(NOTE -- I use block quotes to indicate where I am quoting or paraphrasing the speakers. All other text are my own summaries, comments, and interpretations. Also, the phrase "neo-liberal" or "neo-lib" – which was used by the speakers – refers to the economic ideology of radical free markets, or market fundamentalism, not political liberalism.)
Mishel continued:
Look at what just happened this past month: the fact that the Bush administration responded to the threat of a looming recession with a $150 billion stimulus program – and it’s a lousy program – but it’s recognition, by the Bush administration itself – the most neo-lib, free market President we have every had – that government has to do something to regulate business cycles, that there is a role for government in regulating the overall cycles of the economy.
So, we need to declare, loud and clear, and boldly, that the era of small government is over, that we need a government that serves the public purpose, not just private interests, a government that serves everybody.
Why is the era of small government over? Not just because neo-liberal economics has been disproved, but because the crises created by the past three decades of neo-liberal economics are so severe, so threatening to our basic national well-being, that we require massive government intervention to get the economy back on track. We require a national purpose to mobilize the intellect and will and of the American people, and to restore their hope.
Most specifically, we need a concerted national effort to end our dependence on fossil-fuels, by rebuilding our economy with clean, green technologies. The investment necessary to retool America to achieve energy independence and stop global warming is not going to come from the private sector – especially a private sector that is held hostage by the rapacious demands of Wall Street for ever higher and ever faster profits. Only we the people, acting together through our government can do what needs to be done.
As Mishel noted near the end of his talk
Look, even the Chamber of Commerce is now running ads arguing that we need to invest in our public infrastructure. If this is not a new era I don’t know what is.
Not only is the era of small government finis, but the labor unions have become much more militant and vocal about ending the reign of neo-liberal economics and conservative politics – including targeting those Democrats that continue to support neo-liberal economics.
Labor throws down the gauntlet
The last speaker of the panel was AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasury Richard Trumka.
The economy is made up of rules. Those rules decide who will be the winners and losers. Those rules are made by the men and women whom we elect. Those rules can be changed.
We are going to finish the job we started in 2006. We are going to make sure we get new rules that give us an economy that works for all people, not just the rich and the special interests. In the past year, we have had a campaign to teach our members about these rules, their effects, how those rules can be changed, and by whom. We are seeing the effects of a year of this campaign. We have seen results in voting turnout, which has increased explosively. We have taught our members what they need to know, and now people want to fight back, and they are looking for a channel. But this is only the beginning. This election is going to be the most progressive effort in our history.
But there’s more. Because we see this election not as an opportunity to get a few more Democrats elected, or a few more Republicans thrown out. We see this election as a gateway to change. On election night, we will no longer accept only a pat on the head. It will do little good if we push Bush and the Republicans out, and the Democrats come in and the corporate interests and Wall Street again take command of our nation’s policies.
Because the fact is that there are important players in both parties who advance the corporate agenda. I’ve sat in meetings and I’ve listened to two Treasury Secretaries, one Democrat, the other Republican - Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson – and it’s hard to tell the difference. Both of them are committed to globalization and to slow growth policies aimed at balancing the budget. They were both chairmen of Goldman Sachs, they are both creatures of Wall Street, and there just is not that much difference between them. We have to dismantle the corporate agenda, we have to re-establish the balance of power between workers and employers. That’s the way we restore the American dream.
Here, Trumka is referring to the need to break the shackles of income stagnation that have held down American workers – not just unionized workers, but all workers. This is a theme that was mentioned by other speakers in other panels as well, beginning with the Monday luncheon presentation, Out of the Hole: An Economy that Works for Working People, by Larry Cohen, President of the Communications Workers of America. The best way to redress the growing gap between increasing productivity and stagnating wages, is to remove the many obstacles to organized labor being able to organize that three decades of conservative rule, and especially the Bush administration, have erected. A strong union movement is essential to get the earnings of all working Americans growing again.
See especially the campaign to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed, where you can find graphs and information like this:
Responding to a question about the required level of infrastructure investment, Trumka said, quite forcefully,
There is one thing I have to say: the leadership of the Democratic Party is wrong on this issue. Their main critique of Bush is that he is irresponsible in fiscal policy. They are trying to portray themselves as more concerned about balancing the budget than Bush.
But focusing on the deficit is wrong-headed. The fact is that the budget deficit now, as a percent of GDP, is one third the size of the deficit that Bill Clinton inherited. The Democrats are plain wrong to be talking about the budget deficit the way they do. The way the game is being played right now, the opposing team is about cutting taxes, and the other team is about balancing the budget. Neither one of those positions is going to lead us to where we need to go, in fact, they both lead to the same place. No one is talking about the level of spending we really need to get this country turned around.
I would like to note here that Trumka’s remarks regarding the role of Wall Street and in particular Goldman Sachs were also made two days earlier by Naomi Klein, author of Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which details how the economic doctrine of selfishness was created and spread by University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman and the conservative movement. Responding to a question after the panel Debt and Debacle: America in the Global Economy on Monday, Klein said
The fact is that the neo-lib agenda is bi-partisan and trans-national. It has supporters in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Goldman Sachs is making a lot of policy for the Democratic Party, and that is probably not the best for a progressive agenda.
A fuller report on that panel is available on epluribusmedia.org.
Trumka ended his talk with a warning to Democratic Party officials, politicians and activists.
We will not stop until we destroy the walls of greed that the corporations have built around the American worker and the American family.
How are we going to do this? We have this powerful mechanism to get out the vote, that we roll out every election cycle. But this time, we’re not going to dismantle our mechanism on election night -- we’re going to use it to monitor the politicians we help to get elected, and we’ll use it to give them a jab in the back when they drag their feet. We won’t accept stragglers or foot draggers any more.
So it doesn’t matter who gets the Democratic nomination. It doesn’t matter which Democratic candidate becomes President. Because, if we do our jobs and keep doing our jobs, I think we can make either one of them a good labor President.
I want to issue a warning here. Everything you hear here can unravel if we underestimate or fail to confront McCain, He may be a war hero, he may have a lot of charm. But the fact is that he’s been a right wing warrior in lock step with most anti-union President in our history, George Bush.
Now, we know some of our members may be drawn in my McCain’s charm. We’re not going to let it go unchallenged; if we see some of our members are beginning to succumb to McCain’s charm, we’re going to get them straightened out.
And we’re not waiting until the general election campaign. The AFL-CIO has decided to move early on John McCain and define him for what he is, and not let him define himself for what he isn’t. He is no friend of the middle class. He is no friend of working Americans. And we’re going to make sure everyone knows it. We’ve already done the research, we’ve already got the information, it’s available on our website, and we’re going to be using it. We’ve got McCain’s record, all 27 times that he has voted against the interests of working Americans,
Whenever McCain speaks, we’re not going to give him hell, we’re just going to tell the truth about him. And he’s going to think it’s hell.
I don’t think Trumka’s comments can be dismissed as bluster. I know there are some progressives that were dismayed that labor did not come out more forcefully for John Edwards. But another union leader, Anna Burger of the Service Employees International Union, echoed Trumka in her remarks in the closing plenary session, Taking Back America: Progressive Strategies in a New Era. Burger pointed to two specific examples where union muscle helped to defeat anti-labor politicians: in Illinois, where a special election for Dennis Hastert’s seat was won by a Democrat, and in a western state, where a powerful committee chairman of a state legislature has decided to retire rather than face a second election contested by a union-backed opponent.
And then there is Donna Edwards, the darling of the conference, who won the Maryland Democratic primary in the 4th Congressional District against sitting Congressman Al Wynn, a supposedly liberal African-American Democrat who is a member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Wynn has angered labor and progressives by voting for the Iraq War AUMF, for repeal of the estate tax, for the bankruptcy bill of 2005, and for Dick Cheney’s energy bill. Donna Edwards, a community organizer, had challenged Wynn in 2006, and lost by 2,725 votes out of some 82,000 cast. In her 2008 challenge, Edwards was supported by organized labor, and by Move-On and other progressive organizations. This time, she annihilated Wynn, 60 percent to 36 percent.
Burger, who also now chairs the newest labor federation in the U.S., Change to Win, pointed to Donna Edwards as a third example of labor starting to demand accountability from those whom labor helps elect. In fact, Burger noted that the "establishment" in Congress requested that Wynn be allowed to remain, but labor refused to back down as a way of sending a message.
Another speaker in the final plenary was former Michigan Congressman David Bonior, who served as John Edwards’ campaign manager. Bonior also emphasized that the way to improve wages was to empower workers to join unions, and declared, "This is not talked about enough."
Then Bonior had a special message for other progressives.
Now, this is going to be a surprise to some of you. But the only way we can rebuild the middle class is to revitalize organized labor. So, the environmentalists sitting here and the green power advocates sitting here, and the pro-choice advocates sitting here, I want to address this to you. Every day in this country people are fired for trying to organize in the work place. They are on the front lines. They are the ones who are going to get the job done for us. There’s a reason that the conservatives and big business and Wall Street hate organized labor.
You cannot have a progressive movement without a labor movement and a workers movement.
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