Freezing Out Hope
Paul Krugman
NY Times Op-Ed: December 3rd, 2010
After the Democratic "shellacking" in the midterm elections, everyone
wondered how President Obama would respond. Would he show what he was made
of? Would he stand firm for the values he believes in, even in the face of
political adversity?
On Monday, we got the answer: he announced a pay freeze for federal workers.
This was an announcement that had it all. It was transparently cynical; it
was trivial in scale, but misguided in direction; and by making the
announcement, Mr. Obama effectively conceded the policy argument to the very
people who are seeking - successfully, it seems - to destroy him.
So I guess we are, in fact, seeing what Mr. Obama is made of.
About that pay freeze: the president likes to talk about "teachable
moments." Well, in this case he seems eager to teach Americans something
false.
The truth is that America's long-run deficit problem has nothing at all to
do with overpaid federal workers. For one thing, those workers aren't
overpaid. Federal salaries are, on average, somewhat less than those of
private-sector workers with equivalent qualifications. And, anyway, employee
pay is only a small fraction of federal expenses; even cutting the payroll
in half would reduce total spending less than 3 percent.
So freezing federal pay is cynical deficit-reduction theater. It's a
(literally) cheap trick that only sounds impressive to people who don't know
anything about budget realities. The actual savings, about $5 billion over
two years, are chump change given the scale of the deficit.
Anyway, slashing federal spending at a time when the economy is depressed is
exactly the wrong thing to do. Just ask Federal Reserve officials, who have
lately been more or less pleading for some help in their efforts to promote
faster job growth.
Meanwhile, there's a real deficit issue on the table: whether tax cuts for
the wealthy will, as Republicans demand, be extended. Just as a reminder,
over the next 75 years the cost of making those tax cuts permanent would be
roughly equal to the entire expected financial shortfall of Social Security.
Mr. Obama's pay ploy might, just might, have been justified if he had used
the announcement of a freeze as an occasion to take a strong stand against
Republican demands - to declare that at a time when deficits are an
important issue, tax breaks for the wealthiest aren't acceptable.
But he didn't. Instead, he apparently intended the pay freeze announcement
as a peace gesture to Republicans the day before a bipartisan summit. At
that meeting, Mr. Obama, who has faced two years of complete scorched-earth
opposition, declared that he had failed to reach out sufficiently to his
implacable enemies. He did not, as far as anyone knows, wear a sign on his
back saying "Kick me," although he might as well have.
There were no comparable gestures from the other side. Instead, Senate
Republicans declared that none of the rest of the legislation on the table -
legislation that includes such things as a strategic arms treaty that's
vital to national security - would be acted on until the tax-cut issue was
resolved, presumably on their terms.
It's hard to escape the impression that Republicans have taken Mr. Obama's
measure - that they're calling his bluff in the belief that he can be
counted on to fold. And it's also hard to escape the impression that they're
right.
The real question is what Mr. Obama and his inner circle are thinking. Do
they really believe, after all this time, that gestures of appeasement to
the G.O.P. will elicit a good-faith response?
What's even more puzzling is the apparent indifference of the Obama team to
the effect of such gestures on their supporters. One would have expected a
candidate who rode the enthusiasm of activists to an upset victory in the
Democratic primary to realize that this enthusiasm was an important asset.
Instead, however, Mr. Obama almost seems as if he's trying, systematically,
to disappoint his once-fervent supporters, to convince the people who put
him where he is that they made an embarrassing mistake.
Whatever is going on inside the White House, from the outside it looks like
moral collapse - a complete failure of purpose and loss of direction.
So what are Democrats to do? The answer, increasingly, seems to be that
they'll
have to strike out on their own. In particular, Democrats in Congress still
have the ability to put their opponents on the spot - as they did on
Thursday when they forced a vote on extending middle-class tax cuts, putting
Republicans in the awkward position of voting against the middle class to
safeguard tax cuts for the rich.
It would be much easier, of course, for Democrats to draw a line if Mr.
Obama would do his part. But all indications are that the party will have to
look elsewhere for the leadership it needs.
***
From: Mitchel Cohen
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 1:41 PM
Hi,
My friend Carol Soto (formerly Skelskey) is arranging for 4 survivors of the
Hiroshima atomic bombing to speak with public school students in New York
next week. They are on a peace mission.
I suggest that you might feature them on your show as guests, to tell their
stories. Strangely, I've gotten no response on this from WBAI management or
Kathy Davis, so I'm going straight to a few producers.
Carol's email is <dakini2000@mindspring.com>
and her phones: 212-749-7988 and 917- 453-7036
thank you!!!
They also may be available for interviews on other Pacifica stations, and on
Progressive Radio Network.
Hi Mitch,
You may know me as Carol Skelskey from the Nica Network but I married and
changed my name to Soto (to protect the innocent). I don't know anyone at
WBAI anymore and was wondering who I could forward this to? I tried
desperately to get anyone's attention about this program in the spring when
I had 25 survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki A bombs in the city for the
UN nuclear proliferation treaty negotiations, but no one was interested.
This time around I would especially lie to promote a truly cross cultural
person Setseko Thurlow who has been living in Canada ( honored as a Dame by
the Canadian gov't) ) who is politically savvy a nuclear abolitionist and
tells one hell of a story. I have become involved, not by my absolute
commitment to a nuclear free future, but because I got hooked in at a
personal level and have been involved over the last year with this education
program. I am of course a nuclear abolitionist but have hardly felt the need
to devote my activism to nuclear issues since the early 70"s but here we go
again. Schools spend two weeks on the holocaust but one day at most on the
atomic bombing and are still teaching that the nuclear bomb was a necessary
deterrent and instrumental in winning the war - I can't stand that !!! The
survivors are all amazing in their transformative outlook and so totally
determined to work for peace through nuclear disarmament. Each personal
story is horrific but the transformation is one of those human aspects that
is thoroughly amazing and important. The hibakusha approached the group I am
working with and said they wanted to speak to high school kids personally so
that they could become committed activists in the nuclear free future
community. I would appreciate any help you could give me! Warmest regards,
Carol
Hiroshima Survivors to speak to NYC School Students
Four survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing of 1945 will speak to
students at 16 NYC High Schools in all five boroughs during the week of
December 6 - 10 (complete schedule below). The program is spearheaded by
Youth Arts New York in partnership with Peace Boat, Mayors for Peace,
Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Japan Society Education Programs, and
New York Theatre Workshop.
The Japanese word for survivors of the atomic bombings is "Hibakusha" which
is now applied to survivors of any nuclear fallout including those from
atomic testing sites in the South Pacific and Nevada, and those from
accidents like Chernobyl.
The four Hibakusha speaking to the students ranged in age from 8 - 13 when
the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. They will
relate their personal experiences in the aftermath of the bombing which
includes their continuing struggle with the long term effects of high
radiation exposure, their ostracism within their own country because of
their 'contamination', and their decision and efforts to work toward a
nuclear free world.
The increased global awareness of nuclear arms proliferation brought about
by North Korea and Iran, combined with Obama's initiative to reduce the
nuclear arsenals of the major nuclear powers gives a timeliness and urgency
to this project. Visits will provide students with a rare opportunity to
hear eyewitness testimonies of one of the most significant events in recent
history, and will introduce the students to the concepts of peace,
forgiveness and reconciliation. Students will learn to see that nuclear war
is not only a war against the present but also, because of the genetic
effects of radioactive contamination, a war against future generations.
Hibakusha Stories is an initiative that began in October of 2008 when Youth
Arts New York was approached by the Peace Boat Hibakusha Project to bring
survivors to New York City School students to tell their stories. In May of
2010 visits to 25 New York City public schools were arranged.
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