The Crass Struggle Continues
Written by Bruce T. Boccardy
The Great Distraction
U.S. oligarchs representing the profanely rich have distracted millions of working people from the root cause of their economic burdens. This crassness blames minorities, immigrants, labor unions, women’s healthcare advocates, “big government,” “the deep state” and LGBT demographics as scapegoats.
Rather, the root cause is precisely the economic dominance of those oligarchs. Their immense economic power allows them to manipulate and exploit working people while bloating their income and wealth gains to shocking levels of financial gluttony.
U.S. oligarchs fund a vast network (Hillary Clinton, a neocon corporate Democrat was right about that one) of multifarious organizations from national to local levels. This network peddles misrepresentations, oversimplifications, and fabrications to indoctrinate working people against their own interests. Unfortunately, so far it is widely successful.
This indoctrination is a concocted stew based on fear of the imaginary villains above. It is past time for this detritus to be refuted and replaced by progressive policies as polls show to be the views of the majority of the American people.
However, beneath this crassness is a foundational struggle.
It is the class struggle. It is an integral component of our economic model. Without a class struggle, our economic model does not exist.
Notable progressives are chronically baffled that the Biden administration’s economic accomplishments do not resonant with working people. Perhaps it is because the actual numbers contradict their obeisance to the corporate Democratic Party.
Unemployment
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) cites the unemployment rate and consumer price index as the two most salient indicators of the economy for working people. According to adjusted sources, the actual unemployment rate is profoundly different from the standard BLS numbers.
The Ludwig Institute of Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) reported a more accurate rate of unemployment. It measures the percentage of the U.S. labor force that does not have a full-time job (35+ hours a week) but wants one, has no job, or does not earn a living wage, conservatively pegged at $20,000 annually before taxes.
LISEP reported in February that the unemployment rate in March was 24.2 percent. The BLS reported rate was 3.9 percent. LISEP reported this May that the unemployment rate in April was 24.2 percent. The BLS reported rate was 3.9 percent.
Shadow Government Statistics (SGS) reports an Alternate Unemployment Rate that reflects a methodology adjusted for the significant portion of "discouraged workers" defined away in 1994 during the Clinton Administration. Those identified on the BLS U-6 index for more than one year were inexplicably removed. SGS updated their exhaustive monthly Alternate Unemployment Rate tables in March 2024. SGS reported that the January 2024 unemployment rate was 25.70 percent. The BLS reported rate was 3.7 percent. SGS reported that the February 2024 unemployment rate 25.80 percent. The BLS reported rate was 3.9 percent.
Another more accurate measure of unemployment or underemployment is provided by Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE). It records household essentials for families. In 2021, their index reported 41 percent of U.S. households were below the ALICE Threshold of Poverty; 29 percent of ALICE households earned just above the federal poverty level. By ALICE’s definition 70 percent of working families are living with economic adversity.
The other component of our economic model that strains working people but rarely discussed is “economic anxiety.” Together they provide a compelling answer that confounds many pundits who fail to recognize the actual objective conditions of our economic model.
Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the other standard measure reported by the BLS. Comparing the standard CPI numbers with adjusted numbers from other economic organizations offers another explanation as to why working people are not extolling the Biden administration’s economic numbers.
LISEP calculates an adjusted True Living Cost (TLC). The TLC measures the basics: housing, food, healthcare, childcare, transportation, basic technology, miscellaneous personal care, and household items. LISEP reported a 7.8 percent cost increase from 2021 to 2022. The BLS reported a rate of 6.5 percent. More troubling is a LISEP report in October 2023 showing that 38.1 percent of American families and over 44 percent of families with children could not meet their minimal adequate basic requirements after taxes and transfers in 2019.
SGS also provided an adjusted view that refuted the standard published CPI number. SGS reported a CPI rate for January 2024 of 10.91 percent. The BLS rate was 3.1 percent. SGS reported a CPI rate of 10.97 percent. The BLS rate was 3.4 percent.
Transformation Obstacles
The adjusted data confirms that our economic model is regrettably failing working people. It is routine for those on the progressive spectrum to continuously point out the flaws in our economic model. Then what?
There appears to be a dearth of comprehensive and practical plans that might improve the systemic problems facing working people. More political parties would be a welcome step in the direction of participatory democracy. However, the death grip of the two parties is not about to loosen. That was guaranteed by rulings from the Supreme Court. The Buckley v. Valeo decision in 1976 and the First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti decision in 1978 led to the Citizens United v. FEC decision in 2010.
Our political system is shaped by judicial and legislative decisions. Those decisions habitually favor the dominant economic class that donates hundreds of millions of dollars to politicians of both parties, particularly the Republican Party. Progressives must facilitate a transition from the present corporate views that dominate our superstructure in healthcare, education, housing, nutrition, transportation and the environment.
Spiritual and Secular Allies
The preponderance of working people in our country shows that they have the numbers to create a powerful political opposition to the present corporate agenda. We can identify the demographics of potential allies in a transition to a more just economic model as basically spiritual or secular.
The founders of the Constitution were emphatic on the separation of religion from the government. The United States was the first country in history to be founded on principles that were strictly secular. James Madison, a devout Christian, and prominent writer of the Constitution wrote that religion and government must remain separate; no clergy or kings pulling the strings.
However, values that emanate from religious or spiritual organizations are often beneficial to the practical application of government. The civil rights movement, numerous anti-war movements, the anti-nuclear movement and the environmental movement were driven by the compelling moral force of those organizations. Consider the view of our economic model from a spiritual perspective. One element ignored by the corporate media is the role of Christian socialist theology as well as the historical traditions of Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu and Confucian socialist values.
History is replete with critiques of our economic model based on secular humanism. A fusion of the best spiritual and secular values can bring working people to a realization that our economic model requires a transition to something better.
Towards a Transition
The remedy to transform our economic model is not esoteric or profound except in scope.
Unions and nonprofit organizations joining together in alliances and coalitions around economic issues is an important strategic component. There are limitations though, as history has shown. Without a powerful legislative component, transitional change is fanciful and cosmetic.
Following every historical progressive legislative advancement, the dominant economic class begins chipping away at any legislation benefitting working people. Absent a labor party, working people must adopt the daunting task of electing progressive candidates at the national, state and municipal levels of the Democratic Party. This is not a political panacea by any means or a long-term remedy. Relying only on the Democratic Party is an illusion as the record confirms. Consider the fate of Senator Bernie Sanders when he challenged the corporate dominated Democratic Party.
As the objective conditions of our economic model continue to decline, the potential for working people to become a subjective force that demands change can develop. The form of that transformation depends on a number of variables.
The method of transition to a democratic economy in the U.S. is particularly speculative.
Regardless of the form of political activity that working people implement, the economic class struggle continues beneath the surface with a trajectory determined by its own economic forces. The strategy now requires working people to present better arguments in the context of our economic model, organize against economic injustice, and rely on the Democratic Party until it does not.
Bruce Boccardy, a frequent contributor is economics/labor advisor for the Small Planet Institute and former union official.