It’s still the economy stupid!

Marketplace

October 26, 2006

If it were really about the economy, the Republicans would be in good shape for the upcoming elections. Oil prices are down, the stock market is up and anxiety about jobs has eased. But the unending war in Iraq, corruption and sexual scandal in Washington, and the ongoing crisis in cultural values have put the Republicans on the defensive and sent Democratic hopes for a 1994 style Congressional turnaround soaring.

But guess what? Behind each of these issues lurks the economic question. I’m no economic determinist but economics just won’t go away.

Take Iraq: part of the reason we are losing is that President Bush went for a war on the cheap: too few troops, too little body and vehicle armor, not enough long-term planning, and far too much outsourcing. Congress appropriated 18.4 billion dollars for Iraq reconstruction, but though government anticipated 10% overhead costs, with Parsons and Worley it was 43% and with the Halliburton subsidiary KBR a whopping 55%. The Iraqis still have miniscule oil production, episodic electrical service and zero security, but the big corporate internationals are making out like bandits just by sitting on their hands.

And what about values? The stock market’s up but income inequality has been increasing for decades and the middle class and working class are worse off than before even as the very rich receive more tax breaks. It’s mostly poor and lower middle class Americans who “volunteer” for the armed services and are sent back to do double and triple tours, while the wealthier sit at home making no sacrifices and pumping the consumer economy .

The right talks about cultural values but profits from an infotainment industry geared to macho violence and soft core porn in its films, video games and music. The government ballyhoos democracy and assails the axis of evil, but it does big business with the world’s most totalitarian remaining tyranny, the Chinese government.

The cultural wars are in fact a study in hypocrisy, behind which stands the quest for endless profits: the poor pay in blood and bucks for a war motivated by oil and arrogance. Back in the early days of the “Reagan Revolution,” OMD director David Stockmann said downsizing government will only work if cuts are fair and across the board. What a utopian he was! It’s been cuts for the poor and loopholes for the rich ever since.

So the next time some one tells you, “This year it’s all about values,” you tell them… “nope, it’s STILL the economy stupid.”

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