Sure enough, this one-percenter makes some of the same
observations and points that have seemed so obvious to me and many others. What makes it noteworthy is that this is yet
another prominent business leader making statements that are blasphemous to
American right wing ideology, an ideology that probably 40% of the population
takes as gospel, even as they are ravaged by the real-life consequences of its
policies. It’s one thing for a bearded
hippie living in a tent near central park to point out that the US is turning
into a banana republic, but something else entirely when ex CEOs of iconic
American corporations and billionaire investors do it.
I appreciate and support the Occupy Wall Street
movement. These are people who,
regardless of their image or social status, at least understand the source of
the problem. They get who’s screwing
them. They are vocal and visible and
reminiscent of the real people-power type of mass movements that were so
successful at initiating social change in the 1960s. That is a great thing. And one conclusion that I’ve come to after
five or six years of studying politics and power like a mad scientist is that positive
social change starts from the bottom up.
The people influence the leaders who are in a position to make public
will a reality.
So Occupy is great, but the mere fact that most of them are
students or people who are otherwise not working a nine-to-five makes them easy
for the media and much of society to marginalize. Sadly, there are millions of people in this
country who just don’t think you count as a real human being with valid
concerns unless you’ve had to “make a payroll”.
An entire political party subscribes to this view. Nevermind the absurdity that only a small
percentage of people who belong to that party actually meet their own criteria
for being a worthy citizen.
Bob Crandall is not the kind of person that the usual
suspects can assail with the sneering “take a shower and get a job” line of
attack. When someone of his social
standing is willing to put aside their own narrow self-interests and openly
discuss truths that are uncomfortable and inconvenient to his class, I find it
encouraging and I think it should be applauded.
The cry of “class warfare” is used by the very people who are
successfully waging it. It’s nothing more than an attempt to shut down the
discussion and far too often it works. But
when people like Crandall lend their voice to this cause, the efforts to turn it
into a thought crime become less effective.
Other business leaders have weighed in on this issue, most
notably Warren Buffett who made the statement: “There’s class warfare alright,
but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” There’s also venture capitalist Nick Hanauer
who gave the must-see TED talk where he refers to trickle down economics as the biggest political
con in history. And the big boogeyman
of the American right, super-capitalist billionaire George Soros, also has a
few things to say on the subject.
Buffett, Hanauer, Soros, and Crandall are not the kind of
people who can be brushed off by so-called conservatives as shiftless
government dependents or socialist agitators.
Although to be fair, I’ve seen them try, usually with pretty laughable
results. (Ex: “But Buffett is just an investor, he hasn’t created any
jobs!”…What? So you mean it’s possible to become the wealthiest human being on
earth and not be a ‘job-creator’? Hmmm...)
Each of these individuals has directly or indirectly
advocated policies that would personally cost them money. They’ve acknowledged that the system is
rigged in favor of people in their position at the expense of people who are
not. They’ve admitted that such an
imbalance of power and wealth has serious negative consequences on society. Why? My
guess is that they feel a sense of responsibility and obligation to the country
that allowed them to achieve such dramatic success. Does it upset others in their social class
who do not feel that sense of responsibility? Of course it does. There will always be those who, despite their
obscene wealth, think of nothing but getting more, whatever the impact that has
on everyone else. Unfortunately, in
terms of the one-percent they are in the majority. And that makes the Buffetts and Crandalls out there even more important to those of us who would like to see positive change.
Getting back to Bob Crandall’s blog, here are some of the
points he brings up which I think are spot on:
- 26 of the country’s top CEOs personally made more money than their company paid in taxes in 2011. This is absurd and is a perfect example of the unfairness of tax laws and the need for changes in corporate governance rules.
- In order to address major problems and the looming national debt, the very wealthy and corporations need to pay higher taxes. The Bush tax cuts for incomes over $250K should be allowed to expire and the estate tax should be re-instated.
- The right likes to complain that the corporate tax rate is too high, 39% they say. But statutory tax rates are different than effective tax rates and the effective rate (the one that actually reflects the percentage paid) of US corporations is roughly 12%. As an example, Apple, now the world’s richest company, only paid a 9.8% tax rate in 2011.
- The US government needs to spend more money in the short term to stimulate demand. Our infrastructure is outdated and crumbling and with interest rates at roughly 0%, now would be a great time to invest in some much needed improvements and put some people to work.
I predict that as time goes on and the gold-plated, diamond encrusted, elephant in the room becomes even harder to ignore, more people like Bob Crandall will look beyond the self-interest of their own socio-economic class and speak up on behalf of the greater good. Then maybe we can quit pretending that this is a discussion about envy and treat it like the very real threat to American democracy that it is.
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