Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Fiscal Folly

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Fiscal Folly

by Robert Kuttner from the liberal Huffington Post.

A day after Obama's publicized "bi-partisan" National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform begins its hearings, a privately organized commission that appears to be members and representatives of the US ruling class will be holding a "fiscal summit" on basically the same subject--"national dialogue on solving America's fiscal challenges". The list of the participants includes the following:

President Bill Clinton, who will be interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, we will hear from a range of experts, including Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan, Former Chairmen of the Federal Reserve; Bob Rubin, Former Secretary of the Treasury; Alice Rivlin, former OMB Director and Member, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), Member, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress; John Castellani, President of Business Roundtable....

The Business Roundtable is at the very core of the US ruling class. See this. So, I think it would be wise to pay attention to this ruling class meeting to see what we can look forward to from Obama's official government hearings. The real decisions that affect ordinary people are always carried on through private gathers such as the above. The decisions made by official government bodies should always be regarded as political theater. The latter function in order to provide cover and legitimacy to government run by private interests. Of course, the private gatherings are usually not publicized and one might speculate as why this one is. The author believes that

This is a propaganda event...[that] they already know exactly what they want -- strict budget caps on social outlay, enforced by a rigid formula, with cuts in Medicare and Social Security leading the way.

So the reason why this is publicized is because it wants to shape the public mind in the "right" direction regarding government fiscal issues.

The author of this article is a liberal who, to his credit brings this private meeting to our attention, but doesn't appear to understand how capitalist governing works.