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During the great depression,
which I'm old enough
to remember, there was...
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And most of my family
were unemployed working class...
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00:00:55,621 --> 00:00:57,354
There wasn't... it was bad,
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00:00:57,356 --> 00:00:59,756
much worse
subjectively than today.
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00:00:59,758 --> 00:01:02,918
But there was an expectation
that things were going to get
better.
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00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,494
There was a real sense
of hopefulness.
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00:01:06,496 --> 00:01:07,795
There isn't today.
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00:01:17,638 --> 00:01:21,407
Inequality is really
unprecedented.
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00:01:21,409 --> 00:01:25,611
If you look at total inequality,
it's like the worst periods
of American history.
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00:01:31,651 --> 00:01:39,651
The inequality comes from
the extreme wealth in a tiny
sector of the population,
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00:01:40,158 --> 00:01:41,390
a fraction of one percent.
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00:01:44,827 --> 00:01:48,162
There were periods like
the gilded age in the '20s
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00:01:48,164 --> 00:01:50,197
and the roaring '90s and so on,
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00:01:50,199 --> 00:01:52,732
when a situation developed
rather similar to this.
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00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,168
Now, this period's extreme...
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00:01:56,170 --> 00:01:58,770
Because if you look
at the wealth distribution,
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00:01:58,772 --> 00:02:03,307
the inequality mostly
comes from super wealth.
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00:02:07,211 --> 00:02:11,246
Literally, the top
1/10th of a percent
are just super wealthy.
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00:02:12,781 --> 00:02:16,316
Not only is it extremely
unjust in itself...
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00:02:16,318 --> 00:02:20,419
Inequality has highly negative
consequences on the society
as a whole...
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00:02:22,722 --> 00:02:28,393
Because the very fact
of inequality has a corrosive,
harmful effect on democracy.
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00:02:34,232 --> 00:02:36,833
You open by talking about
the American dream.
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00:02:36,835 --> 00:02:39,268
Part of the American dream
is class mobility.
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00:02:39,270 --> 00:02:47,142
You get rich. It was possible
for a worker to get a decent
job, buy a home...
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00:02:47,144 --> 00:02:49,877
Get a car, have his
children go to school.
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00:02:52,213 --> 00:02:53,279
It's all collapsed.
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00:03:07,860 --> 00:03:12,830
Imagine yourself in an outside
position, looking from Mars.
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00:03:13,765 --> 00:03:14,798
What do you see?
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00:03:40,657 --> 00:03:44,793
In the United States,
there are professed
values like democracy.
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00:03:51,566 --> 00:03:56,202
In a democracy, public opinion
is going to have some influence
on policy.
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00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:05,543
And then, the government
carries out actions determined
by the population.
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00:04:05,545 --> 00:04:07,311
That's what democracy means.
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00:04:11,849 --> 00:04:15,985
It's important to understand
that privileged and powerful
sectors
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00:04:15,987 --> 00:04:21,223
have never liked democracy
and for very good reasons.
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00:04:21,225 --> 00:04:24,993
Democracy puts power
into the hands of
the general population
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00:04:24,995 --> 00:04:26,627
and takes it away from them.
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00:04:28,830 --> 00:04:32,632
It's kind of a principle
of concentration of wealth
and power.
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00:04:48,348 --> 00:04:52,384
Concentration of wealth
yields concentration of power...
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00:04:52,386 --> 00:04:57,021
Particularly so as the cost
of elections skyrockets,
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00:04:57,023 --> 00:05:03,627
which kind of forces
the political parties into the
pockets of major corporations.
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00:05:03,629 --> 00:05:08,465
And this political power quickly
translates into legislation
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00:05:08,467 --> 00:05:11,401
that increases
the concentration of wealth.
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00:05:11,403 --> 00:05:14,937
So fiscal policy
like tax policy...
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00:05:14,939 --> 00:05:17,906
Deregulation...
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00:05:17,908 --> 00:05:22,644
Rules of corporate
governance and a whole
variety of measures...
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00:05:22,646 --> 00:05:27,782
Political measures, designed
to increase the concentration
of wealth and power,
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00:05:27,784 --> 00:05:31,618
which, in turn,
yields more political power
to do the same thing.
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00:05:33,721 --> 00:05:35,641
And that's what
we've been seeing.
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00:05:39,592 --> 00:05:42,460
So we have this kind of
vicious cycle in progress.
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00:05:47,766 --> 00:05:54,338
You know, actually,
it is so traditional that it was
described by Adam Smith in 1776.
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00:05:54,340 --> 00:05:56,506
You read the famous
"wealth of nations."
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00:06:00,544 --> 00:06:04,013
He says in England,
the principal architects
of policy
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00:06:04,015 --> 00:06:06,015
are the people
who own the society.
54
00:06:06,017 --> 00:06:09,818
In his day, merchants
and manufacturers.
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00:06:09,820 --> 00:06:14,989
And they make sure
that their own interests
are very well cared for,
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00:06:14,991 --> 00:06:19,560
however grievous
the impact on the people
of England or others.
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00:06:21,829 --> 00:06:24,530
Now, it's not merchants
and manufacturers,
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00:06:24,532 --> 00:06:27,432
it's financial institutions
and multinational corporations.
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00:06:28,767 --> 00:06:33,570
The people who Adam Smith
called the "masters of mankind,"
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00:06:33,572 --> 00:06:38,808
and they're following the vile
Maxim, "all for ourselves
and nothing for anyone else."
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00:06:41,845 --> 00:06:46,815
They're just going to pursue
policies that benefit them
and harm everyone else.
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00:06:46,817 --> 00:06:52,720
And in the absence of a general
popular reaction, that's pretty
much what you'd expect.
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00:07:03,631 --> 00:07:08,401
Right through American history,
there's been an ongoing clash...
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00:07:08,403 --> 00:07:14,472
Between pressure for more
freedom and democracy coming
from below,
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00:07:14,474 --> 00:07:19,643
and efforts at elite control
and domination coming from
above.
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00:07:24,415 --> 00:07:26,535
It goes back to
the founding of the country.
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00:07:29,852 --> 00:07:31,953
James Madison, the main framer,
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00:07:31,955 --> 00:07:37,124
who was as much of a believer
in democracy as anybody
in the world in that day,
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00:07:37,126 --> 00:07:41,128
nevertheless felt that
the United States system
should be designed,
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00:07:41,130 --> 00:07:44,898
and indeed with his
initiative was designed,
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00:07:44,900 --> 00:07:48,835
so that power should be
in the hands of the wealthy...
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00:07:48,837 --> 00:07:52,872
Because the wealthy
are the more responsible
set of men.
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00:07:52,874 --> 00:07:56,742
And, therefore,
the structure of the formal
constitutional system
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00:07:56,744 --> 00:07:59,611
placed most power
in the hands of the senate.
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00:07:59,613 --> 00:08:02,614
Remember, the senate was
not elected in those days.
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00:08:02,616 --> 00:08:04,849
It was selected
from the wealthy.
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00:08:04,851 --> 00:08:09,753
Men, as Madison put it,
"had sympathy for property
owners and their rights."
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00:08:12,490 --> 00:08:15,490
If you read the debates
at the constitutional
convention...
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00:08:16,727 --> 00:08:20,496
Madison said, "the major concern
of the society has to be
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00:08:20,498 --> 00:08:23,799
to protect the minority
of the opulent against
the majority."
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00:08:27,670 --> 00:08:29,470
And he had arguments.
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00:08:29,472 --> 00:08:32,039
Suppose everyone
had a vote freely.
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00:08:32,041 --> 00:08:35,742
He said, "well, the majority
of the poor would get together
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00:08:35,744 --> 00:08:38,978
and they would organize
to take away the property
of the rich."
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00:08:38,980 --> 00:08:42,781
And, he said, "that would
obviously be unjust,
so you can't have that."
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00:08:42,783 --> 00:08:46,183
So, therefore the constitutional
system has to be set up
to prevent democracy.
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00:08:57,928 --> 00:09:02,965
It's of some interest that this
debate has a hoary tradition.
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00:09:02,967 --> 00:09:07,736
Goes back to the first major
book on political systems,
Aristotle's "politics."
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00:09:09,872 --> 00:09:13,140
He says, "of all of them,
the best is democracy,"
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00:09:13,142 --> 00:09:17,143
but then he points out
exactly the flaw that
Madison pointed out.
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00:09:20,714 --> 00:09:23,515
If Athens were a democracy
for free men,
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00:09:23,517 --> 00:09:26,717
the poor would get together
and take away the property
of the rich.
93
00:09:27,986 --> 00:09:31,655
Well, same dilemma,
they had opposite solutions.
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00:09:31,657 --> 00:09:35,659
Aristotle proposed what we would
nowadays call a welfare state.
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00:09:35,661 --> 00:09:37,621
He said,
"try to reduce inequality."
96
00:09:42,599 --> 00:09:45,500
So, same problem,
opposite solutions.
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00:09:45,502 --> 00:09:48,903
One is reduce inequality,
you won't have this problem.
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00:09:48,905 --> 00:09:50,704
The other is reduce democracy.
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00:09:57,678 --> 00:09:59,779
If you look at the history
of the United States...
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00:09:59,781 --> 00:10:03,015
It's a constant struggle
between these two tendencies.
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00:10:03,017 --> 00:10:07,152
A democratizing tendency
that's mostly coming from
the population,
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00:10:07,154 --> 00:10:13,258
and you get this constant battle
going on, periods of regression,
periods of progress.
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00:10:13,260 --> 00:10:18,630
The 1960s for example,
were a period of significant
democratization.
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00:10:33,076 --> 00:10:37,112
Sectors of the population
that were usually passive
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00:10:37,114 --> 00:10:41,883
and apathetic became organized,
active, started pressing their
demands.
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00:10:46,955 --> 00:10:52,825
And they became more and more
involved in decision-making,
activism and so on.
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00:10:54,093 --> 00:10:56,861
It just changed consciousness
in a lot of ways.
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00:11:03,969 --> 00:11:08,037
If democracy means freedom,
why aren't our people free?
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00:11:08,039 --> 00:11:11,340
If democracy means justice,
why don't we have justice?
110
00:11:11,342 --> 00:11:15,711
If democracy means equality,
why don't we have equality?
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00:11:15,713 --> 00:11:20,949
This inhuman system
of exploitation will change,
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00:11:20,951 --> 00:11:24,986
but only if we force it to
change, and force it together.
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00:11:24,988 --> 00:11:26,721
Concern for the environment.
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00:11:26,723 --> 00:11:29,023
A unique day
in American history is ending,
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00:11:29,025 --> 00:11:34,594
a day set aside for a nationwide
outpouring of mankind seeking
its own survival.
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00:11:34,596 --> 00:11:39,899
I say
to those who criticize us
for the militancy of our dissent
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00:11:39,901 --> 00:11:42,234
that if they are serious
about law and order,
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00:11:42,236 --> 00:11:45,003
they should first provide it
for the Vietnamese people,
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00:11:45,005 --> 00:11:48,206
for our own black people
and for our own poor people.
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00:11:48,208 --> 00:11:49,907
Concern for other people.
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00:11:49,909 --> 00:11:51,976
One day we must ask
the question,
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00:11:51,978 --> 00:11:54,712
"why are there 40 million
poor people in America?"
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00:11:54,714 --> 00:11:57,715
When you begin
to ask that question,
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00:11:57,717 --> 00:12:00,718
you're raising a question
about the economic system,
125
00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:02,953
about a broader
distribution of wealth,
126
00:12:02,955 --> 00:12:07,490
the question of restructuring
the whole of American society.
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00:12:07,492 --> 00:12:09,412
These are all
civilizing effects...
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00:12:12,728 --> 00:12:14,161
And that caused great fear.
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00:12:29,810 --> 00:12:34,780
I hadn't anticipated
the power...
130
00:12:34,782 --> 00:12:38,483
I should've, but I didn't
anticipate the power
of the reaction
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00:12:38,485 --> 00:12:40,952
to these civilizing
effects of the '60s.
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00:12:40,954 --> 00:12:46,256
I did not anticipate
the strength of
the reaction to it.
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00:12:49,827 --> 00:12:51,127
The backlash.
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00:12:59,902 --> 00:13:04,205
There has been an enormous
concentrated, coordinated...
135
00:13:04,207 --> 00:13:06,941
Business offensive
beginning in the '70s
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00:13:06,943 --> 00:13:10,544
to try to beat back
the egalitarian efforts
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00:13:10,546 --> 00:13:12,779
that went right
through the Nixon years.
138
00:13:12,781 --> 00:13:20,119
Over on the right, you see it
in things like the famous
Powell memorandum...
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00:13:22,255 --> 00:13:25,156
Sent to the chamber of commerce,
the major business lobby,
140
00:13:25,158 --> 00:13:28,159
by later supreme court
justice Powell...
141
00:13:28,161 --> 00:13:32,229
Warning them that business
is losing control
over the society...
142
00:13:35,266 --> 00:13:38,434
And something has to be done
to counter these forces.
143
00:13:38,436 --> 00:13:41,036
Of course, he puts it
in terms of defense,
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00:13:41,038 --> 00:13:43,471
"defending ourselves
against an outside power."
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00:13:49,377 --> 00:13:54,180
But if you look at it,
it's a call for business to use
its control over resources
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00:13:54,182 --> 00:13:58,250
to carry out a major offensive
to beat back this democratizing
wave.
147
00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,162
Over on the liberal side,
there's something exactly
similar.
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00:14:12,164 --> 00:14:17,934
The first major report of
the trilateral commission
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00:14:17,936 --> 00:14:21,470
is concerned with this.
It's called "the crisis
of democracy."
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00:14:23,372 --> 00:14:26,240
Trilateral commission
is liberal internationalists...
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00:14:26,242 --> 00:14:29,343
Their flavor is indicated
by the fact that
152
00:14:29,345 --> 00:14:31,626
they pretty much staffed
the Carter administration.
153
00:14:35,917 --> 00:14:40,520
They were also appalled by
the democratizing tendencies
of the '60s,
154
00:14:40,522 --> 00:14:43,923
and thought
we have to react to it.
155
00:14:43,925 --> 00:14:47,593
They were concerned that
there was an "excess of
democracy" developing.
156
00:14:51,164 --> 00:14:56,334
Previously passive and obedient
parts of the population,
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00:14:56,336 --> 00:14:58,502
what are sometimes called,
"the special interests,"
158
00:14:58,504 --> 00:15:02,506
were beginning to organize
and try to enter the political
arena,
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00:15:02,508 --> 00:15:06,409
and they said, "that imposes
too much pressure on the state.
160
00:15:06,411 --> 00:15:08,878
It can't deal with all
these pressures."
161
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:14,082
So, therefore, they have
to return to passivity
and become depoliticized.
162
00:15:15,952 --> 00:15:18,919
They were particularly concerned
with what was happening
to young people.
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00:15:18,921 --> 00:15:20,987
"The young people are getting
too free and independent."
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00:15:20,989 --> 00:15:23,122
None of us will
beget any violence.
165
00:15:23,124 --> 00:15:27,326
If there's any violence,
it will be because
of the police.
166
00:15:27,328 --> 00:15:31,330
The way they
put it, there's failure on
the part of the schools,
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00:15:31,332 --> 00:15:33,665
the universities,
the churches...
168
00:15:33,667 --> 00:15:37,969
The institutions responsible
for the "indoctrination
of the young."
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00:15:37,971 --> 00:15:39,403
Their phrase, not mine.
170
00:15:44,509 --> 00:15:47,911
If you look at their study,
there's one interest they
never mention...
171
00:15:47,913 --> 00:15:53,216
And that makes sense, they're
not special interest, they're
the national interest,
172
00:15:53,218 --> 00:15:55,585
kind of by definition.
So they're okay.
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00:15:55,587 --> 00:16:00,089
They're allowed to, you know,
have lobbyists, buy campaigns,
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00:16:00,091 --> 00:16:03,092
staff the executive,
make decisions, that's fine.
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00:16:03,094 --> 00:16:06,662
But it's the rest,
the special interests,
the general population,
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00:16:06,664 --> 00:16:08,163
who have to be subdued.
177
00:16:15,670 --> 00:16:17,237
Well, that's the spectrum.
178
00:16:17,239 --> 00:16:21,241
It's the kind of ideological
level of the backlash.
179
00:16:21,243 --> 00:16:25,178
But the major backlash,
which was in parallel to this...
180
00:16:25,180 --> 00:16:27,480
Was just redesigning
the economy.
181
00:16:41,694 --> 00:16:48,599
Since the 1970s, there's been
a concerted effort on the part
of the masters of mankind,
182
00:16:48,601 --> 00:16:50,567
the owners of the society,
183
00:16:50,569 --> 00:16:54,237
to shift the economy
in two crucial respects.
184
00:16:54,239 --> 00:16:59,641
One, to increase the role
of financial institutions,
185
00:16:59,643 --> 00:17:03,411
banks, investment firms,
so on...
186
00:17:03,413 --> 00:17:05,579
Insurance companies.
187
00:17:05,581 --> 00:17:09,749
By 2007, right before
the latest crash,
188
00:17:09,751 --> 00:17:13,252
they had literally 40%
of corporate profits...
189
00:17:16,389 --> 00:17:18,289
Far beyond anything in the past.
190
00:17:26,697 --> 00:17:30,433
Back in the 1950s,
as for many years before,
191
00:17:30,435 --> 00:17:34,236
the United States economy
was based largely on production.
192
00:17:34,238 --> 00:17:38,473
The United States was
the great manufacturing
center of the world.
193
00:17:45,346 --> 00:17:49,716
Financial institutions used
to be a relatively small part
of the economy
194
00:17:49,718 --> 00:17:54,686
and their task was
to distribute
unused assets like,
195
00:17:54,688 --> 00:17:58,389
say, bank savings
to productive activity.
196
00:17:58,391 --> 00:18:01,258
The bank always has
on hand a reserve of money
197
00:18:01,260 --> 00:18:03,760
received from
the stockholders
and depositors.
198
00:18:03,762 --> 00:18:06,295
On the basis of
these cash reserves,
199
00:18:06,297 --> 00:18:11,433
a bank can create credit.
So besides providing a safe
place for depositing money,
200
00:18:11,435 --> 00:18:16,471
a bank serves a community
by making additional credit
available for many purposes.
201
00:18:16,473 --> 00:18:20,107
For a manufacturer to meet
his payroll during slack
selling periods,
202
00:18:20,109 --> 00:18:23,110
for a merchant to enlarge
and remodel his store,
203
00:18:23,112 --> 00:18:27,347
and for many other good reasons
why people are always needing
more credit
204
00:18:27,349 --> 00:18:29,782
than they have
immediately available.
205
00:18:29,784 --> 00:18:32,545
That's a contribution
to the economy.
206
00:18:33,286 --> 00:18:35,353
Regulatory system
was established.
207
00:18:35,355 --> 00:18:37,555
Banks were regulated.
208
00:18:37,557 --> 00:18:40,291
The commercial and investment
banks were separated,
209
00:18:40,293 --> 00:18:46,596
cut back their risky investment
practices that could harm
private people.
210
00:18:46,598 --> 00:18:51,701
There had been, remember,
no financial crashes during
the period of regulation.
211
00:18:51,703 --> 00:18:54,437
By the 1970s, that changed.
212
00:19:03,646 --> 00:19:08,349
You started getting that huge
increase in the flows of
speculative capital,
213
00:19:08,351 --> 00:19:10,651
just astronomically increase,
214
00:19:10,653 --> 00:19:13,253
enormous changes
in the financial sector
215
00:19:13,255 --> 00:19:17,490
from traditional banks
to risky investments,
216
00:19:17,492 --> 00:19:22,394
complex financial instruments,
money manipulations and so on.
217
00:19:22,396 --> 00:19:27,865
Increasingly, the business
of the country isn't production,
at least not here.
218
00:19:29,601 --> 00:19:32,869
The primary business
here is business.
219
00:19:32,871 --> 00:19:36,172
You can even see it
in the choice of directors.
220
00:19:36,174 --> 00:19:41,544
A director of a major
American corporation
back in the '50s and '60s
221
00:19:41,546 --> 00:19:46,482
was very likely to be
an engineer, somebody who
graduated from a place like MIT,
222
00:19:46,484 --> 00:19:48,550
maybe industrial management.
223
00:19:48,552 --> 00:19:52,787
More recently, the directorship
and the top managerial positions
224
00:19:52,789 --> 00:19:54,889
are people who came out
of business schools,
225
00:19:54,891 --> 00:19:58,392
learned the financial trickery
of various kinds, and so on.
226
00:20:00,228 --> 00:20:04,397
By the 1970s,
say general electric
could make more profit
227
00:20:04,399 --> 00:20:08,801
playing games with money
than you could by producing
in the United States.
228
00:20:12,639 --> 00:20:14,873
You have to remember
that general electric
229
00:20:14,875 --> 00:20:18,443
is substantially
a financial institution today.
230
00:20:18,445 --> 00:20:23,748
It makes half its profits just
by moving money around
in complicated ways.
231
00:20:23,750 --> 00:20:28,819
And it's very unclear that
they're doing anything that's
of value to the economy.
232
00:20:28,821 --> 00:20:32,789
So that's one phenomenon,
what's called financialization
of the economy.
233
00:20:35,793 --> 00:20:38,753
Going along with that
is the off-shoring
of production.
234
00:20:56,379 --> 00:20:59,280
The trade system
was reconstructed
235
00:20:59,282 --> 00:21:02,883
with a very explicit
design of putting
236
00:21:02,885 --> 00:21:06,486
working people
in competition with one
another all over the world.
237
00:21:08,455 --> 00:21:13,425
And what it's lead to
is a reduction
in the share of income
238
00:21:13,427 --> 00:21:16,895
on the part of working people.
239
00:21:16,897 --> 00:21:20,531
It's been particularly striking
in the United States,
but it's happening worldwide.
240
00:21:20,533 --> 00:21:23,467
It means that an American
worker's in competition
241
00:21:23,469 --> 00:21:25,835
with the super-exploited
worker in China.
242
00:21:29,372 --> 00:21:32,841
Meanwhile, highly paid
professionals are protected.
243
00:21:32,843 --> 00:21:37,512
They're not placed
in competition with the rest
of the world. Far from it.
244
00:21:37,514 --> 00:21:40,581
And, of course,
the capital is free to move.
245
00:21:40,583 --> 00:21:44,985
Workers aren't free to move,
labor can't move,
but capital can.
246
00:21:44,987 --> 00:21:48,755
Well, again, going back
to the classics like Adam Smith,
247
00:21:48,757 --> 00:21:52,325
as he pointed out,
free circulation of labor
248
00:21:52,327 --> 00:21:55,895
is the foundation of
any free trade system,
249
00:21:55,897 --> 00:21:58,764
but workers are
pretty much stuck.
250
00:21:58,766 --> 00:22:01,633
The wealthy
and the privileged
are protected,
251
00:22:01,635 --> 00:22:03,801
so you get obvious consequences.
252
00:22:03,803 --> 00:22:06,002
And they're recognized
and, in fact, praised.
253
00:22:09,673 --> 00:22:12,574
Policy is designed
to increase insecurity.
254
00:22:13,909 --> 00:22:16,844
Alan Greenspan.
When he testified to congress,
255
00:22:16,846 --> 00:22:21,481
he explained his success
in running the economy
256
00:22:21,483 --> 00:22:26,752
as based on what he called,
"greater worker insecurity."
257
00:22:26,754 --> 00:22:32,023
A typical restraint on
compensation increases has been
evident for a few years now,
258
00:22:32,025 --> 00:22:35,926
but as I outlined in some detail
in testimony last month,
259
00:22:35,928 --> 00:22:39,796
I believe that job insecurity
has played the dominant role.
260
00:22:39,798 --> 00:22:44,433
Keep workers insecure,
they're going to be
under control.
261
00:22:44,435 --> 00:22:48,603
They are not going to ask for,
say, decent wages...
262
00:22:48,605 --> 00:22:50,905
Or decent working conditions...
263
00:22:50,907 --> 00:22:55,643
Or the opportunity of free
association, meaning unionize.
264
00:22:55,645 --> 00:23:00,514
Now, for the masters
of mankind, that's fine.
They make their profits.
265
00:23:00,516 --> 00:23:02,949
But for the population,
it's devastating.
266
00:23:05,018 --> 00:23:08,854
These two processes,
financialization and off-shoring
267
00:23:08,856 --> 00:23:13,491
are part of what lead
to the vicious cycle
268
00:23:13,493 --> 00:23:16,760
of concentration of wealth
and concentration of power.
269
00:23:25,669 --> 00:23:29,471
I'm Noam Chomsky
and I'm on the faculty at MIT,
270
00:23:29,473 --> 00:23:32,574
and I've been getting more
and more heavily involved in
271
00:23:32,576 --> 00:23:34,876
anti-war activities
for the last few years.
272
00:23:41,616 --> 00:23:45,118
Noam Chomsky has made
two international reputations.
273
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:50,123
The widest is as one of the
national leaders of American
resistance to the Vietnam war.
274
00:23:50,125 --> 00:23:52,925
The deepest is as a professor
of linguistics,
275
00:23:52,927 --> 00:23:57,195
who, before he was 40 years old,
had transformed the nature
of his subject.
276
00:23:59,798 --> 00:24:02,533
You are identified
with the new left,
whatever that is.
277
00:24:02,535 --> 00:24:05,501
You certainly have been
an activist as well as a writer.
278
00:24:08,204 --> 00:24:10,905
Professor noam Chomsky...
279
00:24:10,907 --> 00:24:17,010
Is listed in anybody's catalog
as among the half-dozen top
heroes of the new left.
280
00:24:17,012 --> 00:24:21,447
The standing he achieved
by adopting over the past
two or three years
281
00:24:21,449 --> 00:24:23,816
a series of adamant positions
282
00:24:23,818 --> 00:24:29,188
rejecting at least American
foreign policy, at most
America itself.
283
00:24:36,562 --> 00:24:41,032
Actually this notion
anti-American is quite
an interesting one.
284
00:24:41,034 --> 00:24:43,768
It's actually
a totalitarian notion.
285
00:24:43,770 --> 00:24:46,570
It isn't used in free societies.
286
00:24:46,572 --> 00:24:52,008
So, if someone in, say,
Italy is criticizing Berlusconi
287
00:24:52,010 --> 00:24:57,713
or the corruption of the Italian
state and so on, they're not
called anti-Italian.
288
00:24:57,715 --> 00:25:01,883
In fact, if they were called
anti-Italian, people would
collapse in laughter
289
00:25:01,885 --> 00:25:04,218
in the streets of Rome or Milan.
290
00:25:05,553 --> 00:25:08,688
In totalitarian states
the notion's used,
291
00:25:08,690 --> 00:25:13,492
so in the old Soviet union
dissidents were called
anti-Soviet.
292
00:25:13,494 --> 00:25:15,660
That was the worst condemnation.
293
00:25:15,662 --> 00:25:20,965
In the Brazilian military
dictatorship, they were
called anti-Brazilian.
294
00:25:23,201 --> 00:25:26,203
Now, it's true that in just
about every society,
295
00:25:26,205 --> 00:25:29,940
the critics are maligned
or mistreated...
296
00:25:29,942 --> 00:25:33,643
Different ways depending on
the nature of the society.
297
00:25:33,645 --> 00:25:37,679
Like in the Soviet union,
say Vaclav Havel would be
imprisoned.
298
00:25:39,181 --> 00:25:43,117
In a U.S. dependency like
El Salvador, at the same time,
299
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:49,155
his counterparts would have
their brains blown out by
U.S.-run state terrorist forces.
300
00:25:49,157 --> 00:25:52,791
In other societies, they're just
condemned or vilified and so on.
301
00:25:52,793 --> 00:25:58,629
In the United States, one of
the terms of abuse
is "anti-American."
302
00:25:58,631 --> 00:26:01,231
There's a couple of
others, like "Marxist."
303
00:26:01,233 --> 00:26:04,601
There's an array
of terms of abuse.
304
00:26:04,603 --> 00:26:07,704
But in the United States,
you have a very high degree
of freedom.
305
00:26:07,706 --> 00:26:11,307
So, if you're vilified by some
commissars, then who cares?
306
00:26:11,309 --> 00:26:13,642
You go on,
you do your work anyway.
307
00:26:13,644 --> 00:26:18,947
These concepts only arise
in a culture where, if you
criticize
308
00:26:18,949 --> 00:26:22,717
state power,
and by state, I mean...
309
00:26:22,719 --> 00:26:26,287
More generally not just
government but state
corporate power,
310
00:26:26,289 --> 00:26:29,823
if you criticize
concentrated power,
you're against the society,
311
00:26:29,825 --> 00:26:34,894
that's quite striking that
it's used in the United States.
312
00:26:34,896 --> 00:26:38,264
In fact, as far as I know,
it's the only Democratic society
313
00:26:38,266 --> 00:26:41,133
where the concept
isn't just ridiculed.
314
00:26:41,135 --> 00:26:47,906
It's a sign of elements
of the elite culture,
which are quite ugly.
315
00:27:29,247 --> 00:27:35,317
The American dream, like many
ideals, was partly symbolic,
but partly real.
316
00:27:35,319 --> 00:27:41,255
So in the 1950s and 60s,
say, there was the biggest
growth period
317
00:27:41,257 --> 00:27:44,157
in American economic history.
318
00:27:47,361 --> 00:27:48,894
The golden age.
319
00:27:52,665 --> 00:27:55,967
It was pretty
egalitarian growth,
320
00:27:55,969 --> 00:28:00,704
so the lowest fifth of the
population was improving about
as much as the upper fifth.
321
00:28:02,339 --> 00:28:04,840
And there were some
welfare state measures,
322
00:28:04,842 --> 00:28:08,710
which improved life
for much the population.
323
00:28:08,712 --> 00:28:13,281
It was, for example,
possible for a black worker
324
00:28:13,283 --> 00:28:16,817
to get a decent job
in an auto plant,
325
00:28:16,819 --> 00:28:21,687
buy a home, get a car,
have his children go
to school and so on.
326
00:28:21,689 --> 00:28:23,221
And the same across the board.
327
00:28:26,692 --> 00:28:31,429
When the U.S. was primarily
a manufacturing center,
328
00:28:31,431 --> 00:28:36,267
it had to be concerned
with its own consumers... here.
329
00:28:36,269 --> 00:28:43,173
Famously, Henry Ford raised
the salary of his workers
so they'd be able to buy cars.
330
00:28:46,210 --> 00:28:50,813
When you're moving into
an international "plutonomy,"
331
00:28:50,815 --> 00:28:52,981
as the banks like to call it...
332
00:28:52,983 --> 00:28:59,053
The small percentage
of the world's population that's
gathering increasing wealth...
333
00:28:59,055 --> 00:29:02,890
What happens to American
consumers is much less
a concern,
334
00:29:02,892 --> 00:29:05,792
because most of them aren't
going to be consuming your
products anyway,
335
00:29:05,794 --> 00:29:08,194
at least not on a major basis.
336
00:29:08,196 --> 00:29:11,163
Your goals are,
profit in the next quarter,
337
00:29:11,165 --> 00:29:15,300
even if it's based on
financial manipulations...
338
00:29:15,302 --> 00:29:17,101
High salary, high bonuses,
339
00:29:17,103 --> 00:29:19,436
produce overseas if you have to,
340
00:29:19,438 --> 00:29:24,907
and produce for the wealthy
classes here and their
counterparts abroad.
341
00:29:24,909 --> 00:29:26,241
What about the rest?
342
00:29:26,243 --> 00:29:29,210
Well, there's a term coming
into use for them, too.
343
00:29:29,212 --> 00:29:31,979
They're called
the "precariat"...
344
00:29:31,981 --> 00:29:34,481
Precarious proletariat...
345
00:29:34,483 --> 00:29:38,818
The working people
of the world who live
increasingly precarious lives.
346
00:29:41,021 --> 00:29:43,822
And it's related to the attitude
toward the country altogether.
347
00:29:48,994 --> 00:29:53,197
During the period of great
growth of the economy...
348
00:29:53,199 --> 00:29:55,866
The '50s and the '60s,
but in fact, earlier...
349
00:29:55,868 --> 00:29:59,870
Taxes on the wealthy
were far higher.
350
00:29:59,872 --> 00:30:02,372
Corporate taxes
were much higher,
351
00:30:02,374 --> 00:30:04,941
taxes on dividends
were much higher...
352
00:30:04,943 --> 00:30:07,810
Simply taxes on wealth
were much higher.
353
00:30:07,812 --> 00:30:10,746
The tax system has
been redesigned,
354
00:30:10,748 --> 00:30:16,118
so that the taxes that are paid
by the very wealthy are reduced
355
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,755
and, correspondingly,
the tax burden on the rest of
the population's increased.
356
00:30:34,135 --> 00:30:37,837
Now the shift is
towards trying to keep taxes
357
00:30:37,839 --> 00:30:40,339
just on wages
and on consumption...
358
00:30:40,341 --> 00:30:44,309
Which everyone has to do,
not, say, on dividends,
which only go to the rich.
359
00:30:48,814 --> 00:30:50,381
The numbers are pretty striking.
360
00:30:59,190 --> 00:31:02,425
Now, there's a pretext...
Of course, there's always
a pretext.
361
00:31:02,427 --> 00:31:07,296
The pretext in this case is,
well, that increases investment
and increases jobs,
362
00:31:07,298 --> 00:31:09,398
but there isn't
any evidence for that.
363
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,567
If you want to increase
investment, give money to the
poor and the working people.
364
00:31:12,569 --> 00:31:15,202
They have to keep alive,
so they spend their incomes.
365
00:31:15,204 --> 00:31:19,906
That stimulates productions,
stimulates investment, leads
to job growth and so on.
366
00:31:22,976 --> 00:31:26,445
If you're an ideologist
for the masters,
you have a different line.
367
00:31:26,447 --> 00:31:28,914
And in fact, right now,
it's almost absurd.
368
00:31:28,916 --> 00:31:33,485
Corporations have money
coming out of their pockets.
369
00:31:33,487 --> 00:31:38,022
So, in fact, general electric,
are paying zero taxes and they
have enormous profits.
370
00:31:38,024 --> 00:31:42,326
Let's them take the profit
somewhere else, or defer it,
but not pay taxes,
371
00:31:42,328 --> 00:31:43,460
and this is common.
372
00:31:46,964 --> 00:31:51,367
The major American corporations
shifted the burden of sustaining
the society
373
00:31:51,369 --> 00:31:53,369
onto the rest of the population.
374
00:32:16,926 --> 00:32:19,093
Solidarity is quite dangerous.
375
00:32:19,095 --> 00:32:22,463
From the point of view of
the masters, you're only
supposed to care about yourself,
376
00:32:22,465 --> 00:32:24,598
not about other people.
377
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:29,603
This is quite different from
the people they claim are their
heroes like Adam Smith,
378
00:32:29,605 --> 00:32:34,240
who based his whole approach
to the economy on the principle
that sympathy
379
00:32:34,242 --> 00:32:39,245
is a fundamental human trait,
but that has to be driven out
of people's heads.
380
00:32:39,247 --> 00:32:43,949
You've got to be for yourself,
follow the vile Maxim,
"don't care about others,"
381
00:32:43,951 --> 00:32:46,418
which is okay for
the rich and powerful,
382
00:32:46,420 --> 00:32:49,187
but is devastating
for everyone else.
383
00:32:52,157 --> 00:32:59,196
It's taken a lot of effort
to drive these basic human
emotions out of people's heads.
384
00:33:02,466 --> 00:33:06,268
And we see it today
in policy formation.
385
00:33:06,270 --> 00:33:09,070
For example,
in the attack on
social security.
386
00:33:11,373 --> 00:33:15,142
Social security is
based on a principle.
387
00:33:15,144 --> 00:33:17,944
It's based on a principle
of solidarity.
388
00:33:17,946 --> 00:33:20,345
Solidarity, caring for others.
389
00:33:22,981 --> 00:33:27,150
Social security means,
"I pay payroll taxes...
390
00:33:27,152 --> 00:33:32,622
So that the widow across town
can get something to live on."
391
00:33:32,624 --> 00:33:35,257
For much of the population,
that's what they survive on.
392
00:33:36,492 --> 00:33:38,593
It's of no use to the very rich,
393
00:33:38,595 --> 00:33:41,595
so therefore,
there's a concerted
attempt to destroy it.
394
00:33:44,131 --> 00:33:46,232
One of the ways is defunding it.
395
00:33:46,234 --> 00:33:50,169
You want to destroy
some system? First defund it.
396
00:33:50,171 --> 00:33:53,205
Then, it won't work.
People will be angry.
They want something else.
397
00:33:53,207 --> 00:33:57,575
It's a standard technique
for privatizing some system.
398
00:34:01,279 --> 00:34:04,347
We see it in the attack
on public schools.
399
00:34:04,349 --> 00:34:09,251
Public schools are based
on the principle of solidarity.
400
00:34:09,253 --> 00:34:12,254
I no longer
have children in school.
They're grown up...
401
00:34:12,256 --> 00:34:14,956
But the principle
of solidarity says,
402
00:34:14,958 --> 00:34:20,193
"I happily pay taxes so that
the kid across the street
can go to school."
403
00:34:20,195 --> 00:34:23,362
Now, that's normal
human emotion.
404
00:34:23,364 --> 00:34:25,364
You have to drive that
out of people's heads.
405
00:34:25,366 --> 00:34:31,002
"I don't have kids in school.
Why should I pay taxes?
Privatize it," so on.
406
00:34:34,406 --> 00:34:39,410
The public education system,
all the way from kindergarten
to higher education,
407
00:34:39,412 --> 00:34:44,247
is under severe attack.
That's one of the jewels
of American society.
408
00:34:54,423 --> 00:34:57,124
You go back to the
golden age again...
409
00:34:57,126 --> 00:34:59,693
The great growth period
in the '50s and '60s.
410
00:34:59,695 --> 00:35:03,663
A lot of that is based
on free public education.
411
00:35:03,665 --> 00:35:08,100
One of the results
of the second world war
was the GI bill of rights,
412
00:35:08,102 --> 00:35:12,704
which enabled veterans,
and remember, that's a large
part of the population then,
413
00:35:12,706 --> 00:35:15,606
to go to college. They wouldn't
have been able to, otherwise.
414
00:35:15,608 --> 00:35:17,341
They essentially
got free education.
415
00:35:17,343 --> 00:35:19,676
Where a community,
state or nation...
416
00:35:19,678 --> 00:35:24,881
Courageously invests
a substantial share of its
resources in education,
417
00:35:24,883 --> 00:35:30,119
the investment invariable
returned in better business and
the higher standard of living.
418
00:35:30,121 --> 00:35:35,290
U.S. was way in the lead
in developing extensive mass
public education at every level.
419
00:35:37,226 --> 00:35:40,761
By now, in more than half
the states, most of the funding
420
00:35:40,763 --> 00:35:43,497
for the colleges comes from
tuition, not from the state.
421
00:35:43,499 --> 00:35:45,699
That's a radical change,
422
00:35:45,701 --> 00:35:48,368
and that's a terrible
burden on students.
423
00:35:48,370 --> 00:35:52,872
It means that students,
if they don't come from
very wealthy families,
424
00:35:52,874 --> 00:35:55,374
they're going to leave
college with big debts.
425
00:35:55,376 --> 00:35:57,843
And if you have a big debt,
you're trapped.
426
00:35:57,845 --> 00:36:01,646
I mean, maybe you wanted
to become a public interest
lawyer,
427
00:36:01,648 --> 00:36:04,281
but you're going to have
to go into a corporate law firm
428
00:36:04,283 --> 00:36:07,250
to pay off those debts,
and by the time you're
part of the culture,
429
00:36:07,252 --> 00:36:09,252
you're not going
to get out of it again.
430
00:36:09,254 --> 00:36:11,287
And that's true
across the board.
431
00:36:14,591 --> 00:36:18,460
In the 1950s, it was a much
poorer society than it is today,
432
00:36:18,462 --> 00:36:25,199
but, nevertheless, could easily
handle essentially free mass
higher education.
433
00:36:25,201 --> 00:36:29,236
Today, a much richer society
claims it doesn't have
the resources for it.
434
00:36:31,472 --> 00:36:34,507
That's just what's going
on right before our eyes.
435
00:36:34,509 --> 00:36:39,544
That's the general
attack on principles that,
436
00:36:39,546 --> 00:36:42,780
not only are they humane,
they are the basis
437
00:36:42,782 --> 00:36:47,551
of the prosperity
and health of this society.
438
00:37:15,912 --> 00:37:18,880
If you look over
the history of regulation,
439
00:37:18,882 --> 00:37:23,284
say, railroad regulation,
financial regulation and so on,
440
00:37:23,286 --> 00:37:25,986
you find that quite commonly
441
00:37:25,988 --> 00:37:31,558
it's either initiated
by the economic...
442
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:35,895
Concentrations
that are being regulated,
or it's supported by them.
443
00:37:35,897 --> 00:37:39,154
And the reason is because
they know that, sooner
444
00:37:39,166 --> 00:37:42,234
or later, they can take
over the regulators.
445
00:37:46,272 --> 00:37:50,241
And it ends up with what's
called "regulatory capture."
446
00:37:50,243 --> 00:37:53,444
The business being
regulated is in fact
running the regulators.
447
00:38:02,319 --> 00:38:06,754
Bank lobbyists are actually
writing the laws of financial
regulation,
448
00:38:06,756 --> 00:38:08,889
it gets to that extreme.
449
00:38:08,891 --> 00:38:11,758
That's been happening through
history and, again,
450
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,928
it's a pretty natural tendency
when you just look at
the distribution of power.
451
00:38:20,633 --> 00:38:25,970
One of the things that
expanded enormously
in the 1970s is lobbying,
452
00:38:25,972 --> 00:38:31,809
as the business world
moved sharply to try
to control legislation.
453
00:38:31,811 --> 00:38:36,780
The business world was pretty
upset by the advances in public
welfare in the '60s,
454
00:38:36,782 --> 00:38:39,382
in particular by Richard Nixon.
455
00:38:39,384 --> 00:38:43,052
It's not too well understood,
but he was the last new deal
president,
456
00:38:43,054 --> 00:38:46,488
and they regarded
that as class treachery.
457
00:38:46,490 --> 00:38:51,359
In Nixon's administration,
you get the consumer safety
legislation,
458
00:38:51,361 --> 00:38:54,695
safety and health
regulations in the workplace,
459
00:38:54,697 --> 00:38:56,997
the EPA, the environmental
protection agency.
460
00:38:58,899 --> 00:39:01,033
Business didn't like it,
of course.
461
00:39:01,035 --> 00:39:03,935
They didn't like the high taxes.
They didn't like the regulation.
462
00:39:03,937 --> 00:39:07,872
And they began a coordinated
effort to try to overcome it.
463
00:39:07,874 --> 00:39:13,076
Lobbying sharply increased.
Deregulation began with a real
ferocity.
464
00:39:15,946 --> 00:39:18,781
There were no financial crashes
in the '50s and the '60s,
465
00:39:18,783 --> 00:39:23,018
because the regulatory
apparatus of the new deal
was still in place.
466
00:39:27,556 --> 00:39:32,492
As it began to be dismantled
under business pressure
and political pressure,
467
00:39:32,494 --> 00:39:35,328
you get more and more crashes.
468
00:39:43,904 --> 00:39:46,105
And it goes on
right through the years.
469
00:39:47,474 --> 00:39:50,676
'70s it starts to begin.
470
00:39:50,678 --> 00:39:52,811
'80s really takes off.
471
00:39:52,813 --> 00:39:56,347
Congress was asked
to approve federal loan
guarantees to the auto company
472
00:39:56,349 --> 00:39:58,782
of up to one and one half
billion dollars.
473
00:39:58,784 --> 00:40:00,784
Now, all of this is quite safe
474
00:40:00,786 --> 00:40:03,887
as long as you know
the government's going
to come to your rescue.
475
00:40:03,889 --> 00:40:07,357
Take, say, Reagan.
Instead of letting
them pay the cost,
476
00:40:07,359 --> 00:40:10,660
Reagan bailed out the banks
like continental Illinois,
477
00:40:10,662 --> 00:40:13,929
the biggest bailout
of American history at the time.
478
00:40:13,931 --> 00:40:18,867
He actually ended his term
with a huge financial crisis,
the savings and loan crisis,
479
00:40:18,869 --> 00:40:25,907
president Bush today
signed the 300 billion-dollar
savings and loan bailout bill.
480
00:40:25,909 --> 00:40:30,611
In 1999, regulation was
dismantled to separate
481
00:40:30,613 --> 00:40:33,113
commercial banks
from investment banks.
482
00:40:35,015 --> 00:40:38,017
Then comes the Bush
and Obama bailout.
483
00:40:38,019 --> 00:40:40,786
Bear Stearns
is running to the feds
to stay afloat...
484
00:40:40,788 --> 00:40:44,689
President
bush today defended the decision
to bail out Citigroup...
485
00:40:44,691 --> 00:40:49,460
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
have asked for a total of three
billion dollars more...
486
00:40:49,462 --> 00:40:54,031
The bailout could get much
bigger, signaling deepening
troubles for the U.S. economy.
487
00:40:57,902 --> 00:41:00,702
And they're building
up the next one.
488
00:41:14,517 --> 00:41:20,087
Each time, the taxpayer is
called on to bail out those
who created the crisis,
489
00:41:20,089 --> 00:41:24,825
increasingly the major
financial institutions.
490
00:41:24,827 --> 00:41:27,160
In a capitalist economy,
you wouldn't do that.
491
00:41:27,162 --> 00:41:32,798
That would wipe out
the investors who made
risky investments.
492
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:36,101
But the rich and powerful,
they don't want a capitalist
system.
493
00:41:36,103 --> 00:41:39,003
They want to be able to run
to the nanny state
494
00:41:39,005 --> 00:41:41,905
as soon as they're in trouble,
and get bailed out
by the taxpayer.
495
00:41:41,907 --> 00:41:43,907
That's called "too big to fail."
496
00:41:45,709 --> 00:41:48,043
There are Nobel
laureates in economics
497
00:41:48,045 --> 00:41:51,146
who significantly disagree
with the course that we're
following.
498
00:41:51,148 --> 00:41:54,482
People like Joe Stiglitz,
Paul Krugman and others,
499
00:41:54,484 --> 00:41:57,751
and none of them
were even approached.
500
00:41:57,753 --> 00:42:01,121
The people picked to fix
the crisis were those who
created it,
501
00:42:01,123 --> 00:42:04,691
the Robert Rubin crowd,
the Goldman Sachs crowd.
502
00:42:04,693 --> 00:42:09,095
They created the crisis...
Are now more powerful
than before.
503
00:42:09,097 --> 00:42:10,830
Is that accident?
504
00:42:10,832 --> 00:42:15,668
Not when you pick those people
to create an economic plan.
505
00:42:15,670 --> 00:42:17,630
I mean, what do you
expect to happen?
506
00:42:21,974 --> 00:42:25,776
Meanwhile, for the poor,
let market principles prevail.
507
00:42:25,778 --> 00:42:27,978
Don't expect any help
from the government.
508
00:42:27,980 --> 00:42:30,714
The government's the problem,
not the solution, and so on.
509
00:42:30,716 --> 00:42:33,216
That's, essentially,
Neo-liberalism.
510
00:42:33,218 --> 00:42:38,954
It has this dual character
which goes right back
in economic history.
511
00:42:38,956 --> 00:42:41,122
One set of rules for the rich.
512
00:42:41,124 --> 00:42:43,084
Opposite set
of rules for the poor.
513
00:42:45,793 --> 00:42:47,927
Nothing surprising about this.
514
00:42:47,929 --> 00:42:50,229
It's exactly
the dynamics you expect.
515
00:42:50,231 --> 00:42:52,931
If the population
allows it to proceed,
516
00:42:52,933 --> 00:43:00,605
until the next crash,
which is so much expected
that credit agencies,
517
00:43:00,607 --> 00:43:03,574
which evaluate
the status of firms,
518
00:43:03,576 --> 00:43:06,643
are now counting
into their calculations
519
00:43:06,645 --> 00:43:11,914
the taxpayer bailout that
they expect to come after
the next crash.
520
00:43:11,916 --> 00:43:16,785
Which means that the
beneficiaries of these credit
ratings like the big banks,
521
00:43:16,787 --> 00:43:21,656
they can borrow money more
cheaply, they can push out
smaller competitors,
522
00:43:21,658 --> 00:43:23,658
and you get more
and more concentration.
523
00:43:23,660 --> 00:43:25,826
Everywhere you look,
policies are designed this way,
524
00:43:25,828 --> 00:43:29,696
which should come
as absolutely no surprise
to anyone.
525
00:43:29,698 --> 00:43:36,068
That's what happens when you put
power into the hands of a narrow
sector of wealth,
526
00:43:36,070 --> 00:43:40,539
which is dedicated
to increasing power for itself,
just as you'd expect.
527
00:43:59,558 --> 00:44:04,228
Concentration of wealth
yields concentration
of political power,
528
00:44:04,230 --> 00:44:09,633
particularly so as the cost
of elections skyrockets,
529
00:44:09,635 --> 00:44:14,804
which forces the political
parties into the pockets
of major corporations.
530
00:44:17,841 --> 00:44:22,644
The citizens united,
this was January 2009, I guess,
531
00:44:22,646 --> 00:44:26,581
that's a very important
supreme court decision,
532
00:44:26,583 --> 00:44:29,663
but it has a history
and you got to think
about the history.
533
00:44:30,685 --> 00:44:34,187
The 14th amendment
has a provision that says,
534
00:44:34,189 --> 00:44:39,792
"no person's rights can be
infringed without due process
of law."
535
00:44:39,794 --> 00:44:43,662
And the intent, clearly,
was to protect freed slaves.
536
00:44:43,664 --> 00:44:46,898
Says, "okay, they've got
the protection of the law."
537
00:44:46,900 --> 00:44:51,068
I don't think it's ever been
used for freed slaves,
if ever, marginally.
538
00:44:51,070 --> 00:44:55,639
Almost immediately, it was used
for businesses, corporations.
539
00:44:55,641 --> 00:44:59,009
Their rights can't be infringed
without due process of law.
540
00:44:59,011 --> 00:45:02,379
So they gradually became
persons under the law.
541
00:45:08,318 --> 00:45:11,887
Corporations are
state-created legal fictions.
542
00:45:14,857 --> 00:45:16,324
Maybe they're good,
maybe they're bad,
543
00:45:16,326 --> 00:45:19,327
but to call them persons
is kind of outrageous.
544
00:45:19,329 --> 00:45:23,064
So they got personal rights
back about a century ago,
545
00:45:23,066 --> 00:45:25,166
and that extended
through the 20th century.
546
00:45:27,669 --> 00:45:31,204
They gave corporations rights
way beyond what persons have.
547
00:45:32,406 --> 00:45:35,674
So if, say,
general motors
invests in Mexico,
548
00:45:35,676 --> 00:45:39,310
they get national rights,
the rights of the Mexican
business.
549
00:45:39,312 --> 00:45:44,213
While the notion of person
was expanded to include
corporations,
550
00:45:44,215 --> 00:45:46,415
it was also restricted.
551
00:45:46,417 --> 00:45:49,117
If you take the
14th amendment literally,
552
00:45:49,119 --> 00:45:54,688
then no undocumented alien
can be deprived of rights,
if they're persons.
553
00:45:57,725 --> 00:46:01,060
Undocumented aliens
who are living here
and building your buildings,
554
00:46:01,062 --> 00:46:04,028
cleaning your lawns, and so on,
they're not persons...
555
00:46:06,831 --> 00:46:12,235
But general electric
is a person, an immortal
super-powerful person.
556
00:46:12,237 --> 00:46:18,274
This perversion of
the elementary morality,
557
00:46:18,276 --> 00:46:20,943
and the obvious meaning
of the law, is quite incredible.
558
00:46:23,346 --> 00:46:28,315
In the 1970s, the courts decided
that money is a form of speech.
559
00:46:30,551 --> 00:46:34,554
Buckley vs. Valeo.
Then you go on through
the years to citizens united,
560
00:46:34,556 --> 00:46:37,557
which says that, the right
of free speech of corporations,
561
00:46:37,559 --> 00:46:41,227
mainly to spend
as much money as they want,
that can't be curtailed.
562
00:46:45,166 --> 00:46:50,836
It means that corporations,
which anyway have been
pretty much buying elections,
563
00:46:50,838 --> 00:46:54,039
are now free to do it with
virtually no constraint.
564
00:46:54,041 --> 00:46:58,276
That's a tremendous attack
on the residue of democracy.
565
00:47:02,848 --> 00:47:06,817
It's very interesting to read
the rulings, like justice
Kennedy's swing vote.
566
00:47:06,819 --> 00:47:09,452
His ruling said,
"well, look, after all,
567
00:47:09,454 --> 00:47:14,423
"CBS is given freedom of speech,
they're a corporation,
why shouldn't general electric
568
00:47:14,425 --> 00:47:16,585
be free to spend as much
money as they want?"
569
00:47:18,293 --> 00:47:21,328
I mean, it's true that CBS
is given freedom of speech,
570
00:47:21,330 --> 00:47:25,498
but they're supposed to be
performing a public service.
That's why.
571
00:47:25,500 --> 00:47:27,199
That's what the press
is supposed to be,
572
00:47:27,201 --> 00:47:29,301
and general electric
is trying to make money
573
00:47:29,303 --> 00:47:31,584
for the chief executive
and some of the shareholders.
574
00:47:34,172 --> 00:47:38,375
It's an incredible decision,
and it puts the country
in a position where
575
00:47:38,377 --> 00:47:43,980
business power is greatly
extended beyond what it always
was.
576
00:47:43,982 --> 00:47:45,614
This is part of
that vicious cycle.
577
00:47:45,616 --> 00:47:49,884
The supreme court justices
are put in by reactionary
presidents,
578
00:47:49,886 --> 00:47:53,053
who get in there because
they're funded by business.
579
00:47:53,055 --> 00:47:54,521
It's the way the cycle works.
580
00:48:20,213 --> 00:48:23,949
There is one organized
force which traditionally,
581
00:48:23,951 --> 00:48:29,553
plenty of flaws,
but with all its flaws,
it's been in the forefront of...
582
00:48:29,555 --> 00:48:33,323
Efforts to improve the lives
of the general population.
583
00:48:33,325 --> 00:48:34,924
That's organized labor.
584
00:48:34,926 --> 00:48:37,359
It's also a barrier
to corporate tyranny.
585
00:48:37,361 --> 00:48:40,631
So, it's the one barrier
to this vicious cycle
586
00:48:40,643 --> 00:48:44,065
going on, which does lead
to corporate tyranny.
587
00:48:53,441 --> 00:48:57,310
A major reason
for the concentrated,
588
00:48:57,312 --> 00:49:01,047
almost fanatic attack on unions,
on organized labor,
589
00:49:01,049 --> 00:49:03,282
is they are
a democratizing force.
590
00:49:05,018 --> 00:49:08,353
They provide a barrier that
defends workers' rights,
591
00:49:08,355 --> 00:49:10,275
but also popular
rights generally.
592
00:49:17,662 --> 00:49:22,966
That interferes with
the prerogatives and power
of those who own
593
00:49:22,968 --> 00:49:24,934
and manage the society.
594
00:49:26,202 --> 00:49:29,470
I should say that anti-union
595
00:49:29,472 --> 00:49:33,674
sentiment in the United States
among elites is so strong
596
00:49:33,676 --> 00:49:37,310
that the fundamental
core of labor rights,
597
00:49:37,312 --> 00:49:41,480
the basic principle
in the international
labor organization,
598
00:49:41,482 --> 00:49:44,216
is the right of
free association,
599
00:49:44,218 --> 00:49:46,418
which would mean
the right to form unions.
600
00:49:46,420 --> 00:49:49,053
The U.S. has never
ratified that,
601
00:49:49,055 --> 00:49:54,624
so I think the U.S. may be
alone among major societies
in that respect.
602
00:49:54,626 --> 00:49:58,728
It's considered so far out
of the spectrum of American
politics,
603
00:49:58,730 --> 00:50:00,362
it literally has never
been considered.
604
00:50:03,100 --> 00:50:07,735
Remember, the U.S. has a long
and very violent labor history
605
00:50:07,737 --> 00:50:10,070
as compared with
comparable societies...
606
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,308
But the labor movement
had been very strong.
607
00:50:15,310 --> 00:50:21,414
By the 1920s, in a period
not unlike today, it was
virtually crushed.
608
00:50:21,416 --> 00:50:27,119
A truck drivers strike
was climaxed by severe riots
with many casualties.
609
00:50:27,121 --> 00:50:30,128
Open warfare rages through
the streets of the
610
00:50:30,140 --> 00:50:33,290
city as 3,000 union pickets
battle 700 police.
611
00:50:33,292 --> 00:50:36,192
Guns, tear gas, clubs
and fists bring injuries
612
00:50:36,194 --> 00:50:39,328
to more than 80 persons
and caused the death of two.
613
00:50:44,133 --> 00:50:46,233
By the mid '30s,
it began to reconstruct.
614
00:50:49,738 --> 00:50:55,475
He himself was rather
sympathetic to progressive
legislation
615
00:50:55,477 --> 00:50:58,244
that would be in the benefit
of the general population,
616
00:50:58,246 --> 00:51:00,713
but he had to somehow
get it passed.
617
00:51:00,715 --> 00:51:06,718
So he informed labor leaders
and others, "force me to do it."
618
00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:13,024
What he meant is, go out
and demonstrate, organize,
protest,
619
00:51:13,026 --> 00:51:15,326
develop the labor movement.
620
00:51:15,328 --> 00:51:17,494
When the popular
pressure is sufficient,
621
00:51:17,496 --> 00:51:19,662
I'll be able to put through
the legislation you want.
622
00:51:19,664 --> 00:51:25,033
I am not for a return
to that definition of Liberty,
623
00:51:25,035 --> 00:51:29,070
under which for many
years a free people
624
00:51:29,072 --> 00:51:36,076
were being gradually
regimented into the service
of a privileged few.
625
00:51:36,078 --> 00:51:41,147
I prefer that broader
definition of Liberty.
626
00:51:41,149 --> 00:51:45,117
So, there was kind of
a combination of sympathetic
government,
627
00:51:45,119 --> 00:51:48,786
and by the mid-'30s,
very substantial popular
activism.
628
00:51:50,488 --> 00:51:54,791
There were industrial actions.
There were sit-down strikes,
629
00:51:54,793 --> 00:51:59,228
which were very
frightening to ownership.
630
00:51:59,230 --> 00:52:04,199
You have to recognize
the sit-down strike is just
one step before saying,
631
00:52:04,201 --> 00:52:06,568
"we don't need bosses.
We can run this by ourselves."
632
00:52:13,708 --> 00:52:15,408
And business was appalled.
633
00:52:15,410 --> 00:52:19,378
You read the business press,
say, in the late '30s,
634
00:52:19,380 --> 00:52:23,382
they were talking
about the "hazard
facing industrialists"
635
00:52:23,384 --> 00:52:26,818
and the "rising political
power of the masses,"
636
00:52:26,820 --> 00:52:28,486
which has to be repressed.
637
00:52:28,488 --> 00:52:31,388
Things were on hold
during the second world war,
638
00:52:31,390 --> 00:52:34,457
but immediately after
the second world war,
the business offensive
639
00:52:34,459 --> 00:52:38,494
began in force.
The Taft-hartley act.
640
00:52:38,496 --> 00:52:41,864
The Taft-hartley act was written
for only one purpose,
641
00:52:41,866 --> 00:52:47,836
to restore justice and equality
in labor-management relations.
642
00:52:47,838 --> 00:52:53,107
Then McCarthyism was used for
massive corporate propaganda
offensives to attack unions.
643
00:52:54,409 --> 00:52:56,576
It increased sharply
during the Reagan years.
644
00:52:56,578 --> 00:52:59,712
I mean, Reagan pretty much told
the business world,
645
00:52:59,714 --> 00:53:04,483
"if you want to illegally break
organizing efforts and strikes,
go ahead."
646
00:53:04,485 --> 00:53:07,118
They are in violation
of the law,
647
00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:10,488
and if they do not report
for work within 48 hours,
648
00:53:10,490 --> 00:53:14,825
they have forfeited their jobs
and will be terminated.
649
00:53:14,827 --> 00:53:19,696
It continued in the '90s and,
of course with George W. Bush,
it went through the roof.
650
00:53:19,698 --> 00:53:25,268
By now, less than 7% of private
sector workers have unions.
651
00:53:30,640 --> 00:53:35,810
The effect is that the usual
counter-force to an offensive
652
00:53:35,812 --> 00:53:40,414
by our highly class-conscious
business class has dissolved.
653
00:53:43,918 --> 00:53:47,186
Now, if you're in
a position of power,
654
00:53:47,188 --> 00:53:50,556
you want to maintain
class-consciousness
for yourself,
655
00:53:50,558 --> 00:53:52,424
but eliminate it
everywhere else.
656
00:53:52,426 --> 00:53:55,627
You go back to the 19th century,
657
00:53:55,629 --> 00:53:59,263
in the early days of
the industrial revolution
in the United States,
658
00:53:59,265 --> 00:54:02,866
working people were
very conscious of this.
659
00:54:02,868 --> 00:54:06,636
They, in fact,
overwhelmingly regarded
660
00:54:06,638 --> 00:54:10,706
wage labor as not
very different
from slavery,
661
00:54:10,708 --> 00:54:13,508
different only in that
it was temporary.
662
00:54:13,510 --> 00:54:17,244
In fact, it was such a popular
idea that it was the slogan
of the republican party.
663
00:54:18,546 --> 00:54:22,348
That was a very sharp
class-consciousness.
664
00:54:22,350 --> 00:54:24,883
In the interest of power
and privilege,
665
00:54:24,885 --> 00:54:28,519
it's good to drive those ideas
out of people's heads.
666
00:54:28,521 --> 00:54:31,755
You don't want them to know
that they're an oppressed class.
667
00:54:31,757 --> 00:54:35,525
So, this is one of the few
societies in which you just
don't talk about class.
668
00:54:35,527 --> 00:54:39,195
In fact, the notion
of class is very simple.
669
00:54:39,197 --> 00:54:41,430
Who gives the orders?
Who follows them?
670
00:54:41,432 --> 00:54:43,598
That basically defines class.
671
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:47,268
It's more nuanced and complex,
but that's basically it.
672
00:55:05,653 --> 00:55:09,255
The public relations industry,
the advertising industry,
673
00:55:09,257 --> 00:55:11,490
which is dedicated
to creating consumers,
674
00:55:11,492 --> 00:55:14,860
it's a phenomena that developed
in the freest countries,
675
00:55:14,862 --> 00:55:19,598
in Britain
and the United States,
and the reason is pretty clear.
676
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:22,968
It became clear by,
say, a century ago
677
00:55:22,970 --> 00:55:27,305
that it was not going to be
so easy to control
the population by force.
678
00:55:27,307 --> 00:55:28,547
Too much freedom had been won.
679
00:55:30,241 --> 00:55:33,676
Labor organizing, parliamentary
labor parties in many countries,
680
00:55:33,678 --> 00:55:36,578
women starting to get
the franchise, and so on.
681
00:55:36,580 --> 00:55:38,880
So, you had to have other
means of controlling people.
682
00:55:38,882 --> 00:55:41,449
And it was understood
and expressed
683
00:55:41,451 --> 00:55:47,587
that you have to control
them by control of beliefs
and attitudes.
684
00:55:47,589 --> 00:55:51,724
Well, one of the best
ways to control people
in terms of attitudes
685
00:55:51,726 --> 00:55:58,363
is what the great political
economist Thorstein Veblen
called "fabricating consumers."
686
00:56:04,602 --> 00:56:07,637
If you can fabricate wants...
687
00:56:07,639 --> 00:56:12,975
Make obtaining things that are
just about within your reach
the essence of life,
688
00:56:12,977 --> 00:56:16,344
they're going to be trapped
into becoming consumers.
689
00:56:18,714 --> 00:56:21,549
You read the business
press in say, 1920s,
690
00:56:21,551 --> 00:56:27,487
it talks about the need
to direct people to
the superficial things of life,
691
00:56:27,489 --> 00:56:30,729
like "fashionable consumption"
and that'll keep them
out of our hair.
692
00:56:32,559 --> 00:56:36,762
You find this doctrine
all through progressive
intellectual thought,
693
00:56:36,764 --> 00:56:38,430
like Walter Lippmann,
694
00:56:38,432 --> 00:56:41,352
the major progressive
intellectual of
the 20th century.
695
00:56:43,702 --> 00:56:49,439
He wrote famous progressive
essays on democracy in which
his view was exactly that.
696
00:56:49,441 --> 00:56:51,908
"The public must be
put in their place,"
697
00:56:51,910 --> 00:56:54,810
so that the responsible
men can make decisions
698
00:56:54,812 --> 00:56:57,612
without interference
from the "bewildered herd."
699
00:57:00,449 --> 00:57:02,583
They're to be spectators,
not participants.
700
00:57:02,585 --> 00:57:05,419
Then you get a properly
functioning democracy,
701
00:57:05,421 --> 00:57:10,824
straight back to Madison
and on to Powell's memorandum,
and so on.
702
00:57:10,826 --> 00:57:17,830
And the advertising industry
just exploded with this
as its goal...
703
00:57:17,832 --> 00:57:19,064
Fabricating consumers.
704
00:57:25,571 --> 00:57:28,539
And it's done with
great sophistication.
705
00:57:28,541 --> 00:57:30,741
You don't see many
wild stallions anymore.
706
00:57:30,743 --> 00:57:35,111
He's one of the last of a wild
and very singular breed.
707
00:57:35,912 --> 00:57:39,147
Come to Marlboro country.
708
00:57:39,149 --> 00:57:41,582
The ideal is what you
actually see today...
709
00:57:43,718 --> 00:57:47,921
Where, let's say,
teenage girls, if they have
a free Saturday afternoon,
710
00:57:47,923 --> 00:57:50,623
will go walking
in the shopping mall,
711
00:57:50,625 --> 00:57:52,791
not to the library
or somewhere else.
712
00:57:53,926 --> 00:57:57,628
The idea is to try
to control everyone,
713
00:57:57,630 --> 00:58:01,097
to turn the whole society
into the perfect system.
714
00:58:03,967 --> 00:58:09,104
Perfect system would be
a society based on a dyad,
a pair.
715
00:58:09,106 --> 00:58:12,507
The pair is you
and your television set,
716
00:58:12,509 --> 00:58:15,009
or maybe now you
and the Internet,
717
00:58:15,011 --> 00:58:19,713
in which that presents you
with what the proper life
would be,
718
00:58:19,715 --> 00:58:21,915
what kind of gadgets
you should have.
719
00:58:21,917 --> 00:58:24,651
And you spend your time
and effort gaining those things,
720
00:58:24,653 --> 00:58:28,013
which you don't need,
and you don't want, and maybe
you'll throw them away...
721
00:58:29,256 --> 00:58:32,023
But that's the measure
of a decent life.
722
00:58:34,860 --> 00:58:38,729
What we see is in, say,
advertising on television,
723
00:58:38,731 --> 00:58:42,666
if you've ever taken
an economics course,
you know that
724
00:58:42,668 --> 00:58:48,805
markets are supposed to be based
on "informed consumers making
rational choices."
725
00:58:48,807 --> 00:58:52,608
Well, if we had a system
like that, a market system,
726
00:58:52,610 --> 00:58:57,245
then a television ad would
consist of, say, general motors
727
00:58:57,247 --> 00:59:01,215
putting up information, saying,
"here's what we have for sale."
728
00:59:01,217 --> 00:59:03,917
That's not what
an ad for a car is.
729
00:59:03,919 --> 00:59:06,619
And ad for a car
is a football hero...
730
00:59:06,621 --> 00:59:11,690
An actress, the car doing
some crazy thing like,
731
00:59:11,692 --> 00:59:13,692
going up a mountain
or something.
732
00:59:13,694 --> 00:59:19,897
The point is to create
uninformed consumers who
will make irrational choices.
733
00:59:19,899 --> 00:59:22,566
That's what advertising
is all about,
734
00:59:22,568 --> 00:59:28,004
and when the same institution,
the PR system,
735
00:59:28,006 --> 00:59:30,272
runs elections,
they do it the same way.
736
00:59:36,545 --> 00:59:39,146
They want to create
an uniformed electorate,
737
00:59:39,148 --> 00:59:43,617
which will make irrational
choices, often against their
own interests,
738
00:59:43,619 --> 00:59:47,820
and we see it every time
one of these extravaganzas
take place.
739
00:59:49,856 --> 00:59:51,957
Right after the election,
740
00:59:51,959 --> 00:59:57,095
president Obama won an award
from the advertising industry
741
00:59:57,097 --> 00:59:59,097
for the best marketing campaign.
742
00:59:59,099 --> 01:00:01,966
It wasn't reported here,
but if you go to the
international business press,
743
01:00:01,968 --> 01:00:05,069
executives were euphoric.
744
01:00:05,071 --> 01:00:11,808
They said, "we've been selling
candidates, marketing candidates
like toothpaste
745
01:00:11,810 --> 01:00:15,611
ever since Reagan,
and this is the greatest
achievement we have."
746
01:00:15,613 --> 01:00:18,947
I don't usually agree
with Sarah Palin,
747
01:00:18,949 --> 01:00:24,718
but when she mocks what she
calls the "hopey-changey" stuff,
she's right.
748
01:00:24,720 --> 01:00:29,322
First of all, Obama didn't
really promise anything.
That's mostly illusion.
749
01:00:29,324 --> 01:00:32,091
You go back to the campaign
rhetoric and take a look at it.
750
01:00:32,093 --> 01:00:36,795
There's very little discussion
of policy issues, and for very
good reason,
751
01:00:36,797 --> 01:00:42,133
because public opinion on policy
is sharply disconnected
752
01:00:42,135 --> 01:00:46,670
from what the two-party
leadership and their
financial backers want.
753
01:00:48,607 --> 01:00:54,744
Is focused on the private
interests that fund
the campaigns...
754
01:00:56,179 --> 01:00:58,146
With the public
being marginalized.
755
01:01:21,636 --> 01:01:26,239
One of the leading political
scientists, Martin Gilens,
came out with a study
756
01:01:26,241 --> 01:01:29,175
of the relation between
public attitudes
and public policy.
757
01:01:29,177 --> 01:01:36,014
What he shows is that about 70%
of the population has no way
of influencing policy.
758
01:01:36,016 --> 01:01:38,249
They might as well be
in some other country...
759
01:01:39,651 --> 01:01:40,884
And the population knows it.
760
01:01:43,954 --> 01:01:50,225
What it's led to is
a population that's angry,
frustrated, hates institutions.
761
01:01:51,927 --> 01:01:56,029
It's not acting
constructively to try
to respond to this.
762
01:01:58,098 --> 01:02:01,033
There is popular
mobilization and activism,
763
01:02:01,035 --> 01:02:03,101
but in very self-destructive
directions.
764
01:02:04,903 --> 01:02:08,405
It's taking the form
of unfocused anger,
765
01:02:08,407 --> 01:02:11,841
attacks on one another,
and on vulnerable targets.
766
01:02:11,843 --> 01:02:13,843
That's what happens
in cases like this.
767
01:02:17,413 --> 01:02:21,816
It is corrosive of social
relations, but that's the point.
768
01:02:21,818 --> 01:02:26,120
The point is to make people
hate and fear each other,
769
01:02:26,122 --> 01:02:28,122
and look out only
for themselves,
770
01:02:28,124 --> 01:02:30,124
and don't do anything
for anyone else.
771
01:02:34,061 --> 01:02:38,831
One place you see it
strikingly is on April 15th.
772
01:02:38,833 --> 01:02:42,167
April 15th is kind of a measure,
the day you pay your taxes,
773
01:02:42,169 --> 01:02:45,370
of how Democratic
the society is.
774
01:02:45,372 --> 01:02:49,140
If a society is
really Democratic,
775
01:02:49,142 --> 01:02:52,243
April 15th would be
a day of celebration.
776
01:02:52,245 --> 01:02:55,045
It's a day when
the population gets together,
777
01:02:55,047 --> 01:03:01,751
decides to fund the programs
and activities that they have
formulated and agreed upon.
778
01:03:01,753 --> 01:03:04,820
What could be better than that?
So, you should celebrate it.
779
01:03:04,822 --> 01:03:06,221
It's not the way it is
in the United States.
780
01:03:06,223 --> 01:03:09,023
It's a day of mourning.
781
01:03:09,025 --> 01:03:13,994
It's a day in which some alien
power that has nothing to do
with you,
782
01:03:13,996 --> 01:03:17,197
is coming down to steal
our hard-earned money,
783
01:03:17,199 --> 01:03:19,559
and you do everything you can
to keep them from doing it.
784
01:03:21,168 --> 01:03:24,170
That is a kind of measure
of the extent to which,
785
01:03:24,172 --> 01:03:27,839
at least in popular
consciousness, democracy
is actually functioning.
786
01:03:29,007 --> 01:03:30,340
Not a very attractive picture.
787
01:03:48,458 --> 01:03:52,327
The tendencies that we've
been describing within
American society,
788
01:03:52,329 --> 01:03:57,065
unless they're reversed,
it's going to be an extremely
ugly society.
789
01:03:57,067 --> 01:04:00,101
I mean, a society
that's based on
790
01:04:00,103 --> 01:04:05,072
Adam Smith's vile Maxim,
"all for myself,
nothing for anyone else."
791
01:04:10,311 --> 01:04:14,314
A society in which
normal human instincts
and emotion
792
01:04:14,316 --> 01:04:18,551
of sympathy, solidarity,
mutual support, in which
they're driven out...
793
01:04:22,122 --> 01:04:25,157
That's a society so ugly,
I don't even want to know
who'd live in it.
794
01:04:25,159 --> 01:04:27,325
I wouldn't want my children to.
795
01:04:32,064 --> 01:04:36,934
If the society is based on
control by private wealth,
796
01:04:36,936 --> 01:04:40,570
it will reflect the values
that it, in fact, does reflect.
797
01:04:43,373 --> 01:04:47,309
The value that is greed,
and the desire to maximize
personal gain,
798
01:04:47,311 --> 01:04:54,949
now, any society, a small
society based on that principle
is ugly, but it can survive.
799
01:04:54,951 --> 01:04:58,852
A global society based
on that principle is headed
for massive destruction.
800
01:05:04,190 --> 01:05:09,260
I don't think we're smart
enough to design,
801
01:05:09,262 --> 01:05:14,597
in any detail what
a perfectly just and free
society would be like.
802
01:05:14,599 --> 01:05:17,199
I think we can give
some guidelines
803
01:05:17,201 --> 01:05:22,404
and, more significant,
we can ask how we can
progress in that direction.
804
01:05:26,876 --> 01:05:31,446
John Dewey, the leading
social philosopher in
the late 20th century,
805
01:05:31,448 --> 01:05:34,882
he argued that until
all institutions,
806
01:05:34,884 --> 01:05:38,919
production, commerce, media,
807
01:05:38,921 --> 01:05:43,089
unless they're all under
participatory Democratic
control,
808
01:05:43,091 --> 01:05:47,092
we will not have
a functioning
Democratic society.
809
01:05:49,061 --> 01:05:52,930
As he put it, "policy will be
the shadow cast by business
over society."
810
01:05:57,402 --> 01:05:59,069
Well, it's essentially true.
811
01:06:10,180 --> 01:06:14,316
Where there are structures
of authority, domination
and hierarchy,
812
01:06:14,318 --> 01:06:19,454
somebody gives the orders,
somebody takes them,
they are not self-justifying.
813
01:06:19,456 --> 01:06:23,424
They have to justify themselves.
They have a burden of proof
to meet.
814
01:06:30,531 --> 01:06:34,634
Well, if you take a close look,
usually you find they can't
justify themselves.
815
01:06:34,636 --> 01:06:37,169
If they can't, we ought
to be dismantling them.
816
01:06:38,938 --> 01:06:42,006
Trying to expand the domain
of freedom and justice
817
01:06:42,008 --> 01:06:46,076
by dismantling that form
of illegitimate authority.
818
01:06:46,078 --> 01:06:49,079
And, in fact,
progress over the years,
819
01:06:49,081 --> 01:06:53,216
what we all thankfully
recognized as progress,
has been just that.
820
01:06:53,218 --> 01:06:57,687
The way things
change is because lots of people
are working all the time.
821
01:06:57,689 --> 01:07:02,091
They're working in their
communities, in their workplace,
or wherever they happen to be,
822
01:07:02,093 --> 01:07:05,284
and they're building up
the basis for popular
823
01:07:05,296 --> 01:07:08,430
movements, which are
going to make changes.
824
01:07:08,432 --> 01:07:11,065
That's the way everything
has ever happened in history.
825
01:07:12,934 --> 01:07:15,602
Take, say, freedom of speech...
826
01:07:15,604 --> 01:07:18,705
One of the real achievements
of American society,
827
01:07:18,707 --> 01:07:22,141
it's first in the world in that.
It's not in the bill of rights.
828
01:07:22,143 --> 01:07:24,510
It's not in the constitution.
829
01:07:24,512 --> 01:07:30,048
Freedom of speech issues began
to come to the supreme court
in the early 20th century.
830
01:07:31,383 --> 01:07:34,718
The major contributions
came in the 1960s.
831
01:07:34,720 --> 01:07:38,488
One of the leading ones
was a case in the civil
rights movement.
832
01:07:38,490 --> 01:07:41,557
Well, by then,
you had a mass
popular movement,
833
01:07:41,559 --> 01:07:44,359
which was demanding rights,
834
01:07:44,361 --> 01:07:47,562
refusing to back down.
And in that context,
835
01:07:47,564 --> 01:07:51,632
the supreme court did establish
a pretty high standard
for freedom of speech.
836
01:07:51,634 --> 01:07:54,335
Or take, say, women's rights.
837
01:07:54,337 --> 01:07:57,838
Women also began identifying
oppressive structures,
838
01:07:57,840 --> 01:08:02,642
refusing to accept them,
bringing other people
to join with them.
839
01:08:02,644 --> 01:08:06,145
Well, that's how rights are won.
840
01:08:06,147 --> 01:08:10,149
To a non-trivial extent,
I've also spent a lot
of my life in activism.
841
01:08:10,151 --> 01:08:15,320
That doesn't show up publicly,
but, actually, I'm not terribly
good at it...
842
01:08:15,322 --> 01:08:21,726
I think that
we can see quite clearly some
very, very serious defects
843
01:08:21,728 --> 01:08:25,362
and flaws in our society,
our level of culture,
our institutions,
844
01:08:25,364 --> 01:08:29,599
which are going to have to be
corrected by operating outside
of the framework
845
01:08:29,601 --> 01:08:31,434
that is commonly accepted.
846
01:08:31,436 --> 01:08:34,556
I think we're going to have
to find new ways of political
action.
847
01:08:37,140 --> 01:08:40,641
But the activists are the people
who have created the rights that
we enjoy.
848
01:08:42,176 --> 01:08:44,477
They're not only carrying out...
849
01:08:44,479 --> 01:08:47,646
Policies based on information
that they're receiving,
850
01:08:47,648 --> 01:08:49,714
but also contributing
to the understanding.
851
01:08:49,716 --> 01:08:51,682
Remember,
it's a reciprocal process.
852
01:08:54,252 --> 01:08:56,419
You try to do things.
You learn.
853
01:08:56,421 --> 01:08:58,187
You learn about what
the world is like,
854
01:08:58,189 --> 01:09:02,124
that feeds back
to the understanding
of how to go on.
855
01:09:05,495 --> 01:09:07,596
There's huge opportunities.
856
01:09:07,598 --> 01:09:11,465
It is a very free society,
still the freest in the world.
857
01:09:12,900 --> 01:09:16,435
Government has very
limited capacity to coerce.
858
01:09:16,437 --> 01:09:20,906
Corporate business may try
to coerce, but they don't
have the mechanisms.
859
01:09:20,908 --> 01:09:25,243
So, there's a lot that can be
done if people organize,
struggle for their rights
860
01:09:25,245 --> 01:09:28,445
as they've done in the past,
and can win many victories.
861
01:09:41,290 --> 01:09:46,694
Well, my close friend
for many years,
the late Howard Zinn...
862
01:09:49,330 --> 01:09:51,230
To put it in his words that,
863
01:09:51,232 --> 01:09:56,935
"what matters is the countless
small deeds of unknown people,
864
01:09:56,937 --> 01:10:02,306
who lay the basis
for the significant events
that enter history."
865
01:10:04,475 --> 01:10:07,210
They're the ones who've
done things in the past.
866
01:10:07,212 --> 01:10:09,493
They're the ones who'll
have to do it in the future.
81415
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