The Gilded Age and the GOP

 
"...the federal government adopted a series of far-reaching reforms to shield and empower citizens, safeguarding society’s democratic character. First came the regulation of business and banking to protect consumers, limit the power of individual corporations and prevent anti-competitive practices. The principle underlying measures such as the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) and the Glass-Steagall Act (1933) — which insured bank deposits and separated investment from commercial banking — was that government was responsible for protecting society against the shortcomings of a market economy. The profit motive could not always be counted on to serve the public’s welfare."  Washpost

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I like Newport Rhode Island, a splendid place.  I spent my high school years in Maine so I love the lobsters and fried or steamed clams in Newport. I used to enjoy lecturing at the Naval War College there.  I especialy enjoy riding around the circular road that lies outside the gates of the "robber baron" "cottages" (as they called them).

It is painfully clear that the right wing of the Republican Party wants to return to a time when the structure of Americn Society created the excess wealth of the business elite that made possible such vulgar displays of money.  There were good things about that time.  Brtish peers of that era were heavily engaged in "throwing" their sons at thedaughters of the men who owned these "cottages."  PBS and the BBC tell us of this phenomenon frequently, but it was actually so.  The lineage of such families as the Astors and the Churchills makes that clear.  That spectacle would have been fun to watch.  There was also a lot of money given to the favorite "hobby horses" of the nouveau riche "aristocracy."

Why not?  There was no personal income tax.  There was little or no regulation of business conducted in the land.  There were no standards on medical drugs or food.  Life was good for the ruthless and the strong.

The Republican Right wants to return to that time.  This morning the idiot Steven Hayes, from the "Weekly Standard" speaking on FNS distorted the truth beyond recognition by claiming that the Republican Party merely wants to "re-structure" Medicare.  Not true, what they have said they want is to change Medicare into a private health insurance program.  Anyone who thinks about that, knows that what would result is a significant diminution in the delivery of  health care to the elderly.

The Republican Party, is it the party of lincoln?  No, it is not any longer.  What we are talking about is the party of JP Morgan and Diamond Jim Brady.  pl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-real-grand-bargain-coming-undone/2011/08/19/gIQA8wYiQJ_story.html

Comments

[Jim Ticehurst]

Excellent...Straight Forward and Spot On..Needs to Be Said..

[William R. Cumming]

Reading the third in the trilogy of the biography of Teddie Roosevelt "Colonel Roosevelt" and interesting discussion of issues and policies that still resonate in American life. Excellent post by PL and wondering about the news of death of Clair George at 81 another force of nature according to those who knew him like Teddie.
And of courses forces of nature can blow winds good and bad.

[Jose L Campos]

Yes a fine piece but at the same time I wonder about a society that wants through Viagra return to the erections of adolescence, or by lifting faces or breasts or injecting Botox return to the pristine adolescence again. I feel that political positions are very much in tandem with the desires of the culture at large.

[Patrick Lang]

WRC

Having wrestled Clare George to the ground on a number of issues, I have little respect for him. He was a ruthless and narrow minded partisan of CIA's interests in the world and did not care if his blind opposition to the efforts of the other IC agencies damaged the interest of the US. pl

[Sidney O. Smith III]

The following may change but it does suggest that something is afoot among young people, including those in the USM

Ron Paul Campaign Raises Most Donations from Military (July 2011).

http://www.ronpaul2012.com/2011/07/20/ron-paul-campaign-raises-most-donations-from-military/

[walrus]

But for crying out loud, the Washington Post article misses the point.

Rent seeking behavior - which is what both the old and new robber barons are about, destroys economic growth rates.

To put it another way, the activities of these Wall Street bastards would not matter at all if bridges and hospitals continued to be built at the same rates and a man could start a business with a good idea and a little capital, but rent seeking behaviour is a private tax on these activities.

To put it another way, the big guys screw the little guys, without lubricant either.

Our beloved "free market" only remains free when we ensure by regulation that the activities or rent seekers or potential monopolists are constrained - and in America the shackles on them have been progressively removed. The Republican and Tea party "big government" mantra is about removing the handcuffs entirely.

To put that another way; the only way you can restrain "big business" is by "big government".

The activities of many of these folk are simply criminal. If you have a lot of time you can read about them here:

http://www.deepcapture.com/

Gordon Gecko is alive and well and is destroying peoples livlihoods every day to make enough money for the new Maybach.

[Jim Ticehurst]

The Robber-Corrupt Baron..Truth...Reached its Peak..After years of Beltway Manipulations..Payoffs and Lubricated Hands..with the Sub Prime PONZI Scheme that They all ENABLED on Wall street..It was a Hideous..Evil at its Core and Smelled of Wall Street GREED..Its Collapse Has almost Caused the RUIN of the Uunited States Economy..Caused MASSIVE Debt..and Hugh loss's in Savings and through Depreciation..It Has Led to a World Wide...Financial Crisis..and endangered EURO nations ..
All of that revealed The Massive Oveerspending ..Bloated Budgets..and Very Poor Management or Responsibility at the Federal..Stat and Local Levels..
The Really BAD Part is ..None of the Thiefs and Culprits who got RICH..causing the Collapse..were Punished..That also Reveals the CORRUPTION of GOVERNMENT..as well as The Greed..
It Must End..We need Leaders..and Results..If We are Preserve our Union..for The COMMON GOOD..

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

Excellent. In the push to dismantle government, the corporate propagandists never mention that society depends on government for protection from gangs, pirates and invaders.

[William R. Cumming]

Thanks PL for Clair George remark.

And Walrus I now condemn largely the "Traders" not the entirety of corporate American life for out problems.

Hey I believe lotteries and casinos are de facto regressive systems of taxation also. Sound economics would minimize "gambling'! And sound governmental institutions. Misuse of available earnings and capitol. But the revenge of the Native Americans through their casinos on the "forked tongues" is a remarkable story. Now over 500 federally recongnized tribes but not all have casinos. But 55 law firms in DC trying to make sure they do get them this century.

[steve]

At some point, this current economic regressiveness will reach a breaking point with the citizens. It's unsustainable. Already at both republican and democratic town halls (for those reps not in Israel) opposition is surfacing to the do nothings regarding jobs and the predation against social security and medicare.

I say "a breaking point". I guess I'm one of those fools who still believes in progress, that something good will come after that point, rather than something entirely more evil which is a real possibility.

[Larry Kart]

Excellent post, Colonel. IIRC several Trollope novels, including the superb "The Prime Minister," have shrewd things to say about British peers and American heiresses in the Gilded Age. I think the trafficing was more along those lines, though, than it was British daughters being paired with American swells because the married-off peer would retain his title and get his hands on his wife's settlement and eventual inheritance, while the married-off daughter from a titled British family would retain only her upbringing and accent.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Col. Lang:

The Republican leaders have understood that US cannot be a great economic power, a great military power, and, at the same time, protect her population against the ravages of a globalized economy. One of the 3 must go.

They have decided that the third item - protecting US citizens, must go.

That is all.

[William R. Cumming]

Of course the solution is simple, the British Royals just relocated to American soil and rule from here as they should have done about 1767 after defeating the FRENCH. By the way just watched the most recent version of Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis and Madeline Stowe. Wes Studi [Magua] the real star of that show. But sparks between Daniel and Madeline could light up the whole frontier then or now.

[Patrick Lang]

larry kart

You are quite correct. somehow my fingers sent the flow in the wrong direction this AM. ppl

[walrus]

At least one group who have chronicled the actions of the financial wreckers who sponsor both sides of Congress think their are national security implications in the activities of Wall Street.

"So maybe this is a job for some other agency. At a minimum, the national security community ought to be taking a close look at outfits like Penson Financial, the previously obscure brokerage that suddenly (in 2008) became the largest brokerage on the planet, by volume. As we have seen, most of that new volume was manipulative short selling targeting the big banks and a select number of other companies that were critical to the stability of the American financial system.

Indeed, as we know, the vast majority of the short selling targeting financial stocks leading up to and during the 2008 cataclysm was transacted through Penson Financial and one other relatively obscure brokerage, Wedbush Morgan. The short selling of financial stocks that went through these two obscure brokerages exceeded the total short selling of financial stocks transacted by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan–combined.

The Wedbush and Penson data (showing a sudden and massive surge in new short selling targeting the same stocks and transacted by people who all, at the same time, chose to use the same two obscure brokerages) is strong evidence that there was a deliberate (and probably coordinated) attack on the U.S. markets. And we have a pretty good idea who was responsible. At least, we know enough about Wedbush and Penson to account for some significant portion of the manipulative short selling transacted during and leading up to the financial crisis of 2008."

http://www.deepcapture.com/the-miscreants-global-bust-out-chapter-21-how-a-small-gang-of-organized-criminals-wrecked-the-world/

[Ken Hoop]

The original Tea Party was Perotista/populist/protectionist/antiwar and "jail the banksters who brought down the economy." Then the GOP/corporate flaks and Zionist Lobby coopted it.

[johnf]

>There were good things about that time. Brtish peers of that era were heavily engaged in "throwing" their sons at thedaughters of the men who owned these "cottages." PBS and the BBC tell us of this phenomenon frequently, but it was actually so. The lineage of such families as the Astors and the Churchills makes that clear. That spectacle would have been fun to watch.

How long before the impoverished American Elite start throwing their sons at nouveau riche Chinese princesses?

In the C18th Bath was created as the venue for impoverished aristocratic rakes from London to team up with the daughters of wealthy Bristol slave traders. Rhode Island was where it happened in the C19th? Where's the C21st's equivalent going to be?

[johnf]

I gotta get there.

[Robert]

Great post pl. Couldn't agree more. To me, the strangest thing about this economic civil war is that so many poor Americans accept the insurgents' point of view without considering how detrimental the effects will be on them, their parents, and their children.

Aldous Huxley had a lot to say about this kind of economic and political suicide, as did George Orwell: if sufficient media can be brought to bear, the ordinary person will not only believe that black is white and that up is down - but he or she will hate whoever tells them otherwise.

The greatest security risk to the average American sure as hell isn't al Queda. It's Faux News.

[Patrick Lang]

johnf

Probably not long. Newport, Rhode Island was the place before the Civil War. The incredibly snobbish. "Newport Reading Room" club(still extent, still snobbish) was a Lyceum before the CW catering to southerners summering there. After THE WAR, it became a haven for new money seeking dignity in ancient if empty title. Many a young lady was effectively bartered in those rooms. I would think that Victoria, BC would be logical. pl

[Fred]

Walrus,

what you describe is the responsibility of the elected representatives in Congress. If they don't do the job right there will be an electoral revolt; and if that doesn't stop the trend a rather violent one of what is quickly becoming the permanent underclass.

[Medicine Man]

Ugh, that would be too bad. Victoria is a rather nice tourist spot presently, I'd hate to see it go irretrievably "high class".

[confusedponderer]

Great thread, and great post Mr. Lang. I couldn't agree more.

There are a couple things that I don't get about contemporary GOP partisans:

When it comes to government, there can't be enough checks and balances against abuse of power - ambition must be checked by counter-ambition etc pp.

All that doesn't apply in the private sector. According to apparent Republican orthodoxy, unchecked power there never leads to excess.

Foolishness. Vain or selfish ambition, or greed, are not limited to public office. Vain or selfish ambition, or greed, are fixed features of human nature. But as soon at it gets to capitalism, these Republicans appear to believe in a man redeemed - a virtuous saint, who, led by the invisible hand, cannot do wrong.

Insisting on rules and checks on that as elusive mystical creature becomes "Liberal", if not outright socialism, fascism and capital T tyranny (naturally all at the same time).

When you put out a price and set no rules, or don't enforce any, people will engage in rapacious behaviour to get that price. Just look at that last crash. Republicans ignore that. For them the invisible hand solves everything. Idiotic. The invisible hand is a pricing mechanism, nothing more. It sets prices, but it regulates nothing.

It is utter foolishness to believe that markets without oversight and rule enforcement can work fairly. Rules level the playing field. The actors financing the GOP's Gilded Age campaign don't want a level playing field. They want it all for themselves, and they have succeeded in selling their partisans a bill of goods, namely the idea that it benefits them, too. Not true.

[J]

The GOP head shed needs to be billed for both wars, since they are such goood fund raisers. Maybe with them giving our nation restitution for all the pain and suffering the b*ds have caused U.S., will provide some solace to our poor nation's treasury coffers.

Half of the GOP makeup of the Congress belong in prison, and half of the Dems as well. I don't mind paying for their bread & water, just so long as our nation is protected from their dangerous behavior.

[Fred]

Nice headline in Bloomberg:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-21/wall-street-aristocracy-got-1-2-trillion-in-fed-s-secret-loans.html

“You’re talking about the aristocracy of American finance going down the tubes without the federal money.” Nice parting gift between the election and the inauguration, $1.2 Trillion.