The campaign lurches on, the adds stream endlessly into our living
rooms, the robo-calls clamor incessantly for our dollars, candidates
get bought and sold, the press obediently acts as if there’s substantive
stuff going on, and the real issues of our times go unaddressed. This
is what passes for an election, these days.
Let’s look at some of the realities that are lost in this money-fueled nonsense.
1. Cutting the deficit is no big deal.
The deficit hysteria may well be the biggest non-issue ever to reach a
headline. Yes, it’s a big number, but as the Congressional Progressive
Caucus showed in their
Budget for All,
we can cut the deficit relatively easily, using policies the majority
of Americans support. No need to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid, Social
Security, Pell Grants, unemployment, job retraining, economic stimulus –
all the investments that help the US economy recover from recessions,
and helps create an equitable society in which everyone has a shot at
prosperity.
So, why has the deficit dominated politics and elections for the last three years?
Because Republicans are using the deficit as a pretext to gut
programs they don’t like; Democrats are inept, complicit and/or stupid;
and the press is content to repeat mindlessly whatever absurdities
politicians spout.
2. Tackling Climate Change would create jobs and stimulate the
economy:
It turns out, investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy
create more jobs per
dollar invested and per unit of energy produced than fossil fuel
investments. If you think about it, this means that each dollar
invested in fossil fuel supply or infrastructure instead of clean energy
actually
destroys jobs.
Clean energy also helps reduce dangerous trade imbalances, contributes to
avoiding some $1.3 trillion in health care costs annually, and protects ecosystems from acid rain, toxic pollution and visual impairment.
Oh, and it also would help us mitigate the most cataclysmic disaster ever to face humanity.
But hey, why talk about all that? There’s oil to drill (tar sands
actually) and gas formations to frack, and mountain tops to be blown to
smithereens for dirty oil, gas and coal. Not to mention campaign
contributions to be had.
3. Regulations are good for the economy.
Heresy? Well, consider this – right now, ten-year Russian
government-issued bonds pay over 7%, and Indian government bonds pay
nearly 9%, while ten-year bonds issued by the US pay less than 2%. Yet
folks are lining up to buy US bonds. Why? The rule of law. A complex
set of regulations meant to assure a level playing field makes investing
in the US desirable.
And it’s not just government issued bonds. Investment in private US
securities fetch a premium, too. Regulation of the financial sector
assures a relatively level playing field, transparent markets, and a
responsible approach to managing risk when investing other people’s
money.
But for the last 30 years we’ve been dismantling this
wealth-generating infrastructure for the sake of ideological purity or
sheer graft. Democrats and Republicans have been actively pandering to
plutocrats willing to pay for the right to get short-term gains at the
risk of destroying long-term prospects.
And hey, if you’re a plutocrat, why care if you kill the goose who
lays the golden egg? You can always find another goose overseas.
4. Occupying foreign countries to prevent terrorism causes terrorism.
You don’t see Switzerland or Austria or Canada getting targeted by
foreign terrorists. There’s a reason for that. Nearly two decades ago
in his excellent book,
Jihad vs. McWorld,
Benjamin Barber correctly forecast the impact of cultural imperialism
fueled by globalization on fundamentalist societies rooted in tribal
cultures. In a sense, 911 was a predictable outcome of this collision.
Doubling down on the collision by combining military imperialism with
the ongoing economic and cultural imperialism that caused the problem
was … well … stupid.
And costly.
Throw in the “collateral damage” -- that is, civilians killed – that
is an inevitable part of any military intervention, and the actions
we’re taking to control terrorism are tantamount to setting up an
assembly line to mass produce terrorists. All for the bargain price of
some $4.4 trillion.
5. Government is an essential partner in creating jobs and prosperity.
It’s conventional wisdom these days that big gubmint’ cain’t do nothin’ right.
Odd then, that the two most successful large economies in the world
both feature governments who play a substantial role their country’s
economy. China – which has been growing faster for longer than anyone,
has a planned economy. And when the Great Recession struck in 2008,
they instituted a huge stimulus program conceived and funded by the
government.
Germany, through it’s
Fraunhofer Society,
uses government seed money to direct vast investments in applied
research – research that has enabled Germany to have a high-wage
manufacturing sector that competes with developing nations relying on
cheap labor.
Odder still that the three times the US tried the laissez-faire policies espoused by the big gubmint’ haters we got
the three biggest economic collapses in our history.
And even odder that this bit of conservative dogma survives its counter-factual history.
John Atcheson is author of the novel,
A Being Darkly Wise,
an eco-thriller and Book One of a Trilogy centered on global warming.
His writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the
Baltimore Sun, the San Jose Mercury News and other major newspapers.
Atcheson’s book reviews are featured on Climateprogess.org.
