I heard the phrase recently, “the excesses of labor unions,” and it got me thinking.
There was a time when such charges were made frequently in American political discourse—the idea that the labor movement wielded too much power, that it used its power in ways that fostered injustice, that it was corrupt in ways that dragged America down, that it foisted inefficiencies onto the U.S. economy.
However much or little justification there was for any of those charges back, say, in the 1950s or 1960s, what hearing that phrase lately prompted in my mind is how little place any such concerns could possibly have in America today. For in the past several decades, the power of labor has been long broken, and the unions are not strong enough to wage any battle for anything "excessive."
That's why the wealth of the bottom half of the American economy has been stagnant or worse for a very long time. That’s why Congress passed laws to allow corporations to rip off employees about their pensions, legitimating broken promises. Laws that change the bankruptcy law in a way that helps out the credit card companies at the expense of families of whom half are in a predicament because of something like a medical disaster in the family.
The Loss of Countervailing Powers
Back in the 50s, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote about “countervailing” powers –big business, labor, and government—vying for control over America’s destiny. At that time, there was a rough kind of balance among the powers.
But in the battle between big labor and big business, the fight was fought and labor lost. Labor lost, in part, because of the evolution of the modern economy toward new kind of work, and in part because of the loss of lower level industrial jobs to other parts of the world. But as labor lost leverage, business came not only to dominate labor in their negotiations but also to take control of government.
This compounded the problem of America’s dangerous imbalance of power, an imbalance for which America has paid an enormous price.
The check that labor imposed on business in the realm of power made us one kind of society. It was a society governed by liberal values, one that was moving toward greater equality of opportunity and that engendered a strong middle class. The loss of that check has opened the floodgates to the passage of unjust laws (as in the areas of pensions and bankruptcy). But it has proven, with this Bushite regime, worse still: with the loss of countervailing powers, this regime has now led America down the road toward fascism.
Corporations Are Not Benign
What kind of entities are these corporations that now have scarcely any rival for control over America’s destiny?
Americans should know that we are not safe when the power of the corporate system is unchecked. We have the evidence right before us. Consider this:
We've had two major industries who discovered along the way that the fortune they were making was at the expense of killing people: the asbestos industry and the tobacco industry.
Both have been amply exposed in court, and in both cases we find that the industry showed itself almost universally willing to lie to people to enrich their corporate coffers, even though the effect of these lies was to kill people.
Being willing to deceive and kill people for one's own enrichment is corrupt and unjust, the kind of conduct one would expect of gangsters. And the evidence suggests that American industry in general would be entirely willing to do it: The only difference between tobacco and asbestos on the one hand, and every other industry, is that the former had the bad luck to be selling stuff that kills.
So when virtually every company in those industries proved itself ready to kill people for money, we get an index of what it is that has to be held in check if we in America are going to have a decent society. America’s substantial imbalance of power has led not only to unjust laws (as on pensions and bankruptcy) but more broadly has opened the door for our nation’s descent toward fascism.
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.
Corporates are now very powerful. Power has its own dangers. The Romans had a saying the closer you are to power the closer you are to death. Corporates knowingly or not are abusing their power. If they do not change then eventually their power will be taken away from them. Unions may well become powerful again, like all those who feel powerless they conceal their resistance until the time is right. The unpopularity of the US is problematic, there is little open challenge but considerable hidden undermining. Unless corporates and the US change their ways then they are history, change or history, the choice is yours.
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kwalsh (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 184 comments)
on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7:07:03 PM
I think the only remaining big difference between corporate America and fascist Germany is that there is no one big enough to clobber corporate America in a big enough way to stop it from engaging in whatever abuses it wants. These will go on unchecked, and let's face it, we are along for the ride. Organize? They'll find the organizers. Run? where can you go? The only hope I have had recently is from the discoveries in the field of ponerology. Disengaging from these bastards to whatever degree possible may be the only hope left.
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Patricia 0rmsby (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 113 comments)
on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 10:25:59 PM
Obama talks like he understands that corporate influence has taken control of our government and that the will of the American people are being ignored by the government. Certainly his background indicates that he will try and do what is right for the common man. His education in Constitutional Law should also cause him to recognize the our Constitution is being trashed by the Bush presidency.
Our constitution was created specifically to deal with the abuse of power by King George of England. It was intended as the means to give power to the people rather than to the rich and powerful. The rich and powerful of today (global corporations) under King George of the USA has usurped power from the people through personal influence over our representatives and acquisition of all the main-stream media.
Every election year I have high hopes that my vote will help elect people who care about We the People of the USA and act to carry out the will of the people for the betterment of us all. Two years ago I had high hopes that the Democratic party would bring an end to the war in Iraq; but they have failed to accomplish that. I can only think that the Democratic party is just as corruptable as the Republican party has been. Big oil and others in the military-industrial complex want the big profits that they anticipate making from the control of Iraq's oil resource (and they hope from Iran's oil) so much that they have conned our government representatives that we need to stay in Iraq (for as long as the oil is there).
War is being waged to aid big oil corporations to gain control over this valuable resource. No universal health care because big medical insurance and pharmacuetical corporations want big profits. Big financial corporations get aid when they are in danger of loosing profits while individuals get nothing, zip, nada. International corporations get subsidies from our government even as they take jobs away from the American people and continue to make huge profits. Even though science tell us that our planet is in peril from global warming our government does not act because big oil and coal corporations do not want their profits to suffer.
In short big international corporations have overthrown the Constitution of the United States for a single goal - $$$$$$$$$$$. Their greed cares not for people nor countries nor the planet Earth.
I will continue to vote and hope for a Champion of the people and our Nation will arise to return power to We the People.
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Philip Pease (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 112 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 11:42:57 AM
I despair of Obama doing right by the country economically. His primary economic advisor is Furman, an adherent of the Chicago School of Economics. This is a free market model of unregulated, laissez faire, capitalist economy.
If you wish to see what the results of this type of economic process is, please read Naomi Klein's book "The Shock Doctrine" and see where the Chicago school nearly destroyed the economies and countries of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Columbia, China, South Africa, Russia, Iraq and now the US with this disaster capitalism. Rampant inflation, destruction of social programs such as health care and public schools, the end of retirement programs, torture, disappearances, death squads, and on and on. They believe in shock and awe in the economic realm and Furman is a supporter of this model.
She has been warning us for the last few days of the ramifications of the choice of Furman by Obama. It will only result in greater economic disaster for the US. Remember, it is called Disaster capitalism. Do we need Obama visiting this on us?
I think not. think seriously about the economic model for the coming election. Furman and Phil Gramm of McCains' campaign are virtually interchangeable pieces in this puzzle.
Perhaps it is time for real change-vote the Democrats AND the Republicans to hell out of office this November.
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Jack Harrington (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 274 comments)
on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 6:53:41 PM
