PRESIDENT BIDEN, A TERRIFIC LEGACY AND HE ISN’T DONE YET!

By Ruth A. Sheets

Robert Reich, Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton and retired Professor at Berkeley wrote a piece today on Substack, appreciating President Joe Biden’s contributions to our nation.  The National Democratic Convention tonight is set to honor Biden for the many things Biden and his team have done so far to improve life for the people of this nation.  Prof. Reich suggests the greatest of these is to reverse the economic perspective from a Reaganomics, “trickle-down” approach where the top gets everything with the hope/possible expectation that some would trickle-down to the workers.  That economics approach was and continues to be a disaster, leaving workers to struggle despite working more productively and for more hours and the guys (mostly white men) at the top raking in the bucks by the billions.  

President Biden and his team are working toward something more equitable and reasonable:  living wages;  CEOs  earning a few tens of times more than the average worker rather than hundreds of times more; workers having the right to form or join unions and stand together for better pay and safer working conditions.  Their vision is more like what Franklin Roosevelt employed to bring us out of the Great Depression.

Despite what Donald Trump and his Project 2025ers would claim, Biden’s economic paradigm is not “big government” or socialism (although, the Project 2025ers don’t really understand what either of those are and in their lack of understanding and allegiance to corporate wealth, are bamboozling the American people).  Biden and his team have been working on a kind of “democratic capitalism” where government organizes the market for the common good, not just for the guys at the top.  FDR tried to stop the “looting of America” that Wall Street was involved in which led to the 1929 crash.  FDR’s actions are a model for Biden and his administration.

Professor Reich says that after FDR,

“Subsequent Democratic and Republican administrations enlarged and extended democratic capitalism. Wall Street was regulated, as were television networks, airlines, railroads, and other common carriers. CEO pay was modest. Taxes on the highest earners financed public investments in infrastructure (such as the national highway system) and higher education.

America’s postwar industrial policy spurred innovation. The Department of Defense and its Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration developed satellite communications, container ships, and the internet. The National Institutes of Health did trailblazing basic research in biochemistry, DNA, and infectious diseases.  Public spending rose during economic downturns to encourage hiring. Antitrust enforcers broke up AT&T and other monopolies. Small businesses were protected from giant chain stores. Labor unions thrived. By the 1960s, a third of all private-sector workers were unionized. Large corporations sought to be responsive to all their stakeholders.”

That all changed with Reaganomics.

Biden has been underestimated because he does a lot of his work in collaboration with others and behind the scenes. He is a strong negotiator who does not make those he is negotiating with feel small or unimportant. People would learn a lot by paying attention to what Biden does and has done, something our media didn't see fit to do throughout most of Biden's administration. President Biden incorporated as many voices in a discussion as possible, including his Vice President and cabinet members. One thing of many that Biden learned from his background is that no organization can run well if only those at the top are heard and compensated. It has only happened that way in this country because We the People have allowed our representatives to ignore the workers and to keep bailing out the bad actors whose top guys care only for the money and power they can accumulate, their addiction.  Our various media have encouraged the American people to remain ignorant of what is really going on and its impacts.  For at least some of our media it has helped those in power to do what they can for the very rich, their donors.  Biden’s team wants to curb this brand of economics for something far more fair.  He notes we have the tools to do it, now it’s the will to do it we need. 

An important characteristic that people tend to ignore is that  President Biden learns as he goes along.  He makes mistakes, then, actually works to fix or make up for them as he has after the Clarence Thomas hearing when he admits he was not fair in his questioning of Anita Hill.   also unlike most people who have power, he has shown he can pass it on when the need arises.  There are too many in power who can’t do that.

At 6 months left in office, I was wondering what Biden would accomplish, well he is continuing to do a lot including a "prisoner" swap with Russia, and will hopefully keep steering us toward a better, more reasonable economy where accountability, responsibility, and the common good are at the forefront of what corporations do and what the American people expect. Go Biden, Harris and the crew!

SHOPPING FOR AN ECONOMIST

by Ruth A. Sheets

How is it even Democratic leaders keep picking as advisers, economists who center their principles solely on business interests?  Mr. Biden’s current economic adviser is Larry Summers, former Wall Street hero and definitely not one to help this nation move into the new economy we will need post COVID19 and in the midst of Black Lives Matter.  The old model of corporation-centered, worker who is used solely to benefit the corporation, stockholders,  and Wall Street is going to have to change dramatically.

These unfortunate choices of economists make no sense because Democrats have for more than 80 years been the party of workers.  Just because a man, mostly men, has graduated from a "prestigious" school in Economics does not mean he understands or cares one wit about workers.   It generally means he has only corporate interests in mind, after all, aren’t those universities the path to riches for privileged white boys through corporate life?

Mr. Biden, you are going to need an economic adviser who stands for workers, understands their needs and their rights.  The truth is, if workers are taken care of and do well, corporations will do well too, despite corporate whining that the workers are “robbing them blind” or some such nonsense. 

Here are a few things that can help workers as well as corporations, but it is going to be hard to shake the traditional economists who truly believe “the bottom line” is the only thing that matters and that if workers don’t buy into that, they should be fired. 

- On every corporate board in this country, we need workers represented who understand their job and how that job fits into the task of the corporation.

- A progressive tax structure is essential to both  begin to level the playing field for all Americans and to close the financial gap between CEOs and workers.  Corporations suck out our resources at an alarming rate, then pay next to nothing compared to what they rake in. 

- We need people in government with a vision of what a new economy could look like and who can help our nation understand it and move toward bringing it about.  There is no going back.

- Global warming is with us and will be possibly for centuries and we need to foster research and development that can help us do what is necessary to stop emissions of greenhouse gasses.  This problem should be at the center of everything we do.  If corporations aren’t on board, they will need to be phased out or retooled to the new system.

- We need someone with an understanding of what our economy has been doing to and for various segments of our society.  It has clearly been helping white men, particularly those who have had every advantage from birth.  It has not been that great for nearly everyone else.  That too, can no longer continue. 

- Polluting and dumping in poor communities is unacceptable.  Businesses have gotten away with this for a long time and it must stop.  Before products can come to market or “services” can be performed we need ways to deal with the results of the process, whatever it is that does not disproportionately impact poor communities.

- We must have in place at all levels of government people who can help corporations with hiring (not computer algorithms), particularly employing more Black workers at all levels.  Companies need to unbias  their whole hiring process.  Black Lives Matter and it is time our economy reflects that at all levels.  This is non-negotiable! 

- Every employee must earn a living wage.  We need to find ways to acknowledge that janitors work  at least as hard as the white collar  bosses who employ them.  Therefore they should not have to hold down two jobs just to survive. 

- Caring for a family and members who may be ill or need special help needs to be recognized as essential, and should count  toward receiving benefits in times of disability and old age. 

- We need some kind of universal health care. 

- We need more unions and it must be easier to create them in all kinds of businesses.  Where there are unions, everyone does better.  Unions need to be truly worker centered with the goal of excellence from entry-level worker to CEO.

- Signing non-disclosure agreements or forced arbitration with rules set up by the business, nearly always to the detriment of the worker must be a thing of the past.    

- Child care and family planning services must be part of every contract giving men and women essential choices.

In short, Mr. Biden, you need new economic advisers.  Perhaps you should vet and interview  prospective candidates the  way you will a vice presidential partner.  The economics adviser will be critical in getting out the message of what you stand for and the direction you want the country to go.  We can't go back, and alas, Larry Summers is an economist of the past and too tied to Wall Street, America's casino during the pandemic.  Shop around.  Talk to some economists like Paul Krugman to help you find someone or several someones more appropriate.  Mr. Summers can toss in his ideas here and there, but should not be at the center of any economics decisions you make.  You can be the vanguard of a new post-COVID19 society, but only if you let go of the economists and most economic ideas of the past. 

This Isn't Dancing With The Stars

by muon

The early reactions from the VP debate are in and here are my observations.

Everyone's talking about looks, smiles, rolling of eyes, who interrupted who, and who lied. (For the record, both lied to some extent, but Biden's were more in the exaggeration or twisting of words category, while Ryan more often ventured into "pants on fire" territory.)

Every Romney/Ryan supporter said Biden interrupted too much. They didn't say this last week when their candidate interrupted far more. Romney basically tried to hijack the whole proceeding last week. He was obnoxious to the moderator. But everyone said he was aggressive and confident. Mr. Biden was passionate last night. Not aggressive, not obnoxious. The times he did interrupt, it was to ask Ms. Raddatz if he'd be able to respond to Ryan's misstatements. Biden was not rude. On the other end of the scale, Romney supporters were praising Ryan for being "cool." Frankly, Ryan was a lot like Obama last week. Too cool. When he gave details at all (which wasn't often), it was from his position as "The Math Guy"--ie, he made viewers' eyes glaze over.

Last night was a good debate on issues. The differences in the candidates' positions were made fairly clear. Martha Raddatz did an excellent job asking follow-up questions and keeping each man on task and schedule. I would have liked to hear a few other issues, about the Lilly Ledbetter Act, for instance, and about immigration, the environment, education, union-busting and voter suppression.

But really, I'm not sure it would have made a difference because no one's talking about issues this morning.  America seems to be treating these debates as they would Dancing With The Stars. Already having decided their favorites, people are watching the debates hoping to see the other guy fall on his ass. When it comes time to vote someone off the island, it will be because they didn't like the way the other guy smirked or laughed.

Issues will likely have little to do with this election. Apparently, even when two candidates spend 90 minutes talking about them, all people notice are outward appearances. No one listens.