Jess Rivas: U.S. Economy Must Put People Ahead Of [BIG] Business.
U.S. economy must put people ahead of business
Jess rivas
As the economic crisis becomes ever greater, all that we are hearing from politicians and analysts is more of the same business-first approach to economics that has sunk us this far into the hole.
I hear people, wide-eyed, talking about the risk that this crisis may become as bad as the Great Depression. Having lived in Venezuela in my youth, I know that it can be far worse than that.
In fact, there is an eerie resemblance between the current state of our economy and the one in Venezuela at the end of the 1980s. From mortgage crises, rampant unemployment and deterioration of salaries, to constant government bailouts of the economic elites while at the same time showing a callous disregard for the needs of working people.
One day, working people took to the streets in anger as a response to the constant lowering of the quality of life. They looted businesses and rioted against everything that was perceived as a symbol of the economic powers. The government, loyal to its business-first motto, turned its forces loose on unarmed people, shooting and killing countless demonstrators.
The people who rioted in the streets of Venezuela were not thugs or criminals. They were working men and women who had been cheated out of a livelihood. They were honest working people who had abided by the system, worked hard and played by the rules only to see that system default on them.
How can we save the U.S. economy today? The business-first approach of unfettered capitalism — the free-market economy — has proven a failure. Not only has it failed the working people for many years, but as we see now, it also failed the economic elites who are now collapsing. There is no reason to expect that the same approach will magically give good results now.
A few months ago, I suggested a significant minimum wage increase to $12 or $15 an hour. This would produce a huge injection of money that would activate the economy. I also proposed exceptions to protect small-business owners, as well as regulations preventing companies from downsizing or increasing prices to pass the wage increase to costumers.
This is part of an approach to economics that has been championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It simply consists of putting the interest of the people ahead of the interest of corporations. Because the economy rests on the shoulders of working people, and not the economic elites, putting money in the pockets of working people is the best and quickest way to put money into the economy, a trickle up approach.
Big corporations certainly complain about the high wages and regulations, but because everybody has money, the companies get plenty of business, so they do not crash. They simply make less obscene profits.
This approach saved Venezuela, and it has resulted in tremendous economic growth in the other countries — Brazil and Argentina, Ecuador and Chile — that use it.
While most western economies have tanked or declined in the last few years, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil have been posting significant economic growth quarter after quarter, year after year.
While it is true that Venezuela's economy has been greatly helped by high oil prices, Argentina, Brazil and Chile have no oil to speak of, yet they have experienced healthy, sustained economic growth.
This approach has worked so well that Argentina and Brazil, horribly indebted to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund when they started Chavenomics, have completely paid their international debts decades ahead of schedule. And by doing so, they saved billions of dollars in interest.
While everybody talks about change in the presidential campaign, nobody is talking about changing the business-first economic paradigm.
We can continue sinking into the hole every day and risk a bigger recession or even a social explosion, or we can exchange the paradigm for a new approach in which the people are placed ahead of big corporations — not just in campaign rhetoric but also in practice.
Jess A. Rivas of Somerset is an assistant professor at Somerset Community College. E-mail him at anaconda@prodigy.net.
Jess rivas
As the economic crisis becomes ever greater, all that we are hearing from politicians and analysts is more of the same business-first approach to economics that has sunk us this far into the hole.
I hear people, wide-eyed, talking about the risk that this crisis may become as bad as the Great Depression. Having lived in Venezuela in my youth, I know that it can be far worse than that.
In fact, there is an eerie resemblance between the current state of our economy and the one in Venezuela at the end of the 1980s. From mortgage crises, rampant unemployment and deterioration of salaries, to constant government bailouts of the economic elites while at the same time showing a callous disregard for the needs of working people.
One day, working people took to the streets in anger as a response to the constant lowering of the quality of life. They looted businesses and rioted against everything that was perceived as a symbol of the economic powers. The government, loyal to its business-first motto, turned its forces loose on unarmed people, shooting and killing countless demonstrators.
The people who rioted in the streets of Venezuela were not thugs or criminals. They were working men and women who had been cheated out of a livelihood. They were honest working people who had abided by the system, worked hard and played by the rules only to see that system default on them.
How can we save the U.S. economy today? The business-first approach of unfettered capitalism — the free-market economy — has proven a failure. Not only has it failed the working people for many years, but as we see now, it also failed the economic elites who are now collapsing. There is no reason to expect that the same approach will magically give good results now.
A few months ago, I suggested a significant minimum wage increase to $12 or $15 an hour. This would produce a huge injection of money that would activate the economy. I also proposed exceptions to protect small-business owners, as well as regulations preventing companies from downsizing or increasing prices to pass the wage increase to costumers.
This is part of an approach to economics that has been championed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. It simply consists of putting the interest of the people ahead of the interest of corporations. Because the economy rests on the shoulders of working people, and not the economic elites, putting money in the pockets of working people is the best and quickest way to put money into the economy, a trickle up approach.
Big corporations certainly complain about the high wages and regulations, but because everybody has money, the companies get plenty of business, so they do not crash. They simply make less obscene profits.
This approach saved Venezuela, and it has resulted in tremendous economic growth in the other countries — Brazil and Argentina, Ecuador and Chile — that use it.
While most western economies have tanked or declined in the last few years, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil have been posting significant economic growth quarter after quarter, year after year.
While it is true that Venezuela's economy has been greatly helped by high oil prices, Argentina, Brazil and Chile have no oil to speak of, yet they have experienced healthy, sustained economic growth.
This approach has worked so well that Argentina and Brazil, horribly indebted to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund when they started Chavenomics, have completely paid their international debts decades ahead of schedule. And by doing so, they saved billions of dollars in interest.
While everybody talks about change in the presidential campaign, nobody is talking about changing the business-first economic paradigm.
We can continue sinking into the hole every day and risk a bigger recession or even a social explosion, or we can exchange the paradigm for a new approach in which the people are placed ahead of big corporations — not just in campaign rhetoric but also in practice.
Jess A. Rivas of Somerset is an assistant professor at Somerset Community College. E-mail him at anaconda@prodigy.net.
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