Robert Kuttner is a co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine. While he writes on a variety of subjects, he focuses on economic policy, both domestic and international. He also writes a syndicated editorial column, which was awarded the John Hancock Award for excellence in business and financial journalism. Robert has also won the Jack London Award for labor journalism.
In his new book “The Squandering of America” he explores the history, the politics and the social forces that have turned the American Dream into a pipe dream for many Americans. In this day and time when everything seems screwed up, backwards, and headed down the wrong road generally, the word “squandering” sums up exactly how I feel. Seven years ago, I was dumb and happy and thought America was in pretty good shape. Today, I am disgusted, frustrated and regularly mad as hell. While this turn of events snuck up on me, it seems overnight, Robert was ahead of the curve. He wrote “Revolt of the Haves: Tax Rebellions and Hard Times” in 1980. I can’t say I have read that one, but I can imagine the plot, considering the fact that 27 years later, I am living it.
To put it bluntly, Robert thinks we (Americans) are in trouble. We don’t like to hear this. We much prefer to believe the soft lies from the people in power or who want to be in power. It’s like the water shortage in Atlanta. The critical nature of the crisis surprises and concerns most of us and who do we turn to for the solution: the people that either created the problem or ignored the problem at a time when it could have been solved. If responsibility is the theme of the day, why is no one being held responsible about anything?
It is obvious that Robert believes a lot of the current problems are the result of government’s failure to regulate business. In years past, we blamed government for being inefficient, wasteful and incompetent. This led to a general disdain for government regulation and a reliance on the free market to correct itself. Now, it is not the general ineffectiveness of government that is the problem, it is the fact that government simply isn’t involved.
You don’t have to look any further than toys from China. The Consumer Product Safety Commission which should be protecting our children from crappy toys is underfunded and understaffed because we prefer less government and tax cuts. The crazy thing is that the Acting Chairwoman (Acting?) told Congress the Commission didn’t want more money or more authority. Now that is a mentality that should be foreign to us, but half of us in this country think it is just great to eviscerate government. Tell that crap to the kids that died from the lead poisoning!
Think about it. If we didn’t have government regulation, your water might not be fit to drink, your car might not have air bags and your medicine might kill you. Regulation is not a bad thing. Bad regulation may be. Inefficiency may be. But, we threw the baby out with the bathwater. Government waste and inefficiency are not legitimate reasons to abandon any and all regulation.
According to Robert, Reagan began this experiment in the ability of the free market to regulate itself. It is an experiment he thinks has failed. The free market has turned Wall Street into a casino, where people don’t invest so much as gamble. The subprime mortgage scandal is the free, unregulated market at work.
The answer to this squandering is new leadership. Robert obviously favors Democrats over Republicans, although he isn’t convinced the DP is strong enough to lead us in a new direction. He doesn’t think Democrats have been looking out for the little guy. He points to the ’06 election and successful campaigns like that of Jim Webb for Governor of Virginia to support his contention that people want leaders who are concerned about the plight of the middle class. According to Kuttner, Webb started out running to the right of the incumbent, George Allen, and changed his positions as he campaigned and began to understand the frustrations of the middle class.
In the presidential race, Kuttner doesn’t see Hilliary and Barack as sufficiently distancing themselves from the power brokers of Wall Street to steer the country in a new direction.
He seems to be encouraged by John Edwards who is not taking money from Wall Street and has accepted public financing of his campaign. I get the feeling that he thinks Edwards has found the right message, but he may not be the right candidate. The $400 haircut problem.
You can read a summary of the book’s chapters or listen to the interview, but whatever you do, realize that until we get the money out of politics, things probably will not change.
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