This could be the road ahead
by Loren Adams, 24 January 2010
DECLINING PURCHASE POWER
The predominant factor I see affecting 2010 will be the declining
purchasing power of the middle class due to stagnated high unemployment (+10% officially, +17%
actually) and
wage-decreases across-the-board for workers still lucky enough to have jobs
— both union and non.
When labor contracts expire, management will demand major concessions,
including an average 15% decrease, elimination of no-layoff clauses, and the
curtailment of fringe benefits and retirement packages. The UAW set the
precedent by conceding major give-backs, a decision that will be used as the
primer during upcoming negotiations for most union workers — never
mentioning the reconstituted billions in bonuses to bankers, insurance and Wall
Street brokers that were generously bailed out by middle-class taxpayers.
The double standard will be evident to most, yet a significant segment
will be counter-influenced by religious propaganda to kill any hope of decent
livelihoods for the workforce as a whole, and thus the overall economy will suffer.
America’s long-standing marriage to religion (namely, the current virulent
kind) is its Achilles’ Heel.
The toxic element is religion hijacked by the right which dupes the
masses into believing unfairness is somehow fair and fairness is “socialism” or
some other wretched label dredged up from the McCarthy Era to vilify any
proposal to remedy a social ill. While the Republican Party is Robin Hood in
reverse, right-wing religion is Jesus Christ in reverse. Both are now joined at
the hip to form a movement destructive to America’s future. In actuality, what the
duo aims for is not fairness, but favoritism.
The right can never see the wrong in shortchanging workers while
concentrating wealth into the hands of the obscenely rich — to the
detriment of the whole financial system. They never saw it coming in 1929; they
don’t recognize it now. It’s as if they WISH the world would fit their magical
myths. The prince is praised while the pauper is pummeled — in direct
contradiction to Jesus’ precepts.
Robbers of bubblegum from a convenience store get longer sentences than
banksters stealing billions, but somehow that's okay with the righteous.
If the vast majority of Americans do not have the purchasing power for
appliances, vehicles, homes, clothing and other goods, the entire house of
cards comes tumbling down. How simple is that to understand? Yet they cannot
see — blinded by greed and cultism. Jim Jones’ followers weren’t stupid;
they were hypnotized into committing mass suicide by a charismatic figure
— like a Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin. The present analogy is
not too far off. National suicide comes from internal influences, as Abraham
Lincoln forewarned.
Companies will claim unless their demands are met, they will either have
to close shop or move overseas for cheap (slave) labor. Union reps will have
the gullibility to believe the hype, and so the American worker will be stuck
coming home with a smaller and smaller paycheck to pay larger and larger bills.
Thus, the purchasing power of the average will shrink to basics.
As a domino effect, look for companies specializing in luxury goods to
vanish — including some high-priced electronics, automobiles,
recreational vehicles, entertainment, tourism, furniture and home improvement
merchandise.
Entire families will consolidate households, adult children — some
as old as 50 — will move in with parents, and vice-versa. At the same
time, nationally houses will sit vacant, falling into termite, rat-infested
disrepair. The once-famous “Americana Strip” will see boarded-up stores,
imposing ‘for-lease’ signs lining the streets begging for clients, silly clowns
and costume characters waving wildly at disinterested drivers in an effort to
lure customers to dying businesses, and national-chain restaurants with empty
parking lots forced into bankruptcy.
Foreclosures will still plague the country. Is there a saturation point?
In early 2010 nearly one-fourth of mortgages will be at some
stage of delinquency; families on the verge of losing homes and businesses at
rates approaching the 1930s. The new homeless will erect tent cities, the 21st
Century "Hoovervilles," more appropriately named
"Bushvilles" or "Georgetowns."
These are the visible signs of decay. The invisible are more lethal:
hunger, lower living standards, declining health, shorter lifespans, crime,
decrease in education, and destructive political wrangling. Seeds of civil
unrest have been sown; now we wait for harvest.
The great spiraling down is the snapshot I see for 2010. Unfortunately,
this recessionary trend will not soley be attributable to George W. Bush’s
horrible legacy (although his reign is directly responsible), because FOX and
friends are still in the business of spinning for its red-state base. FOX is
the propaganda tool of the far-right, and it will continue to represent wealthy
interests to the detriment of everyone else, inflaming conservative
evangelicals to wage culture war so the government will be paralyzed to act on
the nation's behalf. Every proposed solution is packaged into a character
issue, a heart-throb, for the religious pawns to defeat with all due spiritual diligence.
And who does the packaging? The greed element, the Devil himself.
The feds, naturally, will attempt stop-gap measures with mid-terms in
sight. But additional public works appropriations will be met with stiffer
resistance since the 2009 stimulus package had little impact, at least visible
to Average Joe. Most dollars were logjammed by bureaucratic red-tape, earmarks
and behind-closed-door deals that Franklin D. Roosevelt would never have
approved. BHO is no FDR.
HEALTHCARE REFORM
Democratic leaders heralded this as a great achievement. The compromises
and deals neutered most “reform.” But the most glaring defect is the
start-date: 2014? What good will it do for a dwindling economy NOW? Doesn’t
this delay allow the health insurance industry to gouge Americans further and
jack up prices before the law takes effect? Congress allowed a loophole for
credit card companies to jack up interest rates (X 3) before effective date, so
why not health care?
If the Senate version passes reconciliation over the House version,
there will be no benefits in 2010 — which means the Republicans, as
radicalized as they are, have a shot at retaking the House, or at least
trimming down the Democratic majority to gridlock.
The unfunded mandate portion of the bill also poses risk for the party
and uninsured young people. If healthy young people with low-paying jobs or
none are required to buy health insurance at the astronomical rates that private
insurers jack up by 2014 (some predict as high as 63% of disposable income),
there’s going to be hell to pay — from either young Americans or a resurgent
Republican Party repealing the act.
A WEAK DEMOCRATIC PARTY – AN ELEPHANT SCARED OF A MOUSE
The frailty of Democratic leaders, especially in the Senate, is the
problem. Harry Reid and others were quick to capitulate and slow on conviction.
Obama failed to push for that which he so loudly pledged 2007-2008. Without a
strong public option, there is no reform and no cost-containment. Single-payer
/ Medicare-for-all would have been the best solution, but Democrats —
with hard-fought, huge majorities in both houses — were too timid to act
— like a towering elephant frightened by a tiny mouse. Barack Obama went
back on his firm campaign words and will pay heavily if the House version isn’t
allowed to override the Senate’s.
Conceding to Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson over 56 progressive senators
is a sign of weakness on the part of both the Majority Leader and the
President. As much as Joe Lieberman is despised, he wouldn’t have been awarded
the prominent Homeland Security chairmanship hadn’t Obama given the say-so. The
party caucus was ready to toss him. Even when asked by Rachel Maddow, Al Gore flatly denied Joe Lieberman would ever
join a Republican filibuster against healthcare reform that included a public
option. Joe threatened to do just that... then Reid caved like a wet noodle.
The progressive base is not what is hurt in this process; America is.
“CHANGE” under Obama is no longer what we can believe in unless he changes
himself into a more firm, principled leader like he promised so many million
supporters. Where is the Abe Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt we expected and so
desperately needed at this critical time? Obama’s followers are not like
Bush’s; they’ll walk away if he loses credibility. The other party will win by
default — even with a Sarah Palin leading a misinformed mob of tea-baggers
to the capitol steps.
CONCLUSION: 2010 will continue the downward spiral of American power
— started as a result of the failed, treasonous Bush administration. The
American people will lose more ground in purchasing power and living standards,
but a sizable portion of them will believe Obama is to blame rather than his
predecessor due to talk-radio, FOX and religious charlatans. Thus, division
lines will be drawn between Americans who base their actions on facts and
reason and those that base them on fear and fiction. The division will cause a
form of government paralysis, not because of tea-baggers and 9/12ers, but
because Democratic leaders react so weakly. 