"The Ghost of Tom Joad" - Bruce Springsteen with Tom Morello
A killer version of a song that has been much on my mind the past couple of days.
I think it is hard to overstate the degree to which the vast majority of the American public has been betrayed by its ruling elite, by which I mean not only the political powers that be -- basically all Republicans and too many Democrats -- but also the business and media elites, all of whom have failed to fulfill their obligations to the society writ large -- none of them have done their jobs with even the most basic competence or with much integrity. I watch in despair as the hoped for recovery seems to be fizzling, while the basic problem of too little demand and the dislocations associated with deleveraging and the real estate bubble drag on for a third year.
But, of course, in many ways the public has earned this betrayal through its own ignorance and apathy -- its own greed and misguided sense of the world.
At some point the President has to decide if he is going to continue to passively hope for luck -- that the May jobs figures were just an aberration and that the recovery will continue slowly but steadily. I think the better bet though is to take stock of the present situation -- especially if it persists with next month's numbers and consider a plan to tackle joblessness, even a plan that is rejected, as it surely will be by the Republican House. It is time to further explore drawing lines in the sand -- first Medicare and now jobs. I would propose a very straightforward WPA type program to put people to work and dare the Republicans to reject it. I actually don't think that it is that difficult a call to make.
Embracing austerity, possibly defaulting on the debt, and threatening to cut social programs at this time, as the GOP is doing, is the course of callous madmen -- it is as good a time as any to highlight the madness and the meanness and to just say no.
Be prepared to pin this on the Republicans if they move ahead and try and blow up the economy, which they likely will. Our opponents do not care about the consequences of their actions -- but we've got to make sure that the public understands the game that they are playing.
