I just came across yet another article pointing to bad ideas and theories as a cause of the trouble we are in, in this case economic ideas and theories. But our problem is cultural, not technical. In past eras people built institutions, public and private, in the expectation of leaving a positive legacy going forward. In the recent era, on the other hand, those who have gained control of them have exploited institutions, public and private, in the search for a better deal for themselves right now. Others, the majority, have allowed this to happen, as shareholders and citizens, because of their own laziness, indifference, or willingness to believe all is well because the consequences were deferred to the future. A future of institutional collapse. And in their own lives, people have completely given themselves over to “I want for me now” regardless of the future consequences for themselves, selling themselves out through debt when given the opportunity. In the United States, it seems that everyone was given this opportunity, once the bankruptcy laws were modified to allow them to be placed in perpetual serfdom once their party was over, or so the financial industry apparently believed. The issue is cultural, the culture of Generation Greed. For the rest of us, the dilemma, as the sold out future arrives and the bill come due, is this…
There will be calls for us, particularly those in younger generations, to pay more in and accept less out to preserve our institutions. This will be presented as the right thing to do, the socially responsible thing to do, and it is indeed the only way our institutions will be preserved. Should we be socially responsible and accept those calls? Calls to accept wage cuts and more work at our companies to keep them from going under? To pay higher taxes, and accept diminished services from state and local governments? To accept a higher retirement age and means testing for Social Security and Medicare, along with higher taxes even on the non-rich, to preserve the social support network for those in old age so that it will benefit us someday? To start paying for newspapers online? To donate to our local hospital?
What if any additional contributions we make will just make us suckers, losers and fools to an even greater extent, and in the end do no good, because those who control our institutions will simply take more out.
Our institutions remain controlled by the very people and groups of who have brought them to this point. People and groups of people who have done very well for themselves. Such as the public employee unions tacitly supporting lower retirement benefits, but only for future employees, to make up for all the enhancements older generations they have cut deals for over the years. The executives insisting on bonuses, even as stock investors receive the worst rate of return over a decade in history, with more to come. The seniors who believe that the expansion of their Medicare benefits earlier in the decade was a right, but having the government do anything for anything else is a threat because we can’t afford it. The “non-profit” executives with salaries in the high six figures.
These people and interests exempt themselves from so-called “shared sacrifice.” Just look at the New York State Legislature? Who wants to give more to, or accept less from, these people after what they have done all these years?
Moreover, we have been told to sacrifice or accept disadvantage to “save” or improve our institutions before. Billions of dollars have been borrowed allegedly to build the Second Avenue Subway, but in reality so some members of past generations could pay lower fares, others get more tax breaks, and others (the capital contractors) charge higher prices. Our tax rates are higher than a decade ago allegedly to improve the NYC schools, but in reality so members of the UFT could retire at 55 rather than 62 and never do anything for anyone else again, even as the rest of us must continue to work for them or face poverty (or continue to work for them and face poverty). My generation and those after have paid a higher regressive payroll tax throughout our careers, and accepted a higher retirement age, to save Social Security. But all that extra money was used to offset lower progressive income taxes, and to pay for higher health care spending for today’s seniors, with a pile of IOUs left in the “lock box” for younger generations, to be redeemed when Generation Greed has passed on. And investors have accepted lower dividend payments from corporations, and workers have accepted lower pay, allegedly in exchange for investment and growth over the long term, but in reality to pay for higher and higher executive pay. The investment returns and jobs, in the long run, never materialized.
The situation of most Americans is like that of Charlie Brown, forever hoping to be allowed to kick the football and forever having it taken away at the last moment.
And so I have lost faith, in our institutions, those who lead them, and the interests that back them. The latter group of self-dealers includes millions of Americans, and hundreds of thousands of people in New York State, most of whom have received a steady does of entitlement-feeding rationalizations as part of the deals that brought them excess and unearned privileges. That is what constitutions information and representation in our society. Rather than face their wrath, they are never challenged by those who no better. Doing so is bad for business. And of course, many like to believe, “we are all special interests,” and working the system more successfully than others is a form of merit.
Therefore, I want bankruptcy, on behalf of those less well off, my children, the future of the country, the future of this state and city. Bankruptcy for the MTA. Bankruptcy for the State of New York. Bankruptcy for the pension funds. Etc. Do I look forward to an institutional collapse, which will undoubtedly hurt myself, my family, my children, my community? No. But it is better than perpetual serfdom, and ongoing perpetual deterioration, loss after loss after loss, year after year, with no end. If the current status of our current institutions cannot be overthrown, or if people can’t be bothered to do what is necessary to reform them, then the only way forward is an institutional collapse, with new institutions perhaps arising, built by those who once again wish to leave a positive legacy rather than dying with the most toys.