Capitalist elites attack what saved them: government

from In These Times:



Biting the Hand That Feeds
Capitalist elites attack what saved them: government.

By David Moberg


Early last year, even free market fundamentalists confessed that capitalism was in crisis. A Newsweek cover trumpeted, “We are all socialists now.” Alas, the headline was mistaken: Government responses to the crisis did little to democratize economic power or challenge narrow market values, as socialism implies. The U.S. government had simply bailed out big finance with remarkably lenient conditions (and, even now, inadequate regulation) and had passed a large—but still insufficient—package of spending initiatives and tax cuts to keep the economy from collapsing.

This government intervention saved capitalism from itself. So one might expect some humility and gratitude for the public sector from the titans of finance. You would be wrong. Instead, those same financial elites, from Europe to the United States, now oppose deficit spending to stimulate the global economy—rejecting the thinking of British economist John Maynard Keynes, let alone Marx.

Capitalist elites are engaged in a frontal assault on government workers, on government regulation and on the social safety net. In other words, they are attacking social democratic institutions—the heart of the welfare state. In the United States they’re often joined by right-wingers, from the “Patriot movement” to Glenn Beck, who attack government itself.

The financial crisis has mutated into a fiscal crisis of governments, and the perpetrators of the economic crisis are back calling the tune. “A year ago, capitalism was wobbling,” says John Monks, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. “It was saved by the taxpayer, saved by the public realm, saved by welfare spending and tax cuts. Banks were saved in particular, and now the private sector is headed back to business as usual. In the present circumstance, it’s almost, ‘Let’s get down to cutting back the role of the state and restore primacy of the market in as many places as we can.’ “ ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6197/biting_the_hand_that_feeds