People look back on FDR and his New Deal, and applaud. I always thought that FDR did what he did in order to save the collective asses of the wealthy in the US from suffering the same fate as the Czar and his family in Russia prior to Lenin.
Question: Is a similar "situation" needed in the US before the wealthy who run everything realize that they are in danger of ... (fill in the blank), and change things before you get a lot of USers feeling like they have nothing to lose? Or is America so wimpy,cowed, and under-informed that they will simply slip into a state of Dickensian poverty/slavery? And what about Europe? Are we seeing the final stages of China ruling the globe with the help of the fascist corporations? Have the bad guys won, and did they earn their victory so why not? Welcome to ET, Paul Krugman
...the European welfare state, and the US New Deal, came to be because most of the elites agreed to an armistice in the class war - and that not the least because they were scared of a communist revolution at home, scared because of the apparent indestructibility of the Soviet Union. Thus, it seems to me, to put it drastically: the well-being of many of yours was made only possible with the deaths of millions of Russians (& other subjects of the Empire)
Thus, it seems to me, to put it drastically: the well-being of many of yours was made only possible with the deaths of millions of Russians (& other subjects of the Empire)
In order for the power elites to concede another New Deal, one has to construct a similarly threatening bogey-man, albeit (one would hope) one somewhat less monstrous.
Note also that the reaction of a large part of the European elites to similar circumstances at the time, was the endorsement of fascism and national socialism. I don't mean to imply anything much by this, but given the circumstances, the fingerprinting and targeting of gypsies in Italy, is not too far from the Brown Stars, now, is it? The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
WE ARE IN SERIOUS SHIT!
The day someone starts agreeing with me is a DEFINITE sign of the End Times. Drinks on Me! Welcome to ET, Paul Krugman
One might say Fidel Castro was like Pandora. The box was there and all the troubles were in it - and he opened the box. Latin America is moving fast, and not necessarily with us or toward us. The social and economic pressures have revolutionary possibilities. Our policies to date have not been successful. They have been too negative, too little, too closely tied to dictators and to small ruling classes who will become victims of the new social pressures if they do not move quickly and make necessary reforms. Stability and the status quo are dreams of the past. We have lost the Cuba we knew and dominated, or influenced so greatly. Our relations with Cuba will never be the same , even when they become friendly again, as they must. (Herbert L. Matthews, The Cuban Story, New York: Braziller, 1961, p. 273)
The French Revolution has a similar effect - emboldening American revolutionaries and encouraging the British imperial elite to make some democratic concessions to the masses - for fear of revolution at home. "It's a mystery to me - the game commences, For the usual fee - plus expenses, Confidential information - it's in my diary..."
Europe was more balanced. Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?
