Robert Reich said it well in 2001. "We Are All Third Wayers Now" 4 common ideas at the core.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Sun Feb 22, 2015, 08:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I wonder if he is surprised how hard these Third Way politics have been pushed in this country.

He said in 2001:

And in the two years since I left the administration I've also spoken with left-of-center political leaders around Europe and elsewhere, seeking to understand where they're heading. My verdict: There is a Third Way. But it's going to be extremely difficult to implement. Third Way politics are perilous.

We are all Third Wayers now.

Read the four common ideas of Third Way here and in Europe. I would say they have come a long way and done a lot of harm to ordinary people.

First: The Third Way rejects state ownership of the economy. This was never much of an issue in postwar America. Here, the closest analogy has been government regulation, where Bill Clinton's Third Way has largely followed the same path as his Republican predecessors' agenda, recently culminating in deregulation of telecommunications, electricity, and banking. In Britain, where state ownership had remained a glint in the eye of Old Labour, Tony Blair renounced the ambition early on. German Social Democrats used to talk about slowing down the privatization of former East German industries. No longer.

Second: Global trade and investment are inevitable, even desirable. Bill Clinton endorsed the North American Free Trade Agreement when he was running for president in 1992, got it enacted (to the severe discomfort of organized labor), went on to sign a new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which yielded a new World Trade Organization, and ran into trouble only when he tried to get congressional authority to move trade treaties quickly through Congress without amendment. But he's still trying. And Tony Blair is an outspoken trade enthusiast. While other center-left governments in Europe are hardly euphoric over free trade, none resist it. Schroeder and Jospin have talked vaguely about slowing down speculative flows of global capital and perhaps conditioning global commerce on some minimal social standards, but they have no interest in blocking trade and investment outright.

Now we have the TPP looming.

More:

Third: Labor markets should be reasonably "flexible"—that is, wages should be allowed to move up and down in response to changes in demand, and employers should have wide latitude in hiring and firing employees. Apart from some general talk about "corporate responsibility," Clinton has refrained from criticizing profitable companies that sharply downsize. Nor has Blair opted to constrain management. Jospin's French Socialists recognize the need for more flexibility, although Jospin is sticking to his plan to impose a 35-hour workweek. Germany's Schroeder talks openly about the need for Germany to become more competitive by cutting labor costs, although there's still quite a bit of confusion about what he intends to do.

Fourth, and the one that is so painful. Third Wayers are pretty obvious in letting the blame on deficits lie on our most vulnerable citizens.

Fourth: Social safety nets must be trimmed, and able-bodied people put to work. Bill Clinton campaigned to "end welfare as we know it," and ended up signing a law giving people a maximum of five years of welfare during their lifetimes. Tony Blair wants to move away from a guaranteed minimum family allowance. Here, too, Third Wayers in continental Europe and elsewhere are following behind, although more tentatively. They want to make the welfare state more flexible, not necessarily smaller.

Finally: Budget deficits must be slashed.

Balancing the budget on the backs of the vulnerable.

Tucked at the bottom of this very long article, I found his words about a nation.

A nation is more than a flag and an anthem; it is a collection of people who, because they are linked by culture and belief, are willing to pool certain of their resources so that all of their members have a fair chance of succeeding.

In spite of the very noisy voices from the libertarian-leaning teaparty right.....I think most people would describe their nation as Reich did.

ON EDIT Someone needs to remind me when I forget the link. That's twice in one week. Sorry about that.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. I'm all for the government helping able-bodied people find work.

They should get more involved in helping connect jobseekers to actual jobs, and let them know why they didn't get hired for jobs for which they apply but are passed over, so they can work to become more employable.

[madfloridian]

2. I agree.

I believe a government has a role to play when its citizens are in need.

[Fumesucker]

5. There are a great many employable people out there who are not hireable

People who can or could do the job but will not be given the chance for a lot of reasons, looks, sex, articulateness, shyness, lack of credentials and so on.

[JDPriestly]

21. Age is the biggest one.

[Fumesucker]

22. Tell me about it..

[abelenkpe]

14. I think they try but they are always behind the curve

When all the VFX work suddenly moved out of Los Angeles there were unemployment officials trying to help people retrain but for people with degrees in computers, art and film and years of experience they were offering things like being a paralegal or nurse. They really didn't know how to match people with that skill set to any other. So most people just left and moved to the countries that the jobs left for. Those jobs didn't leave because there weren't any educated, skilled or experienced workers. They didn't leave because workers made too much money. They left because other countries offered subsidies of between 35 and 50 percent if the work was done in their country. How are workers supposed to compete with that? I often wonder what other industries have left the US for the same reason. Is it really fair to call those workers unemployable? Their work was just suddenly gone. Maybe the whole VFX thing was a one off, but now I'm totally suspicious of articles and pundits who claim there are people unemployable or unwilling to work having seen what happened to so many very talented and hard working people when their livelihood just picked up and moved overseas one day. Tonite the only studios up for the best oscar in VFX are from overseas. Anyway, I think the government tries, but they are just overwhelmed, understaffed and underfunded.

[appalachiablue]

34. VFX is Video, Film and ? Also, didn't many of those LA jobs go to Canada? Thanx.

[abelenkpe]

35. Canada, New Zealand and the UK have generous subsidies

Visual Effects is all the CG characters, props and environments in film and video. Here's a link to show the before and after of VFX: http://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewtucker/impressive-before-and-after-photos-of-cgi-magic#.ibLxYD9W72

Every film has VFX. Even dramas like Lincoln.

[appalachiablue]

38. Appreciate the info. & link; amazing work that goes into the film industry. Love it, enjoying

the Oscars now!

[HereSince1628]

18. the most general idea is unemployed equal surplus productivity

The role of government in times of recession is to put that productivity to work. The good news about that is recessions are times when borrowing money is cheap, labor costs are low, idle industry is willing to cut deals

Obama started off with the right idea but 3rd Way folks, the Privateers, and the just plain ornery obstructioniss on the Right don't want government involved in anything and they put the Kabosh on that as well as they could.

They did a damned good job of that in WI where now, pretty much every public asset in the state is being assessed for possible sale.

[AZ Progressive]

3. Able bodied people put to work is fine as long as there are decent jobs out there

If there aren't decent, accessible jobs or jobs that don't pay a livable wage, it's unfair and cruel. Even if there are jobs out there, if American's can't acquire the education, or if the jobs require a high enough intellect (you can't expect most people to be able to retrain for STEM jobs for instance, jobs that require an IQ that over 90% of the population doesn't have), then it's just as bad as having no jobs available.

And that's what Big Business has been working on for decades, to eliminate the need for more and more jobs or at least jobs that would pay Americans a decent wage.

This is what happens in third world countries, a lack of decent jobs (as well as decent education) is what leads to mass poverty.

[madfloridian]

6. Amen. I meant to include a comment on that issue in my OP.

Every trade agreement seems to cost us jobs here.

[TheKentuckian]

19. Many people have also seemingly deleted the whole concept of aptitude

Even some of the most intelligent people aren't a fit for every possible job.

Folks also don't get numbers once they get much size. Even if the population was able to fill every opening there wouldn't be appreciably less unemployment or change anything.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Every one of those principles has spawned untold suffering among the billions of Earth.

These are the "principles," which amount to an all-out effort to comfort the comfortable, that are going to end nature's experiment with life on Earth.

[HereSince1628]

9. The financiers have used that basic philosophy to enslave entire nations.

I'm having a senior moment trying to remember the tell-all book that revealed this back in the '90's. IIRC it was an insiders view of the activity of the World Bank.

Looking at the above core it's hard to see how it's different than Romney's plan for the privateers.

[HereSince1628]

10. It was Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

According to his book, Perkins' function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an economic hit man as follows:


Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

The epilogue to the 2006 edition provides a rebuttal to the current move by the G8 nations to forgive Third World debt. Perkins charges that the proposed conditions for this debt forgiveness require countries to privatise their health, education, electric, water and other public services. Those countries would also have to discontinue subsidies and trade restrictions that support local business, but accept the continued subsidization of certain G8 businesses by the US and other G8 countries, and the erection of trade barriers on imports that threaten G8 industries.

In the book, Perkins repeatedly denies the existence of a "conspiracy." Instead, Perkins carefully discusses the role of corporatocracy.[2]


-------

What is Greece fighting the EU about??????

[jwirr]

12. Greece is fighting the EU about this!

[erronis]

24. Is this what US/IMF/WB is doing to Venezuala?

Or is it just outright BigPetro/CIA intervention in that country? The hell with the rights of their citizens.

[HereSince1628]

25. Not sure, but it's been done all over the globe, if Ukraine burrows to buy arms

I suspect it'll happen to them. I suspect it exists in 'treaties' with Iraq and Afghanistan.

This is how modern corporate neocolonialism works. Poor countries should never accept the shackles of such debt.

[Jefferson23]

7. Cui bono?

From 2013

snip*Clearly Jonathan Cowan and Jim Kessler blundered in writing this editorial. It's badly written and its arguments are poorly constructed -- unlike other, much slicker Third Way materials. Worse, it's misleading. (We discussed the content here. Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times did an excellent analysis.)
At times the op-ed descends into vituperation and becomes, as Rep. Keith Ellison noted, "out of line" and "really ugly." We said there seemed to be "an almost palpable air of desperation" to it as well. That suspicion seems to be borne out in later remarks by co-author Jim Kessler, who said they wrote it because of Sen. Warren's support for a bill to expand Social Security. Said Kessler:

"She is a very compelling elected official and national figure. Her involvement in that particular bill, we just looked at it and said 'okay, this seems to be starting to get out of hand.'"

"Out of hand" is a telling phrase for a corporate-backed faction which has tried to keep the leftmost limits of debate very much in hand and under tight control. It has done so with striking success for decades, thanks in large part to its ability to influence politicians like Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

snip* One of this faction's key goals is to roll back three of the Democratic Party's signature achievements: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It is a measure of their power and influence that they've been able to get so many Democratic politicians to support Social Security cuts when public opinion is so strongly against them. (This poll even shows that large majorities would pay more in payroll taxes in return for stronger Social Security benefits.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/the-democrats-third-way-q_b_4410394.html

Voters of the Democratic party who do not understand the dangers within are not paying attention.

[madfloridian]

8. Your sentence in italics at the end of your post says it all.

"Voters of the Democratic party who do not understand the dangers within are not paying attention."

[NYC_SKP]

11. Already very disturbing, follow these trends out for a generation or two....

...and we get, I kid you not, something that looks like a scene from some horrific film like Soylent Green.

Americans, if you want to know your future, look at the ghettos of Mexico City.

Let's see how we look already in one US city:

[HereSince1628]

15. But surely, Brooklyn needs more Hoovervilles!?

As long as things look good for tourists and conventioners over on Manhattan, nattaproblem.

[L0oniX]

28. It ain't going to be like The Jetsons neighborhood.

[madfloridian]

30. That pic...

Don't mean to sound dumb, but is that in NY? Yes, horrific describes it.

[NYC_SKP]

33. Detroit, Michigan.

Amazing, and sad.

[abelenkpe]

36. Wow!

I had no idea. Knew things were bad in Detroit, but this bad?

[woo me with science]

45. Thank you for posting this picture.

Damn the corporate thieves and their corrupt, purchased politicians in both parties. There is NO excuse for this in the United States of America.

[jwirr]

13. Raygunomics republican style. Bill had us all fooled.

[HereSince1628]

16. But apparently not all his cabinet secretaries.

[jwirr]

17. Robert Reich has obviously seen the light since he has watched the results of what they worked on.

[daredtowork]

20. Create Work By Punishing People At the Bottom for Not Working

The most ludicrous part about this is the 5 year limit on welfare because it takes around 3 years to get anything done on the OTHER side of government programs that are supposed to help you get work - department of rehabilitation, social services, etc. Bureaucracies move incredibly slowly! Just the process of your own job hunt is slow when every job has a "process" that involves 3 interviews (if you're lucky enough to get that far).

This 5 year limit on welfare assumes you will only take one major Recession/Depression "hit" in your lifetime when the retirement goalpost is being moved back all the time! Let us not forget that people are often forced to live on welfare during the THREE year process it takes to get SSI. Let's say their health improves and they go back to work later. If they have to apply for SSI/SSDI again, they will not be able to survive another THREE YEAR hit!

Stop punishing people on the bottom until work magically appears for them! Provide work for them, and *poof*, watch how fast they will be off a system that is ONLY A LOAN and doesn't provide any direct cash for basic necessities. The current welfare system is so FUBAR and so wrong, but the people who have never been on it won't press to do anything about it because you don't understand unless you've seen it yourself.

[madfloridian]

23. The burden of it all falls on the most vulnerable. The rich just get richer and more smug.

[erronis]

26. Oh, they are creating work - lawyers, CCA, corporate prisons/police

Let's let the poor people stew a while without any income or way of making a living.

Then let's watch them try something/anything to get some bread on the table for their family.

Then let's arrest them for going outside of "the system", process them through the meat-grinder of the <quote>judicial</unqote> system (making the wealthy legal class happy), and then serve them over to the penal system. And here, no quotes needed around "penal". It is that way to destroy any human that enters it.

[daredtowork]

27. Don't forget the prison slave labor system. nt

[L0oniX]

29. Now if only they can get prison labor to build missiles and drones.

[daredtowork]

31. No joke - coming soon to a prison labor force near you! nt

[cantbeserious]

32. What If Progress Eliminates Most Jobs - How Will Third Way Help Then?

eom

[madfloridian]

37. They can't help at all.

They really think it is progress.

[cantbeserious]

39. Yes - The Point Exactly - DLC - Third Way - Destroyer Of Middle Class Prosperity

eom

[madfloridian]

40. And harming unions.

Sad.

[cantbeserious]

41. Yes - All Too True

eom

[nationalize the fed]

42. In Britain, The Royal Mail

has been privatized for a pittance. And look at who was involved:

Royal Mail privatised for up to £1.5bn less than City estimates of its value

Estimates of value ranged from £4bn to £4.8bn ahead of government sell-off for £3.3bn, business department reveals...

...The investment banks that advised on the sale, Goldman Sachs and UBS, told MPs on the business select committee in October that the flotation took place when financial markets were jittery and with the threat of a nationwide strike looming over Royal Mail...
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/07/royal-mail-privatised-city-estimates-value

And here, who is in charge of selling off Postal property? DiFi's husband.

Riling many here is the exclusive deal with CBRE Group, whose chairman, Richard Blum, is married to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).


Senator Dianne Feinstein with her husband Richard Blum at a Democratic election party in San Francisco, November 7, 2006.

A recent e-book by investigative journalist Peter Byrne details allegations of below-market sales to CBRE clients and investors. (CBRE has declined to comment on those claims.) A June audit by the Office of Inspector General raised unrelated "conflict of interest" concerns and noted "poor oversight" of the CBRE contract.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-78472344/

Too big to jail.

Attention Robert Reich: I'm not and will never be "Third Way".

[madfloridian]

44. Thanks for that post.

Feinstein and hubby never cease to surprise me by all their "involvements".

Very enlightening post. Bookmarking.

[blackspade]

43. Brava. Thank you.