If I actually wanted to label my own political ideas, I would call myself a socialist democrat. Mixed markets, universal healthcare and regulated banks and markets. I think that the rationale for all those items is pretty friggin obvious by now.
I also know that people need a reason to work, whether it's just to keep the bills paid and to live frugally, or to buy extra things they want and to make as much as they can.
The harder you work, the more talented and knowledgeable you are, the more you should be rewarded. Makes perfect sense to me. These last few years, no matter how hard you work, the ceiling is still banging you in the head.
The reported salaries and the "bonuses" that the execs and consultants and so on and so on haven't been stopped by a ceiling of any kind.... When I look at the amount a schoolteacher makes, or a nurse, or a fireman....someone who makes a real difference in people's lives, health and safety...it makes me sick.
The large corporations, banks and sundry that are standing with their hands out for bailout money were all whiny at the idea of salary caps. One of their arguments kinda had me scratching my head...
Last week, Obama said it was "shameful" that Wall Street firms handed out about $20 billion in bonuses as taxpayers bailed them out. It may be unwise, but do politicians believe that top talent can be recruited and retained without the possibility of a hefty payout?
Um. Ya. The same talent that has decimated the same companies that have their hands out.
Real talent for sure! They would be great on the Gong show.
Hard work and success should be rewarded, that is supposed to be part of capitalism, or at least what I used to think was capitalism. Everyone should be able to get ahead. Nice fantasy. That is not even remotely how reality works as we well know.
I have not actually done the research so I will pose this as a question? How many of the richest CEO's actually came from working class backgrounds? I know that there are some who rose from our ranks on their own, but I wonder what the actual stats are? The Bush dynasty is an example of who you know being of far more importance than what you know. It was amazing to many of us to see Obama elected, he started out as just one of us folks.
The mum working two jobs, named employee of the month at both, and then another full time job when she gets home and takes care of her kids, gets....bupkiss. No high salaries and bonuses for her.
The fellow who has worked for the same company for 20 years, consistently saving them money because of his loyalty and devotion. The same guy that gave up weekends and time with his family to prove that devotion. He gets a pink slip as soon as the wind changes, a directive from the CEO making $20 million a year.
Healthcare is treated as a free market commodity in the US.
You want to live? It will cost you.
You get sick? All your hard work will probably go down the drain. Healthcare and dignity are for the rich folks apparently.
Yanno. I am from Canada, us socialists think that healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
For everyone.
Hell, we even legislate it as mandatory in some provinces and GIVE it away to those making under $25,000, at least in the province I live in. Commies ain't we?
You can work hard, and never have to worry that all that hard work will be wiped out in a heartbeat because you have to pay 50 different medical billers, and shell out all the grocery money for medications. Makes sense to me.
We have kept some fairly tight reins on our banks here against the advice of the think tanks. Canada has only have 5 large banking companies. Two of them posted a profit last week. In this global economy, that is really saying something eh?
Over the years conservatives have been trying to chip away at the same regulations that they now tout as keeping Canada a little more stable than banks all over the world. (they want to take all the credit for that of course, but it wasn't them.)
But because our economy was globalized, outsourced and offshored over the last few decades, we are also facing many of the same fates as the rest of the world; job loss, debt....etc etc.
We are all in the same boat to a certain extent, but because of the few safeguards the Harpercons (Bush lite) hadn't gotten around to erasing yet, all the hard work of previous generations will hopefully hold us above water. The Harpercons are still hard at work to install them good Republican values, but doing some backtracking because they got their bluff called, and they panicked and ran. Cowards to boot, they are.
So what is capitalism? Hard work and rewards for that hard work, or the Robber barons who expect their entitlements and something for nothing? They want only the elite few to be paid the BIG bucks, and the bonuses no matter what. Even as the company they helped run into the ground is destroying countless lives through lay offs. Even as the company ceases to exist. They really don't give a damn beyond taking the money and running.
All of this bad behaviour and greed has been condoned and enabled by the Republicans and Conservatives and blue dog Dem types. There is absolutely zero compassion for anyone in what they consider to be a lower caste, (ie: not a corporation) and there is a ferocious defence of this way of thinking.
The day before Yesterday's excellent diary by Cenk Uygur talks about the flaw in the banking sector. I think it extends to the other corporations as well. The Flaw in the System: The Bankers Don't Care About the Banks They aren't one of us, so screw the lot of ya.
Naomi Klein calls what has happened in China, McCommunism.....
The games have been billed as China's "coming out party" to the world. They are far more significant than that. These Olympics are the coming out party for a disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism."
Emphasis mine.
Which if you take the time to watch the video, will show it's not all that different with what has been going on here in North America really. Disaster capitalism and McCommunism are eerily similar, except for the fact that many here in North America willingly gave their rights away because of the boogeymen, and the Chinese were not given a choice.
Kinda pathetic isn't it?
But at least there is some consolation that it's not just us....Hell no, it's worldwide.
While so many were busy rooting for the war on terra, trying to keep gays from marrying and women from having reproductive freedoms....The thieves came in the back door and took over and had a big 8 year long party. It's a helluva mess to even try to clean up.