" If workers are insecure..." (Motherfucking Alan Greedspan)

[riqster]

Last edited Tue Mar 11, 2014, 09:13 AM - Edit history (1)

https://m.facebook.com/NoTeaParty/photos/a.116898608335659.16274.108038612554992/848911148467731/?type=1&source=48

See Reply #1 for the image, and reply #2 for clarification. The quote is not verbatim from Greedspan, but it is an accurate synthesis of his longer-winded testimony.

[RC]

1. You are being too nice.

[Nye Bevan]

16. What's with the quotation marks around something that's not a quotation?

Or are my written English rules hopelessly out of date?

[riqster]

18. Here is a nice article on the many uses of quotation marks:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm

You are correct that the meme is incorrectly punctuated.

[Brickbat]

2. He didn't actually say that.

That's Noam Chomsky's paraphrasing of what Greenspan actually said.

[riqster]

3. An accurate paraphrase, but your point is well taken.

I will update the OP, pointing to your post for background info. Gotta love DUers, someone here always has the whole story. Thanks!

[clarice]

10. Noam Chomsky...rolls eyes....nuff said. nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. I suggest that Alan Greenspan

go fuck him self.

[Nye Bevan]

5. So, does anyone want to provide an accurate, direct quote,

of this horrible thing that Greenspan supposedly said in 1997?

[riqster]

6. See reply #2.

[Nye Bevan]

7. That's a link to his entire testimomy, which is very long.

I skimmed it but could not find anything about worker insecurity being "optimal" for corporations. So where is the smoking gun?

[riqster]

8. Brickbat provided two links: one to Greenspan's testimony, and another to Chomsky's interpretation

And as I said in the revised OP, the graphic shows a paraphrase of Greenspan's testimony, and I feel it is an accurate rephrasing.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. After taking out the irrelevant bits, this is what he said.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/1997/february/testimony.htm

The performance of the U.S. economy over the past year has been quite favorable...
Low inflation last year was both a symptom and a cause of the good economy...
For some, the benign inflation outcome of 1996 might be considered surprising, as resource utilization rates--particularly of labor--were in the neighborhood of those that historically have been associated with building inflation pressures. To be sure, an acceleration in nominal labor compensation, especially its wage component, became evident over the past year. But the rate of pay increase still was markedly less than historical relationships with labor market conditions would have predicted. Atypical restraint on compensation increases has been evident for a few years now and appears to be mainly the consequence of greater worker insecurity...
At some point, the tradeoff of subdued wage growth for job security has to come to an end. In other words, the relatively modest wage gains we have experienced are a temporary rather than a lasting phenomenon because there is a limit to the value of additional job security people are willing to acquire in exchange for lesser increases in living standards.

I don't know if Greenspan would have predicted that workers would have kept the torches and pitchforks in the shed for 17 years, but I'd say Chomsky did a decent job paraphrasing.

[Nye Bevan]

11. I missed the "serve the masters gladly and passively" and "optimal for corporations" parts (nt)

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. He did say that the economy is great because workers are insecure.

He also did say to beware because eventually workers would stop trading wages for security.

Since then, the employment to population ratio has dropped 10%, which took care of that particular concern. Those of us who have jobs aren't in a position to trade that "security" for more wages.

To survive, we must serve the masters gladly and passively, which is optimal for corporations.

[Nye Bevan]

13. Interesting that you too choose to paraphrase.

How about the direct quote from the testimony where he said that? Like, with direct cut and paste?

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Greenspan's use of language is nearly complete in its impenetrability.

To gather anything from it, one must paraphrase.

You've seen the links. You've seen the cut and pasted bits. Are you suggesting he said something else?

1997:
- The economy's good
- Because workers are insecure
- But the economy won't always be good, because eventually workers will start demanding higher wages

... unless of course the banks fuck the economy and throw 10% of the population permanently out of work. Viewed in the context of Greenspan's speech, the great recession would seem to him to be a solution, not a catastrophe.

[Nye Bevan]

15. "At some point, the tradeoff of subdued wage growth for job security has to come to an end".

Isn't that something that we would all agree with, and hope for?

In other words, the relatively modest wage gains we have experienced are a temporary rather than a lasting phenomenon because there is a limit to the value of additional job security people are willing to acquire in exchange for lesser increases in living standards.

Again, no argument for me. He is anticipating higher wages for workers. And I do not see him saying that this is a bad thing. He does point out that inflationary pressures result from higher wages (which of course no economist would disagree with), as he should, given the Fed's function of keeping inflation under control.

If you have a link where he praises the great recession as a "solution" I would be interested to see it.

[jsr]

17. +1

[Populist_Prole]

19. Rhetorical question

Why is it that when the income of the rich increases; it's good for the economy in that it "drives" it - But when the prole's income increases, it's a drag on the economy and you get all the bleating about inflation blah blah blah?

Of course, it's just a class based double standard. Bastards can't even stick to their own dogma unless it benefits them.

[riqster]

20. Hopefully karma will run over their dogma. nt