Sunday, April 21, 2019

Bill Crawford: Strong Safety Net Not Socialism

Evil socialism is about to take over America and Mississippi.

At least that's the fear-mongering political message these days from President Donald Trump, favored governor candidate Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, and their minions.

One of America's great capitalists rejects that approach, contending we should focus more on fixing capitalism than fearing socialism.

In his latest annual stockholder report, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of America's largest bank, JP Morgan Chase, said:

"There is no question that capitalism has been the most successful economic system the world has ever seen."

"This is not to say that capitalism does not have flaws, that it isn’t leaving people behind and that it shouldn’t be improved."

“The American Dream is alive but fraying.”


"Middle class incomes have been stagnant for years. Income inequality has gotten worse. Forty percent of American workers earn less than $15 an hour, and about 5% of full-time American workers earn the minimum wage or less, which is certainly not a living wage.

"In addition, 40% of Americans don’t have $400 to deal with unexpected expenses, such as medical bills or car repairs. More than 28 million Americans don’t have medical insurance at all. And, surprisingly, 25% of those eligible for various types of federal assistance programs don’t get any help.

"No one can claim that the promise of equal opportunity is being offered to all Americans through our education systems, nor are those who have run afoul of our justice system getting the second chance that many of them deserve. And we have been debating immigration reform for 30 years.

"Simply put, the social needs of far too many of our citizens are not being met."

"Many countries are called social democracies, and they successfully combine market economies with strong social safety nets. This is completely different from traditional socialism."

"It’s essential to have a strong social safety net."

Dimon points to 11 issues he sees as our real problems. Socialism is not one of them. He says fixes will be complicated then suggests one for each problem area.

1. Implement mandatory preschool for children at three years of age.

2. Systemically address soaring health care costs.

3. Reduce the number of state licenses and local regulations required to open and run small businesses.

4. Fund and implement the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) and streamline permitting processes.

5. Expand Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) supplements for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly with children.

6. Reduce frivolous litigation designed principally to extract fees for lawyers.

7. Pass and enact legislation to resolve immigration that makes DACA permanent and gives a path to legal status/citizenship for law-abiding, hard-working, undocumented immigrants.

8. Reform mortgage markets to increase mortgage availability.

9. Improve labor force participation through EITC expansion, providing students with work skills, and supporting re-entry programs to formerly incarcerated Americans.

10. Stop irresponsible government lending to students.

11. Implement proper budgeting and spending and hold state and federal government accountable.

Sir John Skelton nearly 100 years ago (see earlier column) said conservatives need to step up and face the social and economic challenges facing their nations. He called this "constructive conservatism. Dimon's view to fix capitalism is eerily similar – combine capitalism with a strong social safety net.

Republican candidates would do well to focus on fixing capitalism rather than stir hysteria over mock socialism.



Crawford is a syndicate columnist from Meridian.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

US AGAINST THEM is always far more profitable and easy to sell to the simple minded than US FIXING OURSELVES. We are often taught that our system is perfect and it is somehow unpatriotic to suggest that is can be reformed and yet improved. The real strength of our society is it's ability to absorb and be flexible, not it's rigidity. There are socialist programs which must be absorbed if this nation is to provide for growing masses of middle and lower classes. Not all of socialism. But, there must also be a clear and attainable path to joining the upper class if capitalism is to survive. If these principles are respected we need not fear talk of a socialist "takeover".
If not, a takeover is inevitable.

Anonymous said...

Crawford is an idiot.....Jamie Dimon publicly lauded those 11 points to garner favor with the public, making them believe that he "cares" about people.....knowing full well the one and only thing that makes capitalism "fail" is too many children being born to under/ill prepared adults....when that tipping point overwhelms - government "systems" are expected to be the safety net. Millions that not only grew up but SUCCEEDED through the Great Depression of the 1930s had only one safety net....faith in God....and the rest was up to them to live within their means, pursue their education, work hard, and stay out of trouble. Yeah, the WPA put a lot of people to work....but its cancerous legacy is that government is now supposed to make your life whole even when you make dumb decisions.

Anonymous said...

And, you expect Tate Reeves to by into this? No way the Tater Tot well ever be for an idea that helps the forgotten.

Anonymous said...

Computers, robotics and artificial intelligence will eventually bring socialism.

Greedy Geezers Done Got Theirs said...

In other words, Dimon says don't pay a fair wage, leave my Rich Guy taxes (at 15% or less) alone, make sure the middle class continues to bear all the burden, and sucker the working class zombies with more pay-no-FIT-but-get-a-"refund" "free" EITC money from the middle class. What a surprise.

Yeah. Eliminate that "safety net" by you giving up your Social Security and Medicare, Pops? Right. "But Ah done paid into it...." Pops, you are being subsidized on it.

Yep. That paradise of the 1930s. Let's reverse everything and go back to soup lines, malnutrition, death from easily preventable childhood disease, and, Gramps, let you suffer in your final year as end of life spending is too high and Medicare is "socialism." And, well, you're pretty much expendable.

Your parents made a dumb decision. And, now, here you are on Easter spewing the opposite of the Gospel. What a surprise.

Anonymous said...

Neither capitalism nor socialism as strictly defined will ultimately survive. They both will have to evolve to fit the changing circumstances and needs of the people. Capitalism as practiced in the U.S. just four generations ago is considered barbaric. Socialism as practiced in China just a generation ago is considered unworkable. A couple of generations from now, our form of capitalism won't be relevant, it will have changed. The challenges of the future will demand change. Hope our children have the intelligence and discipline to handle it.

Anonymous said...

3:07 Applause! Our generation won't solve it. It's in our children's hands. God give them guidance.

Anonymous said...

12:23 PM You need to invest in a thing called history books.

Anonymous said...

There is no such thing as 'income inequality'. It's a mythical thing made up by goofballs, the same as they've made up the word 'gender' and the phrase 'global warming'.

How many sit around and fret over follicle inequality, penile inequality and clitoral inequality?

Where two or more things exist simultaneously, there is inequality. Go worry about real shit!

Anonymous said...

12:23 PM is pretty close to the mark. I hate we had a Great Depression. I hate we had WWII to finally put it behind us. Plenty of folks did just fine through both events. As for right now, I like it just fine. I don't see much wage stagnation. I do not suffer from student debt (I paid mine back, as did my children). My children are working and doing swell. My youngest works two jobs and likes it. Work defines us.

There is an element in our society that does not find work self-defining. Politicians cater to that element by convincing them that they "deserve" something more than a fair chance. Jamie Dimon should spend a little more time around the bottom feeding class. Perhaps if he or someone close to him were killed and eaten by "formerly incarcerated Americans" he'd be slightly less sympathetic to their plight.

A lad I knew from high school embarked on a career of drug store burglaries. He spent 3 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. In those days they worked you. It was a Cool Hand Luke world. He learned how to lay blocks and had a long successful career as a block mason. Lived a perfectly middle class life and is now retired. He was not the only person I knew who got into trouble and actually decided he did not want to go back.

As for 6:22 PM and history books. Henry Ford said it all, "history is bunk." I'll go a step further, "history is bullshit." It is bullshit because it becomes not an accurate account of what happened but a narrative fallacy designed to sell an idea.

Was the Civil War about abolishing slavery as a social/economic institution or was it the "war of northern aggression?" Plenty of history books out there to support either interpretation. Both can't be right. Like I said bullshit.

Rod Knox said...

Some at the top recognize the critical situation we are in regarding the "have vs have not" economy.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/04/18/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-blackstones-steve-schwarzman.html

but no one seems interested Schwarzman's opinion when it contradicts the greater Wall St/Rupert Murdoch agenda

Anonymous said...

Feeble minds blame Murdoch.

Anonymous said...

on no. 10 crawford gets it right. ive known dozens of professional "students " who had literally lived off student loans for 25 years going from one college to the next. i know a load of people who still have outstanding student loans from back in the late 70s. found another guy recently who was still in college at age 42. no-one dares to challenge these giveaway programs due to the obsession with universities, colleges, , their little mascots, their role in life as a perpetual sophomores, and the chicken manure BS soap opera of college football. get rid of all that garbage and bring back trade schools.

Anonymous said...

7:54PM is absolutely right!

History is inaccurate bullshit written and re-written by politicians, professors and so-called journalist “designed to sell an idea.”

Remember we were taught Honest Abe never told a lie, then Hollywood and Hillary decided to re-write history and teach us ole Abe actually was a liar, and “this is good.”

Mr. Too Big To Fail Dimon left a least a couple of issues out and

“It’s the crime stupid!!!” should have been close to the top of the list.

One simply can’t be taken seriously without addressing the violent crime infested environments innocent children with no choice are forced to grow up in.

Crime would be so fixable if not a key leftist tool designed to control cities like Jackson.

For a fine example of history re-writing Bullshit, be sure to watch the so-called documentary “13th.”

A century and a ½ + after slavery was abolished in 1865 and a half a century + since the 1964 civil rights act, the new so-called history lesson is:

America is locking up black folk in order to “enslave them” and take away their right to vote (can’t make this stuff up!).

157 people were not really murdered in leftist run New Orleans during the year 2017;

181 people were not really murdered in leftist run Memphis during the year 2017;

342 people were not really murdered in leftist run Baltimore during the year 2017;

653 people were not really murdered in leftist run Chicago during the year 2016;

In 2017 Jackson, MS thugs really didn’t steal a mother’s car, kidnap and murder innocent, 6 year old Kingtson Frazier.

They’re all hoaxes designed to enslave black folk and take away their voting rights.

Which of course is why leftist judges use a revolving door catch and release system…to make things right.


A second issue ole Too Big To Fail Dimon left out is America’s system of currency devaluation that steals wealth from savers combined with the manipulated interest rate market older Americans were forced to deal with since the big banks, including JP Morgan Chase believed in socialism and got themselves bailed out a decade or so ago.

But hey, that’s another rant for another day.

Anonymous said...

12:23pm You apparently don't read much on the history of societies and why some thrive and others fail.

For centuries, it's been true that " the poor get children". In earlier recorded history, it was an observation. In more recent times, there is research to explain why that is so.

Ironically, those who blame all poor people for their condition and think they were once "poor" and "raised themselves up", conveniently forget that they were born with enough intelligence, physical capability, and resources for that to happen.

You overlook that one reason to have children is a family is an economic unit . The more " hands" you had to work the land or beg in the streets, the more money you could bring in with the hope that the sacrifice of many might raise up the " one" who could make the lives of the entire family better. Think NFL or NBA as two modern examples of extreme poverty to wealth. One talented , exceptional child becomes a family breadwinner becomes a dream...far fetched, perhaps, but a visible path where few exist.

Ironically, those who "blame" the poor for having children are opposed to sex education and providing birth control to the those who are ignorant about reproduction . You want females to say " no" without understanding that some females are too mentally impaired or ignorant about their own bodies and life outside their small world to be other than trusting and cooperative. You ignore or conveniently forget hormonal adolescence when girls think of love and romance and boys are obsessed with sex.

The rich, even in the Middle Ages knew about birth control. There were animal skins used and herbs with some success as well as other methods of "pleasuring". The rich will get abortions and did when they were illegal. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer throughout history until the conditions of the poor get so egregious that they storm the Bastille or storm up the steps of Czar's palace.

If the rich really want to keep their wealth for more than two generations, history tells us that benevolence is the best path and greed ( along with rich men having dumb ,spoiled children or who marry for beauty without looking at IQ) will eventually lose the wealth.

None of you attacked the merits of the 11 proposals. Could it be because you can't?



Anonymous said...

Let's do hurry along the demise of our society by making sure that all those who are too mentally ill,too intellectually challenged, and too physically disabled enough to keep a job will be armed and fertile.

Anonymous said...

Numerous public services are already "socialized", such as public schools,road/water/sewer/electricity/gas/phone, and others. The costs are socialized amongst everyone no mattet what the individual cost is.

Rod Knox said...

Murdoch's greatest fans show signs of feeble mindedness 10:58. I wonder where they will go for support when Murdoch passes and leaves his sons in charge.

Anonymous said...

7:54 and 9:01 It's sad to witness the rants of someone so consumed with his own obvious agenda that he feels it necessary to redefine all of reality. History itself is a discipline, an intellectual activity to be respected when practiced by those who respect and value truth. It is a mere collection and publication of facts, good or bad. These facts show us where we have been and how we got there. The facts give us the perspective necessary to understand our present reality, without this perspective we exist in a vacuum, and we are ignorant, and we repeat mistakes, and we hinder progress.

Do not dismiss history simply because it is difficult to weed out truth from bullshit. Instead clear your own mind of malice and bullshit when doing research and champion the truth when you discover it. Have your petty opinion if you will, but respect history enough to present the COMPLETE truth and not just that portion which bolsters your agenda. Future generations will thank you.

Rod Knox said...

I will agree with you 100% on the scheme to cut interest rates on savings to manipulate and rob the savings of hard working people 9:01. Otherwise, don't be late to your Citizens' Council meeting.

The QE scheme will eventually bring the Wall St house of cards down and guess who will lose? WE WILL. And the bankers will again walk away with the pot of gold. But this time could very well put US over the top bankrupting us all.

Anonymous said...

For those readers who actually believe that history is not merely bunk (or worse) I suggest these two recent titles:

“The Gulf. The Making of An American Sea,” by Jack E. Davis, an “environmental historian” (whatever that means) who nurses at the breast of the University of Florida, and “White Trash, the untold 400 year history of class in America,” by Nancy G. Isenberg “an American historian, and T. Harry Williams Professor of history at Louisiana State University.”

It is with deep shame I confess to actually having read this vomit but having done so gives me the moral standing to challenge others. Read these books and THEN let's talk about history being anything but a vehicle for left-wingers to sell their distorted view of the world as it was, should have been, and hopefully will be if only they get their demented way.

Anonymous said...

One flew over the Coo Coo's Nest.

Anonymous said...

3:34 You've read two books and conclude that all of history is left-wing bunk. I guess if you read a couple of Popular Science magazines you'll see that science is a communist conspiracy. God Bless.

Anonymous said...

What kind of drugs are we talking about here. Some folks are doing some powerful stuff.

Anonymous said...

11:48 - What does it mean 'to absorb' a social system. Asking for a friend with his beer can in a paper sack.

Send Them To Liberia.. said...

9:01 - You were never taught that Honest Abe never told a lie. That was George Washington, remember? Abe never told a lie until he opened his mouth.

The only thing Abe got right was locking up the fucking Newspaper publishers. And that was an accidental snap of genius.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who honestly believes that computers and robotic automation will bring about a socialist revolution really need to research the Carrington Event. Put your faith in God, not machines. And never underestimate the criminal mind to exploit any technological advancement.

Anonymous said...

3:04 - Faith in God isn't going to meet production demands down to the factory. It might help folks get along together and will assist in a pleasant annual plant picnic, but It won't keep machines running at peak capacity.

(Damn! Store fronts are back. I prayed about that, but to no avail.)

Anonymous said...

@4:46 PM
You sound like an atheist. I think that our new license plates make it clear that there is no place for a godless heathen like you in Mississippi. I think you should take your business elsewhere.

Mississippian only care about Traditional Values. Just listen to that pretty girl in that video.



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