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June 17, 2013
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 Good Business, for CEOs and Commoners AlikePosted on Dec 19, 2010The central question in our politics is whether we can break out of formulaic discussions that always end up in the same place. Here’s one major test: Can progressives change their way of thinking about business? We are already seeing a dreary replay of the old argument. Self-styled centrists say that President Barack Obama has really ticked off business leaders and urgently needs to make nice with them. Because the president has spoken occasionally about the irresponsibility of Wall Street and the very wealthy, these poor suffering multimillionaires and billionaires have hurt feelings. Obama is being told he needs to feel their pain, to show he truly understands why they are so aggrieved. Progressives bristle at this, and why not? Many among the best-off—particularly on Wall Street—were grossly irresponsible stewards of the power surrendered to them through deregulation. They wrecked the economy, Obama bailed them out, and most are now richer than ever. Yet they have the arrogance to complain about the president pointing to their misdeeds. Many liberals want Obama to tell them where they can go. If this were only about gut reactions, you could count me as a fan of the latter approach. And more should be done to investigate and publicize the transgressions and dumb decisions that helped crater our financial system. Advertisement It’s also important to recognize that there is no single business class or corporate model. Obama doesn’t need to coddle CEOs so they will say warm things about him at parties in the Hamptons. He should figure out which parts of the private sector share an interest in reducing the dreadful inequalities that have metastasized over nearly four decades and in creating an economy that produces well-paying jobs. There have been moments in our history when important elements of business were “progressive” in the sense of recognizing that social reform was in capitalism’s long-term interest. In a seminal 1995 article in The American Prospect about business opposition to President Bill Clinton’s health care reform, the political writer John Judis recalled that during the Progressive Era, “business leaders and organizations played an indispensable role in developing and promoting the social legislation that first blunted the sharp edges of laissez-faire capitalism.” Judis’ conclusion still rings true: that “without a business community moderately supportive of social reform, little is possible in the present era.” Who in the commercial world might lead a push for reform? Progressives, including my Washington Post colleague Harold Meyerson, have taken note of a Bloomberg Businessweek article by Andy Grove, who was Intel’s longtime leader. Grove asked exactly the right question: “What kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work—and masses of unemployed?” Grove criticized “a general undervaluing of manufacturing—the idea that as long as ‘knowledge work’ stays in the U.S., it doesn’t matter what happens to factory jobs.” But over time, he argued, if we offshore the manufacturing that results from home-grown innovation, we will eventually lose our advantages in innovation itself. Anyone who speaks of reviving American manufacturing confronts critics who hear echoes of the supposedly discredited “industrial policy” arguments from the early 1980s. But Carl Pope, the visionary who led the Sierra Club for many years, notes that through trade agreements and other policies, our government already favors certain industries that have done very well as a result: banking and finance, big agriculture, pharmaceutical companies and Hollywood. One might add oil and gas, and defense. Government policies, no matter how often we use the words free enterprise, through design or inadvertence inevitably affect the private economy. Why not choose policies that specifically encourage sectors that create good jobs for Americans? Why not ally with companies and CEOs whose interests lie in doing just that? I, for one, would not begrudge them their pinkie rings or their Rolls-Royces—though I’d hope they would consider a luxury car made in the U.S.A. E.J. Dionne’s e-mail address is ejdionne(at)washpost.com.  TAGS:
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New Iranian President Wants to Heal ‘Old Wound’ With U.S.
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© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
By TAO Walker, December 22, 2010 at 10:22 pm Link to this comment
E.J.Dionne is fatally mistaken, along with damned near everybody else, in his absurd assertion that people “....live in a market economy.” People (despite their fever-induced CONtrary delusions), along with every Kind of organism here, still actually live in an integrated Ecosystem. The captive two-leggeds do fuck fecklessly around with its balance and harmony, however, using the apparatus of the eCONomy, which is nothing but the “operating system” of the same retro-viral “civilization” disease which is systematically killing them all.
Those who can’t even describe their predicament accurately have pretty slim chances of addressing it to any mutually beneficial effect, either.
Hokahey!
Report thisBy robertbeal, December 21, 2010 at 1:25 pm Link to this comment
(Intel’s) “Andy Grove: How America Can Create Jobs”:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_28/b4186048358596.htm
“The first task is to rebuild our industrial commons. We should develop a system of financial incentives: Levy an extra tax on the product of offshored labor. (If the result is a trade war, treat it like other wars—fight to win.) Keep that money separate. Deposit it in the coffers of what we might call the Scaling Bank of the U.S. and make these sums available to companies that will scale their American operations. Such a system would be a daily reminder that while pursuing our company goals, all of us in business have a responsibility to maintain the industrial base on which we depend and the society whose adaptability—and stability—we may have taken for granted.”
Further, investments in social and physical infrastructure could be funded by reversing the perverse disincentive to reinvest caused by our (extremely low) inheritance, capital gains, and corporate and upper-tier income tax rates. As many have said, there is no excuse for the wealthiest country in the world to continue devolving into a Banana Republic.
Report thisBy Tesla, December 21, 2010 at 12:11 am Link to this comment
E.J. has always been a poor excuse for a
“progressive” or liberal. The time for giving these “middle of the road” excusers a soapbox has past.
Capitalism IS the problem. Without a strong watchdog
government free from the influence of money, there
can be no democracy.
Socialism where the workers own the means of
Report thisproduction and finance is the ONLY answer.
Competition? Yes! Privately owned corporations and financial institutions? No! Private wealth greater
than 5 times the median income? No!
By Gloria Picchetti, December 20, 2010 at 9:50 pm Link to this comment
If the General Dynamics created a product to protect both of our borders & both of our coasts that would be good. No one is listening to me as I come from Chicago IL where President Obama comes from.
Report thisBy ray, December 20, 2010 at 6:36 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“Shit On My Face”
Obama supports small business- He applied to Playgirl Magazine as a centerfold in his college years but ‘unfortunately’ they did not share his enthusiasm & hence he became a president, instead-of becoming a celebrity sex symbol.
O ‘cannot tell others where to go’ as he has not had the time or experience to develop real character/ guts/ & balls to act decisively.
Only a boys thinking would have given Wall Street bailout money w/o stipulations as to bonuses & like-kind ethical behavior then pout about not helping his friends- the common peoples & their needs unless he was already bought & paid for by Wall Street?
The ‘Boy who became King’ or ‘A Fox in Sheep’s skin?
At 1’st I though he was actually more naive than George W. was dumb but his actions make clear he is 1 of the most corrupt presidents in my 50+ years of campaigning & voting for the demigod.
Report thisYES- I did campaign & donated for O beyond my comfort zone- speak of shit on my face!
He did get the last laugh in with Playgirl Mag though- they must see his mug on numerous magazine covers & help pay for his wars as they watch their subscriber base diminish due to the lousy economy O does little or nothing for.
A second term for O is only icing on the cake as he has accomplished everything he really intended for- Himself. He is so cool & jive that some in America will naively eat it up as the masses watch the quality of there lives disintegrate.
If Chris Hedges actions could start a national movement, their may be a last chance to rescue America- even if the white house gets torched in the process.
O What A Mistake!
By felicity, December 20, 2010 at 3:16 pm Link to this comment
What ‘progressives’ and everyone else needs to get is
that capitalism is a cannibalistic system and a system
that depends on the wealthy being selfish. Destroy the
competition; accrue as much capital as possible.
These are not unfortunate side-effects of the system:
Report thisThey are the system.
By garth, December 20, 2010 at 2:58 pm Link to this comment
Here’s the catchword:
“My husband & I ran” translated in CIA-speak, my husband, Iran” She’s giving up her husband as an Iranian supporter. It’s all there. Don’t you see?
Of course not. It’s madness.
And just as this article tries to capsulize what this country has developed for hundreds of years, the You-Thinkers, the ones whose sub-text says you must think this or you must think that, are trying to capsulize the whole world-life experience, robbed of any memory, robbed of any sense or right and wrong, and turn it into a Believe-It-For-Now and all will be all-right situation.
Has any noticed Joe Biden’s teeth, his crowns? They are too perfect. Almost like chicklets.
But that’s Joe Blow Biden. He was the Gov of Delaware when the Delaware Corporations Law was passed. The law guarantees any corporation favorable findings in any trial.
That’s Joe Blow Biden for you.
Ask him if he could still quote Neil Kinnock’s speech verbatim.
Can any one person ask him how the Delaware State Police drove to DC to arrest the guy who accused Obama (Bumptious) of a cocaine deal and a blow job at a hotel at the O’Hare airport. I’d just like to know that story.
Right now, it’s has all turned to shit.
Report thisBy blueworld, December 20, 2010 at 1:31 pm Link to this comment
Lumping all businesses together is a fatal mistake, IMO. Never mind specific corporations with CEO’s that may acknowledge their interests lie with progressive policies. The time is long past when “business” should be equated with bloated, international mega-corporations.
My grandfather was a successful businessman with an Italian deli that supported a huge extended family. My son is a web-developer with an excellent business growing by leaps & bounds & he is beginning to hire. My husband & I ran a very successful organic landscaping business for years.
We all did it with the business-friendly tax exemptions etc. the US has always granted. None of us are, or were, too big to fail. Our mistakes didn’t put your grandchildren on the hook for our bills. You never bailed us out & weren’t required to stimulate anything after some of us disappeared.
There’s no prejudice against businesses or CEO’s. There’s fury, swiftly turning ugly, against the seemingly unaccountable, endlessly voracious mega-corporations that have destroyed mid-sized businesses, families, environments & continue to devour politicians in every country.
There’s a huge difference between business & business. I’ve never heard a Progressive state otherwise. And the clear differentiation should be forced on a supine Congress.
Report thisBy brunssd, December 20, 2010 at 10:50 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
I could care less if the President badmouths the perps, I want them prosecuted for
Report thistheir fraud. Why is that not part of the discussion? A bifurcated justice system
with different rules based on income? Crony capitalism has us all (but the few
with their feelings hurt) circling the drain.
By myxzptlk, December 20, 2010 at 10:09 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
The canard that “businesses create jobs” lies at the heart of Mr. Dionne’s delusion. The reality is that businesses respond to demand, and don’t “create” any jobs that aren’t prescribed by the nature and level of demand in the market. And demand is created by workers who have spendable income.
What kills me about market worshippers (whether Dionne fits that description or not, he’s fallen for one of their vacant arguments) is that they view markets as consisting of businesses, not buyers. If this very simple idea were understood and absorbed by everyone, they would realize that a healthy economy starts with employed workers, it doesn’t end there as a consequence of business beneficence.
Report thisBy mrfreeze, December 20, 2010 at 2:25 am Link to this comment
Why would anyone want to start a manufacturing business when, OH MY GOD, they would have to “employee” people or pay wages or “do work?” Nowadays, everyone believes he/she can earn a living by pushing “applications” or by “servicing” customers through technology. Why run a business that may have “overhead?”
E.J., Americans have been listening to a steady stream of economic baloney for decades: work hard, play by the “rules” and you can achieve “The American Dream.” But, the reality is, the vast majority of regular folks (who do work hard and play by the rules) are steadily loosing ground in this world economy. We are not going to “technologize” or educate ourselves out of this quagmire. There is no “new game changer.”
Add to all this the fact that Milton Friedman’s version of capitalism has come to pass: that the ONLY purpose of an enterprise is to maximize shareholder/owner value. IT IS NOT the goal of companies to CREATE JOBS if not absolutely necessary. Unfortunatley, the “necessary” only happens when there is a demand for products or services. If the products and services are manufactured somewhere else, there is no need to hire Americans.
Let’s face it: The U.S. is quickly becoming a banana republic that will, in a relatively short time lose its “superpower” standing in the world. Frankly, I see this as a good thing because, for far too long the U.S. has been living in a Ronald Reagan fantasy. The brutal fact is, we are no longer “big dawg.”
Report this