w.

2 of 4

sf o

to

bu

rm

he
k
lic
C

lic

he

Author, He Walked Through Walls, MyriamMiedzian.com

A B B Y Y.c

om

PD

re

re

2.0

to

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/myriam-miedzian/capitalism-uber-alles-...
T ra n

2.0

bu

rm

er

sf o

ABB

PD

er

ABB

Myriam TMiedzian:
Capitalism Uber Alles: How the American Working Cl...
ra n

Posted: October 28, 2010 02:32 PM

w.

A B B Y Y.c

om

Capitalism Uber Alles: How the American

Working Class Got Brainwashed

In his recent book, After Shock, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich argues that the
economic downward mobility of American workers, has "to do with power...income and wealth in
fewer hands." Apparently, many working class Americans want to keep it that way. A recent SEIU
poll reveals that, 38 percent of American voters are opposed to rescinding Bush's tax cuts for the
2 percent who earn $250,000 or more annually. 2 or 3 percent of taxpayers probably earn close
enough to $250,000, to think they might be affected someday. This leaves about 33 percent
voting against their self-interest -- higher taxes on the wealthiest would reduce the national debt,
facilitate spending on levies, bridges, schools, healthc are, and create jobs. Similarly, an AP-GfK
poll found that in the upcoming election, 58 percent of white working class Americans favor
Republicans who opposed rescinding the Bush tax cut, and fought every Democratic bill
benefiting low income earners including extending unemployment benefits.
On the other hand, a 2005 study by Dan Ariely of Duke and Michael Norton of Harvard,
reveals that when presented with unlabeled pie charts representing wealth distribution in the U.S
where the richest 20 percent control about 84 percent of wealth and Sweden where the top 20
percent control 36 percent, 92 percent of respondents -- who reflected U.S. ideological,
economic, and gender demographics -- stated they would rather live in a country with Sweden's
wealth distribution.
"Why don't more Americans -- especially those with low incomes advocate for greater
redistribution of wealth?" the authors ask. Their answer: Americans drastically underestimate the
disparity between the very rich and the rest of the population, are overly optimistic about social
mobility, and there exists a disconnect between their attitudes toward inequality, their
self-interest and public policy preferences.
Why do so many working class Americans hold these detrimental false assumptions. Why
this disconnect between self-interest and voting patterns?
Our country has long been admired for its extraordinary social mobility, but as Arianna
Huffington points out in Third World America, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland,
Sweden, and France now have greater social mobility -- university education is free, or at minimal
cost in Western Europe. Compared to other advanced industrialized countries which all provide
universal health care, we are at the bottom in life expectancy and infant mortality. Americans
have three months unpaid parental leave -- Swedes have 13 months, paid. Unlike Western
Europeans, we have no government legislated paid vacations. In Germany, the world's largest
exporter after China, workers get 6 weeks a year off. Americans average 13 days.
American conservatives delight in predicting the imminent demise of socialistic Western
European benefits. But these benefits are part of the social contract within which all major
European political parties, including conservatives, operate. While large national debts are

11/2/2010 12:40 AM

PD

re

to

bu

rm

3 of 4

he

lic

lic

he

leading to some cuts in benefits, these cuts do not represent reneging on that contract, just as
cuts
to education in the U.S. do not represent reneging on government funding for education --w w . A B B Y Y .c o m
om
w.
A B B Y Y.c
which is part of our social contract.
w

sf o

ABB

re

to

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/myriam-miedzian/capitalism-uber-alles-...
T ra n
2.0

2.0

bu

rm

er

sf o

ABB

PD

er

Myriam TMiedzian:
Capitalism Uber Alles: How the American Working Cl...
ra n

A look at the divergence in political thinking between Western Europeans and Americans
provides much of the answer to why we lag so far behind.
European workers define themselves as working class which facilitates awareness that
their interests are opposed to those of the upper classes -- factory owners, bankers,
financiers etc. Since WW2, the common wisdom in the U.S. has been that we have no
working class. Factory workers, the folks who flip Hamburgers at MacDonald -- they're all
middle class, so it's a small leap to becoming upper middle class. Someday, with hard
work and a little luck, you, or your children, could be making millions, or at least hundreds
of thousands -- true for a small percentage of working class Americans, but for the vast
majority more than ever, a fantasy that discourages struggling for better conditions.
The shift to "we are all middle class," coincided with virulent McCarthyism which lumped
socialism and communism together -- no distinction made between murderous, totalitarian
Communist regimes, and democratic socialist societies developing in Europe -- and turned
both into un-American dirty words. (Right wingers' attacks on centrist President Obama as
a "socialist" testify that it remains an attack word 60 years later.) Talk of working class
versus capitalist class, common among European workers, became anathema -- such talk
supposedly created class conflict where none existed. But it does exist. With all due
respect to our many responsible CEO's -- and wealthy Americans willing to pay higher
taxes -- a vast majority care only about their bottom line.
Unions, still influential in Western Europe, are committed to democratic socialism. Since
the 1970's U.S. unions have been in sharp decline. Industry moving to un-unionized areas,
employers -- with their lawyers -- using labor law to evade unionization, corrupt union
leaders, have been factors. By the 1990's most workers -- especially blue collar -- were
without power and without the political education that unions historically provided.
Instead, as Reich points out "rich and powerful think tanks, books, media, ads" were designed to
convince Americans that free markets "know best" and operate in the interest of working people.
They also convinced them that their enemies are not the heads of large corporations and the
Republicans who represent them, but rather the Ivy League quiche eating, Eastern elite -people like Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, outspoken supporters of policies beneficial to
working class Americans. This has fed into a "Real Men Vote Republican" reaction among many
white male blue collar workers.
Because of our long history of pioneers going into territory uncharted by any but Native
Americans, we have developed a strong frontier mentality of self-reliance, leading to a
"government off my back," attitude.
Nothing could be further from European workers' approach. Their concern is getting
corporations off their back by pressuring government to pass legislation protecting them from
corporate greed, and they look to government to provide benefits improving their quality of life.
Many working class Americans believe that programs such as welfare and Medicaid
only help inner city African Americans (in fact a majority of recipients are white.)
Understandably, they resent Medicaid recipients getting free medical care that many of
them cannot afford, but instead of demanding universal health care and other benefits,
they demand less government spending.

11/2/2010 12:40 AM

Myriam TMiedzian:
Capitalism Uber Alles: How the American Working Cl...
ra n

4 of 4

PD

sf o

rm

re

to

bu

ABB

to

American exceptionalism leads to support of unnecessary wars -- supposedly fought in

the name of democracy -- which eat up funds that could improve the quality of life ofw w . A B B Y Y .c o m
working class Americans. According to Robert Reich, the total cost of wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan will be approximately 3 trillion. It also leads to the assumption that we are the
greatest and have nothing to learn from other countries. Most American workers would be
shocked if they knew how much better off Western European workers are.
In Europe elections are almost entirely publicly financed. In the U.S. bribery is an
essential ingredient of the electoral process. Corporations and wealthy Americans throw
money at candidates who support their interests. Democrats -- who have traditionally
represented working class interests -- are also on the take which explains the timidity of
many of their votes, and the inadequacy of many of their bills. This facilitates working class
people voting for Republicans who are completely opposed to their interests.
C

lic

he

re
he
k
lic
C
w.

A B B Y Y.c

om

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/myriam-miedzian/capitalism-uber-alles-...
T ra n
2.0

2.0

bu

rm

er

sf o

ABB

PD

er

In Third World America, Huffington argues correctly that a "complete reboot of the way we
finance our elections," is the single most important change needed to rescue our country. In the
meantime, our best hope for the 2012 election is that the American left will wake up, start
organizing unemployed workers, and move them away from self-destructive voting.

More in Politics...

Comments
1,254
Pending Comments
1
View FAQ
View All
Favorites
Recency |
Popularity
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last (24 total)

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last (24 total)

11/2/2010 12:40 AM