I can hear you all scratching your heads right now. What the hell is a Mfecane? I first learned about this major event in 19th Century native African history by reading James Michener's The Covenant, and the images presented within that novelized description exceed those of modern-day Darfur. To keep it somewhat short and simple, think of it as a societal purge by a self-defined chosen people conducting ethnic cleansing of "undesirables" in seeking their version of Lebensraum. To ensure that the job was completed, they also resorted to scorched-earth tactics to prevent any rival group rising and threatening their hegemony.
A case for a similar motivation in strategy could be made for today's Republicans. Their slash-and-cut budget reductions are as single-minded and ruthless as the policies followed by these native Africans, and will prove to be equally as heedless of the obvious consequences. Allow me to detour into history again – a bit more recently this time – to set the stage.
For a few decades now, the UK has regularly led the US in experiencing major societal changes, among them the rise of Maggie Thatcher and her anti-union Mfecane – a direct predecessor by two years of Ronald Reagan's administration. There have also been things that happened first in the US before erupting in the UK, such as the collapse of banking due to fraudulent mortgages, but these influences aren't as common. The frequent parallels are close enough that it isn't even a surprise anymore when it happens. Such a major change has just occurred in the UK which will also happen here in the US, because the first signs have just emerged.
Just six months ago, David Cameron led the Conservatives to electoral victory on a platform which closely parallels that of the Republican Party: toss all but the wealthy over the side so that the wealthy can enjoy major tax cuts. The process went much faster in the UK for reasons that aren't germane to my premise, so the UK supporters of this self-serving strategy are now in position to realize the consequences of that set of actions.
Article comments
1 - Glenn Contrarian
Why do the Republicans want our economy to fail? Because if Obama succeeds at rebuilding our economy, well, Republicans remember what happened after FDR brought back our economy - four decades of Democratic control of Congress.
Great article, Realist...and I know you're already expecting what's coming from the BC conservatives....
2 - Boeke
Realist makes an excellent point when he states :"...a whole lot of currently wealthy people are going to find themselves on the wrong side of this economy as their customers spend their money on necessities instead of the their proffered products".
Indeed, the austerity measures that the Tea Party maniacs are screaming for are very counter-productive: they will make things worse and accelerate American decline. Even among the rich and privileged.
Why are those measures counter-productive? Mostly because they cut muscle instead of fat. The real fat in our business/commercial system is in the business/financial end of business, not the operational end where services and products are made and delivered.
For example, Tea Party types seem to believe that tax subsidies to businessmen and rich people will stimulate investment and produce jobs, but the evidence is quite the contrary. They often pair that belief with the belief that unemployment insurance is bad because it might encourage idleness.
Both ideas are wrong, econometrically wrong. Just glancing at a recent CBO report on the ARRA, "Stimulus", reveals that Unemployment Insurance has an Economic Multiplier of more than 2.0, whereas business tax cuts are around 0.7. The Economic Multiplier is the net effect of inserting a dollar into the economy after you take account of secondary spending by the recipient.
These results are familiar. They confirm history.
So, clearly, mathematically, it makes more sense to give money to the unemployed rather than investors.
Ah, but here is the problem: we cannot allow it MORALLY! It is against our puritan work ethic!
So we think, anyway, but really it is simply against the interests of our feudal masters, who manipulate our feelings.
Thus, while we excoriate the laborer who is unemployed (through no fault of his own, but because the boss screwed up management) we actually cheer the predations of the Feudal Lord and declare "greed is good!".
Pogo was right: "we have met the enemy and he is us".