Social Issues Sociology Can Be Fun for Everyone

Social Issues Sociology Can Be Fun for Everyone Each situation differs. To mention every social issue is beyond the range of this lesson, but we'll look at a few examples of social problems that are recognized and important problems in america today. In many areas of the planet, commercial sex is a significant supply of HIV infection. The root cause of social problems is due to unemployment, which is additionally a social problem itself. A lot of the modern day problems that have hit conventional media together with social media headlines incorporate a list of social justice problems that it is possible to find at our essay writing services. There are a couple main things you will need to learn before you even begin picking social issues essay topics. There are a few crucial things which you will need to understand to be able to write up a fantastic essay. When you compose a social issue essay, it is crucial to demonstrate your private view of the issue. If you would like to compose a controversial essay, you definitely have to look for the greatest social issues topics or satire topics. Writing an intriguing essay about trendy topics is an opportunity to reveal your knowledge of earth. It is wise to choose a topic you could easily research on. You have to make sure you've picked an adequate topic so that you may submit a high-quality essay. Social Issues Sociology Can Be Fun for Everyone You also receive a wonderful opportunity to dig more into research! It is contingent on the problem and the response of the members of the society also. Distinct individuals may hold different and strongly-held views, which aren't easily changed. Also, sociological problems have a tendency to be terribly unwieldy for anybody unfamiliar with Sociology. Moreover, ethical issues can be recognized and treated easily whereas social issues may have a lengthy time to come into the area. Social Innovation can take a good deal of forms and is curr ently used by plenty of unique varieties of organizations with a large array of goals and missions. Dwelling in a costly urban area is additionally a public issue, one where housing can be tough to acquire, and is quite costly. The ability of social innovation is that it's a procedure that can be adapted and applied to an assortment of organizations and societal issues. Ideas, Formulas and Shortcuts for Social Issues Sociology Music is a culprit also. Ethics can be thought of as a universal phenomenon. Individuals must come to be actively involved in discussing the issue. Remain attentive to come across relevant examples. Social Issues Sociology Secrets That No One Else Knows About The circumstance is even direr when there is just one parent. Also, social issues differ from 1 society to another, based on several explanations. The social constructionist view emphasizes that a condition or behavior doesn't come to be a social problem unless there's a perception that it sho uld be regarded as a social issue. There's no doubt that it's effective in the feeling that public humiliation is among our best fears and we try to prevent any situation that would make us a social stigma. What You Must Know About Social Issues Sociology Social innovation permits them to apply those skills to opportunities which may have otherwise been overlooked. Quality healthcare is a social issue that leads to problems for people who dwell in urban environments. Social issues cannot be solved by individuals alone, but ethical issues can be avoided easily. Then there are the wellness concerns. Decisions like the latter are not simple to imagine. Social problems often involve issues that influence the actual world. Utilize all you know to reveal your knowledge of the planet, and bring out good old philosophical theories. Rather, it's part of life which everyone must live with. For instance, the wealth and prestige experienced by one person could be quite different from that of her or his siblings. It is very important to understand that not all things that happen in society are raised to the degree of social troubles. Have a look to be acquainted with 15 of the most often encountered difficulties that young men and women face due to the society. It's these social problems that are drawing fans to look after these fledgling heroes since they try to deal with everyday life and grapple with their newfound powers. Coping with the many expectations of the society, like scoring well in college examinations, holding work, acquiring a great social life and so on makes life tough for youngsters since they face the issue of time administration. Hence, life of a youngster may appear to be totally spotless, but dig in the surface and you'll learn almost every individual has something or the other to be concerned about.

Presentation of In Flanders Fields †script Essay

Presentation of In Flanders Fields – script Our presentation is on In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. There is an irregular rhyme scheme = aabba aabc aabbac Almost all lines are 8 syllables long The rhythm sounds like that of a nursery rhyme – there is an iambic pentameter with a very regular line length and rhyme scheme. This is in great contrast to the actual words all about death and war. * Line 1 – ‘In Flanders Fields the poppies blow’ presents a nice natural image of poppies swaying in the breeze. * Line 2 – ‘Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘row on row’ signifies the enormous number of graves, as it is not a definite, but an infinite number of crosses. We all†¦show more content†¦This is surprising because the 1st stanza was all imagery and symbolism and this is very different. The statement is short, and abrupt, which makes it sound bitter.  · It is quite a shock because not many poems are written from this point of view and a lot of people don’t like to think about it at all.  · This abruptness perhaps symbolises the fact that nothing can be done to change this fact, as it is just that: a fact.  · ‘Dead’ is capitalised, as though the poet is referring to all those who died as one collective person. People not in the war would probably refer to them like this, anonymously. * Line 1 – ‘Short days ago’ this brings home the suddenness of death in war. * Line 2– ‘We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ this helps the reader to identify with the dead. It contrasts with the previous capitalisation of ‘Dead’ because it is reminds the reader of how these soldiers were all real people, who had feelings and watched sunsets.  · Sunsets are beautiful things very unlike the war. They appear to be an eternal cycle, which is very different to these peoples’ lives, and reminds us of our mortality. * Line 3 – ‘Loved and were loved, and now we lie†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ ‘loved and were loved’ shows that the dead soldiers cared about people who cared about them, but it is in the past tense. This makes it sound as if now they are dead no-one cares about them. They are forgotten, which makes the next lineShow MoreRelatedSample Assignment28504 Words   |  115 Pageswhy. Technical competence of reward proposals The discussion of reward proposals naturally improved throughout the report. Phase 1 was often a little unclear in the way that the compensable factors were explained and justified. Perhaps a better presentation could have been achieved – although there is the odd confusion between person and job based factors (e.g. p20). Similarly the discussion of the development of multiple structures on the basis of a single set of comp factors is not clearly explained

Autobiography Essay - 1967 Words

I will always remember the effect of a civil war in Nigeria that left hundreds of thousands of children malnourished. Tens of thousands of the rural population were afflicted with different types of diseases. Malaria fever was prevalent, and it was the main cause of death among children and infants. I can recall vividly sitting in an empty room after the end of the civil war in 1970, and assured my self that I must go beyond the confines of my continent – Africa to seek knowledge so as to assist in alleviating the suffering of my people. After I had graduated from high school, my dream of coming to the United States of America was far fetched reality. At that time in my life, coming to America was almost impossible. My family lost†¦show more content†¦My aspiration after high school was to become a medical doctor. I knew my resources were limited, and going to medical school with limited amount of money was an unlikely impossibility. Based on these constrai ns, I opted to at least obtain a college degree in business. I was in Nigeria last summer and the standard of living is still remarkably low and the average life expectancy is extremely low when compared to that of the industrialized nations. My observations have inspired me to pursue a degree in public health. I have the intent to assist in educating the masses in any third world setting, and to held rural areas to establish health clinics under the auspices of the World Health Organization, or through other none profit organizations. Presently, I am interested in epidemiology because it is a scientific method used to investigate, analyze and prevent or control a health problem in a given population. It gives me the opportunity to perform statistic based research aimed at controlling, or eliminating infectious diseases. As a research epidemiologist, I will have the opportunity to work with World Health Organization in various parts of the world - assisting humanity. Academic Experience At North Texas State University, I completed my BBA degrees with an overall grade point average of 3 point and where as my GPA in my main area of concentration – Administrative Management was a 3Show MoreRelatedAutobiography Sample610 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Does the task of memoir writing puzzle you? It’s alright. This autobiography example for students is here to show you that memoir writing can be easy and even exciting. All you need to do is to scroll this page down and enjoy this amazing sample and the related, practical hints. A Lazy Student Autobiography Example An autobiography is a story of your own life. Even if you think you don’t have much to include in your memoir, you can still make it quite interesting. Bill Gates said: â€Å"I always chooseRead MoreThe Autobiography Of Malcolm X Essay1152 Words   |  5 Pages1 2 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X Introduction Malcolm X?s autobiography written in collaboration with Alex Haley is an exciting story of personality transformation. During several years, Malcolm X told Haley his biography in several extensive interviews. Haley described and orchestrated the stories and Malcolm X edited and endorsed every part of the book. The story is narrated in the first person and it seems like Malcolm was writing this of hisRead MoreThe Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin1966 Words   |  8 Pages In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin and Blaine McCormick we got a wonderful look into the life of Benjamin Franklin. In his story he taught use a lot about the world of business and how to run a successful business. In this essay I will be talking about some of the few things Ben Franklin said that really stood out to me and what I think they meant. Then, I will talk about his inventions and how those inventions had evolved today. Then, I will talk about Ben Frankl in 13Read MoreEssay Benjamin Franklins Autobiography 1120 Words   |  5 Pagesin the way that this legendary tale pans out. A hero of American Revolution, this novel depicts 18th century realism accurately while logging Franklins personal conception on human nature and social community. Many look at Benjamin Franklins Autobiography as your typical rags to riches tale yet, the truth and falsehood throughout the pages is unknown, raising many questions and concerns. As this book was written in segments over a stretched period of time, we must analyze this account of his lifeRead MoreEssay on Benjamin Franklins Autobiography1429 Words   |  6 PagesESSAY ON BEN FRANKLIN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography is an inspiring tale of his personal, as well as public achievement throughout his life. Franklin’s life embodies the exemplary model of a life composed of discipline, self-reliance and self improvement. From his humble beginnings as an apprentice candle and soap maker in his father’s business to a successful business man, author, philosopher, civil activist, politician scientist, inventor, and diplomat, above all BenjaminRead MoreSubjective Reality in Anne Carsons Autobiography of Red Essay1233 Words   |  5 PagesAnne Carsons Autobiography of Red Anne Carsons Autobiography of Red is a world of subjective reality. Carson explores the relationship between subject and object through a reworking of an original Greek myth. The original myth is of Herakles, whos tenth labor was to kill Geryon, a red winged monster who lived on an island, and steal his cattle. Carson takes the insignificant character of Geryon and creates a story based on his life, as if set in modern times. Autobiography of Red entersRead More Autobiography of malcolm x Essay921 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"The Autobiography of Malcolm X† by Alex Haley â€Å"Were not Americans. Were Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didnt land on Plymouth Rock--that rock landed on us.† (Lord, Thornton, and Bodipo-Memba, 1992) Words like those above would engrave Malcolm X into the minds of Americans from all racial backgrounds and socio-economic classes. Malcolm X was certainly not one to mince words. America would come to remember him as â€Å"TheRead More Benjamin Franklins Autobiography Essay1124 Words   |  5 Pages In Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Samuel Keimer is a character who represents the antithesis of Franklin. The development of Keimer not only improves the reader’s understanding of the minor character, but also of Franklin, the major character. Franklin makes a point of showing the reader each of Keimer’s faults and contrasting them with his own merits.When Keimer is first introduced to the reader, he is in very much the same circumstances as Franklin; they are two young men trying to make aRead MoreThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman1277 Words   |  6 Pagesbook, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, used many historical events to connect to the character s story. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman was published by Bantam Books in 1972 and has 259 pages. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a classic fictional book. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is the story if a women’s life told when she was over one hundred years old. The novel goes over 3 main periods of time: war years, reconstruction, and slavery. In The Autobiography of MissRead MoreThe Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman Essay647 Words   |  3 PagesThe Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman In the novel The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, there were many different stories about JanePittmans life. In the movie there were not as many stories as the novel, but they were still quite interesting. The novel and the movie had many similarities and differences. Some of the similarities were very noticeable. Just from the beginning, in both the movie and the novel, Ned carried the two rocks that made the fire for Jane and Ned. Ned then

Science And Religion A Very Short Introduction - 1198 Words

â€Å"Darwin and Evolution† and â€Å"Creationism and Intelligent Design,† Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction (pp. 58-103) by Thomas Dixon The author, Thomas Dixon explains Evolution and creationism in separate chapters in his book, â€Å"Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction.† The evolution chapter talks about the history of Charles Darwin’s evolution, its challenges of the root of all living creatures as started in the Bible and it effect it has brought in American society. In the chapter, Dixon explain that Darwin was enroll in Christ College (Church of England), Cambridge in England to study mathematics and theology in order to become a â€Å"Reverend,† after he had refuse to continue his medical training. Darwin could not†¦show more content†¦The discoveries of his Beagle voyage and the books he read compelled him to develop â€Å"the theory of evolution and natural selection (Origin of Species). These books were William Paley (Natural Theology, or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature); Thomas Malthus (an essay on the principle of population); and Charles Lyell (principles of geological) books he read according to the author. The theory (Origin of Species) state, â€Å"all living things including human being are all equally the lineal descendants of the same aboriginal common ancestor.† This theory, created a debate between churches and the people who believe in evolution in 1860, as it describe human being to be evolve from apes but not created from God. Even though, Darwin’s friend Thomas Huxley was able to defend evolution against Bishop Samuel Wilberforce. However, the question about how the world came is not clear in evolution knowledge, which has led to the theory of Creationism and the theory of Intelligent Design according to the author. This began a new chapter. This charter explains that a movement of Anti- Darwinian Theory come with a theory called â€Å"Intelligent Design† to challenge evolution. These group believe that God design all living things but not evolution. They based their point on â€Å"the complex chain of chemical process in cell such as blood clotting in mammals, irreducible complexity of the flagellum

Racism Or Slavery Essay - 953 Words

Racism or Slavery, which came first? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Racism or slavery, neither, this essay will document the prejudice against Africans from Europeans that led into slavery and racism. Prejudice issues in a dislike for an individual or group of these individuals. This dislike can simulate from many differences that are shared, religion, culture, system of living (government and social practice), or in some cases looks. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;â€Å"Initially English contact with Africans did not take place primarily in a context which prejudged the Negro as a slave, at least not as a slave of Englishmen. Rather, Englishmen met Africans merely as another sort of men. Englishmen found the peoples of Africa very different†¦show more content†¦Davis like the definition, had been deeply stained with dirt, become soiled, foul, disgraceful, and made himself liable for punishment. Black in its definition was an adjective. Able to describe plagues, seas, and days (Black Friday). Holding a meaning of negativity in English minds before being applied to Africans, but not changing once applied. Everye white will have its blacke, And everye sweete its sowre. George Puttenham The English noticeable difference from Africans became a dislike for those differences. Generally in the aspect of religion, did difference come to a head. The English considered the Africans as being a heathen. â€Å"The most important aspect of English reaction to African heathenism was that Englishmen evidently did not regard it as separable from the Negro’s other attributes. Heathenism was treated not so much as a specifically religious defect but as one manifestation of a general refusal to measure up to proper standards, as a failure to be English or even civilized (Jordan, 1).† A dislike for the Africans is mounting, as the English express a need for change in the heathenistic Africans. â€Å"If the English did not act upon this continued heathenism among NegroesShow MoreRelatedSlavery : Racism And Racism Essay1134 Words   |  5 PagesSlavery: A root to Racism. Slavery and Racism Slavery as described by Oxford dictionaries â€Å"a person who is the legal property of another is forced to obey them† was introduced to America dating back to 17th and 18th centuries. African slaves were first brought to America as a means of cheap labor to work on tobacco plantations and later on the cotton gin. With the constant demand for labor and declining population, the colonists were led to believe that African slaves were the cheapest and efficientRead MoreSlavery, Racism, And Slavery Essay1779 Words   |  8 PagesSlavery began before racism in North America. To prove this I will provide an analysis of chronological events that displayed acts of slavery and racism. With that being said, Initially I will be delving into the earliest implementations of slavery in North America. That being Jamestown Virginia 1619. Secondly, analysing an extract from 1655, where an African man named Anthony Johnson claimed to own another black individual, John Casor as his property. Subsequently, moving onto Winthrop D JordanRead MoreSlavery and Racism1509 Words   |  7 PagesCivilization Dr. Carlson November 17, 2011 Slavery and Racism: Are They One in the Same? Aphra Behn was an extremely significant and influential English writer in the 1600s. One of her more famous works, Oroonoko, discusses the issues of slavery and racism in the Americas. Many people believe that slavery and racism go hand in hand. In fact, these two ideologies are awfully different. Slavery is the act of forcing humans to be treated property whereas racism is the belief that discrimination basedRead MoreRacism And Slavery : Black Or The Egg, Slavery Or Racism?993 Words   |  4 Pagesthe chicken or the egg, slavery or racism? The question of whether racism is the root of slavery, or if slavery caused racism is an ongoing debate that throughout history historians has been batting to answer, and have yet to come to an agreement. Some people think that people were made slaves because of prejudice toward the color of their skin, therefore, racism caused slavery; others believe that people saw slaves as inferior to them, and therefore slavery caused racism. Jordanâ€℠¢s â€Å"The Mutual CausationRead MoreRacism and Slavery in Oronooko1158 Words   |  5 Pageswritten in the perspective of a white colonial woman in the eighteenth century. I found the novella to have a lot of subtle racial undertones despite the fact that during that time it was seen as an anti-slavery novel.(1) There have been debates on whether this novella is pro-slavery or anti-slavery? While reading, I decided that it was neither, but more so a novella from a revolutionist point of view. One of the first things that sticks out is the way in which she described Oroonoko physically.Read MoreDid Slavery Cause Racism?3614 Words   |  15 Pagesï » ¿Did slavery cause racism? Viewpoint: Yes. With the slave trade racism became rigidly defined in custom and law. Viewpoint: No. Slavery followed from racism and reinforced existing perceptions of blacks racial inferiority. Racism both preexisted and survived slavery. The color of Africans skin intrigued, frightened, and repelled Europeans. Exaggerating the physical and mental differences that allegedly separated blacks from whites, European writers conjectured that blacks had descended fromRead MoreRacism and Slavery Essay example1811 Words   |  8 Pages Did race prejudice cause slavery? Or was it the other way round? Winthrop D. Jordan, in his monumental study of white American attitudes to black people from 1550 to 1812, argues that prejudice and slavery may well have been equally cause and effect, dynamically joining hands to hustle the Negro down the road to complete degradation. But we must go deeper than that, if we are to understand the rise of English racism as an ideology, the various roles it has played inRead MoreSlavery and Racism Shown in Huckleberry Finn620 Words   |  3 Pagesvery prominent themes. These themes include racism and slavery, intellectual and moral education, and the hypocrisy of civilized society. The most dominant theme, racism and slavery, is recognized when the main character feels that he is doing the wrong thing in helping a runaway slave. It is also recognized in the passage where the main character talks to a boy who compares a black slave’s worth to two-hundred dollars. Twain used the theme racism and slavery in an attempt to convince southerners toRead MoreRacism And Slavery During The 19th Century2451 Words   |  10 PagesRacism is not just restricted to slavery and blacks, racism can be applied to anyone, and in 19th century England this was a huge problem. The 19th century was a trying time for those who were concerned with the abolition of slavery, those who were opposed to it were greatly concerned about losing their wealth or j ust concerned with the principle of a lower race being free. However those who were opposed to slavery were sick of seeing other humans being treated so poorly and saw it as inhuman.Read MoreEssay about Racism and Slavery Hand in Hand1304 Words   |  6 Pagesliberty to all. This goal, however, is darkened by a contradictory event: racism. Racism against African Americans (Negroes) in America was a by-product of permanent and inhumane enslavement of the black population. This type slavery was built upon the need for the American colonies to achieve economic prosperity and social stability. The slavery prior to these social and economic problems was equal to that of white slavery. Black and white slaves and indentured servants received the same treatments

China And The World Trade Order Essay free essay sample

, Research Paper For more than 13 old ages dialogues have been traveling on to let entry for China into the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) . On November 30, 1999, in Seattle, Washington, President Bill Clinton and President Jiang Zemin of China will run into to put the docket for trade negotiations, which will take old ages to come before there is an understanding. This will merely be done if China doesn t feel threatened by a group of 134 states that sets the footings of World Trade ( Sanger ) . We will write a custom essay sample on China And The World Trade Order Essay or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some of the inside informations that must be discussed, which China can offer to states, particularly the United States are their telecommunications, fiscal services, fabrics, and countenances for the dumping of exports among others ( Sanger ) . With all of those goods that China offers, Clinton seemed to halt dialogues with them in April when things were looking the best. Harmonizing to some of his AIDSs, they say, that Clinton greatly regrets walking off, and wants he could take station offers and run ( Sanger ) . China non merely has to cover with understandings from the United States, but would besides hold to do trades with Canada, Europeans, and Latin American states. Once these understandings are made and China is portion of the World Trade Organization, they will be required to stay by the WTO s policies and unfastened markets. This will do China to hold to let more foreign industries, farm goods, and suppliers of services to come in their state ( Reuters ) . China has to make up ones mind if they want to fall in or non. If they choose to fall in they will hold no voice in determination devising and no decision-making powers until China becomes a full mature member of the World Trade Organization harmonizing to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshetsky ( Reuters ) . Many phone calls have been e xchanged between the Presidents, and besides representatives have made visits. These battles are seen as intense set of interactions. These battles are existences seen as a 50-50 opportunity that there will be a trade sealed by China and the WTO. Clinton sees this opportunity as his last shooting of stabilising the dealingss between China and the United States ( Eckholm ) . China s credence into the WTO has some good factors. Entry would let China to be guaranteed economic protection offered to most trade states. China besides has an economic lag that is eventually ready to offer gaps of its market. With 20 per centum of the universe s population it would assist China s citizens incomes. The employment rate is at a 30 twelvemonth high and can assist supply more concern ( Rosenthal ) . In taking a side of whether or non China should be allowed into the WTO, I choose non accepting them in the WTO. As China being a power house of a state and is known to be a really obstinate state, I see many jobs that can happen between the U.S. and China. For illustration, it has been taking these two states over 13 old ages to make up ones mind on whether China should be portion of the WTO. Besides, China is make up ones minding on whether they will profit from being portion of the WTO. If the WTO meeting in Seattle goes good I for see problem for all states non merely the U.S. The China politicians will seek every bit shortly as they get into the WTO to seek and play their dialogue tactics that has troubled the U.S. in seeking to come up with understandings. I feel China every bit good as other states will profit from China being an foreigner. In looking through all the New York Times articles I saw how one month China felt could about hold on one issue and the following month de cided that the understanding needed mending.

Keeping The Rabble In Line Essay Example For Students

Keeping The Rabble In Line Essay Keeping the Rabble in Line Copyright 1994 by Noam Chomsky and David BarsamianIntroduction | Next section | Contents | Archive | ZNet The World Bank, GATT and Free TradeApril 20, 1992 DB: In 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were both created. What function do these two major financial entities play? Their early role was in helping to carry through the reconstruction of the state capitalist industrial societies that had been wrecked by the Second World War. After that they shifted to what is called development, which is often a form of controlled underdevelopment in the Third World, which means designing and supporting particular kinds of programs for the Third World. At this point we move into controversy. Their effect, and you can argue about their intention, is overwhelmingly to integrate the South, the old colonial areas, into the global society dominated by concentrated sectors of wealth within the North , the rich society. DB: You know that old song, Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Well, where have all the billions gone? The World Bank has lent tens of billions of dollars. Who lent what to whom exactly? What did it do there? You cant answer that simply. In the advanced industrial societies that money helped carry out a reconstruction from postwar damage. In the Third World lending has had mixed effects. Its had effects in changing the nature of agriculture, developing infrastructure, steering projects towards particular areas and away from other areas. Its been part of the long process of trying to undercut import substitution and move toward export oriented agriculture. By and large World Bank loans have been a subsidiary to the policies of those who control it. The United States has an overwhelming role in the financial institution because of its wealth and power. And the United States and its immediate allies have designed programs of what they called development throughout the world. The money may have gone into anything from dams to agro-export producers to occasionally some peasant project. DB: The International Monetary Fund has been vilified in the Third World for the draconian measures that it has imposed on those developing countries. Take a Latin American country today. There is a huge debt crisis. Remember that the Bretton Woods system basically broke down in the early 1970s. The Bretton Woods system involved regulation of currencies, convertibility of the dollar for gold, all sorts of other rules which essentially made the United States an international banker. By 1970 or so the U.S. could no longer sustain that. It was very advantageous to the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. It allowed enormous overseas investment by American corporations. But by 1970 the U.S. was unable to sustain the role of international banker. President Nixon dismantled the system in 1971. That led to an enormous amount of unregulated currency floating around in inte rnational channels. The world was awash with unregulated capital, particularly after the rise in the oil prices. Bankers wanted to lend that capital, and they did. They lent it primarily to Third World countries, which means to elite elements. For example, Latin American dictatorships would go on huge borrowing binges. The results were praised in the West as economic miracles, like the Brazilian miracle under the generals which left that country saddled with huge indebtedness. When the 1980s came along, U.S. interest rates went up and started pulling money toward the United States and increasing interest payments on the debt. The Latin American economies started going into free fall. Capital flowed out of them at a rapid rate. They were unable to control their own internal wealthy classes. The capital export from Latin America may not have been at the level of the debt, but it probably wasnt very far below it. There was a flow of hundreds of billions of dollars from south to north, partly debt service, which far outweighs new aid by the late 1980s payment of interest on the debt, and so on, and other forms of capital flight. By now, deeply impoverished African countries are even exporting capital to the international lending institutions. The net effect of this is what some people jokingly call a program in which the poor in the rich countries pay the rich in the poor countries. Thats approximately the way it comes out. Then the IMF comes along, run by the wealthy countries, which have certain rules for the weak. They are that if you have a high level of inflation and the currency isnt stable and various other economic indicators arent satisfied, then you impose extreme forms of austerity: balance the budget, cut back services, control the currency, etc. Thats neoliberal free market economics. Thats typically disastrous for the general mass of the population. Thats why the rich countries themselves will never accept those rules unless theyre forced to. For ex ample, there was a time in the late 1970s when Britain was forced to adopt certain IMF rules because of its weakness. But no country rich or powerful enough would ever do it, like the U.S., for example, which has incredible debt but doesnt accept IMF suggestions. Were too powerful to follow those rules. Third World countries, which are much weaker, especially those which are under the control of Western-oriented elites anyway, who often benefit by it, do follow the rules and theres disaster for the population. Thats why you get vilification. The same thing is happening in Eastern Europe now. The whole neoliberal free market story is basically designed for the benefit of the people who are going to win the game. Nobody else follows those rules. The West doesnt follow them either when its not going to win. For example, the World Bank estimates that right now protectionist measures imposed by the rich countries cost the Third World more than twice as much as total aid going from the No rth to the South and that aid is mostly a disguised form of export promotion. DB: To whom are the World Bank and the IMF accountable? To the people who put the money in, which means a bunch of rich countries, primarily the United States, which is the dominant element there. Its mainly funded by the wealthy states, and the U.S. has the largest vote, so thats who theyre beholden to. DB: Where does the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, GATT, fit into this economic picture? One commentator has called it the economic teeth of the new world order. GATT is the international trading system, also set up in the 1940s. Its in the news now because for the last several years the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations has been going on with an effort to achieve some new form of freeing up international trade. Freeing up international trade in itself, in a general sense, is not a bad thing. Its often a good thing. The point is, nobody goes into that game, if they have the power, without ample p rotection for their own internal needs. So for example every one of the Western powers, including the United States, is entering the GATT negotiations with a certain agenda, a mixture of liberalization and protectionism geared to the particular strengths and weaknesses of that economy. When we speak of that economy we mean the people in the dominant positions in it. So the European Community wants high level protection for the aerospace industry and agricultural production. The United States has a mixture of policies. Its calling for liberalization and free trade in many areas. On the other hand, its also calling for enhanced protection in areas where the U.S. is strong. Take so-called services like banking. The U.S. is calling for a liberalization of services in the Third World, which would have the instantaneous effect of swamping and overwhelming all Third World banks and financial institutions by western ones, since theyre so much richer and more powerful. That would eliminate t he possibility of any national industrial development programs within the Third World. Thats the kind of liberalization that the U.S. is in favor of. It means that Third World economies would be managed by western banks and those who run them and the governments that are tied to them. On the other hand, the U.S. is calling for more protection in other areas, particularly intellectual property rights, which includes anything from pop music to cinema to software to patents. Right now the U.S. is racing ahead in patenting what may turn out to be parts of genes. The idea is to patent the genes of corn, or for that matter humans, so that future biotechnology, which will involve various kinds of genetic engineering, will be in the hands of mainly U.S. private firms. They will control that field, and they want to make sure its protected. So they want long patent rights and so on. That means that drugs, software, new technology, new agricultural forms, any form of biotechnology that may inv olve health will be in the hands of Merck Corporation and others like them who will make tens of billions of dollars in profits. It means that India, which could duplicate a lot of this much cheaper, duplicate Merck drugs at a fraction of the cost, will not be permitted to do it. The U.S. also demands product rather than only process patents, to insure, say, that Indias pharmaceutical industry doesnt invent a cheaper way to produce some drug a barrier to efficiency and innovation, but a boon for profits. Thats understandable on the part of the rich. They want to control the future, naturally, and that means control technology. The biotechnology aspect, the patenting of genes, has been causing an international furor in the scientific world. It can have a huge impact in the future. One shouldnt minimize it. The U.S. (like others) also insists on a high level of protection for U.S. shipping. Shipping between U.S. ports has to be in U.S. ships. If Alaskan oil comes down to California, it has to be in U.S. ships. The U.S. insists that anything involving U.S. goods be done to a very high percentage in U.S. ships, which benefits the U.S. maritime industry. Similarly, defense expenditures are not considered subsidies under GATT rules. Thats enormously important for the U.S., which spends more on its military system than the rest of the world combined, as has always used that as a cover for massive public subsidy to high-tech industry. The point is that there is a mixture of protectionism and liberalization geared to the interests of those who are designing the policies, which are the powerful economic forces within the state in question. Thats not a great surprise, after all, but thats what GATT is all about, and thats what the negotiations are about. If the current GATT programs succeed, its clear that theyre tending towards a world government ruled by a club of rich men who meet in their organizations, like the G-7 meetings, the meetings of the seven richest indust rial countries, which have their own institutions, like the IMF and the World Bank, which have a network of arrangements established in GATT and which administer a system of whats sometimes been called corporate mercantilism. Remember that although this is called liberalization and free trade, theres a tremendous amount of managed trade internal to it. So huge corporations which are often more powerful than many states carry out controlled, managed trade internally. This means trade across borders, too, because theyre internationalized. They do planning of investments, of production, of commercial interactions, manipulation of prices, and so on, and they naturally manage it for their own interests. Corporate mercantilism is fine. Its governments that are not allowed to get into the game. The rich western powers dont have any objection at all to managed trade. They just dont want it to be done by governments, because governments have a dangerous feature that corporations dont have: g overnments may to some extent fall under the influence of popular forces, usually to a limited extent. But to some extent theres always that fear. Theres no such fear in corporations. They are immune from any form of public control or even surveillance. Therefore they are much more acceptable management agents for this mercantilist system being designed globally in the interests of the rich. GATT plays its role in this. DB: You mentioned the powerful economic forces. Increasingly those forces transcend frontiers. There has been a massive internationalization of capital and finance over the last few years. What are the implications of that? First of all, theres nothing novel about it. Back in the 1930s there were, for example, notorious interconnections between, say, I.G. Farben in Germany and Du Pont. In fact, big U.S. corporations were essentially producing for the German war machine right up until the war and some even claim afterwards in various devious ways. But there was a big change after the Second World War. There was a big upsurge in the creation of multinational firms, even beyond the traditional multinationals, for example, the energy corporations, which always were highly internationalized. But it extended much beyond. The Marshall Plan, for example, gave a big shot in the arm to the internationalization of capital. It would designate some project in Belgium where you could build a steel complex. It would then encourage bids from American corporations, which would naturally win the bidding most of the time. Marshall Plan funds were then used, as intended, to underlie the expansion of U.S. investment through the rich areas, primarily in Europe. That led to an explosion of international corporations. U.S. foreign investment exploded in the 1950s and 1960s. Not long after came European international capital. Britain had always been substantially involved in the internationalization of capital. In recent years Japan has joined the game and done plenty of foreign investing. This has increased through the 1980s. There are a lot of reasons for this in the recent period. One is the one I mentioned before, the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, which led to an enormous amount of unregulated internationalized wealth. Another was a revolution in telecommunications, which makes it extremely easy to control international operations in which production is done in one place and the financing comes from somewhere else and you shift the dollars around. That means you can have executive offices in a skyscraper in New York and production facilities in Papua, New Guinea and fake banks in the Cayman Islands which may be nothing more than a fax machine set up to evade regulation. You can transfer funds around. You can control and manage importing and exporting within the corporate empire through management decisions. It can be scattered all over the world, with branch offices in Zurich. Thats had a lot of effect. Everyone knows that the U.S. s hare in international trade has been declining in the last ten years. But in fact if you look at the share in international trade of U.S.-based corporations, it has not been declining. It may have been either stable or slightly increasing. Everyone knows the U.S. is supposed to have a big trade deficit. On the other hand, if you take into account the operations of overseas producers that are part of U.S.-based corporations, and imports into the United States that are actually transfers from U.S. corporations operating abroad to the same U.S. corporations operating internally, if they import parts for their own production, it probably levels out the trade deficit, maybe even gives the U.S. a trade surplus. The functioning institutions in the world system are increasingly corporate empires. I say increasingly because national states, the rich states, at least, retain substantial importance. They are instruments of integrated corporate systems. And also increasing because its an old ph enomenon. It goes back to the origins of capitalism. It is true that it has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. DB: To continue with GATT: The Environmental News Network has said that GATT will open borders for businesses seeking lower labor costs and less rigorous environmental regulation, thus blackmailing U.S workers to accept deteriorating working conditions and lower wages or lose their jobs. Do you think thats a fair assessment? Its not even controversial. Of course it will have that effect. Its already having that effect. Take the free-trade agreement with Canada. Its actually working both ways. Canada has just objected to U.S. environmental regulations on use of asbestos, claiming that thats interference with free trade. Canada is an asbestos exporter, and they want the barriers lowered. Perhaps theyve already won on that, meaning that U.S. environmental regulations on asbestos will have to decline. Sooner or later the U.S. is probably going to object to the Canadian Health Service as an interference with free trade because it means that Canadian-based corporations are freed from the burden of paying parts of health costs that U.S. corporations have to bear because of the grotesquely incompetent and highly bureaucratized health system. Threats from U.S. insurance companies were enough to cause Ontario to drop plans for a provincial auto insurance program that would have reduced costs, but cut out the highly inefficient private corporations an interference with free trade, they claimed, and won. Canada has lost several hundred thousand jobs. There are various estimates, but none are less than a quarter of a million jobs, to the United States, manufacturing and similar type labor, because Canadian corporations would much prefer to produce in the southeastern United States, where the government enforces what are called right-to-work laws, which means state policy coerces labor to ensure that there will be no unionization. As a result, working cond itions are far inferior. Wages are less. Naturally, corporations will move to such places. Even the threat to move serves to discipline labor. In general, the effect of the free-trade agreements will be to move to the lowest common denominator with regard to wages, and environmental protection. DB: So do you think that under the rubric of free trade that the Canadian health care system would be seen as an unfair advantage that Canadians have? It hasnt yet happened, but I would expect it. I expect that American corporations sooner or later may decide that it would be a good idea to undermine the Canadian Health Service by an argument of that sort. There are a lot of calculations involved in that. One problem is that production is so internationalized that Canadian corporations are often U.S. corporations. DB: What did you make of the spectacle of the President of the United States going to Japan with about a score of CEOs of major U.S. corporations and essentially demanding a kind of international affirmative action, as Jesse Jackson has called it? First of all, remember that the propaganda phrase was, Im going for jobs, jobs, jobs. How much Bush cares about jobs you can see by looking at U.S. policy towards American workers. So while hes talking about jobs, jobs, jobs, the U.S. government is trying to set up the basis for maquiladora industries in Central America to take away American jobs. The phrase means profits, profits, profits. Thats what he was there for. It was kind of stupid for the CEOs to come along. It left the United States as an object of ridicule. But whether they were along or not, thats what the trip was for. Everybody should have known that. The trip was to coerce Japan into accepting managed trade, meaning whats called here fair-trade practices, which means mercantilist arrangements between powerful states to violate free-trade arrangements and ensure that their own powerful economic forces get benefits. Theres nothing novel about that. The Reagan administration combined free-trade bombast with a highly protectionist record. Take control over imports. Various kinds of control over imports amount to duties. They practically doubled, from about twelve percent to about twenty-three percent, during the Reagan years, through what are sometimes called voluntary arrangements, meaning you do what we say or well close off your market. The latest effort to get Japan to buy American auto parts is just another part of the state-managed trade system that the rich always insist upon while of course beating their breasts about free trade when you can use it as a weapon against someone else. DB: Is Japan powerful enough to resist? Thats an interesting question. No one really has answers to these questions. The domestic and international economies are only very dimly understood by anyone. So anything we say will sound a lot more confident than it ought to be. My own suspicion has always been that the strength of the Japanese economy ha s been overestimated, that its much flimsier than is alleged. For objective reasons. Japan is a resource-poor country, highly dependent upon export for survival. In particular it depends very heavily on the U.S. market. Its expanding into Asian markets, but that doesnt compare with the U.S. market. The U.S. remains the richest country in the world. Also, its dependent, unlike the United States which has plenty of internal resources and enough military power to control other sources of raw materials on trade for resources and raw materials as well. Also, the Japanese, when you look at the numbers, look very rich. But if you look at the way people live, they dont look very rich. People are crammed into tiny apartments. They live a highly coerced and submissive existence. If you develop any reasonable quality of life standards, Japan would not rank very high by many measures, although it ranks quite high in others, like health, for example. So its a mixed story. It think there are se rious weaknesses in that economy. Im not all that surprised by the current recession and financial crisis in Japan. They have such resources and capital. Theyll doubtless pull out of this one. DB: Along with the Arab oil producing states and some portions of Europe, Japan seems to be the only other area where there is excess capital formation for investment. There is a lot of excess capital, but its not clear what its going to look like after this crisis has passed. A lot of it was based on very chancy investments and a huge bubble in real estate which was highly inflated. But its still true. They have plenty of excess capital. In my opinion, German-based Europe is a more likely prospect for a world economic leader in the long term. DB: You just said crisis, which reminds me of something Ive been hearing as long as I can remember, and I am certain you have as well, the current crisis in capitalism. It seems to be an ongoing story. Is this particular crisis any different? There has b een a global stagnation for about twenty years now. The growth rates and the rise in productivity of the 1950s and 1960s are things of the past. It leveled off around the early 1970s. Things like the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system were symptomatic. Since then there has been a kind of stagnation. Its not level across the globe. For example, for Africa its been a catastrophe. For Latin America its been a catastrophe. In fact, for most of the domains of the capitalist world it has been absolutely catastrophic, including internally. Large parts of American and British society have suffered severely, too. On the other hand, other sectors have done quite well. The so-called newly industrializing countries of East Asia, the ones in the Japanese orbit, like South Korea and Taiwan, didnt succumb in the 1980s to the international crisis of capitalism as Latin America did. Up until then their growth rates had been pretty comparable. But they separated sharply in the 1980s, with the East Asian ones doing much better. Again, nobody really knows the reasons for this, but one factor appears to have been that, unlike Latin America, the East Asian countries dont make any pretense of following free-market rules. Capital flight was a huge problem in Latin America. The wealthy just sent their capital elsewhere, or else it was just payment on debt. East Asian countries didnt do that. South Korea has no capital flight problem because the state is powerful enough not only to control labor, which is the norm, but also to control capital. You can get the death penalty for capital flight. Other forms of state-corporate managed industrial and financial development did protect them from this global crisis of capitalism. Within the rich countries there were various reactions. The United States and Britain are probably the ones that suffered most from it, thanks to Reaganite and Thatcherite measures. Whether you call this a crisis or not, its not a well enough defined term so you ca n answer the question. For a very large part, probably a considerable majority, of the American work force, real wages have either stagnated or maybe even declined for about a twenty-year period. DB: The decline of major U.S. industries, such as auto, textiles, electronics, etc., is well documented. Its not even a matter of discussion. The fastest area of growth in jobs in the U.S. is in such areas as janitors, waiters, truck drivers. Actually, the fastest growing white collar profession is security guard. DB: What does that tell you? It means that there is a large superfluous population that has to be controlled and a large number of rich people who have to be protected from them. DB: Is there any economic strategy or planning to create real jobs with decent wages? For U.S. workers? Why should there be? DB: It would seem that elites would want to protect their position. But their position does not rely primarily on U.S. labor. They do want to have a domestic work force for services , but production is a different matter. DB: But if theres major economic dislocation in this country, unrest would surely result and their position of power and strength would be threatened. That depends on whether you can keep the public under control. For example, the Washington Post reported on a study about black males in Washington, D.C. DB: Forty-six percent of all black males between 18 and 35 are incarcerated in the District of Columbia. I think they say at any particular moment about seventy percent of them are somehow within the control of the justice system, on probation, etc. Thats a way of keeping people from bothering us: keep them in jail. If theyre not useful for wealth production they have to be controlled somehow. But its not clear that thats a threat to the elites in the Washington area. Or take New York City, which is an absolute disaster. But you can walk around wealthy sectors of downtown Manhattan that look very glitzy and cheery. DB: Prison construction in th e U.S. is one of the fastest growing industries. Yes. The U.S. has by far the highest per capita prison population in the world. Even things like the drug epidemic are functional in a way. Im not claiming that the government starts it for this purpose. Things go on because they have certain functions for elite groups that set policy. One effect of the so-called drug war, which has very little to do with controlling drugs and a lot to do with controlling people, has been to create a huge explosion in the prison population. Anybody who works with prisons will tell you that a very substantial part of the prison population is people who are in there for possession, not for harming anyone. Thats a technique of control. Whether its an economical technique of control you could argue. Look how much it costs to control people by putting them in prison and having them on drugs and therefore not bothering you or having them shooting and robbing each other in inner cities. How that compares wit h other techniques of social control would be a hard question to answer. However, to go back to your original question. If you were a wealthy professional or corporate executive living in Westchester County, there are certain things you want. You want a comfortable environment, a golf course, to be able to go to the theater in downtown Manhattan. You want your executive offices to be in good shape. You want fancy restaurants around. You want to be able to leave your limousine somewhere without having it broken into. You want good schools for your children. You want a powerful army to protect your interests. You want a skilled work force insofar as you need it. But much of what happens in this country is of no interest to you. If most of the country goes down the tube, thats no big problem. DB: I love your comment Ultimately is a notion that does not occur in capitalist planning. Why not? First of all, there are no capitalist systems. If there were a capitalist system it couldnt surv ive for more than a couple of weeks. The only capitalist systems are the ones that are imposed on Third World countries for the purpose of weakening them so that theyll collapse and be taken over by the rich. But there are systems that are more or less capitalist. The more capitalist they are, that is, the more competitive, and less planned and integrated, the more they will tend towards short-term gains. Thats inherent in the system. To the extent that a system is competitive and unplanned, those participating in it will be devoting their resources, both intellectual and capital, to short-term gain, short-term profit, short-term increase in market share. The reasons for that are pretty straightforward. Lets imagine that there are three car companies: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. Lets say theyre really competitive. Then suppose that General Motors decided to put its resources into dealing with problems of global pollution or even trying to produce better cars ten years from n ow that would be better than those of Ford and Chrysler. At the same time its competitors Ford and Chrysler would be putting their resources into increasing profits and market share tomorrow, next month, next year. During that period, General Motors would be out of luck. They wouldnt have the capital and the profits to carry out their plans. Thats exactly why in countries like Japan in the 1950s, the ministry that directed and organized the Japanese economy, together with the big corporate conglomerates, explicitly and openly decided to abandon free-market illusions and to carry out national industrial planning aimed at Japanese development in strategic sectors with high long-term potential. In newly developing industries, the industries of the future, the startup costs can be quite considerable. Profit doesnt come for some time. In a competitive, more capitalist society, youre out of luck. But in a more managed society you can deal with that. There are many well-known free-market i nadequacies that typically lead capitalist entrepreneurs to call upon the state to intervene for their benefit. In Japan this led to a conscious decision to carry out substantial, organized, planned interference with the market mechanism so that the economy could prosper. Questions of pollution are perfect examples. If one company tries to devote resources to effects on the environment, they will simply be undercut by other companies which are not doing it. Therefore they will not be in a position to compete in the market. These are matters which are inherent in our capitalist systems. There were experiments with laissez faire in Britain in the nineteenth century, when people actually took their own rhetoric seriously. But they pretty quickly called it off. Its too destructive. DB: So youre saying that this class of managers is impervious to the bridges literally collapsing on the homeless and tunnels bursting under the city of Chicago? Not because theyre bad people, but because if they stopped being impervious to it they wouldnt be managers any more. Suppose that the CEO of some big corporation decides hes going to be a nice guy and devote his resources from that corporation to the homeless people under the bridges that are falling down or to global pollution. DB: Hes out of a job. Hes out of a job. Thats inherent in the system. These are institutional facts. If you want to watch this at its more extreme limits, you should take a look at the World Bank plans on pollution. These recently surfaced. One of my favorite issues of the New York Times must have been February 7, back in the business section. There was a report called something like Can Capitalism Save the Ozone Layer? Ozone being a metaphor for saving the environment. The question was whether capitalism could save the environment. That was a story by their financial correspondent Sylvia Nasser. The World Bank had come out with a consensus report for the rich countries on a position to take at the Rio conference in June on the global environment. It was written by Lawrence Summers, the chief liberal economist from Harvard. The idea is that the rich countries should take the position, led by the World Bank, that the problem of pollution is that the poor countries, the Third World, dont follow rational policies. Rational means market policies. Many of them are resource and raw material producers, energy producers, and they sometimes try to use their own resources for their own development. Thats irrational. That means that theyre using resources for themselves, often at below market rates, when there are more efficient producers in the West who would use those resources more efficiently. Thats interference with the market. Also, these Third World countries often introduce some measures to protect their own population from total devastation and starvation, and thats an interference with the market. Its an interference with rational market policies. The effect of this Third World irr ationality is to increase production in places where it shouldnt be taking place, to increase development in places where it shouldnt be going on, and that causes pollution. So if we could only convince those Third World countries to behave rationally, that is, to give all their resources to us and stop protecting their own populations, that would reduce the pollution problem. This document was produced with a straight face. It happened that on the same day on the same page of the New York Times there was a little article, unrelated, about a World Bank memo, an internal memo, that had leaked. It had been published by the London Economist, a right-wing British Wall Street Journal, but weekly. It was written by the same Lawrence Summers. The Times had a brief, slightly apologetic summary of it, including an interview with Summers in which he claimed it was intended to be sarcastic. The World Bank memo added to what I have just said about Third World irrationality. It said that any kin d of production is going to involve pollution. So what you have to do is to do it as rationally as possible, meaning with minimal cost. So suppose we have a chemical factory producing carcinogenic gases that are going into the environment. If we put that factory in Los Angeles, we can calculate the number of people who will die of cancer in the next forty years. We can even calculate the value of their lives in terms of income or whatever. Suppose we put that factory in Sao Paulo or some even poorer area. Many fewer people will die of cancer because theyll die anyway of something else, and besides, their lives arent worth as much by any rational measure. So it makes sense to move all the polluting industries to places where poor people die, not where rich people die. Thats on simple economic grounds. Combine that with the other document. What it says is that the Third World should stop producing and protecting its own population because thats irrational. We should send our polluting industries to them because that is rational. Summers in this memo points out that you might have counterarguments to this based on human rights and the right of people to a certain quality of life. But he points out that if we allowed those arguments to enter into our calculations, then just about everything the World Bank does would be undermined. Thats quite accurate. Thats supposed to be a reductio ad absurdum. Obviously we cant undermine everything the World Bank does, so obviously we cant allow such considerations to enter. We consider only economic rationality, of course geared to the interests of the World Bank. Thats what you do with pollution. Try to convince the Third World to stop producing and to stop protecting their own population and to accept our pollution. Its all perfectly explicable on rational economic grounds. Any graduate student in economics can prove it to you. DB: Apropos of this blindness of the planners: you have a fantasy Its not blindness. I think its very reasonable on their part. DB: Within their framework. Yes. DB: You tell of a fantasy that involves the Wall Street Journal and the greenhouse effect. Someone asked me once and I simply said that if I had the talent, which I dont, I would write a short story about the Wall Street Journal. I suppose their offices are on the seventeenth floor of some New York skyscraper. Theyre sitting there in that office putting out an issue of the Wall Street Journal claiming once again that the greenhouse effect is just a fraud invented by left fanatics. As the issue goes to press the water level would have risen to that point and you could hear them gurgling as they start the printer running. Thats about what its like. DB: Lets talk about organized labor unions in the United States. Only fifteen or sixteen percent of the total U.S. work force is now unionized, far below, perhaps by half or even more, what it was decades ago. This is the era of givebacks, benefits reductions, skipping, deferri ng or eliminating raises. Does organized labor really have a positive, progressive role to play? It should, but its in a very weakened state. Its been weak for a long time, but it was smashed during the 1980s. It started with Reagans success in breaking the air-traffic controllers strike, and its continuing until today. The UAW just lost a serious strike at Caterpillar. Their strategy has been so overcome by class collaboration We nice guys work together with management that when the crisis came at Caterpillar they were probably unprepared. They were simply wiped out. At this point Caterpillar probably wont even live up to the terms of the latest agreement. It seems to be continuing to lock them out. These are serious blows to the labor movement, and that means to American democracy, but theyre much to the benefit of the small sectors that are enriching themselves. Does labor have a part to play? It depends on whether working people can get their act together and rebuild the labor movement and turn it into a powerful force for both peoples rights and democracy as it once was. Its going to have to be rebuilt from the bottom up. Labors role has declined significantly since the 1940s. Theyre not unaware of it. Doug Fraser, the former head of the UAW, pointed out almost fifteen years ago that there has been a bitter, one-sided class war led by American capitalists fighting against labor, while labor, meaning labor bureaucrats, have been seduced by class-collaboration slogans. Theyre not fighting a class war. The effect of a bitter, one-sided class war is very evident. DB: The New York Times, in talking about the economic woes, says There is little mystery about what caused the economic problems. The country is suffering a hangover from the mergers, rampant speculation, overbuilding, heavy borrowing and irresponsible government fiscal policy in the 1980s. How well did the Times and its brethren in the media during this period of economic dislocation and decline a ctually cover the events and give the American people information that they could act upon? The Times isnt in the business of giving the American people information they can act upon. They hailed the Reagan revolution and its achievements. There were sectors of the population that profited marvelously, including the corporate sectors, of which the Times is a part. They couldnt fail to see that there are social costs. You cant walk around New York City and not see that there are severe social costs, so they probably saw it too. But this was considered as a glorious period of success. There were people who were upset about it. Take a look at, say, Mondales funding in 1984: a lot of it was from fiscal conservatives who were worried about the long-term effects to their own interests of this kind of mad-dog Keynesianism, wild crazed spending, and government stimulation of the economy through borrowing that was going on through the Reagan years. People could see that that was going to be very problematic for the economy. Take whats just happened in Chicago. The estimates of the costs of fixing those leaks in the underground tunnels might have been at the level of $10,000. They didnt fix them because they wanted to save the $10,000 as part of the cutback in civic services. The net effect will be a loss of maybe over a billion dollars or more. Thats a loss to private capital, too. DB: But compared to the SL bailout thats peanuts. Yes, the SL bailout is much bigger than that. Chicago is just one piece of a growing disaster. Spending on infrastructure has declined radically in the last ten years, and thats going to have its costs. What happened in Chicago is going to happen all over the place. DB: It cant help but affect even the elites. The area that was flooded And its hurting them in Chicago. Chicago businesses are suffering. Insurance companies are going to suffer. DB: Theyre not going to like that. No, but theres not a lot that they can do about it except to accep t more long-term, integrated state corporate planning. There are other possibilities, like democracy, but nobodys going to talk about that. DB: Yeah, right. And maybe there will just be more slogans like belt-tightening and austerity and biting the bullet as opposed to genuine economic policy. There is genuine economic policy, but its geared to the short term economic interests of the rich. Its very genuine. And theres plenty of state intervention for that purpose. Take the Pentagon budget. Thats massive state intervention in the economy for the benefit of the rich. Thats what keeps the electronics industry going, for example. Go to the next section. Philosophy Underground Rail Road Essay