Monthly Archives: August 2011

News Flash — Jon Taplin Is Back!

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New Anarchy vs. New Fascism? — Talk About “Living in interesting times!”

Jon Taplin has returned to his blog. Please read Jon Taplin’s insights into the deepening political and economic crisis. See his posts,  “Why Now?” and  “Brave New World Redux.”  Jon Taplin is the writer who explained the ongoing disconnection and unreality in America and the Western world with his series of essays on the “Interregnum.”

Now, in his two recent essays, prompted by the riots in London, Jon Taplin suggests that a “New Anarchy” may lie ahead for the Western World.  If for every action there is a reaction, I’ll up the ante by suggesting that the New Anarchy may be an attempted revolt against a New Corporate-Fascism.

We may live to see, in the near or medium future, a great struggle between the forces of Anarchy and Fascism.  Some may believe it will be the Apocalypse.  Whether or not you believe in Apocalypse, the struggle will likely feel like an upheaval of apocalyptic proportions.

The following words are Jon Taplin’s; I took the liberty of highlighting some words in bold:

“Whatever political will the country might have had for a WPA style program —putting millions of unemployed construction workers back on the job fixing America’s third world infrastructure—now seems to have evaporated. It was perhaps our last chance to avert the Coming Anarchy. With no government infrastructure programs to put people back to work, the private sector is left  trying to create jobs for the 28 million people who are either officially unemployed, working part time but wanting full time work or “discouraged workers” who have stopped looking for a job. This of course is not going to happen—and so we are all facing the problem of a “new normal”, in which a large portion of the high school only population may never find work. Liberal pundits mourn the loss of good jobs for this cohort, but as Bernard Avishai warned in “Strategy and Business” way back in 1997, “Any job that is still simple and repetitive enough to employ a semi- or non-skilled person is going to be even more pressured by new software or by contractor-suppliers in China and Brazil.”  — from Brave New World Redux

I would have some hope for America if President Barack Obama would appoint Jon Taplin to his inner circle of advisers at the White House. Also needed at the White House, Washington Post business and economy writer Steven Pearlstein. See “Who’s to blame for this mess? Let’s start with the corporate lobby.” on page G1 of the Post, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2011.

— John Hayden

London Is Burning

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This just in from a blog in London:

Tonight, in one of the greatest cities in the world, society is ripping itself apart.

If you want to know the latest in the American-European Political-Debt Crisis of 2011, I recommend you read blogs like Penny Red.

If you want a preview of what’s coming to an American city near you, California is no longer the barometer. Look at what’s going on in London, or Dublin, or Greece, Italy, Portugal, and the entire European Union. Europe is now in worse shape than America, but maybe not for long.

Here’s an excerpt from today’s report in Penny Red:

Tonight in London, social order and the rule of law have broken down entirely. The city has been brought to a standstill; it is not safe to go out onto the streets, and where I am in Holloway, the violence is coming closer. As I write, the looting and arson attacks have spread to at least fifty different areas across the UK, including dozens in London, and communities are now turning on each other, with the Guardian reporting on rival gangs forming battle lines. It has become clear to the disenfranchised young people of Britain, who feel that they have no stake in society and nothing to lose, that they can do what they like tonight, and the police are utterly unable to stop them. That is what riots are all about.

And more from Penny Red:

 This morning, as the smoke begins to clear, those of us who can sleep will wake up to a country in chaos. We will wake up to fear, and to racism, and to condemnation on left and right, none of which will stop this happening again, as the prospect of a second stock market clash teeters terrifyingly at the bottom of the news reports. Now is the time when we make our choices. Now is the time when we decide whether to descend into hate, or to put prejudice aside and work together. Now is the time when we decide what sort of country it is that we want to live in. Follow the #riotcleanup hashtag on Twitter. And take care of one another.

I also recommend Baroque in Hackney, who can provide other pertinent links in Britain.

And today, in Wisconsin, the people are voting. I wonder if what they decide, one way or another, will be able to slow down, one iota, the spread of the chaos in the Western World.

I have to go to work now.

— John Hayden

American Debt Crisis: Many Questions About the Future of American Democracy

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The first battle of the American Debt Crisis is over. Perhaps the deciding battle will be fought in the 2012 elections.Everyone’s focused on the outcome of the presidential contest, but control of the House and Senate is at least as important.

IN 2011, NEARING THE END OF THE FIRST TERM OF PRESIDENT OBAMA, CONGRESS IS SPLIT. REPUBLICANS HOLD A MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND DEMOCRATS HOLD A MAJORITY IN THE SENATE. Graph by Mattbot69 via Wikimedia Commons

Questions:

  • Is America now a three-party nation? Tea Party, Democratic Party, Republican Party? Which party, if any, will dominate the 2012 Congressional elections?
  • Will another party emerge? I’m thinking it might be called the Christian-Democratic Party. I think the Tea Party is clearly out of touch with bedrock Gospel values. The Democratic Party in America, oddly enough, more nearly reflects the Gospel message, but Democrats are so focused on being secular that they can’t connect their policies with values.
  • Exactly how real is the “Debt Crisis?” Republicans and Tea Party people have repeated “spending problem” and “debt crisis” over and over until it has become the common wisdom. But clearly, in comparison to the situation in Greece, or the European Union, or Japan, or many other countries, the U.S. financial situation if solid. The debt is not sustainable in the long run. But is it really a “crisis” in the immediate future? No. I would call it a “serious problem,” not a crisis. Common-sense problem-solving is needed, by reasonable people, in a non-crisis atmosphere. Can we do that?
  • Who are the winners and losers? I just don’t know. Except this: the core American programs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are safe for now.
  • Misinformation abounds all around. Especially this: Politicians are purposely misleading the public regarding the prospects of jobs and economic recovery. People need to know that we have entered a new reality in a global economy, and the age of American Privilege is over.

Now I have to go to work. Maybe I’ll write more thoughts about a Christian-Democratic Party later. It’s probably not what you think.

— John Hayden

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