Review - Third World America, by Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
From a humble journalist to the creator of one of the internet's largest sources of unadulterated news, Ariana Huffington cuts right to the core of current events to expose all the intents and purposes of the parties at work. So too, does her site The Huffington Post. If you've read articles from the Post, you might already be familiar with the unflinchingly critical eye Huffington and her fellow free-world journalists have for the layered guises of American politics. Within her inspiring work, Third World America
, Huffington at once provides compelling evidence of the dissolution of America's middle class and solutions for how to reintroduce the principles that once bolstered the country-wide dream.Main Thesis / Main Idea:
A steady erosion of the middle class in America is slowly leading to a 'Third World' society in which a small number of mega-wealthy elite preside over the rest of the populace - a large swathe of the hopelessly poor.
Ideas Addressed:
--What is the future of the American economy?
--Which changes would benefit America most?
--What are the triumphs and shortcomings of the Obama administration?
Very honest. Heartfelt.
Full of cutting facts.
Unpurchased and un-lobbied-for.
Occasionally over-idealistic.
Overly sympathetic to those who made foolish decisions preceding the financial/housing crisis.
Who else wants to live in Huffington's America?
Huffington's general idea is simple: America is transforming from a country based on the potential for anyone to achieve financial riches to one in which financial success is more based on the luck of caste. But what exactly does a 'Third World' actually entail?
...a Third World nation [is] a place where there are only two classes: the rich...and everyone else. Think Mexico or Brazil, where the wealthy live behind fortified gates, with machine-gun-toting guards protecting their children from kidnapping.
As times go on in America, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer -- and the middle class is ultimately disappearing. Huffington proposes that this transformation is already well under way and, for a number of reasons, will only increase in magnitude unless thoroughly addressed.
So what's bringing about this dramatic caricature of a once mostly-middle America?
Huffington first frames the issue against the backdrop of the infamous Wall Street bailouts because of the stark contrast between the power of the rich -- and consequent impotence of the taxpayers. She notes the burgeoning explosion of wealth coming from the financial sector in determining ratios for America's overall GDP and the relative lack thereof coming from the industrial sector. Ultimately, this provides an excellent introduction to Huffington's main hypothesis and driving message:
1. America's middle class is disappearing because the industrial class is fading along with it.
America's middle class - it's industrial class - is being eroded and replaced by a service class that can cater to the desires of the rich. Less industrial goods are manufactured on-site in the country, leading to fewer jobs - but the increased revenue gained at the top by shopping around internationally for goods leaves more money - still at the top - for a myriad of services at home.
The desire for businesses and corporations to shop around on the international market extends not simply to goods - but to labor as well. Huffington links the decline in American at-home manufacturing to the general off-shoring of American jobs.
2. Companies are going off-shore with necessary jobs and commodities.
With no real (read: economic) incentives to pay workers high wages at home, more and more companies are outsourcing where possible. As well, more people without jobs mean more people willing to settle for less pay - creating a compounded impact on the overall financial stability of the average family.
3. Increasing federal debt often forces cuts to spending at home - most notably on stimulus funds for jobs.
Huffington condemns the record-breaking military costs incurred by the Obama administration which, as she thoroughly demonstrates, dwarf all home-based expenditures.
Indeed, during his State of the Union speech in January 2010, President Obama proposed freezing all discretionary government spending for three years -but exempted military spending, even though the defense budget has ballooned over the last ten years.
In fact ... President Obama is on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other president has in one term of office since World War II. In that time we've had Korea, Vietnam, the massive military buildup under Reagan, and Bush's funded-by-tax-cuts invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but in the most trying economic times since the Great Depression, Obama's outgunning them all.
While these first three ideas are entirely legitimate and well-argued, the same cannot be said for all of Huffington's points regarding a transition to Third-World status.
4. "Cheap" credit made Americans more susceptible to take on debt and become poorer.
It's true that Bush 2 made credit much more available and declared that everyone should buy a house. Agreed. It's also true that banks were issuing credit to just about anyone who had the where-withal to sign the papers. Yes, agreed. It is true, as well, that banks were concocting confusing, debt-ensnaring packages for hapless consumers with their subprime mortgages (later bundled with collateralized debt obligations for hapless investors...). All of that is true.
But are the consumers free of blame? Of course not. You can't blame a child for making mistakes because, well, they don't know any better. But these weren't children. These were adults that simply made poor financial choices. Can you really place the blame on financial institutions for wanting to make more money? Not in a capitalist system -- but you can blame the person who pays far too much (through interest, in this case) for making the decision which lead to their ruin? Of course!
Well, does Arianna offer any solutions? The good news is that she does provide several. And that they're excellent. The bad news is that because they would undoubtedly improve things for the general populace, they likely don't stand a chance. Nevertheless:
Fix the crony capitalism that's crippling Washington by bending its will to special interest groups.
This is the pillar of all things to follow: Huffington proposes severing the tie between special interest lobby-groups and the means to tamper with policy-making. Exactly how this may be accomplished is not well-developed, though Huffington proposes a populace-based financing system for new campaigns.
[As an interesting aside, Chomsky documented within his recent Hopes and Prospects
Reinstate transparency.
Government transparency is rarely a topic many politicians are willing to champion. At the moment, the only potential presidential candidate who makes shrinking the executive branch and increasing transparency an actual part of his platform is Ron Paul.
Finance education.
Create more jobs.
This is one of Huffington's more robust and well-argued sections. She notes several strategies that could bolster job-creation and pad the public well-being:
A) Fund local and state governments for initiatives to create projects.
B) Create a national investment bank.
C) Try to stop outsourcing. Subsidize companies that don't.
D) Create green jobs. After all, an entire industry is waiting to be filled - and its corollaries.
E) Provide more help to small businesses.
Cut military spending, then re-allocate the money.
Perform another bailout - for the people who lost their homes during the housing crisis.
Make restrictions on who can get credit.
Though as I stated above...can you really blame those who make credit available?
Reorganize Wall Street.
This is another well-argued portion of Third World America
Resist purchased (and therefore false) media.
Move your money from megabanks and into smaller, more community-based credit unions.
Ultimately, many of these suggestions would markedly spur a bolstering of the middle class and distance America from Huffington's 'Third World' designation. But can anything short of bolstering the American democratic system itself really enable a change that sees those shredding the American dream declawed?