Deep economic crises are fodder for demagogues who channel economic fear into a politics of resentment against "them." In the 1930s it was foreign traders (mainly Europeans), immigrants, and Jews. Now it's foreign traders (mainly the Chinese), immigrants, and Muslims.
Why do you suppose a half-dozen states are now considering (or have recently enacted) measures to end multicultural studies, bar children of undocumented workers from public schools, and allowed racial profiling? Every survey shows fewer undocumented workers in America now than three years ago.
How do you account for the outbreak of Islamaphobia -- fully nine years after 9/11? Why the clamor over a Muslim center near Ground Zero? Why do 18 percent of Americans believe President Obama wasn't born in the United States, that he is a secret Muslim?
How do you explain the surging animosity toward foreign trade, particularly toward China? Candidates for midterm elections are running tens of millions of dollars of ads attacking their opponents for being too sympathetic to China.
Republicans have a long history of turning fears into resentments that animate voters. (Remember Willy Horton? Senator Joe McCarthy?) For years, Fox News, yell radio, and other outlets of the Republican right have built followings on hatefulness.
Now that the Great Jobs Recession continues, they have more fertile ground. Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich are given megaphones by Fox News to bash immigrants and Muslims and to question the President's patriotism.
Yet Democrats are entering the same terrain when they blame China. According to the New York Times, House speaker Nancy Pelosi has been encouraging Democratic candidates to go after China, after internal polls showed voters increasingly willing to blame China for our problems and strongly in favor of eliminating tax breaks for companies that do business in China.
Democrats must know high unemployment in America has little or nothing to do with China. Yes, China should allow the yuan to rise further against the dollar. But China's under-valued currency isn't the reason we've lost 15 million jobs since the end of 2007. No, the tax code shouldn't reward companies for relocating jobs there. But this tax break is barely relevant to the situation we're in.
Our jobs crisis is due to the collapse of demand in the U.S. after the housing bubble burst. No longer able to borrow against the rising value of their homes, the vast American middle and working class can no longer spend enough to keep the economy going.
If Democrats (or Republicans, for that matter) want to blame something, blame America's record level of inequality - an almost unprecedented concentration of income and wealth at the top, and a smaller proportion for the vast middle.
The evidence is all around us. It's no mere coincidence that 1928 and 2007 marked historical high-water points for shares of national income going to the top 1 percent. Today's median wage is now 5 percent lower than it was at the start of the decade, taking inflation into account, while top earners are doing better than ever. The core assets of most Americans are their homes, whose values are now 20 to 40 percent below what they were three years ago, while the key assets of America's wealthy are shares of stocks and bonds, whose values have declined far less. The official rate of unemployment is 4.4 percent for college graduates but 10 percent for those with only high school degrees and almost 15 percent for high school dropouts.
I'm not suggesting Democrats blame the rich for their success. Most came by their high earnings and wealth honestly. And surely a vibrant economy requires that entrepreneurs be rewarded for hard work and valuable insight.
But Democrats should admit America's economic structure has become dangerously unbalanced -- more unbalanced than it's been in 80 years -- and the imbalance is making it difficult if not impossible for the nation to emerge from recession. For these reasons, Democrats should recommit themselves and the nation to redresssing that balance.
Are the Democrats so dependent on the campaign contributions from the wealthy they dare not speak of this? Or worried about being labeled "class warriors?" by the right? Or convinced by their pollsters that everyone in the vast middle assumes they'll be rich some day and therefore can't abide the truth?
Or convinced that bashing China is so much more effective?
China bashing doesn't educate the public about what's truly at stake and what must be done in the years ahead. Worse: It reinforces the politics of resentment, and further legitimizes other forms of isolationism and xenophobia.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
Toni Raiten-D’Antonio: Troubled Times and the Scapegoating of the 'Other'
What percentage of gross income does some making 75 Thousand spend about 90%.
What percentage of gross income does Buffet or Beck spend? Less than 20% if you want money to circulate in the economy you know where you have to put it. That is why trickle down failed. remember those long cheese lines under Reagan's good old days the Reublicans have more in srore for us. We have millions of skilled workers in ever field in the USA. but in order to compete with China and India everyone would have to take a 75% pay cut. Can we live on fifty dollars per week? That is impossible so we need to take the subsidty that big business get for moving jobs to slave labor countries. Outsource a Reublican.
China’s only comparative advantage to American workers is cheap and slave communist labor, is this not worthy of bashing! But, once again, conservative republicans made this mess but democrats are now defending it.
No, we should not engaged in disingenuous hypocrite slurs with conservative republicans because it were their complicity with China that made all this possible, however all the innocent victims should collectively point out and condemn these perpetrators and their deeds, and for ever seek a remedy and reversal of these injustices to American families.
Bring back our jobs!
America’s arrogant middle and upper calls were so certain that the good time were here to stay until they cared less about these monster stealing our jobs away; he did not come for them and theirs. And these jobs were the backbone and livelihood of the pleasant class, not of their peers!
Americans watch silently as this all transpired in the name of free trade and the global economy, now after witness all the damage and destruction that these schemes has inflicted on the America dream, economy, and workers, Mr Reich and others are still suggesting that the millions of poor, unemployed, or under employed American, over looked or displaced by these schemes, should still remain silent at these injustices so not to give appearance of bashing China!
If there were ever a time to bash China, American politicians and business leaders it is now. And if not now, when, do we wait for the depression and riots?
Every time Rober Reich posts one of his "don't blame China" posts I respond and my response disappears. That isn't cool. And it only happens when I disagree. When I agree my post is up in minutes. So my question is: Is Robert Reich the moderator here?
Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I am reposting because I think it is offensive that the same day Senator Fritz Hollings post a first hand account of the criminal and treasonous decisions that got us here Mr. Reich posts yet another one of his "Love Letters to China."
Perhaps he does this out of some guilt for being part of the administration that truly sold American manufacturing down the river. Perhaps he gets speaking gigs from Chinese companies. I don't know and I don't care. Perhaps he is using the Republican tactic of "repeat a lie often enough and it becomes true." BTW, Robert, it doesn't. Just because you can get people to believe a lie doesn't make it true.
The inequality he rants and raves about is the RESULT of the great American sell-out. The executive and political class were offered Midas like wealth to sell our jobs to China. The only problem? You can only sell out once. Like Mr. Reich obviously has.
Few examples: FDR ended the great depression (in fact he prolonged it), Clinton ran a surplus (how can you run a surplus and simultaneously increase national debt?), Capitalism/animal spirits are to blame for the business cycle (it's the Federal Reserve interest rate policy)... the list goes on.
Still, you have a good point about light bulbs being made in China. It's not that I am so afraid of China--I just like to buy local or U.S.A made when I can. I don't think that's irrational fear of China as Reich maintains. People know that when most of everything you buy is made in China, it's not good for America.
Not only that but think about all the good food and fruit we would be missing. Life would be miserable without taccos,wouldn't it?
Isabella Stevenson
I also don't blame the Chinese. They're just standing there, doing what Chinese do, and somebody over here is throwing our jobs at them. They're not stupid. They're taking them.
It's amazing how that works.
And yet, it's not what I expect from my politicians, nor from our company executives. Instead, I expect a little more care spent towards those who got them in their positions in the first place.
I admit, I have remarkably huge expectations. Unfortunately, I actually DO expect them, and get angry when they don't happen.
What makes them yours? What entitles you to them? The fact that you once worked for someone? I suppose you did that for free? Out of the goodness of your heart? Or did you expect to gain, to profit, to earn a wage and a living?
If the Chinese can do what you do cheaper they will get your job, for the same reason you got your job instead of someone else. This is the nature of every single business and it your nature as well, regardless of whatever fantasy or delusion you've been applying.
"What makes them yours? What entitles you to them?" You should ask the same questions of multi-national corporations. What makes them entitled to tax breaks, loopholes, tax payer subsidies to take jobs out of America?
Stay tuned.
As much as some people tend to hate Hamilton, his "Report on Manufactures", and the methods he outlined for increasing US productivity and wealth across the social spectrum, WORKED. So if tariffs are required to throttle the most wealthy, then so be it.
I don't approve of communists, nor fascists. I was born in the United States of America where we have the instilled freedom (God-given right) to speak our political minds.
Clinton's WH joining the Republicans in repealing Glass-Steagall set the stage for the Banking crisis mess.
The Clinton-Gore economy did very well during 93-98, but the things done in the last 2 years eventually wrecked the US economy to the current point.
Ironically, SUVs are still classified as light trucks for emissions standards. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?
There is no need, or is it justified, to bash the country of China, the Chinese people or Chinese-Americans, for they're all fine people, but the US ABSOLUTELY needs to fix its China Trade deficit problem for its economy to rebound.
On the other hand, China's undemocratic regime does play hardball, and so our politicians must, and should be asked to, stand up and fight back hard and clever against their moves and plays. Finding excuses to handcuff the US into not playing hardball to the Chinese regime's hardball is self-defeating.
Those China trade deficits are mounting higher and higher each year. In 2009, US trade deficit with China was $215 billion (which was 58.5% of the total US trade deficit in 2009), which is about 2% of the US GDP. Had the trade been balanced instead, factoring in a lower-wage factor of 5x (to account for the fact that wages in China are significantly lower than here), one can make a rough estimate of the effect on US employment by China trade deficit to be around 5%, roughly half of the official U3 unemployment rate of the US!
No two ways about it: heavily unbalanced China trade must be balanced as soon as possible!
'Our jobs crisis is due to the collapse of demand in the U.S. after the housing bubble burst.'
Not. The unemployment was high before the bursting of the bubble as well.
of Democracy. We have to vote and fellow whats going on. The only way this system works is if we are engaged. ! Housing cost were to high for earnings our answer was buy in flip making the cost higher for are friends in family .We know China is the least of what ales us. Let the FDIC file charges in refuse to pay of loans that are fraudulent. Tax & Tariffs can address China..Folks who's IRA took a hit want to know why junk gets a AAA rating force the we need answers our future is at stake.
The real world has regulation. Wall Street all pay should never exceed 30 per cent of what the average worker makes and we are now emanating not life but the disney channel we need to get real.