Economy
Related: About this forumWhy Americans Are Screwed and Europeans Are Not. Robert Reich
The U.S. economy is picking up steam but most Americans arent feeling it.
Whats behind this? Two big facts.
First, American corporations exert far more political influence in the United States than their counterparts exert in their own countries. . .
Instead, American lawmakers respond to the demands of wealthy individuals (typically corporate executives and Wall Street moguls) and of big corporations those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll campaigns.
The second fact is most big American corporations have no particular allegiance to America. They dont want Americans to have better wages. Their only allegiance and responsibility to their shareholders which often requires lower wages to fuel larger profits and higher share prices. . .
Im not blaming American corporations. Theyre in business to make profits and maximize their share prices, not to serve America.
But because of these two basic facts their dominance on American politics, and their interest in share prices instead of the wellbeing of Americans its folly to count on them to create good American jobs or improve American competitiveness, or represent the interests of the United States in global commerce.
By contrast, big corporations headquartered in other rich nations are more responsible for the wellbeing of the people who live in those nations.
Thats because labor unions there are typically stronger than they are here able to exert pressure both at the company level and nationally. . .
Governments in other rich nations often devise laws through tri-partite bargains involving big corporations and organized labor. This process further binds their corporations to their nations.
Meanwhile, American corporations distribute a smaller share of their earnings to their workers than do European or Canadian-based corporations.
And top U.S. corporate executives make far more money than their counterparts in other wealthy countries. . .
And because of the overwhelming clout of American firms on U.S. politics, Americans dont get nearly as good a deal from their governments as do Canadians and Europeans.
Governments there impose higher taxes on the wealthy and redistribute more of it to middle and lower income households. Most of their citizens receive essentially free health care and more generous unemployment benefits than do Americans.
So it shouldnt be surprising that even though U.S. economy is doing better, most Americans are not.
The U.S. middle class is no longer the worlds richest. After considering taxes and transfer payments, middle-class incomes in Canada and much of Western Europe are higher than in U.S. The poor in Western Europe earn more than do poor Americans.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/robert-reich-why-americans-are-screwed-and-europeans-are-not
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I had seen it before; but, wasn't able to access it.
I completely agree with Reich's conclusion:
In the short run, it would be far easier to {gasp} ... buy big American corporations' allegiance to America ... just as the European governments have, with a combination of regulations and financial incentives.
hopemountain
(3,919 posts)npr, art, occupy, wildlife and conservancy efforts, etc.? what one koch brother defender recently told me - "surely, they mean well"... they are pretty good at the game of deception.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)But it isn't pretty.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)Europeans are too screwed.
Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)The eventual end-product of capitalism seems to be unfettered capitalism, i.e. corporatism/fascism. How long can a post-Christian, mainland Europe (the UK needs some remedial teaching) remain outside the corporatist fold?
Imo, in theory, not indefinitely. However, events in the world are currently so volatile that consideration of even the medium term prospects for the world as we know it, seem to me, inevitably, to be the vainest of conjectures.
golfguru
(4,987 posts)Atlanta FED GDP forecast:
And Europe middle class is doing better?
EU is in recession. Unemployment is 10% plus allover.
Greece is bankrupt. So is Spain & Portugal. Only Germany
is doing good.