Welcome friends to Economic Update a
weekly program devoted to the economic
dimensions of our lives
jobs debts incomes our own our
children's I'm your host Richard wolf
I've been a professor of economics all
my adult life and that's how I come to
bring these economic updates to you each
week
well we're approaching Labor Day and so
I wanted to say a few words about that
holiday typically our leaders at this
time give us fancy phrases about working
men and women and how we ought to honor
them it's always a little strange the
rest of the world celebrates Labor Day
on May 1st which was a holiday that
actually began here in the United States
but we have to be different and I would
like to be different in a new way I'd
like to really honor the working men and
women of this society and the way I
would like to do it is to see if we can
do something about depriving our society
of a situation in which one human being
can take away from another human being a
job and the income that comes with a job
and to make it clear what I'm trying to
say I'm gonna refer to Abraham Lincoln
and the Emancipation Proclamation our
president said at that time it was
unconscionable unconscionable it was
contrary to American values that one
human being could own another that one
human being could buy and sell another
one
separating her or him from family from
home from neighborhood
well let me say let's do that again only
this time to deprive any person from the
right to take another person's job and
another person's income that would be a
real freedom and a real honor on Labor
Day a society you know could do that we
could say to every person who's an adult
you have to contribute your brains and
muscles in work to give back to the
community and the community in turn has
to honor and guarantee to each person to
provide a job and the income a decent
income that goes with it just like it
was right to
away with slavery it's right to do away
with an unconscionable power that no
person should have over another
well the updates are gonna go quickly
today there's so many of them it's kind
of hard for me to choose my attention
was caught back in June and I wanted to
bring it up to you again by a decision
of the Democratic National Committee
here's what it decided it had earlier
decided it would not accept
contributions from fossil fuel companies
that pollute the air the water and the
earth they reversed that decision they
are going to accept money from the
fossil fuel companies I'm not gonna make
the usual comment about how the
democracy we have is the best that money
can buy what I want to talk about is the
reason given the Democratic Party said
well there are unions whose workers work
in the fossil fuel industry and it
doesn't want them to lose their jobs
this is the basic confusion you're not
choosing between jobs and pollution
we're a society that could have no
pollution and preserve everybody's job
here's a thought for the Democratic
National Committee commit yourself to
guaranteed full employment make sure
that anyone who loses their job in an
industry we don't want a need like
fossil fuel is given a good job at equal
pay somewhere else other societies
manage that we could to don't give in on
that phony excuse unions have a bad rep
helping their members and not being
interested in the broader society here's
a way to change that commit to getting
rid of fossil fuels and guarantee jobs
that's how the labor movement would
become a leader in our society rather
than what it is my next update has to do
with his situation in Turkey many of you
have been reading about it and asked me
about it
let me tell you what Turkey is not about
it's not about some Minister who's being
held over there on charges and it's not
about the tit-for-tat tariffs that mr.
Ayer Dewan in Turkey and mr. Trump in
United States slap on each other for
photo
whops that they can get some support for
here's what it's about and here's why
it's a problem not only in Turkey but in
Indonesia Colombia and quite a few other
countries a little history will show us
what's going on when world capitalism
collapsed
beginning with the dot-com crisis in
2000 and really exploding with a
mortgage crisis and everything that
happened from it in 2008 the response of
capitalist governments around the world
was not to help the people at the bottom
but first of all to help the people at
the top the big banks that had brought
us the crisis and the way they did that
was give them vast amounts of money by
dropping interest rates the way banks
borrow from the government very very low
and flooding the economy with new money
well when you make interest rates very
low you create a wonderful opportunity
for capitalists in Istanbul and
elsewhere in Turkey we're gonna use them
as the example cuz they're in the news
those capitalists who have wonderful
projects to make profits have been held
back because they didn't want to use
their own money cuz there are risks they
don't want to take but using other
people's money is attractive and when
the interest rates brought down in New
York London Paris Berlin guess what the
Turkish hustlers excuse me businessmen
and women guess what they did they went
to New York Berlin London and Paris and
borrowed lots of our money and very low
interest rates this was their chance and
they invested them in building
high-rises in Istanbul though there
you'll see them and in investing and all
kinds of risky deals guess what a few
years later now those risks don't work
out there are too many capitalists
borrowing too much money in order to
invest and when they all do it at the
same time they can't all sell the output
apartments that can't be rented
businesses that can't sell so the
suddenly the Turkish business community
can't pay back the loans that's the
problem and as the banks in Western
Europe who lent them the money and the
banks in New York who lent them the
money
and the rich investors who bought shares
in these companies begin to realize
another capitalist crisis emerging they
get rid of their holdings and that means
they don't want the Turkish lira anymore
so they dump it so its price goes down
but when the value of the lira goes down
the debts of the Turks which are in
dollars and euros become unpayable and
you have the collapse the problem isn't
the minister and the problem isn't a
tariff the problem is the irrational
unstable way capitalism works the
solution to the crisis of 2008 has yet
produced a new crisis in 2018 you don't
want a system that takes you from crisis
to crisis then you've got a problem with
capitalism because that's how it's
always worked and that's how it's
working now then there's another story
that has to be told about capitalism's
problems that keep deepening and
spreading which is why so many people
are critical of that system now not just
us here are an economic update the story
I want to turn to next the collapse of a
bridge in Genoa in Italy it has now cost
as of the latest as of August 20th 43
lives 43 people died in the collapse of
that bridge and many more were injured
and this is a major artery and you might
wondering gee a major artery running
along the South of France into Italy is
this a private enterprise that runs it
uh-huh
turns out the Italian government which
once ran this thing sold it to a private
company Atlantia
is the name of the private company and
pay attention because Atlanta owns lots
of things it owns toll roads in India
Brazil Chile and Poland and indeed here
in the United States it recently took
possession of the Dulles green
outside of Washington DC so will will
have it too they also run airports in
nice and con they also run the tunnel
under Mont Blanc the highest mountain in
Europe and they recently took possession
of the channel tunnel under the English
Channel they're called the tunnel Wow
this ought to concern you why because
when a private company runs a road it
has a profit motive that's its bottom
line they like to tell us that profit is
our bottom line will go to maximize
profit and it turns out that one of the
ways you can maximize profit is not
spend so much on the cost of maintenance
oh sure they'll tell you they would
never save on maintenance but if profit
is your number-one goal then it isn't
your number-one goal to be safe and the
general bridge collapse is a terrible
sign of where that can go and by the way
my problem is not with private ownership
of roads for that matter with you give
it back to the public guess what private
companies will make it impossible for
the public to have enough money the
government to run it properly the
government will get be upset we will be
angry at the government they'll sell it
to the private company to run it which
it will do until a bridge qila we've
been here before this isn't new this is
an old catastrophe back and forth
government private didn't solve anything
you want to do something about this have
bridges airports tunnels run
collectively by the people who use them
and the people who work there make it
safe for a worker who's part of running
this thing to stand up and say I see
cracks I see problems there's not
maintenance then we might have a chance
to avoid these kinds of collapses a
worker coop running the roads much
better idea maybe we ought to try it
two more signs of both capitalism
falling apart and the beginning of big
movements to change it
Fortune magazine a friend of business in
August 16th issue points out the
difference between what happened to the
salaries of the CEOs of the 350 largest
companies in America that's all of our
big big big businesses the CEOs of the
350 biggest companies saw an increase in
their salary between 2016 and 2017
you ready CEOs on average earned 18
point nine million dollars in 2017 which
was a seventeen point six percent
increase over the previous year and what
fortune does is compare that with what
happened to the wages of the workers of
those companies those 350 big companies
how did they they're in going from 2016
to 2017 they also had an increase 0.3%
so let me do that again
the CEOs salary went up by seventeen
point six percent and the workers they
employ went up by 0.3 percent capitalism
does not reward us equally does it and
so you shouldn't be surprised by yet
another economic update that I think
speaks volumes the Gallup poll the most
famous old-established polling company
in America did its most recent poll from
July 30th to August 5th of 2018 and
released it in the middle of the month
of August and it shows the following
that I think is worth thinking about
among self-identified Democrats people
who support the Democratic Party 57%
said they view socialism positively 47%
said they view capitalism positively you
heard that right
favorability to socialism in general
across everybody stable since 2010 at 35
to 39 percent folks that's the same
percentage who claim that they like
Donald Trump and the favorability to
capitalism has dropped since 2010 the
American people are looking at their
capitalist system and they're concluding
what others have - it's time to move on
that does it for the first part of our
show but before we meet today's guest I
want to remind you to follow us on
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we'll be right back welcome back friends
to the second half of Economic Update at
this time early each month I have with
me dr. Harriet Fraad I'm sure many of
you who have been listening to this
program are familiar with the kinds of
discussions we have Dr. Fraad is a
mental health counselor and
psychotherapist hypnotherapist my
mistake in private practice in New York
City her work explores the intersections
of American personal economic and
political life her most recent articles
have appeared in alternate in the book
knowledge and class and economics
she appears regularly on the radio TV
show economic update and also appears on
such shows as redacted tonight with Lee
Camp her work can be found at her
website
Harriet Fraad that's all one word
HarrietFraad.com welcome to the
program thanks okay I want to start
today with a kind of enormous question
and ask you to use your expertise to
explore it and the question sort of
comes out of American history of the
last 30, 40 years sort of the stunning
reality that real wages the average
amount of money in terms of what it can
buy real wages in terms of what you can
afford
has been stagnant in the United States
for the average American worker for
decades meanwhile because the workers
have become more productive even though
their wages aren't going up what they
produce for their employer
that's what productivity is has been
going up and their explains the growing
wealth gap the growing income gap the
rich are getting richer and the rest of
us are watching so here's the question
that I think lurks in everybody's mind
why in the face of this growing
inequality why in the face that workers
are more productive but not
participating in the benefits of that
greater productivity why is there not
more rebellion why is there not more of
an upsurge of discontent of opposition
and particularly the kind of opposition
where people are able to identify what's
their problem and begin to do something
or at least to talk about it so I want
you to tell us sort of if you can
psychologically what what's going on
what makes people respond to a situation
like this in an active way and what
makes them not do that well there's two
things that I can think of one is the
idea of American exceptionalism we are
the exception in the world
and actually for a hundred and some
years between 1820 and 1970s we were if
you were white and male you could make
it if you really tried as the song goes
because there were jobs aplenty before
they were mechanized robotized and
exported an out sourced and so on so
that people got used to that for a long
time and sat in days despair eating junk
food and watching television for a long
time before they started reacting are
you saying that because they were used
to it even though it stopped see ology
may stayed the same you can make it if
you really try if you haven't made it
there's something wrong with you now we
go on to the part two of what I'm going
to say which is very heavily influenced
by a brilliant Marxist philosopher
called al to ser who pointed out that
they're the most effective way to keep
people down is to make them feel so bad
about themselves if they disobey
authority that they won't rebel they
won't join together they won't do
anything about it and there are three
institutions that really in still the
lines of dominance and subordination
from the inside which is far more
effective than calling out the cops
those are authoritarian families
authoritarian schools and also
importantly authoritarian education and
authoritarian religions if you start
with the family as John Lennon said in
his song working class hero as soon as
you're born they make you feel small by
telling you nothing instead of it all
because a lot of people have children as
a rite of passage and there are
background music and these people are
fighting or hitting them in frustration
and they don't have a sense that this is
a delicate vulnerable
human and they enforce their own
dominance you do it because mommy said
so or daddy said so or you'll get hit
and so children learn you are nothing
you are in a land of omnipotent
dictators and their needs are important
and yours aren't and children grow up in
the Hall of Mirrors of other people's
glances and how they see themselves is
usually how the most influential people
in their lives see them their parents or
in the United States now since we don't
have good public daycare
they're often shoved into the hands of
overworked child care minders who don't
really care about them and they learn
that they're not worth caring about and
then they're not much who are they to
raise their voice nobody's interested in
what they need anyway and so in a way
you're saying that the family and some
of these other institutions and I assume
we're going to talk about literally are
preparing people to be treated in an
abusive way and not and to find it
unacceptable or right absolutely and the
more authoritarian the family the more
likely the child will discipline him or
herself from the inside parents usually
don't say you have to do this because I
made the decision and I'm in charge you
may find me wrong later but this is what
I have to do and you have to obey that's
the nature of the beast no this is right
you are bad and so children take that in
I am bad Who am I to raise my head
against um omnipotent Authority and then
it goes on it's reinforced
if you read the child-rearing texts of
fundamentalists the most popular being
dare to discipline and the strong-willed
child the idea is break the child's will
show them who's boss physical punishment
is encouraged leaving little marks
that's fine and often the punishment
starts in the crib
and to make the child feel you are
nobody
I am omnipotent don't you dare raise
your head you are no one and so when
injustice is around just what you feel
depressed the suicide rate has jumped
drug rate is wild
last year it went up 72,000 people died
of overdoses because they can feel
better about themselves by taking drugs
then you have authoritarian schooling
where the teacher is boss you have to
shut up and obey and the worst is the
religious homeschooling movement which
and the religious schooling movement
which Betty devotes most champions where
the religious homeschooling is you never
escape from your parents you don't go
into it and learn that other people are
different you don't have different kinds
of discipline and different kinds of
children you captain you are kept in the
same hotbed of oppression and you don't
learn different differently to use
proper English and but it's across the
board
you know there were very interesting
studies by Hess and Shipman who took
african-american parents of different
income groups and tested them with the
same tests they asked questions like
what do you tell your child on the first
day of school the poor ones versus the
richer ones the poor one said you obey
now that teacher is is your boss and you
better obey now you do what she says and
don't you get in trouble whereas the
richer one tended to say the teachers
there to help you if you need her or him
please ask a question this is about you
they're there to help you and the poor
our parents have given a an
etch-a-sketch a little task where the
kid has to do something they'd say no no
if the parent if they did something that
the parent felt wasn't helping them
create what they wanted whereas the
wealthier parents would say no dear if
you turn it to the
right then it does this instilling good
vocabulary self power and so on its
training for submissive versus stronger
power in the society and this is
training that goes inside and it's very
powerful and I looked at in trying to
answer this question for myself I looked
at the United States and compared it to
a country like France where they have at
least as much ethnic diversity as we do
and children are born into poverty
although they're the government programs
take them out of poverty more frequently
but they're both equally born into
poverty and I thought what's different
why are the French in the streets
defending their rights
the French are famous for the minute
they get a bit of a provocation of
you're threatening welfare or standards
of living or conditions or worries they
go right into the streets to make it
clear yeah
Michel the current Prime Minister tried
to instill cuts and cuts in labor rights
hundreds of thousands poured into the
streets so it was impossible pilots at
Air France were discriminated against
they wouldn't fly taxis so how we're
threatened they parked in the runways
stopped the society why so how how do
you account for the rebellious nough
Skol it of working people in France
compared to the relative passivity here
yes well what I could think of is if you
look at the three things that how to say
are discovered that police people
internally the first is the family while
preschool education is universal in
France by the age of three and child
care is available before that for a
dollar an hour equivalent in euros so
that a hundred percent of French
children are in quality childcare most
often from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00
at night when they return to their
parents fed and in their outfit they
present
themselves in and with a day they go
through their child care with the same
children year after year until they
finish high school and their basic bonds
are formed with their peers not
necessarily with their parents their
well behaved they look they're much more
well behaved than American children but
they relate to their peers as their
support group and they never had the
period of prosperity which meant that
you could make it if you really try if
you're white and male the only way you
could change a position in society is if
you join with others and their parenting
system by this a very excellent quality
child day care system enhance that also
religion is a joke in France here
everybody has to pretend they believe in
God to run for office and evangelicals
capture a lot of publicity and a lot of
pressure which is why we don't have sex
education in the schools and why they do
and so that religions dominance is not
the same if you look at French films the
priest is usually a laughingstock even
though it's ostensibly a Catholic
country they made a big deal when the
archbishop died in the arms of a
prostitute said he would later he was
trying to save her at the time but the
French newspaper is all made quite the
joke of it so that they don't have the
kind of religious inculcation of
obedience in a hierarchy because we can
see from the Catholic Church that if you
have an unaccountable hierarchy those
the children are in trouble I think what
you're saying if if I can condense it is
that the success here of imposing on the
working people a difficult life
situation for 40 years
the answer is it's been prepared by the
authoritarian structure of family school
and religion and that that's the core of
it that's right and that gets you when
you're young enough not to even know
what's happening to you we've come to
the end of this conversation it is
something that will continue if you're
interested by going to patreon.com slash
economic update where we'll keep the
conversation going
otherwise I look forward to talking with
you again next week
