Group Think in a Banana Republic?
Across the globe a backlash is building against China for its initial mishandling of the crisis that helped loose the coronavirus on the world, creating a deeply polarizing battle of narratives and setting back China’s ambition to fill the leadership vacuum left by the United States.
By J.M. Hamilton (5-3-2020)
Trump is such a polarizing president, that either side of the centrist political spectrum often comes down hard as pro-Trump or anti-Trump. For establishment Dems & voters, if Trump says it, surely, it must be wrong; conversely, for Trump’s base, if the POTUS says it, then it must be right. Additionally, for many Americans & journalists - attempting the herculean feat of survival, during a time of pandemic - it’s easier to defer to the respective establishment political party’s talking points.
The reality, however, often a slightly more nuanced response is called for by mainstream media, politicians, and voters.
Take Trump’s recent attacks on China. Dem leadership has struggled with this issue and have a long history of supporting globalism and trade with China (as did many establishment republicans, up until a few short months ago). Remember Obama’s & Biden’s support for the TPP trade agreement, US labor be damned?
We can see that Trump hasn’t forgotten and will be attacking Biden w/ ads arriving this Fall, if not sooner. A slightly more nuanced analysis of the GOP’s & Trump’s sudden Neo-Cold War rhetoric might reveal the following.
One, is Trump attempting to deflect blame from his administration’s – and congress’ - own failings and responsibility for rising US pandemic deaths, by attacking China? Absolutely.
Two, are Chinese & Asian Americans, at the risk of generalization, excellent citizens, in terms of being hard working, loyal, smart, entrepreneurial, diligent. Well, generally, yes again.
Three, should America kowtow to communist China’s dictator… and adhere to their demands that the US, and US multinationals, not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation? Should the US refrain from voicing loud support for the brave citizens of Hong Kong, who have taken to the streets to fight for freedom and democracy, as desired by communist China leadership? The answer, here, is the US should always support freedom and democracy, and not bow to communist party wishes. (And if US multinationals are booted off mainland China, so be it. Allowing US billionaires and multinationals to dictate US domestic, foreign, and trade policy has been a complete disaster.)
Four, should America fully investigate China’s, the US’, and the WHO’s role in the coronavirus outbreak and its spread? Here again, unequivocally, the answer is yes. And let the chips fall where they may… based upon the timeline so far, it appears that communist leadership, the WHO, and American leadership (Congress and the POTUS) badly botched the initial response to the viral outbreak.
The point JMH is attempting to make is the answer is not as pat, nor as binary, in response to the POTUS’s attack upon China, as the donor class, DNC and RNC leadership, and the MSM would often have us believe. Few, if any, Americans would support totalitarian China’s gulags & slave labor colonies, anymore than the same Americans should support the US criminal justice industrial complex and mass incarceration. Both are equally repugnant. (Excepting, of course, cloying American multinational C-Suites, who always seem to find an excuse to bow down to their communist master).
There are many more examples of group think - or sheer intellectual laziness - but I’ll provide you with one more. Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, recently came down hard on state bailouts, after years of federal & state budgetary malpractice. Here again, rather than the polarizing response this received in the MSM, and from Dem and GOP leadership, a more discerning response is called for.
One, is Mr. McConnell one of the most reactionary leaders of our day, nearly always siding w/ billionaires and multinationals against the American economy, labor, and the consumer? Responsible for stacking the SCOTUS, and federal judiciary, w/ right-wing ideologues and politicians? Of that, there is zero doubt.
Two, was Leader McConnell one hundred percent correct in identifying state debt (and indirectly, national debt) as one of the key problems of our times? Absolutely. However, it’s worth noting, Mr. McConnell did announce his opposition to state debt bailouts, after trillions in pandemic welfare for Wall St, US multinationals, and billionaires (provided by congress and the federal reserve) had already sailed through the senate.
Three, and what of the Dem reaction? Which was the idea that catastrophic state debt must be sacrosanct, back stopped, and supported with more debt or more grants, backed by still more national debt? To be clear, the Dem establishment came down in favor of yet more catastrophic debt. In the US, public debt has been allowed to accrue to unacceptable levels through an endless series of tax cuts for the wealthy, freebies and corporate welfare for multinationals, and at the federal level, the financing of endless credit card wars. Moreover, and this is crucial, government debt is used as an excuse to forego childcare & education for our children, to prevent a UBI and Medicare for All for our citizens, and to ensure that student debt is never cancelled. Infrastructure in the US? Forget about it, too much government debt. (Note: Nearly nobody asks how do we pay for tax cuts for the rich, corporate welfare, and endless war?) So the Dem response, Mr. Cuomo’s response, was disingenuous at best.
That is, Dems & GOP should both be leading the crusade against catastrophic federal & state debt, and how best to appropriately deal with it, w/out screwing over the American people. (And if both parties want to escape humiliation, they should put the federal reserve to work on that project… it’s called debt forgiveness.)
Four, and finally, who profits off all this federal and state debt? Well, that would be a major donor to both establishment political parties: Wall Street. Wall Street makes money off the interest income, the debt issuance, the advisory fees, as well as, the derivatives & swaps used to insure and speculate on public debt. Ironically, much of this debt was accumulated bailing out Wall Street executives for their actions, as well as, the fallout from their actions, repeatedly (see 2008 and our present financial crisis). Would Wall Street survive w/out all this interest income, if public debt was gradually & methodically written down? The answer is yes. The banks and financial services would have to charge higher fees and premiums, rather than rely upon the crutch/free ride of national & state debt. Additionally, w/ interest rates headed to zero bound, if not negative, that interest income will likely soon evaporate or be significantly mitigated.
Here again, the political response – the group think response – in either situation was not as binary, nor should it be as polarized, as the two establishment political parties and the MSM would have us believe. We may not like Messrs. McConnell’s & Trump’s (nor Mr. Cuomo's) motives or politics, but they are correct to bring up the twin threats of communist China and unsustainable public debt.
In fact, in both examples, China and government debt, the answer should be a little more thoughtful but also universally accepted across the political spectrum. It goes back to first principles. Doesn’t it?
Democracy good. Freedom good. Authoritarian & totalitarian hegemony & rule – and oppression - are bad. Public debt used to bailout and reward C-Suites & Wall Street for failure, repeatedly, and to provide tax cuts for multinational predators, ad nauseam – while the American people suffer – is bad. Debt or MMT used, responsibly, to finance infrastructure projects, a Green New deal, and a student debt amnesty is good.
If the US wants to escape the fate of banana republics, it must eliminate some of the polarized thinking that has been allowed to divide the nation, so that nothing is ever accomplished, and problems are never solved.
Indeed, it appears to be the defining feature of the present Washington establishment: bicker endlessly; maintain a good show of disagreement – backed by MSM talking heads; do nothing; and ultimately, preserve a failed status quo that serves a predatory few.
In banana republics, the elite divide and conquer a nation, while looting the Treasury and the people suffer grinding poverty.
Sound familiar?
Profits are privatized, and losses are nationalized. In a banana republic, the currency is stretched eight different ways, so that cronyism and corruption – between the state and the multinationals & oligarchy that own the state - are essentially monetized, until the currency falls.
It’s time to end the political duopoly’s group think, if the US has any hope of escaping the fate of emerging market countries. America’s exorbitant privilege may not last forever. And if the two centrist parties won’t respond, it is the responsibility of Americans to support third parties that will take appropriate action.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2020
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