Review of an interesting book that pretty much situates Streeck’s analysis of the state of capitalism in contemporary America. At the same time, by extension, Bob Kuttner, the author, has little hope for a positive turn in economic and social circumstances via electoral politics.
Kuttner is especially critical and pessimistic of diverse governments that have abandoned ordinary folk in favour of “replicat[ing] the worst aspects of a global system captive to the demands of speculative private capital…” From the review, it is not clear whether he provides a reason for this as Streeck does. The latter explains that global capital’s efforts at growth since the 70’s has moved increasingly towards finance. Profits from these non-productive assets has sucked out the life out of the real economy. Governments of all stripes have been in the thrall of banks as they are the true centres of power.
I also believe that with the fall of classic colonialism and emergence of neo-colonialism the production stream was reversed. Cheap made goods produced in the former colonies were sold to disenfranchised, newly unprotected workers in the colonizing countries. Labour rights were sacrificed in favour of “consumer rights”, a notion that both confused and attracted many.
At a time when the global environmental crisis seems to obviously cry out for global solutions, Kuttner fears that “True global government … is utopian or worse” and that “The world is too diverse and complex, and any government that somehow emerged would likely be even further removed from democratic checks, rather as the EU has become.” ……he is certainly right in thinking that even the more limited goal he thinks is realistic — “A democratic left that both harnesses capitalism and strengthens democracy” — is well beyond anything that has come out of the White House in many years.
For me, this goes back to the education system and the media. If we were to consider an activism that would at least tackle the worst of crippling inequality, there is a need for proper information. People would be prepared to act on it. Yet, we have two agencies that are in a position to do the work of educating folks about actual circumstances, but paradoxically, there is a feckless lack of education in both journalists and teachers. This is matched by a disposition towards both these professions by their practitioners that they are mainly vehicles for their own consumption. In some countries, teachers and journalists are jailed or killed for saying ordinary things. In the wealthy west, no need for repression, the right to consume is totalizing. The ignorant frustration and rage that this both breeds and encourages leaves us with Trump, Ford, Legault, Orban, Farage-Johnson……..