German Capitalism:Are You Listening Mr.Romney,President Obama

Germany is the biggest country in Europe with 83 million people.It isn't sexy like France or solve their labor problems in the street through strikes.Compared to France,the state in Germany is weak.It pushed social democracy internally within private corporations without American style regulation.The check on private corporations are built into the structure of the workplace.Since 2003,Germany has been in a dead heat with China as the leader in export sales(1.2 trillion..China moving ahead recently)The European Union,"socialist kingpins", will still sell far more than China.It's a net creditor,not a net debtor,like the U.S.who has $3 trillion in net external debt to the world at large.For most of the recent past,Germany has lead the world in exports with workers who get six weeks off for vacation and  have high wages to spend accordingly.They have been out competing us with one hand tied behind their backs.

Germany is successful because they keep their wages high unlike America and Great Britain who look to compete by reducing labor costs(The World Is Flat /Friedman).How does Germany succeed in a globalized economy? First, wage cost in manufacturing is a very small percentage of the finished product(2-4%).Second,Germany doesn't have the illusion they have to compete on cost.They also don't have the illusion that they have to bust unions as a way to compete with China.Social democracies,Sweden,France and Germany,which kept high wages,now have more industry than the U.S. or the U.K.We smashed our unions because we believed labor cost must be low to compete and that perspective ended up wrecking our industry.Germany is competitive in high-end precision machinery,made by people with high skills.They even have a shortage of people to fill high-skill,high-paying jobs,especially engineers.The growing demand for for high-end specialty goods from developing countries are filled by Germany throughout the world.Germany makes it difficult for a company to shut down a plant while the U.S. makes it easy.The German employer must have a closing plan for taking care of people,paying severance,etc.,making it easier to just keep going.Germans never come close to spending more than they produce.High levels of public spending tends to hold down private consumer spending.The U.S wants the E.U.middle class to run up big debts like us to buy our products but their systems are efficient in delivering public goods and people are much less likely to spend.

Education,skilling people up,is important in Germany because they have industry.We have lost ours and their is no opportunity here so what is the point of trying in this area.Geoghegan(Were You Born On The Wrong Continent)believes democracy dies without an industrial base.An industrial base makes it easier to organize a labor movement.A labor movement makes it easier to keep a social democracy in which people have a stake.Citizens need shared decision making in the workplace to have a stake which creates interest and self worth and a genuine respect for the goals of a country.German workers are at the tables making the decisions with employers. They check businessmen because their system has created an internal structure to do so.They have created work councils,co-determined boards and unions that control wages through "multi-bargaining".

Work councils(500,000workers) make decisions with management who to hire and fire,opening and closing times,what shift someone gets,etc.Management has to make an agreement with the council.The workers get the right to stir the pot like shareholders or the leadership class.The co-determined board,supervisory role,makes decisions like any board in the U.S. of a major company(2,000 employees).It is made up of 50% workers,50% shareholders,capitalists).A CEO can't make decisions without the co-determined board oversight.They are guardians who read files while looking over management shoulders.The unions do the bargaining over wages and pensions at a macro level with an employer federation.They set wages in a determined area for everyone in that job sector.This process is also transparent.The point is that no company should compete with another company based on wages.Egalitarian wages is the ideal to avoid discrimination and income disparity.

More from Geoghegan in the near future.

Getting To Know Europeans From Tremont Ave. In The Bronx

The Cato Institute(conservative think tank) loves to proclaim that our poor has the highest GDP per capita in the world. On paper they are correct but Geoghegan(Were You Born On The Wrong Continent)tells them to go outside and walk around the typical American city to find reality in their statistics.Disorder,crime(largest criminal justice system in the world) and hopelessness abounds with segregated housing and poverty income levels(without European style safety net system..free tuition,health care,retirement,job security,collective bargaining,etc.).The average per capita income(purchasing power ratios) in America is $45,604 in 2007 while Germany ,Denmark,France,Netherlands and Switzerland are about $12,000 to $5,000 behind that number. Geoghegan states that the super rich gobble up well over two-thirds of the difference in the U.S. In 2005,the real hourly wage for production workers in America was approximately 8% lower than it was in 1973,while our national output per hour is 55% higher.

Americans are working much harder(2300 hrs/year to survive for most) than the Europeans who work around 1,500 hrs. Those eight hundred hours are spent by Europeans taking family vacations,reading books of interest,going to the movies,riding a bike through the city park or spending quality time with one's family.God forbid the employee who balks at the notion of less hours and more pay without collective bargaining(U.S. has only 11% of the workforce unionized...up to 85% in some European countries,many with work counsels).Americans also spend a great deal of time traveling to work unlike the Europeans.Only 5% of our country can use public transport at the same time our bridges,roads and rail systems are collapsing.At the same time,Europe is unifying thanks to Ryanair and faster rail.Europeans use public transit ten times more frequently than Americans do.In Germany and France that statistic is higher(gov. planning).Americans are moving farther away from there jobs and quality entertainment. They travel to the suburbs and exurbs to find affordable housing with quality public schools because of income inequality(poverty,joblessness),crime and the high cost of private education.

Goeghegan claims that if our society was more efficiently planned(extended safety net with collective bargaining,planned housing/transit,income equality with little crime)our GDP per capita would fall. The lower we keep taxes, the worse the infrastructure so we pack up and move.The result is that our GDP per capita rises. Why?Lower taxes(Europe only pays 1/5 more)create middle class movement that increases our gas/car bills and our tendency to supersize our homes.We also go out a lot to eat due to time restrictions from working(two job earners) and traveling. Income inequality creates jobs in law enforcement,private security guards, prosecutors,public defenders, public prison guards,janitors,etc.The super rich make life harder for the middle class who want to send their kids to the best schools in the country.School tuition to top private universities have skyrocketed and the middle class must pay the ransom to continue in the game that leads to select employment opportunities.

According to Goeghegan,many middle class workers invest in themselves to become more attractive workers.He calls them investments in producer wants instead of consumer wants.Computers,private gyms,day care for the children,reliable,expensive cars to get to work and even cosmetic surgery to look younger.Debt may even be a mark of self-discipline(investing in themselves) to stay on top at the office. Most Europeans save and avoid debt due to the planned infrastructure and security of employment.They spend on items not connected to the workplace but supportive of creative culture. A European-type social democracy is really a form of guided spending.The state taxes and spends tax money on what one really needs.The state can buy in bulk,in the most efficient way. This leaves one plenty of money to spend on your own. One person can't buy things for oneself as cheaply and efficiently as the state can.The state can allocate money better than someone for retirement,health,education,transportation and childcare collectively by pooling money and avoiding mistakes.

More from "Were you born on the wrong continent" in a few days.

Were You Born On The Wrong Continent(Thomas Geoghegan)?:I Was

Thomas Geoghegan's book about social democracy in parts of Europe is well beyond informational because it clarifies the big difference between the United States(free market,Darwinian inequality)and Europe(free market,social,economic stability and equality) in terms of lifestyle as defined by the social net weaved by both democracies.This book was acquired through the public library and one might not find it in your local Barnes and Noble where celebrity pundits(to the right) prevail.

Geoghegan's book starts with a trip to Moscow by way of Zurich,Switzerland(rated best quality of life in world) in 1993.He can't believe how beautiful the city of two million people is and starts to compare it to American cities.Geoghegan is from Chicago(one of America's Midwest jewels) but he never has seen a city not just opulent(richest in the world)but opulent in such an elegantly intelligent way.The book would go on the talk about city/social planning in later chapters and it is a significant component of enhanced lifestyle.He starts to compare cities briefly by going down the alphabet."B" We have Baltimore,Baton Rouge..they have Barcelona,Bologna..As he goes down the alphabet,he gives the tangible impression that the European cities are nicer,safer and better organized for citizens to enjoy.He writes about GDP per capita and how from 1983 to 1993,Europe has climbed up to America and a few countries like Norway is even above us.The shock isn't per capita increase to Geoghegan but the per capita in the street(quality of life).The cities are elegant and safe with numerous subsidized entertainment venues(an opera cost $13..$80 in U.S.)Sweden is the richest country and it is the most Red(to the left) where 7.7 % of the elderly live in poverty.(U.S has 24.7 %)Children in poverty in Germany has a 9% rate(mostly in East Germany) while the U.S. has 21.9%.Geoghegan doesn't want to rely on graphs and tables to illustrate the difference in quality of life.He wants you to go there and touch,see,taste and smell the difference. He loves the intelligent order of the cities and the lack of disorder of mass poverty like we have in the states.Mass poverty,according to Geoghegan brings disorder and that disorder makes it impossible for everything to be "perfect" the way it is in Europe.

He eventually goes to Moscow and it was worse than he had imagined.Everyone was talking about the civil war,shootings and chaos.He wanted to talk about how beautiful Zurich was but everyone was more concerned with survival.Geoghegan returns to what he has found in Europe. He states that the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal repeatedly wrote (joblessness,high labor costs)about the collapse of Europe in the eighties and early nineties. He didn't realize it was so nice(from Milan to Paris over to the Rhine and up to Norway).Staying in Zurich was relatively cheap in 1993.He paid $125/night for a beautiful place(gardens,waiters view of city) that would have cost $1,000 in the states.Europe is set up for the middle class and America is set up to buy cheap gas and kitty litter at Walmart.He feels the bottom two-thirds of America would be better off in Europe especially if one hasn't got a raise in numerous years,don't have a 401(k),nothing but Social Security and no health insurance.Unemployment is lower there and even a single man can get on welfare.Most are in unions that have a golden parachute(stability on the job,shorter work week,six week vacations,pensions,health care,free tuition for school,paid maternity/paternity leave,parent care,quality,low cost transportation)that differentiates itself from the American style capitalism we have in the workplace.

Much more to come in the next days from Geoghegan.

World Poverty Rates:Poor Reflection On Global Capitalism

The percentages of people living in poverty around the world is beyond belief as we approach Thanksgiving in America.We really have a lot to be thankful for in this land of plenty. Many conservatives use the argument that our citizens who live in poverty here have numerous resources to survive and they are much better off than other countries around the world. They are correct arguing that point because most of the world lives on less than $2 a day with many under $1.25. Tanzania leads all countries with an astounding 96.6% living on less than $2 a day.Liberia comes in second with 94.8% while numerous African countries are in the high eighties.The following information comes from globalissues.org written by Anup Shah.(3 billion people live on less than $2.50 /day)

The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.

Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.

Water problems affect half of humanity:

• Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.
• Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
• More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.
• Access to piped water into the household averages about 85% for the wealthiest 20% of the population, compared with 25% for the poorest 20%.
• 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)
• Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhoea
• The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.
• Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
• Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.
• To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5% of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003

Number of children in the world

2.2 billion

Number in poverty

1 billion (every second child)

Shelter, safe water and health

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:

• 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
• 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
• 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

Children out of education worldwide

121 million

Survival for children

Worldwide,

• 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy)
• 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

Health of children

Worldwide,

• 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized
• 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.

Approximately half the world’s population now live in cities and towns. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.

do over half of the populations of India and China.

Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.

In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%:

When Irish Eyes Are Crying:2010 Depression

Oh the Irish and their bad luck...lets have a drink and pray that this day will whisper itself asleep for the darkness that we experienced today is only a token of the pain that surrounds us. In the carnival,the sad clown sees the child's eye and wonders why his loneliness was caused by the spirits that lay beside the road to harvest his best dreams for others.Rainbow after rainbow passes but we can't see it because the clouds within our hearts take us into the tarnished souls of the past and present. Sounds Irish don't you think..so I must have a little in me like a dagger twisted on a Bronx street corner in the hot month of July in year before the Beatles arrived with their phony British songs and their phony British smiles.Get the fuck out of Ireland and make us whole again..under the rain and sun,sun and rain...give us back our fields and language.Lets look towards America..land of hope and dreams.

Disaster really hit the island in 2007 when the greedy Irish,Wall St. infected,prayed at the alter of American style capitalism and embarrassed Irish Americans like me who had respect for a country that outlasted their colonial,piggish neighbor. The Celtic Tiger(period of high economic growth) has fallen because they wanted to be like us without knowing that we have been in trouble for the last thirty years(salaries haven't kept up with inflation,staggering debt).Ireland went beyond American style capitalism when it reduced corporate taxes to 12.5% and some manufacturing to 10%. Yes, many companies came and took advantage of an educated workforce and a tax structure that made grown men cry.But this growth also lead to high inflation,especially in the housing/property market.At the end of 2008,inflation was at 4.4% and its citizens had the highest level of household debt to disposable income in the developed world at 190%(lending American style with  no regulation and high equity to debt ratios).

The crashing property market was caused by Irish financial institutions(sound familiar) that had substantial exposure to property developers in their loan portfolios.These property developers are currently suffering from substantial over-supply of property, much still unsold, while demand has evaporated. The employment growth of the past that attracted many immigrants from Eastern Europe and propped up demand for property has been replaced by rapidly rising unemployment. Irish property developers speculated billions of Euros in overvalued land parcels such as urban brownfield and greenfield sites. They also speculated in agricultural land which, in 2007, had an average value of €23,600 per acre ($32,000 per acre or €60,000 per hectare) which is several multiples above the value of equivalent land in other European countries. Lending to builders and developers has grown to such an extent that it equals 28% of all bank lending, or "the approximate value of all public deposits with retail banks. Effectively, the Irish banking system has taken all its shareholders' equity, with a substantial chunk of its depositors' cash on top, and handed it over to builders and property speculators.....By comparison, just before the Japanese bubble burst in late 1989, construction and property development had grown to a little over 25 per cent of bank lending."
On 30 September 2008, the Irish Government declared a guarantee that intends to safeguard the Irish banking system. The Irish State guarantee, backed by taxpayer funds(just like us), covers "all deposits (retail, commercial, institutional and interbank), covered bonds, senior debt and dated subordinated debt".
In exchange for the bailout, the government did not take preferred equity stakes in the banks (which dilute shareholder value) nor did they demand that top banking executives' salaries and bonuses be capped, or that the banks' board members be replaced(sounds very similar to Obama wouldn't you say).

Sustained increases in the value of residential property during the 1990s and up to late 2006 was a key factor in the increase in personal wealth in Ireland, with Ireland ranking second only to Japan in personal wealth in 2006. However, residential property values and equities have fallen substantially since the beginning of 2007 and major declines in personal wealth are expected.
Ireland has been in recession since second quarter of 2008 and some commentators have claimed it is in a depression,The ESRI (Economic and Social Research Institute) predict an economic contraction of 14% by 2010 , however this number may have already been exceeded with GDP dropping 7.1% quarter on quarter during the fourth quarter of 2008, and a possible greater contraction in the first quarter of 2009 with the fall in all OECD countries with the exception of France exceeding the drop of the previous quarter. Unemployment is up 8.75% to 11.4%. In late 2010 Ireland has the world's highest gross external debt at 1,305% of GDP due to the operation of Monetary Financial Institutions, Government borrowing and the financial bailout and effective Nationalisation of one of Ireland's banks which were loaded with debt due to the Irish property bubble. This is similar to the Irish CSO mid-2010 data, suggesting a gross external debt of €430,000 per person.

I wonder if they were happier when they were poor financially but rich spiritually.Do they still sit in the bars and sing songs of love and conflict?Are they reading the newspapers/Internet(Financial times,Wall St.Journal) for new tips on investments like us? Do they blame the poor like the Republicans here for the meltdown?Did they securitize the subprime loans and bet against them as many,hard working citizens lost retirement funds? God bless us for we knew what we were doing and kept doing it because money makes us feels good when deep inside we don't feel good about ourselves.

PledgeTo America:The Republican Coverup To Undermine The Lower Class

The "Pledge To America" is a plan to undermine the poor in this country and an insult to professionals that try to alleviate the burdens our fundamentalist capital system that protects the the high income earners on the backs of the vast majority of citizens.It is a pledge that tries to separate our society instead of uniting it in these unstable times(Party of No,No,No to anything the Democrats try).It starts by stating that America is more than a country but an idea( I guess an idea that nobody else in the world had).An idea that free people can govern themselves,that government's power is derived by the consent of the governed(Democrats won in 2008..remember the voting) with rights to life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness.America is a belief that any man or woman(Republicans voted against the Fair Wage Act)-given economic,political,and religious liberty-advance themselves(vast majority of Americans stay in the same income class they were born into),their families and the common good(Tell this to corporations).These rights are endowed from the creator,according to the pledge(only given to Americans?).It goes on to state that whenever the agenda of the government becomes destructive(helping the poor) to these ends,it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda(help the corporations,destroy government protecting the poor)) and set a different course.From my perspective,this pledge,not the democratic platform,has been the destructive agenda to a prosperous economy and a healthy political environment.From the start of the Democratic control of the government, the Republicans have only thought of their own financial, political gain and consistently undermined efforts by Congress and the Obama administration to aid the lower and middle class.They has become mouthpieces for the corporate world who don't care about the common good of the nation(repeal health care, cancel unemployment benefits,throw children off of welfare,support the financial sector).The Republicans are bought and sold by the powerful lobbyists that make it possible for them to get elected($3.5 billion by 2000 lobbyists in 2009). They have propaganda media outlets that blast their mis-information twenty-four hours a day by buying newspaper,radio and T.V. stations in every market of the country(FOX has more than CNN and MSNBC combined).With all their financial power,they still lost in 2006 and 2008 because the middle and lower class finally responded to the call of economic fairness and stability.

The Republicans win elections with votes from the two lower classes by pretending to care about them.Their big advantage over Democrats is the persistent cry to lower taxes.That cry sells voters because so many people are struggling and financially insecure(10% hold 90% of the wealth).They have been sold that government is bad and takes money away from individuals and families in a time of hardship(they are silent about the 1.3 trillion spent one two wars,privatizing the Defense Dept.,breaks to pharmaceutical companies).These citizens believe the Republicans because their media outlets lie to their viewers and give mis-information as fact. The Obama administration has lowered taxes for individuals and small businesses during his two years in office.The American Recovery and Investment Act cut taxes for 95% of all Americans.Two million people were lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act($150 billion).Millions of jobs were saved with these tax cuts.It provided $20 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.It also provided$2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund and $1.5 billion for the Homeless Prevention Fund.It increased the Community Service Block Grant by $1 billion while increasing the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion(all programs Republicans are against). The Small Business Jobs Act provided loans to this community with a capacity of $14 billion.This extension supported over 30,000 small businesses.The Act also doubles the size of the loans that create jobs and supports business expansion.It also provides zero taxes on capital gains from small business investment.They can increase their write offs for investment and depreciation under this Act.

The Pledge to America is an elementary report(go to pledge.gop.gov) and see for yourself how poorly the Republican plan is presented. It contains 48 pages with half of the pages with pictures of America,town meetings and businesses.They have nothing to say so they fill the pledge with these photos that demonstrate their lack of credible information.They have so much mis-information(poor people/subprime loans by Fannie Mae caused the financial crisis...read I.O.U and Freefall,my past posts or watch the movie"Inside Job"for the real story.) that it's laughable at every turn of the page.They would never have signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as President Obama did to help women get the same pay as men in the workplace. To help increase the amount of service citizens give to one another,President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act that increased the number of AmeriCorps positions from 75,000 to 250,000 annually.Republicans(except for Hatch) don't think the government should be spending money to support individuals around the country because they feel private religious groups do enough.In reality,foundations and charity groups provide a small fraction of America's service needs.

The pledge attacks the Affordable Health Care Act as expensive and a "government takeover" because they want people covered and treated like human beings not like a number in an insurance contract.Their pledge is for the companies who discriminate,avoid insuring the ill and undermine providers so they will be reluctant to serve the poor.The Affordable Health Care Act will create 250,000 new jobs each year while giving the largest health tax break for the middle class in the country's history.It will also provide tax credits to small businesses immediately for any coverage provided.It helps young adults who need coverage on a parents plan and restricts the use of annual limits.

Scaring our seniors is a daily occurrence with Republicans and the pledge is right on board with their accusations that medicare and social security services will be decreased.In the Recovery Act,64 million retires will receive a one time payment of 16 billion dollars.President Obama,unlike the Republicans,want to preserve the Social Security system as it was intended and not privatize it in the hands of a greedy, unworthy,un-American Wall St crowd..Medicare services will not be cut under the Affordable Health Care Act but will increase benefits with preventive coverage,annual wellness visits and a phase out of the donut hole for medications.It will lower premiums,reduce cost share and extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by 12 yrs.

More on the wonderful Pledge in the future.

Primacy Of The Ear(Blake/Rogers) And College Tuition For Undocumemnted Children

"Primacy of the Ear"by Ran Blake with Jason Rogers(wonderful writer) is part textbook,part polemic and part autobiography.It helps guide the young improvising musician to develop a personal style.Listening,memory,melody,introspection,
extroversion,repertoire, reflection and integration are key ingredients in the process of becoming a unique musical stylist.Creating a personal style starts,according to Blake,in the ear. He believes the ear is an honest broker when one listens to music.The ear pulls you to a sound faster and more confidently than your brain and brings you to the muse.Style is a selective re-creation of conscious,subconscious values and judgements. One core element of style is a lack of universality and an embracing of peculiarity and eccentricity(Monk,Taylor).Blake feels a need to save his listening for music that is important to him.He wants the young musician to develop degrees of concentration when listening to pieces.Falling asleep to music is important to invite the subconscious into the learning process.Repeated listening,memorization,analytical dissection and learning an artist overall work are important elements of developing your mastery of the music your interested in.It is also a stepping stone to unique improvisation.

I recently listened to a debate about children of undocumented workers who want to go to state colleges and pay the in-state tuition cost.Some politicians are against spending taxpayer money for undocumented children who have been in the country the majority of their lives. Their parents have been working for companies in the U.S for fifteen years and have contributed revenue to the states through various taxes(sales,payroll,income). The companies have been very happy with their parents employment and the labor costs they have saved.The in-state tuition cost enables thousands of children to go to college and without this assistance the majority couldn't continue their education.

One of the major problems with the debate is the lack of concentrated listening politicians have concerning the fate of undocumented workers.They don't really take the time to really listen to the full story of the undocumented families that come the the U.S. to avoid economic catastrophe.They understand the state expenses very well but don't see the whole migrant picture because they are not taking the appropriate time to listen and develop the needed compassion to assist these children.The politicians should review this issue as a musician prepares to improvise.They should value what Blake is saying about finding one's muse.Each issue we face today has depth and values that must be studied and reflected on through introspection.Money shouldn't have the final voice when young lives are in the balance. The management of revenues is an important problem for states because many in our country hide their wealth and and seek subsides at every turn.They see undocumented workers and families as objects and production pieces in their lust for increased income and luxury.Their capital can move freely from country to country to seek the highest profit but humans must stay within boundaries and see their children starve.Listening to a patient and experiencing their loss was the key component in Carl Roger's counseling philosophy.My wish is for all politicians who are quick to dismiss the undocumented to take Blake and Rogers advice and spend some quality time experiencing the road traveled by these migrant souls.

Immigrant Labor:An Indespensable Part Of A Global System(Illegal People-Bacon)

 The creation of the original maquiladora program,the Border Industrial Program,on the U.S.- Mexican boarder in 1964,was conceived as a way to absorb thousands of unemployed contract laborers,who had been working in the U.S during the twenty-two year run of the bracero program(original guest-worker program). To avoid social unrest,Mexican government needed to find jobs for those workers. To attract employers,it  changed laws that had prohibited direct U.S. ownership of factories in Mexico,allowing investors to build plants taking advantage of lower Mexican wages,producing goods for the U.S. market. A new labor regime was put into place to attract foreign investment,including the brutal repression of independent unions or challenges to the low-wage model.

This development model has since been reproduced in developing countries all over the world. In the early 1990's the U.S Agency for International Development financed the construction of industrial parks,or export processing zones(EPZ),in rural Honduras. Poverty drove many young women and children to work in these factories.Many children started work at age ten in rural Honduras. The world's oil industry is completely dependent on migrant labor.The oil kingdoms of the Gulf states-Kuwait,Quatar,Bahrain,Abu Dhabi- have many more immigrant workers than native born ones.Migrant workers,in other words,make the world's vital oil industry function. It was no coincidence that Halliburton brought migrants from Bangladesh and the Philippines into Iraq in the wake of the advancing U.S. invading force in 2003,intending to use them to replace Iraqi workers on the oil rigs and pipelines.Only a strike by Iraqi workers forced Halliburton to retreat, and prevented the company from taking control of their industry.

Employers gain great advantage from this system,particularly lower labor costs and increased workforce flexibility.Industrial agriculture,based on migrant labor, has expanded to developing countries, where plantations owned or controlled by large corporations like Dole and Del Monte draw a workforce from displaced rural communities.In Columbia uprooted Afro-Columbians are drawn into nurseries growing flowers for U.S. supermarkets,or plantations growing palms for biodiesel fuel. In northern Mexico,vast industrial farms grow winter tomatoes and strawberries for U.S. consumers,drawing on families migrating north from Oaxaca.

Migrants are now a vital part of the service industry workforce in most developed countries.As the most recent job seekers,they begin in the most marginal and contingent jobs. Day laborers on L.A. or Long Island street corners arrive from Mexico and Central America.In Britain they come from Romania and Africa.Large meatpacking companies in the U.S. Midwest hire a workforce in which immigrants are a majority.Over the last twenty years,the industry's wage scale has steadily fallen behind the manufacturing average. Companies using migrant labor pay little taxes to the communities they belong to. They don't have to support local schools or services for workers families because they are in another country.

As global production lines are tuned more closely to changes in the market,employers use the flexibility of the contract-labor system to adjust quickly.Capital has to be flexible,able to move where it can earn the greatest return,and permanent employment only gets in the way.Production of new product lines requires new workers,often in completely different locations.Agriculture,garment and janitorial industries has used this employment model for decades.Recently,Hewlett-Packard has joined the model by using migrants from around the world to assemble their printers.

                                                                       

Conservative Talking To A Nationalist

 As I was listening to Dave Brubeck's"Time Changes",recorded in 1963,I began to think of a conversation I had yesterday with a man who I hired to do "tree work" for my property. Trees have grown in and around my electrical wires and I needed an expert to take some  down for the wires to pass properly. The man was sixty-seven and still working at this strenuous,dangerous job.His son-in -law worked with him but he had trouble finding young people to work at his rate of pay.He wanted to sell the business but he didn't think anyone would buy it.Business was steady but he no longer wanted to work this late in life. He said he gets tired easily, especially last summer when it was very hot in the Hudson Valley. He also stated that he wants to move from NYS but he really didn't say why(I've been told this by numerous conservatives..move to Texas,Florida for lower tax rates) He complained about gas prices and that his mother only received $94 a month on Social Security. He said he got $900 but that just about paid his mortgage. As he was telling me this information,I knew he was also talking about taxes and the "government" that was changing his lifestyle in a time when he shouldn't have any financial worries.He did mention,angrily, that he only received a cost of living increase on his social security.I believe this man has been independent his whole life and doesn't like government interference at any level except the Health/ Social Security system that he and his mother participates in.Many rural citizens vote Republican because they have been very self-sufficient for generations.They had small farms,worked independently and bartered for the various necessities they needed. In the last two generations,they were more dependent on others for work as the small farms went out of business due to the mega farms and purchasing monopolies throughout America.This Republican,rural citizen became dependent on many economic interchanges but has psychologically adhered to the conservative dogma of small government.

As we were talking,I had compassion for his mother and his situation even if I didn't have all the facts regarding his/her finances. I did notice,he did have a shinny new pick-up to work from(wonder if he is reporting income over $14,000).I still felt for him because he shouldn't be doing that type of work at his age. Down the road,carpenters are putting on a large roof on a house(old Catholic Church) and I wonder if anyone over fifty is working on that dangerous job.I also had to laugh to myself and wonder what he would say if he knew I wanted to raise gas prices,taxes and expand government to the point of nationalizing the energy,food,health care,transportation,and the housing sectors of our economy.I also want the government to create jobs by producing mandated products for state citizens.He was face to face with a person who wanted to help his situation in a different way(income equality,democratic control of life's necessities) than his conservative(free market fundamentalists) leaders who want to cut taxes(very small percentage of income,majority going to rich,increasing federal deficit),privatize social security(he might be receiving less than $900 month if the market tanks,rewarding Wall St. who care little for lower,middle class),keep gas prices low(keep oil companies in the business by buying from middle east,avoiding renewable energy),support the monopolistic food industry who take away jobs from NYS farmers and exploit workers and the pharmaceutical/health industry who are charging him more each year for his and his mother's drugs/services to stay healthy.

I see this man as a brother in a battle against those who have and don't care about their actions.He may never understand my logic against a common foe but I will continue to support those who want a better life for their children.

Conservatives:Lovers Of Sabotage(Wrecking Crew-Thomas Frank)

Republicans,with their conservative ideology,want to destroy our government like the wrecking crew they have become. They believe the government to be an ideology of Western suicide with its insistence on equal rights for everyone(fatal weakness). James Burnham,conservative theorist, stated way back in 1964, that liberalism must extend the freedoms to those who are not themselves liberals and even to those whose deliberate purpose is to destroy the liberal society.It must grant a free hand to its assassins or liberalism must deny its own principles,restrict the freedoms,and practice discrimination.Liberalism depends on fair play by its sworn enemies,making it vulnerable to assassination,hijacking and sabotage.

Liberalism has proven vulnerable to the tactics of its swaggering, bullying foes.They have vandalized all departments of government.The conservatives have looted the Treasury(regressive tax policies,offshore accounts),dynamited the dam(government programs for the disenfranchised poor),takes a crowbar to the monument(privatizing Social Security,cutting medicaid and medicare,backing for- profit health care) and throws a wrench into the gears(deregulating banking and energy).Liberalism arose out of a long-ago compromise between left-wing social movements and business interests.It depends utterly on efficient functioning of certain organs of the state,and it does not call for some kind of all-out war on private industry.(Socialism doesn't exist anywhere-state controlling all aspects of production).Conservatism,on the other hand,speaks not of compromise but of removing its adversaries from the field altogether.While no one dreams of sawing off those branches of the state that protects conservatism's constituents-military,police,the legal privileges granted to corporations,they openly fantasize about doing away with those bits of "big government" that served liberal ends(public schools,safe working/living environments,affordable health care,social service agencies,unemployment benefits,job training,increased minimum wage,consumer protection,banking/energy regulations,low income housing,public parks and transportation systems,food safety,collective bargaining etc.).

Dramatic economic inequality of the kind conservatism has engineered has inevitably brought political inequality with it.The rich vote at higher rates than others,they contribute greater amounts to candidates,and,should they choose,they are able to afford today's expensive campaigns for public office.They can also subsidize authors,newspaper columnists,academics,magazines and TV shows.They can fund the careers of friendly politicians and buy off dubious ones;and they can reward right-thinking regulators and bureaucrats when these worthies' stints in government are done.They can launch cable TV networks,buy newspapers and bankroll think-tank operations charged with making their idiosyncratic personal ideas into the common sense of the millions.

In 1965,American GNP grew by 6.5%-today in the glory days of the billionaire it barely gets over 2%.The greatest periods of prosperity came with the greatest period of collective bargaining.Presently, conservatives swagger across national stages wrecking and smashing with impunity,secure in the knowledge that a little bit of scoffing toward big government would always get them off the hook,save them to wreck again some other day.They elevate bullies, gangsters and CEOs above other humans,which tells us to get wise and stop expecting anything good from Washington,Whenever there is a choice between free markets and free people,between money and the common good,the conservatives chose money.

I read this book last summer and wanted to share some highlights between additional chapters from "Illegal People".

NAFTA And The Transformation Of The Mexican Economy

NAFTA was part of the corporate transformation of the Mexican economy_ a process that began long before it took effect in 1994.That process moved Mexico away from nationalist ideas about development policy,which had been advocated from the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920 through the 1970's. Nationalist development became part of Mexico's official ideology in the 1930s.They wanted to sever their ties with the United States corporations who owned oil fields,cooper mines,railroads the telephone system,great tracts of land and other key economic resources. To be truly independent,the nationalists believed(and I agree), that Mexico had to establish an economic system in which resources were controlled by Mexicans and used for their benefit.Nationalization served two purposes,according to David Bacon(Illegal People),--to stop the transfer of wealth out of the country and to use state ownership to set up an internal market,in which what was produced in Mexico would be sold there as well.In theory, the government had a stake in maintaining stable jobs and income,so workers and farmers could buy back what they produced(sounds good to me)

Lazaro Cardenas was president of Mexico from 1935 to 1940 and established a corporatist system in which one elected party controlled the main sectors of Mexican society.He nationalized the oil industry,the rail system and redistributed haciendas in 1938.Land was considered the property of the whole country and thousands of farming communities were created.Most foreign ownership of land was prohibited.After his presidency,the reorganized PRI(Institutional Revolutionary Party) administered a network of social services.State owned CONASSUPO grocery stores brought subsidized products at low prices to the citizens throughout the country.The social security system(IMSS),established in 1943, provided health care,while the government housing corporation,INFONAVIT, set up in 1972 built homes.

After WWII,Mexico officially adopted a policy of industrialization.Enterprises were created or supported that produced products for the domestic market while imports of those products were restricted.The purpose was to develop a national base,provide jobs, and increase the domestic market.Under that policy,hundreds of thousands of Mexican industrial workers in mines,mills,transportation were employed. This Mexican economy wasn't completely socialist and many large capitalist enterprises existed and thrived(as they should). This mixed economy provided economic security to many workers and farmers.Foreign investment was limited,although after Cardenas much Mexican capital operated in increasingly close partnership with U.S. and Canadian corporations.More and more,nationalism started to lose its grip on the economy and  political capitalists waged a war of privatization against the state properties . A gulf started to widen between the political and economic elite and the workers and farmers that continues to this day.

More from "Illegal People" down the road.

Immigration: Migration Means Survival

Economic desperation and repression are major sources of pressure on people to migrate. About 30 million Mexicans survive on three dollars a day. In rural Mexico over 10 million people have a daily income of little over a dollar(12 pesos).Around 40% of the 106 million Mexicans live in poverty, and 25 million live in extreme poverty.Oaxaca and Chiapas are the two poorest states with 75% of the citizens living in poverty.In Oaxaca, 900,000 out of 3.5 million receive health care services and the illiteracy rate is 21.8%.

Oaxacan poverty is a result of Mexican economic development policies for the past two decades. Under pressure from the World Bank,the International Monetary Fund and conditions placed on U.S. bank loans and bailouts,the government has encouraged foreign investment while cutting expenditures intended to raise rural incomes.Oaxaca is a state of small farmers,whose main crop is corn.For many years,Mexico's state-owned CONASUPO grocery stores purchased corn at high subsidized prices,turned it into tortillas, and sold them,along with milk and other foodstuffs,at low subsidized prices in cities.Economic reforms and NAFTA led the government to dissolve the system and end subsides.Prices were decontrolled and rose dramatically on all necessities.Now they pay more for milk than in the U.S.NAFTA lowered custom barriers that historically prevented large U.S. corn producers from dumping corn in Mexico.U.S.grain production is so large scale and highly mechanized,with large inputs of fertilizers,pesticides,and genetically modifies seeds.It's costs are lower than smaller Mexican producers and also subsidized by the U.S. farm bill.Under NAFTA,Mexican subsidies are prohibited even when the U.S. farms are supported.Once the agreement went into effect it became cheaper for large Mexican corn growers to buy U.S. corn and resell it than to grow corn themselves.For Oaxaca's small farmers,the price of yellow corn simply couldn't cover the cost of growing it. When farming families couldn't sell enough to buy food and supplies for the coming year,many had to look for another way to survive. Migration meant survival.

Oaxacan poverty means seeking work outside their state in Mexico.They really have been migrating within Mexico for twenty years before NAFTA when government policies of rural development and credit began to fail. They first worked for the coffee and sugar cane planters of Veracruz on the coast.Then they traveled 1000 miles north to Sinaloa's and Baja California's new factory farms growing tomatoes and strawberries for U.S. supermarkets. Eventually, they began crossing the boarder into the United States. These productive workers are constantly sending revenue(remittances) back home to Oaxaca and other states within Mexico.In 2006,the total reached 25 billion.

More from "Illegal People"(David Bacon) in the near future.

Chet Baker And I Never Admired The Armed Forces

I'm playing Chet Baker's"Alone Together" as I write this difficult post.Chet is one of my favorite trumpet/singers from the fifties.He was from L.A and more of a personality than anyone of his time and a contemporary of James Dean(only better looking).Chet was a great singer and an excellent trumpet player with a sound as sweet and blue as anyone in jazz in the 50's(West Coast Cool).Miles Davis was jealous of him because he could play and sing like an angel with a needle in his vein.Many angels have died along the way from "junk"and Chet's long mysterious,destructive life ended on a European street after a fall from a window. Chet was in the service for a brief time and I recall he didn't like it that much(saw Berlin's destruction in 1947 and was horrified).He played for the fifty-six-piece 298th Army Band in 1947.He also played in small army dance band and listened to Stan Kenton on the Armed Forces Radio Service(read Deep in a Dream by James Gavin).Chet was in and out of trouble his whole life because of dope.According to Gavin, Baker was frightened and disillusioned by the violence and hopelessness war brings .As they say,he was a lover,not a fighter.

"Alone Together",that's how I feel about Veteran's Day and the love and admiration we bestow on the men and women who serve our country.I feel alone because I was never a participant in the armed forces. They have their own club with stories about the time they served our country and I can't partake in the membership.. I never served and never really wanted to join these organizations. I feel alone because my perspective is very much a minority in our militaristic society(52% of our budget is defense spending). I don't get excited by young soldiers who return from battle or the older veterans who relive their days when they "protected"  the country. All of it strikes me in a negative way. I think it's all foolish (war and war stories) and so destructive to human dignity as it perpetuates horrendous mistakes generation to generation. Many soldiers are very courageous and honorable when they encounter the enemy. Unfortunately, I believe they should never encounter the enemy unless it's unequivocally necessary(WWII).The vast majority of wars shouldn't take place. The world is very impatient when it comes to warfare and violence. Human discourse has always been around and always will if we don't change our perspective and philosophy concerning warfare.One might say I'm naive but sending troops anywhere should be our last,last resort(Colin Powell).

I remember not standing for the national anthem during basketball games in the early seventies. I did so because I was ashamed of the decision to go to war in Viet Nam. It wasn't a response against the soldiers(some friends died in South Asia) but a distaste for war and the administration that sent the young men and women into battle.I also felt the young soldiers had a choice to fight or refuse to go to Viet Nam as they do today in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know I made a decision at eighteen to never follow our country's instructions for the draft. I would never go to war to fight against communism even if I believe it's repressive and destructive to the human spirit. I'm a great believer that time brings sanity to the rulers of a repressed society and change will come without violence through the determination of the oppressed.Diplomacy, with positive, human evolution,usually win out in the long run(USSR).

A few years ago I didn't stand for an honored student who recently fought in Iraq. I did so because I didn't want to give respect to a military engagement I was against. I thought the young man was wrong to go and I couldn't honor his actions even if he risked his life for the cause(which I admired). My actions were difficult because I believe I was the only person who didn't stand.Everyone was standing because they understood the danger of warfare. I only wish they understood that by honoring the student and war ,we perpetuate it. We give it positive attributes that shouldn't be assigned to the violence of war .I'm "together" with the country when it uses diplomacy and patience instead of violence. As a Christian nation, we should follow our teachings more closely and try to avoid war at all costs.Our last mistake cost nearly 5,000 lives, 20,000 injured with 200,000 suffering from traumatic disorders. Service to our country should be mandated with each eighteen year old citizen engaging in a positive occupation that brings support to other citizens. This reflection time would take the young citizens into a world of compassion and a reprieve from the materialism that has fascinated our culture.More time would be spent helping fellow citizens instead of imitating Bud commercials.

Undocumented Workers:Globalization Creates Migration

I just started "Illegal People" by David Bacon and I would like to share some thoughts from the book.In 2006,the Social Security Administration sent out letters to employers,listing the names and numbers of an estimated 8 million people with numbers that don't agree with their files.There are many reasons why the numbers don't agree but the vast majority are from undocumented workers who use nonexistent numbers or one that belongs to someone else.The I-9 form is filled out when employment begins and the usual course of never looking at the document again persists around the country.It continues until the undocumented workers(some working 15yrs for a company)start to ban together to improve wages and working conditions.Former President Bush and his administration hated collective bargaining more than Mr.Roger's disdain for violence between children. In 2006,he sent his goons (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)to companies that were struggling with employee rights to fire or deport twenty-one thousand. He got the word from his business buddies that these ungrateful,undocumented workers had the nerve to ask for more pay and better working conditions.The way to do it was easy. These workers were released or deported if they couldn't verify their SS#'s.One could say that this reaction put a quick damper on the union movement in numerous companies around the country.The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 imposed sanctions(rarely enforced) on employers who hired undocumented workers.The workers needed an immigration visa to work.But in making it illegal for the employer to hire them, the law also made it a crime for those workers to hold a job.

Many immigrants leave their homeland(later chapter will reveal why...all valid political and social reasons) and make a life in America as best they can.They only want to work hard and feel respected and appreciated. Recognition of their labor is the yardstick undocumented workers fall back on to measure their acceptance in the United States.They are just fighting for the right to work.Many unions are behind the Employee Free Choice Act that is still being debated in Congress that would increase penalties for companies who fire workers for union activity and make it easier for workers to organize.Undocumented workers(6.5 million) who play by the employer's immoral game are welcome to continue working for wages well below the average. ICE only comes to company doors when undocumented workers want a fair playing field for themselves and families.

The most common protections denied undocumented workers include:

The right to receive the promised wage and/or at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for work actually performed.

The right to healthy and safe conditions on the job.

The right to receive workers’ compensation benefits for injuries on the job.

The right to be free from discrimination based on sex, color, race, religion, and national origin; age; and disabilities

 

More from "Illegal People" in the near future.