Letter from the Left Coast: So Will Obama Be The Real Deal Or Not?

Ian Bowater hopes for a new New Deal from Barack.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. All across West L.A. thousands of newly emboldened, well meaning Liberals held hands around a family table laden with an unlikely mélange of savoury and sweet dishes along with the obligatory vegan alternatives for the exceptionally uppity. Where do they find the strength on tofu and pulses? After apologizing to the Native Americans – the original hosts of this Turkey fest – they gave thanks for Barack Obama. The President-Elect has been beatified, canonized, lionized and deified on an upward spiral of hyperbole since the day he won the election. He has simultaneously restored America’s faith in itself and returned it to Number One in the world. That’s the word on this one. America is Barack – America is Back!

gIt is never quite clear who does the counting in these Americo-centric international league tables. Has it ever been stated who is number two behind the USA? After Uncle Sam there are no winners or losers – only losers. But if perception is nine tenths of reality, you are looking at another few decades of hegemony. The rest of the family of nations will be surplus to requirements unless there is some shit to shuffle. The current dung heap is, of course the world economy. Seventy-five percent of the world economy is wrapped up stateside. If it is not directly fuelled by American consumption, there is at least a Yankee finger in the pie. Interestingly, when the American end of the business operation went on a psychotic walkabout in sub-prime fantasyland and the U.S. domestic housing bubble burst, it suddenly became the World Economy again. The Europeans and the Chinese were the first to realize what should be done. Then, finally, America slouched towards re-regulation and nationalized ownership, all the while complaining like mass murderers being sentenced to a few hours community service.

Even now the banking industry is still trying to line its pockets. I get weekly calls from the Federal Mortgage Relief Association – not Federal, not government sponsored, not even an association and totally disinterested in my relief – these clowns are still cold calling, trying to sell dodgy loans over the phone with money they expect to get from the taxpayer. The Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulsen fetches up at Congress on a daily basis to report on how he has changed the rules and where the money is not going to this time. Hank is a classic victim of male pattern baldness. He tries to cover this with a “number one”, which is supposed to affect a sort of macho slaphead chic. But with the wire-rimmed glasses, he looks more fittingly like Colonel “I know nothing!” Clink from Hogan’s Heroes.

Recently, the Big Three Automakers got bailout fever and went up to Washington for their piece of the cake. Admittedly turning up in private jets to proffer the tin cups wasn’t a smart move but turning them down was a bit harsh.  They were sent away and told to return with a plan for they would do with the money if they got it. The banking industry experienced no such stringency a few weeks earlier when the danced for their supper. Therefore it doesn’t matter that Paulsen is “changing priorities” from minute to minute. There wasn’t a plan in the first place. But what has become clear all across Washington and colluded with by Democrats and Republicans alike is a classist culture of continually giving to the rich. There is corporate welfare for the suits and mealy-mouthed charity for the overalls.

Three millions jobs rely on car making and its allied industries. If they go down, a lot more than Wall Street Bankers and Hedge Fund managers hit the dirt. It seems like a no-brainer that government would save its biggest industry. Consequently, the propaganda machine has been cranked up to show us how undeserving they are. Private jets aside, there are some idiots at the top of the auto industry but they didn’t cause this crisis. The Wall Street will tell you it’s bad management – they should talk! Detroit makes big gas-guzzlers that nobody wants blah de blah de blah…  But the truth is that car sales collapsed because Wall Street’s credit market fell apart. Car sales depend on credit. Leases and loans count for over eighty percent on all auto purchases. If the cars were so bad why were banks and credit companies prepared to lend money for leases of three or more years? The fact that an American car is a piece of crap has never stopped an American from buying one. And they have to be reliable enough to survive the length of the leaser or that would be fiscal irresponsible on the part of the financial servicing industry, wouldn’t it? So the banks are telling the carmakers they can’t have any money because the banks got it all because the banks screwed up and stopped loaning cash to keep the car business afloat. Sounds good if you’re wearing a suit, not so much in your overalls. Follow the tainted footsteps down the ladder and the Auto Execs are telling the workers it’s all their fault.  It’s the $75 an hour jobs the car workers have got. How many Detroit fitters are on 150 grand a year for a forty-hour week? Answer – none, it’s a calumny. There’s the $2,000 premium put on every vehicle by workers health benefits. Whoever is negotiating with the Health Insurance Industry needs their head seeing to.  So, in the end, you know the money will be found to save the suits and the overalls will be on Medicaid and Food Stamps.

There’s no change there then. This is the mess Barack Obama will inherit. To his credit, he is being unusually proactive for a President-elect. We had three press conferences this week. We were surprised if Bush gave one every three months. George W. is so out of there, he doesn’t even care. Cheney has disappeared into his hole and there’s not a Republican in sight apart from Sarah “2012” Palin. Like the doomed House of Usher, the White House has begun to personify its current occupant. The lights are on but there is nobody home. So little has been achieved by this man, the next administration will waste little time erasing him from history. There is no Bushism to dismantle. They are already deconstructing Reaganism. Consumerism isn’t going to get us out of this hole. Big government isn’t the problem; it might have to be the solution. That’s only one small step back to FDRism and a Keynesian re-think on the economy. Replace consumer spending with a massive public works program like the New Deal. The problem is all that steel for those iconic bridges and phallic monuments to downtown America was made in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania not South Korea or China. At least Obama’s new Financial Team, announced this week, has given the markets a faint glimmer of false hope. For which we can all be thankful at the special time of the year.

I was going to talk more about the transition but there is time for that when rest of pieces fall into place. The Clinton Saga continues and the old knives are being honed. Gates will stay at Defense, which is already troubling the more caustic eyes cast over the future. While Barack has got his attention firmly fixed on the economy, the same old War Party will not be simply twiddling their thumbs in the Pentagon. But the left are high-fiving over the fact that torture apologist, John Brennan, will not offer to serve as CIA director. He actually admitted that the left had drummed him out of contention. Funny, how these pyjama-clad bloggers and guardians of human rights never mentioned torture throughout the entire campaign. Nor did they point out that this particular pariah was in Obama’s orbit. What else is to be pulled the “now you mention it” file?

Finally, the Obama Commemorative One Dollar coin is being offered at a special knockdown price of $9.95 on tacky Cable TV.  That is 1,000% inflation, which adequately reflects the mood of the economy as he prepares to take office. A one-dollar coin for ten bucks, now that is change with a capital Ker-ching.