Instead of seeing Obama surrounded by bankers like ex Fed chairman Paul Volker and ex Goldman Sachs now Citigroup former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin last Friday, I wish Barack Obama had been huddled with Leo Gerard of the Steelworkers, James Hoffa of the teamsters, Naomi Klein author of "The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Wolfe, "The End of America" , Nomi Prins, "Other People's Money" and Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.
Work creates wealth and not the other way around. Teddy Roosevelt called for a "New Nationalism" in 1910. He quoted Abraham Lincoln:
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
Capital i.e. bankers have screwed this nation up big time. They've done it before and they will do it every chance they get. Now it's not all bankers. There is a bad shadow banking systems based on gambling not on lending to people who make things.
We must look to ways to clean up this mess without taking advice from bankers. And we need to look not to the Chicago School of Economics which dominates the economic world. It has only led to myopia. We need to look at the ideas of the heterodox economic theories. We must listen to people like Dean Baker and Michael Hudson. We need to heed the wise words of economic reporters like Naomi Klein, William Greider (The Soul of Capitalism), and Robert Scheer (Truthdig.org). We need to read Glenn Greenwald who shows how once again, neo cons are trying to shock us into doing something bad. They shocked us into war and then the FISA bill. Now this bailout.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/g... Amy Goodman interviewed former Bear Stearns employee Nomi Prins and Michael Hudson of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends last Friday: http://www.democracynow.org/20...
Today she will interview Dean Baker and Robert Scheer.
There are abundant ideas out there. Other countries have tackled inflation without using the old Fed formula of putting people out of work by raising interest rates. Dean Baker in his "The Conservative Nanny State" explains that these countries have tried wage and price controls with some success. (Nixon used them also to the great anger of Milton Friedman aka Mr. Shock Doctrine.) However, they have strong labor unions that they use to make the bargains with the employers. This is another reason why we should all support the "Employee Free Choice Act". It will help workers in auto plants to Starbucks have a say in the workplace and give labor its long over due seat at the head of the table.
We the people need to keep the businesses going that employee fellow Americans. We should lend money to them directly and cut out these Ponzi schemers. Hank Paulson should not be made into some kind of hero. He's the flashy Hollywood Ari Gold of the Washington swamp. I take that back. Ari can be a maniac, but he's often right. Paulson is just a neo-con cultist who is trying to implement "The Shock Doctrine". He's taken over the government and has unlimited power, They will next urge us to privatize social security and eliminate Medicare and Medicaid. Welcome to Russia.
Part of me wouldn't mind seeing this mess of system totally melt down, but selfishly I'm a bit too close to wanting to retire to fervently wish for it. So I urge Barack Obama to take on this Herculean task of making capitalism work for everybody by not only being the new sheriff in town, but riding into town with a whole new posse and a copy of "The Shock Doctrine" in his saddlebag.
