It’s not the tax and spending cuts, it’s the destroyed trust that has doomed our economy
By Daniel Becker
In the comments to my post “A reminder from Obama’s February 2009 speech”, there is the following:
“I guess it relates to the fake Obama they had made up in their heads,…”
This sums up the early comments to the post suggesting that those who trusted Obama have only themselves to blame.
I addressed that concept in Obama, is he or isn’t he real…? In that post I presented transcripts of Obama’s speeches and responses to questions and then argued:
“Are those talking like Glen Greenwald correct in that people should not be surprised with Obama’s appointments? Maybe, but then based on the above Obama words, that would mean we (you and I) just plain have to approach our relationship with governing as suspect until proven otherwise. Unfortunately, that means we will always be a day late and a dollar short having never known at the time of the decision if we made the correct one because you can not go by what is said.”
I recommend people go and not only read the posting, but the comments. (History is always fun to review.)
I concluded that posting with:
“Do you know what happens to a person when they can never get a straight, no hidden agenda answer from one they count on? They go nuts.”
This all speaks to the issue of growing our economy, because to promote distrust in a developed economy where 77% of our capital is intangible (via 2005 World Bank study) is to be destroying the prime driver of our growth. I wrote about the issue of were our true wealth comes from a few times. For this posting I am drawing on Attention Republicans/Blue Dog Democrates: Tax cuts as stimulus work against your goal.
February 5, 2009.
From the World Bank study:
“An economy with a very efficient judicial system, clear and enforceable property rights, and an effective and uncorrupt government will produce higher total wealth.”
I concluded:
“The republicans/blue dogs, and those helping them by lending their “professionalism”, think they are only effecting a political strategy. In truth, they are destroying the very basis for the wealth they desire. Their entire campaign for decades to discredit, to instill mistrust in the primary institution we have, the US (We the People) government, has been the primary cause to our economic decline. To increase the level of distrust is to decrease the available “intangible capital” which is 77% of our wealth generating power. “
Which brings us to what we just experienced with the debt ceiling issue. It’s not just the resulting budget changes, it’s the overall cognitive change being made in the people regarding trust of our ability to access a candidate and make the choice that will produce the desired results. Clinton, as for the Dems made the first blow to our trust with “triangulation”. I can and have on my own gone back and read speeches and answers to questions by Clinton during his first run and it shows the same as I note regarding Obama in “is he or isn’t he real”. Obama is (knowingly or not) bringing our trust close to death.
Even the debt ceiling event is only the latest in a string of recent events that all drive an additional spike into the coffin of “trust”.
Last night on Racheal Maddow’s show, Chris Hayes, noted that we are now in a phase of governance where “created” crisis is the vehicle for results. Yes, Shock Doctrine governance level II.. It was presented from the perspective that the conservative mind set is the one employing such a tactic.
In my opinion, what he missed, and what makes this a unique form to this nation’s version of Naomie Klein’s Shock Doctrine is that there are enough economically conservative minded people in the opposing party (democratic party in this case) that the ruse can be played out with a more believable presentation than if just one side is playing along. Yes, both side play it differently, but would that not be expected based on the supposed “base party” paradigms? At no time during any of these “crisis” did the primary players on the democratic side resist the crisis by calling it out. Instead, they used it to get what the conservative faction of the party (a smaller faction since the last election) wants. These “wants” being very much inline with the republican non Norquist/Tea Party faction’s wants. Commonly referenced as Wall Street. In the end, no one to blame…It was the crisis.
This pattern has held true through out Obama’s current term. In the latest example, the proposed budget from the house progressive caucus, the largest of the democratic party caucuses never was mentioned by the president. Recall the single payer health insurance issue?
The issue for this posting is not the “wants”. It is not about the resulting policy from the latest ruse played on We the People. The prime issue, the issue always suggested, implied, bandied about, but never out and out confronted: Public Trust.
This latest Obama/conservative policy process has brought us closer than ever to the demise of our economy and thus our democracy not primarily by the furthering of the financial disequilibrium, but by the perpetuation and enlarging of the perimeters of social order that will now be distrusted. I think we have approached, if not completely included the full boundaries of American culture in that which is to be distrusted with the completion of this debt crisis event.
Sadly, I do not think Obama and those referred to as the “adults in the room” know what they have done. Instead. as I stated above, they believe they are just “effecting a political strategy”.
There are 2 versions of distrust. First is the distrust nurtured by those who have made it a political tool of their strategy for political dominance, power and fortune. It is the “…most dangerous words in the English language: I am from the government and I am here to help you”. These people do not know that in essence their distrust is part of the ruse. The other distrust is those who see the ruse, have acted via those they trusted only to find they can no longer be trusted. I don’t believe one is worse than the other, but I do know having both means the solution will be slower in materializing. In both cases those in power can not be trusted and those who know it, presently have no one in power to represent their solutions. It serves to make the what is the solution clear, it does not server to make it any easier or quicker in coming.
I do not believe this mode of operation is forever simply because we are not naturally selfish, self serving for survival sake creatures. We are not naturally so shallow in our collective thinking. It is only in our isolated, individual thought that we can and will be shallow. Of course this assumes that the concepts and application of virtual reality throughout our daily lives does not mutate us way from our natural self. A big assumption considering “reality” is in the phrase “virtual reality” and the character dynamic is trust.
Dan’l
I agree with your initial observation: trust is being destroyed, deliberately by the right, inadvertantly by the so called left (Obama). Possibly even more, for me, by the supposed real left… some leftish congressmen who always manage to fold, or be inadequate to the defense, and some leftish advocacy organizations (you know who you are) who manage to fight furiously over inconsequential issues while letting the main thrust of the enemy go entirely unopposed.
but i don’t agree with your conclusion… people are naturally shallow, except possibly where they have a direct survival interest in their trade or profession. as long “government” does not obviously affect their day to day sense of survival…. emphasis on obviously… they will simply not think about it, and be swayed without thinking by the organized thought-memes they are fed by the media.
i don’t think anyone can talk to a congressman without feeling “he’s treating me like a mental patient” unless the person so treated is in fact suffering from the mental disease the congressman is assuming.
which is a lot of us.
According to David Warsh and a book he recommends right wing and tea party intransigence goes back to Iran Contra. The liberals knocked the chip off the anti New Deal, anti constitution, militarist the cabals receiving federal corporate welfare funding, and the cabalists have been after the liberals and the New Deal ever since.
http://www.economicprincipals.com/issues/2011.07.24/1278.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconomicPrincipals+%28Economic+Principals%29
Reminds me of a comment attributed to LBJ in 1968.
Nixon has a brain and balls, but no heart.
Humphrey has a brain and a heart, but no balls.
LBJ had a way with words.
Methinks Obama is more like Humphrey. Or perhaps Carter.
Actually I contend the fundamental issue of politics is whom do you trust least. The left trusts big business least, the right government. Both have clearly proven untrustworthy, be it the banks, polluters etc. (Partly depends upon how you are influenced, if you can’t build on land due to the government then its the government that is untrustworthy).
More generally with society having degrated to ethics worse than a used car salesperson it is not suprising.
I say that perhaps Regan was right although he applied the meme to the wrong set of folks, domestically verify and trust after verification.
Daniel,
Your trust was not betrayed. If Obama had his way, your every liberal wish would have been granted, and then some.
There are two reason he hasn’t had his way:
1) The rest of the country doesn’t want to go there, so he doesn’t have the votes.
2) He is inept, in over his head, and lazy.
sammy,
The rest of the country has been conned. I think Obama is in on the scam.
After listening to the debt ceiling deceit the past few days I would say the whole country has been conned.
Tea party seems to enjoy being fooled.
The reductions are to “then year” wildly inflated estimates of unsubstantiated growing budgets for the next 10 years.
That means DoD 350B is from a phony (you might say fictional, but I call some people fascists) base of 6,500B. What is that 5% off a hugely inflated fictional figure?
No Obama is not inept, he got through Harvard with no Kennedy (Teddy was not inept either) money.
The “debt ceiling crisis” explained:
http://www.youtube.com/v/dkHsgATEewE” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” width=”198″ height=”163
This post like all others by DB is brilliant.
Obama the Steamroller gets what he wants, and what he has always wanted is to serve his hedge fund masters by abolishing actual government programs that work for people, replacing them with predatory programs that serve the wealthy.
Two of his tactics are to use only right wing ideas, and the other is to keep the microphone out of the mouths of actual left-of-center types. Both tactics were on continuous display during the phony deficit crisis. And the real coup was making a deal before Bernie or any Democrats could actually speak in the Senate.
Healthcare Reform is not a government program, it’s a private insurance mandate with subsidies.
Yes, the hedge fund pyramids grow ever higher, even as base on which they rest ever rots away to make them grow.