| PATRIOT ACTS What Americans Must Do To Save the Republic Catherine Crier New York: Threshold Editions, November 2011 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-1-4391-9492-8 | ||||
| ISBN 1-4391-9492-0 | 273pp. | HC/BWI | $26.00 | |
"There is a battle to be joined in this country, just not the one so many are waging. When rhetoric and ideological warfare threaten the very pillars of our democracy, true patriots must act. They must do so armed with facts, not myths, and with a real understanding of the extraordinary but fragile system our Founders established." – Page 5 |
Well, guys, you've busted the U.S. economy, nearly eliminated the middle class, given us more pollution, less health care, and fewer jobs that we need, and blocked any real progress on clean energy and climate change. But now you've really screwed up — you've lost Catherine Crier.
Catherine Crier's latest book reveals her once again as one of the most insightful and honest journalists in America today. Looking over the current federal political system in this country, she documents its abysmal failure at reining in the excesses of the corporate elite. Although Republicans, since the time of the Reagan administration, are chiefly responsible for this monumental mess, Democrats too bear a large portion of the blame, for all politicians depend on donations from large corporations to cover the costs of their increasingly expensive campaigns. The money buys influence. We see the results not only in Congress, but in court decisions which more frequently favor the corporations.
The corporations, for their part, pony up the donations willingly. They know these are among the canniest investments they can make.1 The same is true for lobbying, and expenditures in this area have ballooned in recent years, mostly coming from the coffers of big business.
Ideology is another factor. Conservative Republicans incessantly chant the mantra of small government and free markets under threat from "tax and spend liberals" who seek to stifle business and reduce individual liberty. That mantra is a tissue of lies; but, backed up by a nationwide media network owned largely by conservatives, it has been very effective in campaigning. And once in office, they steadfastly cling to their platform of reducing taxes on the wealthy and freeing business from burdensome regulations.
The results of that program are all around us today: Forty million Americans on food stamps, while a small segment of the population commands an ever-growing share of the nation's wealth. The jobs that wealth is supposed to create, per GOP doctrine, fail to appear: Unemployment stubbornly remains high. Wall Street has recovered nicely, thanks to government bailouts; Main Street, not so much.
"When will we get it through our thick heads that without a prosperous middle class, America's domestic economy cannot truly heal? For more than thirty years, despite stagnant or falling wages, this group has been doing its part—consuming—thanks to credit cards and two-income families. This has created a false sense of well-being for citizens and grand profits for corporations. It has allowed both Republicans and Democrats to cater to their big contributors in the name of so-called capitalism rather than face the truth about our flawed corporate economy: an economy based on low wages, more credit, boom and bust—then rinse and repeat. In these cycles, the top 1 percent and the multinationals do just fine, but most Americans and the nation itself suffer immensely." – Page 67 |
Over the nine years before this book was written, the typical American family saw its health-care costs more than double. A 2010 report from HHS predicts further increases of 20 to 30 percent, and notes that "some of the premium increases are 5 to 10 times larger than the rate of growth in national health care expenditures." (p. 81) Meanwhile, real income shrank for most workers. Unfortunately, these are facts, so calling them a left-liberal view cannot refute or invalidate them. They affect Republican families as well as Democratic ones. Even the Republicans in Kansas will be affected; and one hopes they will soon figure that out.
The HHS report also notes that "profits for the ten largest insurance companies increased 250% between 2000 and 2009, ten times faster than inflation." And the top CEOs, in 2009, "more than doubled their compensation from the year before." (p. 81). Obviously, the health care industry is one segment of our economy that doesn't need any health care.
Catherine Crier documents the multiple dimensions of this failure in carefully researched chapters on corporations, defense, economics, education, health care, national culture, and unemployment. The jobs are there (overseas) instead of here because that's where corporations find lower wages and laxer laws. Health care is a profit center, which means that curing disease rather than preventing it is the goal. Defense is outsourced to firms like Blackwater (now Xe), resulting in less accountability for conduct and more incentive to remain at war. Education2 becomes a numbers game, with children trained to pass the mandated tests, the higher percentages making the school systems look good, while the students they turn out are poorly prepared to decide matters of national policy but well able to pile up credit-card debt buying goods from foreign countries.
Underlying every aspect of the problem is the drive for corporate profit — a drive largely unrestricted by the federal government3 over the past thirty years, per the deluded doctrine of free-market fundamentalism. History shows us the disastrous results of unregulated business. Government regulations are necessary for the continued functioning of our economy. No matter that, notwithstanding the conservative mantra, the sages conservatives hold up as icons all said they were necessary. The drumbeat goes on, louder today than ever before.
"Esteemed conservative economists like Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig van Mises acknowledge government's role in regulating the economy. Hayek says that 'probably nothing has done so much harm . . . as the wooden insistence on certain rules of thumb, above all the principle of laissez-faire capitalism.' He recognizes many appropriate regulatory functions of government in our economy. Mises says that the failure to include hidden costs to our environment, health and safety makes corporate pricing 'manifestly deceptive.' Without making the companies pay for these costs, you cannot describe their activities as part of a free market system." – Page 75 |
This is a book filled with accurate and cogent analysis of our current situation, informed by detailed knowledge of the history that led up to it — a history that shows there are better ways of doing things. What more could you ask for? Well, I ask for some of the common sense and the uncommon courage that Catherine Crier displays here to filter into the minds of our representatives in Congress. I ask this along with her, and Marjorie Kelly, and Paul Krugman, and Joseph Stiglitz and a host of others. More than that, I ask for:
As does Contempt, this book by Catherine Crier presents a solid case, backed by extensive research. It also has much better production values. I give it top marks and recommend it as a keeper, at least through the next presidential election or two.
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.