But he’s correct to point out that he hadn’t much to do with it. I think he may have signed on now, but only after the Wall St crash. That’s when I asked him to do the piece you’ve reprinted here–thanks, by the way, it’s a pretty good read–to put out some independent left options for dealing with it.

‘Progressives for Obama’s views are its own, as are David’s. Neither Obama nor his campaign are responsible for them, and that’s the way we want to keep it, so we can be both critical, yet help him defeat McCain. That’s not to say we wouldn’t LIKE TO HAVE Obama and his team read our stuff, but at the moment, I’m not holding my breath waiting.

I’m also sure Schweickart would love to sit down with Obama or any one of his top people to discuss political economy. But he’s absolutely right that, even though they both live in Hyde Park, he’s never met the man.

Sometimes the truth is just right in front of your nose–no need to peer around corners or under the rug.

“Washington can act with breathtaking urgency when the right people want something done. In this case, the people are the Wall Street titans, who are scared witless at the prospect of their enormous implosion. Congress quickly agreed to enact a gargantuan bailout, with more to come, to calm the anxieties and halt the deflation of the Wall Street giants. Put aside partisan bickering, no time for hearings, no need to think through the deeper implications. We haven’t seen ‘bipartisan cooperation’ like this since Washington decided to invade Iraq.”

–William, Greider, The Nation, August 18, 2008

By David Schweickart
Progressives for Obama

What an amazing piece! Knocked me off my chair. How did you come across it?

I’m offering the following reply.

–David

Reply (October 23, 2008)

I read the above article with great interest—since I’m the “market socialist” behind the plot. There are only a couple of errors in the article.

Most of the first paragraph is right. I do think democracy should be extended to the workplace. I don’t believe in “free trade”—which sets worker against worker to see who will work for less. (I think rich countries should help poor countries, but wage-competition is not the way to go.) The last two sentences are wrong, however. Corporations do not pay all their earnings to government banks. Under Economic Democracy enterprises pay a tax to the government, a flat-rate tax on their capital assets. The profit that remains belongs to the enterprise’s workers, thus giving everyone an incentive to work hard and efficiently. (Enterprises pay this tax in lieu of paying out dividends to shareholders—who have all been bought out.) This money—society’s investment fund—is not distributed as the government sees fit. (This mistake is repeated near the end oft the article.) All of proceeds of the capital assets tax are reinvested in the economy. They are allocated to a network of public banks, to be lent out to existing enterprises wanting to retool or expand production or to individuals wanting to start new businesses. Businesses and ordinary citizens are no longer at the mercy of those rapacious, profoundly undemocratic “financial markets” that are currently wreaking such havoc. (For more details, see my After Capitalism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002).)

A rather big error: I’m not a “founding member” of Progressives for Obama. If the writer of the article had bothered to click on the link he provides, he would see that I’m not even a member. The fact of the matter is, I’ve never met Barack Obama. I’ve never even seen him in person. (My daughter has. She had him for a course when she was a student at the University of Chicago Law School. My granddaughter has also met him, having been taken to class one day. But not me.) Having been prompted by this article to vist their website, I do intend to join Progressives for Obama. They look to be an impressive group. Among their “initiating members” is Barbara Ehrenreich, whose Nickel and
Dimed: On Not Getting By in America is the best account I’ve ever read on what it’s like to for the working poor of the “real America,” written from her first-hand experience working as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart associate.)

I wish Obama were thinking far enough ahead to see what could be done if a massive crisis hits, but I doubt it, surrounded as he is by such advisers as Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and various University of Chicago economists. It would be nice to live in a stable, relatively egalitarian, full-employment, truly democratic society that is also efficient and innovative, but I’m not holding my breath. There are lots of good reasons for voting for Obama, but expecting him to usher in a truly democratic economy is not one of them. (There would have to be vastly more pressure from below than is (yet?) on the horizon for this to become a real possibility.)

–David Schweickart

>>> “Carl Davidson” 10/22/08 1:21 PM >>>

Hi David,

Looks like you’re getting some credit, or blame, depending….Enjoy

This is not coming from the left exactly, but it makes good reading…

The next question becomes: who or what is your motive? The answer should parallel the message you try to communicate.