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!
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