Potemkin prosperity

[Carl Remick]

>From: "Lawrence" <lawrence at krubner.com>
>
> > It has been era where
> > billions of dollars have been squandered on follies associated with 
>"paper
> > entrepreneurship" ranging from the S&L bailout to the dot-com bubble; an 
>era
> > of rampant public stupefaction caused by media consolidation and the 
>rise of
> > the "entertainment economy"; an era where self-seeking charlatans like 
>Lee
> > Iacocca, Mike Milken, Jack Welch and Bill Gates are hailed as 
>visionaries
> > and embraced by a gullible public as heroes
>
>This sounds more like a description of capitalism than a description of 
>things that are unique to the stretch
>1973 - 1995.

I'm reminded of Poe's "The Purloined Letter"; what you seek here is "hidden" 
in plain sight.  The restoration of classic capitalism *is* what is unique 
or at least remarkable about the '70s-'90s.  US society has worked 
hammer-and-tongs for three decades to restore, insofar as possible, the 
classic dynamic of capitalism that existed in the 19th century -- a dynamic 
that, ever since the Depression at least, had been widely recognized as 
ruinous to long-term social harmony and basic functioning.  The public at 
large acceded to actions -- ranging from delegitimizing unionization, to 
curtailing government social services, to the deregulation of financial 
markets and other key economic sectors, to the creation of CEOs as cult 
figures rather than simple fiduciaries -- that were manifestly injurious to 
their own interests and beneficial only to a tiny elite.  In short, US 
society at large has turned its back on the hard lessons learned by earlier 
generations and reinstituted an economical model that has been proved beyond 
cavil to produce profligate wastage and bitter social divisiveness.  I 
consider that kind of lunacy very special indeed.

Carl

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