Mr. Schultz, and I think many other business types was (and presumably still is) suffering from a triple misconception about our situation. First, CEOs still talk as if debt and deficits were the central issue of economic policy. They never deserved that place; they certainly don’t deserve it now that the deficit has clearly been falling too fast and the debt outlook is stable for the next decade. Yet they can’t let go of the notion that a grand bargain on the budget – as opposed to an end to destructive austerity – is what we need.
Second, many CEOs are, I believe, genuinely naive about the people they deal with. They believe, for example, that Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, actually cares about deficits. They haven’t grasped, or refuse to grasp, the reality that the whole thing about deficits was really about using the economic crisis as an excuse to tear down the social safety net.
Finally, CEOs are still trying to position themselves as the middle ground between extremists on both sides, when the reality is that we have a basically moderate Democratic party confronting a radical Republican party that doesn’t play by any of the normal rules. If you insist on thinking of senators Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren as somehow symmetrical figures, you’re already so out of touch with political reality that there’s no way you’re going to have useful influence.
I do sometimes wonder how these guys can be that naïve, and some of them probably aren’t – they’re playing class warfare on the sly. But some of them really do seem clueless, probably because thinking about the reality of American politics today would make them uncomfortable – and who’s going to tell the guy in the big office things that make him uncomfortable? It’s not just Fox News watchers who live in a bubble; sometimes, wealth and power can have the same effect.
The world according to the GOP
Dr. K is always correct on the nuts and guts that make an economy function, but he refuses to recognize the true motivations of the 1%. There is no naivete on their part, their mission is and has always been total class war. No more caring about deficits than Rand Paul, they see in him a fellow class warrior pursuing the ‘business types’ goal of destruction the social safety net. Their goal of having everyone not in their clique ground to powder under their heel.
But it’s even worse than that because not all economics is local. If you haven’t seen “The Gatekeepers” you should. Then ask yourself why our top diplomat, John Kerry, was forced to spend 7 hours in top secret meetings with Israel’s Netanyahu? Why does Israel demand that Iran totally dismantle it’s nuclear program or face a U.S. provoked war when Israel knows that such programs are perfectly legal? Why did Israel suspend it’s relationship with the Human Rights Council over the issue of Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank? Why does the United States continue to do business as usual with the rogue state of Israel? Are there big profits to be made by going to war with Israel’s enemies? Or are we just being naive?
I also disagree that “sometimes wealth and power can have that effect”. It almost ALWAYS has that effect. If you are wealthy and powerful – you live in a bubble. I’d venture to say most Americans -who are far more affluent than the average citizen of Planet Earth – live in a bubble.