Reich writes: "I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big
price - and about to pay far more."
Robert Reich. (photo: MoveOn.org)
An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
01 March 16
You are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and
the billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican
Party.
You've invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider
tax loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation,
lengthier patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to
raise prices, weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource
abroad to reduce wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for
homeowners and student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in
insider trading and who won't prosecute you for white-collar crimes.
All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.
But I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big price - and
about to pay far more.
First, as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren't growing nearly
as fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering,
and your stock prices are fragile.
That's because you forgot that your workers are also consumers. As you've
pushed wages downward, you've also squeezed your customers so tight they can
hardly afford to buy what you have to sell.
Consumer spending comprises 70 percent of the American economy. But the
typical family is earning less today than it did in 2000, in terms of real
purchasing power.
Most of the economic gains have gone to you and others like you who spend
only a small fraction of what they rake in. That spells trouble for the
economy - and for you.
You've tried to lift your share prices artificially by borrowing money at
low interest rates and using it to buy back your shares of stock. But this
party trick works only so long. Besides, interest rates are starting to
rise.
Second, you've instructed your Republican lackeys to reduce your and your
corporation's taxes so much over the last three decades - while expanding
subsidies and bailouts going your way - that the government is running out
of money.
That means many of the things you and your businesses rely on government to
do - build and maintain highways, bridges, tunnels, and other physical
infrastructure; produce high-quality basic research; and provide a
continuous supply of well-educated young people - are no longer being done
as well as they should. If present trends continue, all will worsen in years
to come.
Finally, by squeezing wages and rigging the economic game in your favor, you
have invited an unprecedented political backlash - against trade,
immigration, globalization, and even against the establishment itself.
The pent-up angers and frustrations of millions of Americans who are working
harder than ever yet getting nowhere, and who feel more economically
insecure than ever, have finally erupted. American politics has become a
cesspool of vitriol.
Republican politicians in particular have descended into the muck of
bigotry, hatefulness, and lies. They're splitting America by race,
ethnicity, and religion. The moral authority America once had in the world
as a beacon of democracy and common sense is in jeopardy. And that's not
good for you, or your businesses.
Nor is the uncertainty all this is generating. A politics based on
resentment can lurch in any direction at almost any time. Yet you and your
companies rely on political stability and predictability.
You follow me? You've hoisted yourself on your own petard. All that money
you invested in Republican Party in order to reap short-term gains is now
reaping a whirlwind.
You would have done far better with a smaller share of an economy growing
more rapidly because it possessed a strong and growing middle class.
You'd have done far better with a political system less poisoned by your
money - and therefore less volatile and polarized, more capable of
responding to the needs of average people, less palpably rigged in your
favor.
But you were selfish and greedy, and you thought only about your short-term
gains.
You forgot the values of a former generation of Republican establishment
that witnessed the devastations of the Great Depression and World War II,
and who helped build the great post-war American middle class.
That generation did not act mainly out of generosity or social
responsibility. They understood, correctly, that broad-based prosperity
would be good for them and their businesses over the long term.
So what are you going to do now? Will you help clean up this mess - by
taking your money out of politics, restoring our democracy, de-rigging the
system, and helping overcome widening inequality of income, wealth, and
political power?
Or are you still not convinced?
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Robert Reich. (photo: MoveOn.org)
http://robertreich.org/post/140181226720http://robertreich.org/post/14018122
6720
An Open Letter to the Republican Establishment
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
01 March 16
ou are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and
the billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican
Party.
You've invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider
tax loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation,
lengthier patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to
raise prices, weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource
abroad to reduce wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for
homeowners and student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in
insider trading and who won't prosecute you for white-collar crimes.
All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.
But I have some disturbing news for you. You're paying a big price - and
about to pay far more.
First, as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren't growing nearly
as fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering,
and your stock prices are fragile.
That's because you forgot that your workers are also consumers. As you've
pushed wages downward, you've also squeezed your customers so tight they can
hardly afford to buy what you have to sell.
Consumer spending comprises 70 percent of the American economy. But the
typical family is earning less today than it did in 2000, in terms of real
purchasing power.
Most of the economic gains have gone to you and others like you who spend
only a small fraction of what they rake in. That spells trouble for the
economy - and for you.
You've tried to lift your share prices artificially by borrowing money at
low interest rates and using it to buy back your shares of stock. But this
party trick works only so long. Besides, interest rates are starting to
rise.
Second, you've instructed your Republican lackeys to reduce your and your
corporation's taxes so much over the last three decades - while expanding
subsidies and bailouts going your way - that the government is running out
of money.
That means many of the things you and your businesses rely on government to
do - build and maintain highways, bridges, tunnels, and other physical
infrastructure; produce high-quality basic research; and provide a
continuous supply of well-educated young people - are no longer being done
as well as they should. If present trends continue, all will worsen in years
to come.
Finally, by squeezing wages and rigging the economic game in your favor, you
have invited an unprecedented political backlash - against trade,
immigration, globalization, and even against the establishment itself.
The pent-up angers and frustrations of millions of Americans who are working
harder than ever yet getting nowhere, and who feel more economically
insecure than ever, have finally erupted. American politics has become a
cesspool of vitriol.
Republican politicians in particular have descended into the muck of
bigotry, hatefulness, and lies. They're splitting America by race,
ethnicity, and religion. The moral authority America once had in the world
as a beacon of democracy and common sense is in jeopardy. And that's not
good for you, or your businesses.
Nor is the uncertainty all this is generating. A politics based on
resentment can lurch in any direction at almost any time. Yet you and your
companies rely on political stability and predictability.
You follow me? You've hoisted yourself on your own petard. All that money
you invested in Republican Party in order to reap short-term gains is now
reaping a whirlwind.
You would have done far better with a smaller share of an economy growing
more rapidly because it possessed a strong and growing middle class.
You'd have done far better with a political system less poisoned by your
money - and therefore less volatile and polarized, more capable of
responding to the needs of average people, less palpably rigged in your
favor.
But you were selfish and greedy, and you thought only about your short-term
gains.
You forgot the values of a former generation of Republican establishment
that witnessed the devastations of the Great Depression and World War II,
and who helped build the great post-war American middle class.
That generation did not act mainly out of generosity or social
responsibility. They understood, correctly, that broad-based prosperity
would be good for them and their businesses over the long term.
So what are you going to do now? Will you help clean up this mess - by
taking your money out of politics, restoring our democracy, de-rigging the
system, and helping overcome widening inequality of income, wealth, and
political power?
Or are you still not convinced?
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
