In light of Obama's announcement on FOX News that Republican regulatory policy is preferable to actual regulation of industry, I want to point to some related items.
Melissa says not so much.
The NYT article about "wise man" and moderate foe of regulation, Robert Rubin, paints the picture of a financial supergenius, who just can't figure out where everything turned to mud but who knows that he didn't have anything to do with it.
Dean Baker puts his finger on the development of the "New 'Capitalist Man'".
Paradox wishes that anyone would be up front with the American voter.
Thank goodness last week's 30 Rock (episode 213, Succession) made its look at the disaster of America's corporate culture bearable by being fall-down funny.
And, finally, take a minute to read the NYT obituary of John McConnell:
A son of a steel worker, Mr. McConnell, who was known as Mr. Mac, championed the idea that workers should partake in their company’s success and set up an employee profit-sharing plan in 1966.
His views were recognized by Mother Jones, a magazine for progressive causes, which in 1986 named Worthington Industries one of the best companies to work for in the United States. Fortune magazine also gave the company that distinction four times.
John Henderson McConnell was born May 10, 1923, in New Manchester, W.Va., then known as Pughtown. He grew up during the Great Depression, and that experience helped define his business philosophy.
“It just came natural,” Mr. McConnell told The Columbus Dispatch in an interview in 1996. “You don’t cheat. You don’t lie. You help your neighbor.”
McConnell was exactly the sort of person Grover Norquist was talking about when he said this about the Democratic base:
"Yes, because in addition their demographic base is shrinking. Each year, 2 million people who fought in the Second World War and lived through the Great Depression die. This generation has been an exeception (sic) in American history, because it has defended anti-American policies. They voted for the creation of the welfare state and obligatory military service. They are the base of the Democratic Party. And they are dying."
Except for the trademark Norquist Crazy, it's hard to argue with him. The people who remember the lessons of the last great depression and corporate excesses are dying and, from the looks of things, a leader isn't stepping up to inspire anyone to replace them.
The McConnell obit is astounding. I'd forgotten that once upon a distant time when I was but a cub spoiling for a fight, McConnell's attitude, while not the norm, was far from unusual. Nowadays he'd be a rare duck indeed. With his passing, we may have seen the extinction of the dodo. The Republicans have taken us a long way down the Road to Hell, haven't they.
Posted by: mick arran | April 30, 2008 at 12:15 PM