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Episode 7
Ping Pong Politics & Primal Fears
Socialism vs. Capitalism
Synopsis
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Investigation of socialism/nationalism as an established adjunct to US capitalism. Socialism for banking, airline, agriculture (corn, sugar, and soybean), and auto industries? Bailouts appear to be largely non-partisan. Examination of communism as a worldwide failure: so what's to fear? One potential interviewee's opinion: "Flush with military might and bolstered by a mass right-wing culture of arrogant self-righteousness, US capital launched a withering counterattack against the New Deal legacy, culminating in an almost three-decade orgy of anti-welfare legislation, imperialist aggression, privatization, and deregulation. The underlying economic philosophy was embodied by Alan Greenspan, whose tenure as Federal Reserve chairman (1987-2006) spanned the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II presidencies. Treated as some kind of oracle for those nineteen years, Greenspan could only express "shock" in 2008 when forced to acknowledge, at a congressional hearing, that his "view of the world was not working." The premise of this show is that our US government is capitalist through and through, whether in its Republican or its Democrat mutation (Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson, serving under Clinton and Bush II, respectively, are both investment bankers, from the same firm --Goldman Sachs, and Rubin is also a key adviser to Obama). The bipartisan "bailout" has been justifiably referred to as a giveaway and even as a robbery. Socialism it is not. A socialist response involves not just state control of the economy, but working-class control of the state. Since the working class is the majority, this means democratic control, but democracy can only be implemented if the majority is organized, which it is not. So no worries. There is no end to imperial overreach in sight. We also consider the question: Is Obama a socialist? No. Could he become one? Unlikely. But, could he be pushed to promote policies pointing in a socialist direction? This will depend on whether massive popular pressure can be mobilized for universal healthcare and the like. Fox vs MSNBC talk show hosts, Greenspan/Bernanke/Goldman Sachs and/or representatives, plus a panel of comedians and political/economic experts and advisers.
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