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NEWS & LETTERS, December 2007 - January 2008EditorialCandidates have no answers to crises in capitalismWith less than a year until the U.S. election for president, Bush's policy on Iraq has "stuck." At one time Republicans like Sen. McCain stood alone, even among Republicans, in advocating greater force in Iraq. Other Republican candidates are sounding the same note, now that the troop "surge" is associated with the chimera of successfully suppressing civil war. Even with public opinion against the war, the White House has added something to this brand of success, a little McCarthyism. The administration has put opponents on notice that speaking out and policy-making against the invasion and occupation borders on treason. Republican candidates have accepted the gift which has creeped into their rhetoric. DEMOCRATS BACK OFF It's one thing to see the Republicans still drawn to the odor of imperialism, even if they hold their distance from the disastrous Bush policy in Iraq. It's another to see the party in opposition among them. Even the leading Democratic contenders, Senators Clinton and Obama, are temporizing their opposition to the militarization of Iraq by the U.S., the "surge" (NEW YORK TIMES 9/27/07 and 11/25/07). (This is hardly a surprise given the quick-change artistry of the Kerry campaign in 2004, from Vietnam Veteran Against the War to militarist extraordinaire.) Their inability to fundamentally challenge Iraq policy is part of a larger fabric. The Iraq war was itself the effort of a single superpower to extend its imperial hegemony to the entire world. None of the contenders for leadership of the greatest capitalist power can offer a fundamental alternative to the crises in the U.S. and the global economy. Imperialism is the oft-tried but elusive path to stanching crises, through military spending, control of markets abroad, and disciplining labor at home. Meanwhile in the much-touted global marketplace, an hour's worth of wages by a U.S. worker buys less. A gallon of gas which workers need to get to work may well cost $4 in 2008. And the brunt of the mortgage crisis has been borne by working families in need of cash, borrowed against their homes. Mum's the word on these issues in the presidential debates up to now. GLOBALIZED DEBT And happy talk for globalization by both parties cannot cover another reality. The chain of debt and "underperforming loans" in the U.S. housing market extends into European credit markets as well. Globalization, which was meant to stabilize economies, has instead become the conduit of contagion. Big debt has become globalized like never before. In a rare bout of honesty, Fed Chairman Bernanke acknowledged more problems than the candidates when he told Congress that the economy, beset by these problems, would get worse before it gets better. And a clever term, "stagflation," coined in the 1973-1975 recession, has been dusted off. Now called "stagflation lite," it's still inflation without economic growth. In essence the levers normally used to regulate crises, especially monetary policy, have disappeared. The evidence of a tendency for the rate of profit to fall is visible and repair is not possible. Another effect of the globalization of capital has been to supply it with ever cheaper labor by creating production hubs in low-wage countries or exploiting immigrant labor in the economically developed countries. Democratic front-runners Sens. Clinton and Obama are united in regulating the exploitation of immigrant labor by the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and building the 700-mile fence on the southern border which enforces it. LIBERALISM WITHOUT A FOUNDATION The usual liberal bromide, that an equitable economy is a healthy one, cannot be backed up in the 21st century. There can no longer be a fund to create jobs or support working families in need of health care. The recent strikes by union auto workers at GM and Chrysler helped expose the economic crisis, which rolls back more and more of the working class's wages and benefits. Drivel by political columnists like David Brooks holds that Republicans are divided into two camps, those unwilling to compromise their crusade against gays and abortion and those who care most about tax cuts. Gov. Huckabee's pedigree as a Christian conservative is contrasted to the fiscal conservatism of pro-choice Mayor Giuliani. To these analysts, it's as if the election of 2004 never happened. Opposition to gay marriage as an issue was exercised late in the campaign, to win a few states for Bush, putting him over the top. Raising the troop count and holding on to the 2001 tax cut were fruits of Bush's victory. A Democratic majority in Congress since 2006 has done little to reverse either. The competing candidates and their parties are as one in their faith in the expansion of capital. They believe this will override crises and spread the wealth, either through so-called free trade and private enterprise or through federally funded safety nets. The major parties also need each other. Each, against the other, claims that alternatives can be found within the framework of what exists. However answers cannot come from within what exists because it is unviable. The candidates do not have any answers. |
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