do get coverage, little is said in the mainstream media about the role of American corporations and how they turned over technology and manufacturing to China and other trade competitors, all in an effort to tap cheap labor, ignore the challenges and capital requirements of advanced manufacturing, boost short-term profits, and please the investor class.
As Chinese wages continue to climb, we are now seeing some evidence of a pick-up in US manufacturing. But a central conundrum remains: Should it be a matter of policy to promote the return of manufacturing to the US? Or is the market going to resolve domestic manufacturing, and perhaps give a boost to exports, without policy intervention?
It is hard to get enthusiastic about an improving manufacturing sector, especially in the face of new data. I once would have welcomed it more openly, but it is becoming increasingly clear that a global economy or neo-mercantilist trading partners are only secondary reasons. In other words, less blame should be attributed to cheap labor in China and more to the desire for cheap labor in the US. The current condition of the US, complete with massive trade and current account deficits, is the direct result of wealthy and well-connected purveyors of neo-liberal free markets. It is they who have hobbled government's essential regulatory role (derivatives anyone?) and facilitated the dominance of finance and the rentier class.
So there is little reason to think that newly created manufacturing jobs are going to pay very well. Neo-liberal policy wonks, along with right-wing politicians, have had a 30+ year run promoting ideas, policies, and legislation that has weakened labor unions, kept minimum wages low, undermined workers' rights and put into place an elaborate tax code that ensures that corporations will largely avoid taxes. All of that in addition to the glories of free and unfettered international trade.
All of which was always the goal. To the extent that corporations locate or relocate manufacturing in the US, it will only be in response to low wages, obscene tax giveaways from states, the absence of unions, and elaborate agreements with government officials that ensure corporations will continue to privatize the benefits and socialize that costs. If manufacturing does meaningfully increase in the US, it will only be because wages have been driven down. If wages go up, even in accordance with productivity gains, corporations will threaten to off-shore production once again.
Ours? The focus is more on Wall Street, corporate profits, and finance. Our corporate media does not want to spend much time on the implications of large, chronic, and structural trade deficits, except for the predictable paeans to free trade, how much we benefit, and how boorishly stupid you are if you are not a committed free trader. Honest analyses of how we arrived at our current condition are rare; most commentary is ideologically driven tripe that contends workers are overpaid and investors need more profits.
To be sure, we have all read of the decline of American manufacturing. And for those who are determined to know, many websites and blogs, especially those hosted by academics, cover these subjects very well. But while complaints about Chinese currency manipulation and the hazards of doing business in China do get coverage, little is said in the mainstream media about the role of American corporations and how they turned over technology and manufacturing to China and other trade competitors, all in an effort to tap cheap labor, ignore the challenges and capital requirements of advanced manufacturing, boost short-term profits, and please the investor class.
As Chinese wages continue to climb, we are now seeing some evidence of a pick-up in US manufacturing. But a central conundrum remains: Should it be a matter of policy to promote the return of manufacturing to the US? Or is the market going to resolve domestic manufacturing, and perhaps give a boost to exports, without policy intervention?
It is hard to get enthusiastic about an improving manufacturing sector, especially in the face of new data. I once would have welcomed it more openly, but it is becoming increasingly clear that a global economy or neo-mercantilist trading partners are only secondary reasons. In other words, less blame should be attributed to cheap labor in China and more to the desire for cheap labor in the US. The current condition of the US, complete with massive trade and current account deficits, is the direct result of wealthy and well-connected purveyors of neo-liberal free markets. It is they who have hobbled government's essential regulatory role (derivatives anyone?) and facilitated the dominance of finance and the rentier class.
So there is little reason to think that newly created manufacturing jobs are going to pay very well. Neo-liberal policy wonks, along with right-wing politicians, have had a 30+ year run promoting ideas, policies, and legislation that has weakened labor unions, kept minimum wages low, undermined workers' rights and put into place an elaborate tax code that ensures that corporations will largely avoid taxes. All of that in addition to the glories of free and unfettered international trade.
All of which was always the goal. To the extent that corporations locate or relocate manufacturing in the US, it will only be in response to low wages, obscene tax giveaways from states, the absence of unions, and elaborate agreements with government officials that ensure corporations will continue to privatize the benefits and socialize that costs. If manufacturing does meaningfully increase in the US, it will only be because wages have been driven down. If wages go up, even in accordance with productivity gains, corporations will threaten to off-shore production once again.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
We Are The Many
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, is in town. Security is tight and Waikiki is cordoned off. Among the festivities was a performance by Makana, a popular local musician, for the numerous leaders from Asia, including China and Japan, along with the US. President Obama was there. You can read more about how the APEC forum turned out here.
As our local newspaper explains, Makana gave an unexpected and gutsy performance in which he sang his new song, We Are the Many, while he shows off an Occupy with Aloha shirt. The video below shows him singing. You will see why it was bold. In my view it was also highly appropriate.
Was anyone offended? Tough shit. If any world leader was offended, it serves to demonstrate why Occupy Wall Street is necessary in the first place.
The second video is a better-quality, professionally recorded version of the same song. Good job, Makana.
As our local newspaper explains, Makana gave an unexpected and gutsy performance in which he sang his new song, We Are the Many, while he shows off an Occupy with Aloha shirt. The video below shows him singing. You will see why it was bold. In my view it was also highly appropriate.
Was anyone offended? Tough shit. If any world leader was offended, it serves to demonstrate why Occupy Wall Street is necessary in the first place.
The second video is a better-quality, professionally recorded version of the same song. Good job, Makana.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Our Looming Lost Decade
Readers will note my byline that says "things are not going to get better." And by "things" I mean the economy specifically, or more generally, the vitality of our nation, its institutions, and its citzens. Yes, it is pessimistic. Here is another bundle of reasons for that pessimism, from Professor William Black, a man who has received some attention in the news because of his testimony before Congress, but not nearly enough (watch the video here. And thanks to Badabing at DailyKos).
Follow the link and take the time to watch the 14 minute video. I will only add here that, among other things, Professor Black refers to Japan's lost decade and how it would not aggressively deal with the debt of the big national banks. He argues the US is setting itself up for its own lost decade.
If we could only get off so light. There are some crucial differences between the two countries, and they do not auger well for us. We are the ones with massive consumer debt, not Japan. We, not Japan, have by far and away the world's largest trade deficit, which many now recognize as deeply structural. We have allowed our trading partners to erode our industrial base; Japan's remains largely intact.
Even our daily government operations are being financed by our economic competitors, including Japan and now most certainly China. The interest on that debt pours into the economies of these other nations. The Japanese government is also deeply in the red. However, the difference is that it does not owe money to foreigners. Interest payments go to Japanese institutions and citizens. Most of it stays in Japan to the benefit of the local economy.
Lastly, we have been completely unable to rein in our hugely expensive warrior class. Our appetite for empire combined with an unwillingness to pay for it will seal our fate.
But hey, you have a good day. A tax cut is what we need, don'tcha know?
Follow the link and take the time to watch the 14 minute video. I will only add here that, among other things, Professor Black refers to Japan's lost decade and how it would not aggressively deal with the debt of the big national banks. He argues the US is setting itself up for its own lost decade.
If we could only get off so light. There are some crucial differences between the two countries, and they do not auger well for us. We are the ones with massive consumer debt, not Japan. We, not Japan, have by far and away the world's largest trade deficit, which many now recognize as deeply structural. We have allowed our trading partners to erode our industrial base; Japan's remains largely intact.
Even our daily government operations are being financed by our economic competitors, including Japan and now most certainly China. The interest on that debt pours into the economies of these other nations. The Japanese government is also deeply in the red. However, the difference is that it does not owe money to foreigners. Interest payments go to Japanese institutions and citizens. Most of it stays in Japan to the benefit of the local economy.
Lastly, we have been completely unable to rein in our hugely expensive warrior class. Our appetite for empire combined with an unwillingness to pay for it will seal our fate.
But hey, you have a good day. A tax cut is what we need, don'tcha know?
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Those Jobs Aren't Coming Back
Numerous reports in the media have spilled ink and electrons alike detailing the difficulty the US and other countries are having getting back on economic track. Mainstream sources are especially prone to argue that debt and the banking system are the twin towers of our economic malaise.
These are undoubtedly major factors: A sick banking system, especially one so dominant as what we have allowed to develop in the US, is a risk to us all. Debt? Yeah, well that is pretty bad too, but it is much harder to quantify and accurately characterize. What is demonstrably false is to insist that federal debt is unwaveringly bad and must be avoided. We'll wait until another day to review the lack of regulation that brought on our banking fiasco. But however one apportions blame, it was not America's underclass, or the middle class, that put the economy in the ditch.
But I digress. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal captures the angst so many feel about the sluggish economy. It notes that countries with relatively strong banking systems, such as Brazil and Chile, have experienced relatively strong job growth.
In the US, huge increases in consumer debt have been steadily climbing to unsustainable levels. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “As of March, U.S. household debt stood at 122% of disposable income, down from a peak of 131% in early 2008 but still well above the 100% economists tend to see as sustainable.” The Journal doesn't say it, but the huge increases in consumer debt were fueled by Wall Street's credit card frenzy, action that was implicitly approved by the federal government. It has taken a recession to get that debt figure down.
In any event, an under-regulated banking system, and the mountain of debt it fostered, are only part of the analysis. There is much missing from mainstream sources, including the WSJ and other cheerleaders for the financial elites, for they hold back, unwilling to acknowledge the core contradiction in their analyses.
Japan was among the other countries the Journal reviewed (based on data from the OECD and the International Labor Organization) Again, the emphasis was on national debt, and the reluctance to hire workers that is supposedly the direct result. The obvious bromide is that Japan can create jobs if would just cut spending.
But Japan has a more fundamental problem, and it is a problem that will only spread. The Japan of today is being compared to the Japan of yesteryear; the post-war era from roughly 1960 to 1990. But that gravy train is over. During that time Japan built up huge overcapacity, encouraged by the knowledge that the US was wide open to imports. The US actually took all that free trade talk seriously, as it demonstrated an unprecedented willingness to sacrifice its manufacturing base. Japan took free trade seriously as well, at least the export half. Along the way, Japan became hugely dependent on the American market to maintain growth.
Regardless of how one cares to assess blame on past US-Japan trade tensions, Japan's ability to export to the US has been compromised by unrelenting competition from its Asian neighbors: First the Asian Tigers (Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia) and more recently China. Huge quantities of merchandize that used to come from Japan now come from somewhere else. And it will likely only get worse. Japan's meal ticket in America will never be as lucrative and wide open as it was up until the end of the 1980s. Japan created fantastic over-capacity because it took full advantage of its access to the American market. That market will never be the low hanging fruit for Japan again. Spending, debt, tax burdens? Those are secondary reasons.
Despite the frantic ranting in the US about debt, stimulus spending, and taxes, others seem unwilling to acknowledge the systemic corner into which we have backed ourselves. Policymakers pretend that there is a painless way out. There is not. The mind reels when one sees that many elected officials actually argue that tax cuts are the solution.
Only two issues remain: how much worse will it get before we turn on our antagonists, and who will feel the pain of adjustment? So far, the answer to the second question clearly are the poor and the middle class; roughly 80-90% of all Americans. Unemployment is high, and it will remain high, because many of the jobs are not coming back. This is the reality that the Obama administration did not create but must face. Much of the stimulus money is being spent on Asian imports, which serves to stimulate their economies, not ours. Corporate America, often with government blessing, has created a massive systemic trade deficit with Asia and much of the world, by abandoning factories, communities, and entire industrial sectors, along with the millions of relatively good paying jobs that went with them. All of this in the name of free trade.
So people will not return to work in this economy as they did in the past because those factories that called them back after previous layoffs have moved abroad. The impact has been masked by the willingness of consumers to take on massive debt. Consumer debt, along with government's own deficit spending, have sustained the economy, but growth will not continue without a healthy industrial base.
The banking debacle may have put the economy in the ditch, but the decay has been well under way for decades. This is a fraudulent economic system and completely unsustainable.
There are clear signs that many people finally get this. And the signs that we will make the painful decisions, and actually stand up to America's plundering elite?
That's not so clear.
These are undoubtedly major factors: A sick banking system, especially one so dominant as what we have allowed to develop in the US, is a risk to us all. Debt? Yeah, well that is pretty bad too, but it is much harder to quantify and accurately characterize. What is demonstrably false is to insist that federal debt is unwaveringly bad and must be avoided. We'll wait until another day to review the lack of regulation that brought on our banking fiasco. But however one apportions blame, it was not America's underclass, or the middle class, that put the economy in the ditch.
But I digress. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal captures the angst so many feel about the sluggish economy. It notes that countries with relatively strong banking systems, such as Brazil and Chile, have experienced relatively strong job growth.
In the US, huge increases in consumer debt have been steadily climbing to unsustainable levels. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “As of March, U.S. household debt stood at 122% of disposable income, down from a peak of 131% in early 2008 but still well above the 100% economists tend to see as sustainable.” The Journal doesn't say it, but the huge increases in consumer debt were fueled by Wall Street's credit card frenzy, action that was implicitly approved by the federal government. It has taken a recession to get that debt figure down.
In any event, an under-regulated banking system, and the mountain of debt it fostered, are only part of the analysis. There is much missing from mainstream sources, including the WSJ and other cheerleaders for the financial elites, for they hold back, unwilling to acknowledge the core contradiction in their analyses.
Japan was among the other countries the Journal reviewed (based on data from the OECD and the International Labor Organization) Again, the emphasis was on national debt, and the reluctance to hire workers that is supposedly the direct result. The obvious bromide is that Japan can create jobs if would just cut spending.
But Japan has a more fundamental problem, and it is a problem that will only spread. The Japan of today is being compared to the Japan of yesteryear; the post-war era from roughly 1960 to 1990. But that gravy train is over. During that time Japan built up huge overcapacity, encouraged by the knowledge that the US was wide open to imports. The US actually took all that free trade talk seriously, as it demonstrated an unprecedented willingness to sacrifice its manufacturing base. Japan took free trade seriously as well, at least the export half. Along the way, Japan became hugely dependent on the American market to maintain growth.
Regardless of how one cares to assess blame on past US-Japan trade tensions, Japan's ability to export to the US has been compromised by unrelenting competition from its Asian neighbors: First the Asian Tigers (Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia) and more recently China. Huge quantities of merchandize that used to come from Japan now come from somewhere else. And it will likely only get worse. Japan's meal ticket in America will never be as lucrative and wide open as it was up until the end of the 1980s. Japan created fantastic over-capacity because it took full advantage of its access to the American market. That market will never be the low hanging fruit for Japan again. Spending, debt, tax burdens? Those are secondary reasons.
Despite the frantic ranting in the US about debt, stimulus spending, and taxes, others seem unwilling to acknowledge the systemic corner into which we have backed ourselves. Policymakers pretend that there is a painless way out. There is not. The mind reels when one sees that many elected officials actually argue that tax cuts are the solution.
Only two issues remain: how much worse will it get before we turn on our antagonists, and who will feel the pain of adjustment? So far, the answer to the second question clearly are the poor and the middle class; roughly 80-90% of all Americans. Unemployment is high, and it will remain high, because many of the jobs are not coming back. This is the reality that the Obama administration did not create but must face. Much of the stimulus money is being spent on Asian imports, which serves to stimulate their economies, not ours. Corporate America, often with government blessing, has created a massive systemic trade deficit with Asia and much of the world, by abandoning factories, communities, and entire industrial sectors, along with the millions of relatively good paying jobs that went with them. All of this in the name of free trade.
So people will not return to work in this economy as they did in the past because those factories that called them back after previous layoffs have moved abroad. The impact has been masked by the willingness of consumers to take on massive debt. Consumer debt, along with government's own deficit spending, have sustained the economy, but growth will not continue without a healthy industrial base.
The banking debacle may have put the economy in the ditch, but the decay has been well under way for decades. This is a fraudulent economic system and completely unsustainable.
There are clear signs that many people finally get this. And the signs that we will make the painful decisions, and actually stand up to America's plundering elite?
That's not so clear.
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