David Simon: 'There are now two Americas. My country is a horror show'

[JonLP24]

<snip>

I think we've perfected a lot of the tragedy and we're getting there faster than a lot of other places that may be a little more reasoned, but my dangerous idea kind of involves this fellow who got left by the wayside in the 20th century and seemed to be almost the butt end of the joke of the 20th century; a fellow named Karl Marx.

I'm not a Marxist in the sense that I don't think Marxism has a very specific clinical answer to what ails us economically. I think Marx was a much better diagnostician than he was a clinician. He was good at figuring out what was wrong or what could be wrong with capitalism if it wasn't attended to and much less credible when it comes to how you might solve that.

<snip>

We understand profit. In my country we measure things by profit. We listen to the Wall Street analysts. They tell us what we're supposed to do every quarter. The quarterly report is God. Turn to face God. Turn to face Mecca, you know. Did you make your number? Did you not make your number? Do you want your bonus? Do you not want your bonus?

<snip>

Capitalism stomped the hell out of Marxism by the end of the 20th century and was predominant in all respects, but the great irony of it is that the only thing that actually works is not ideological, it is impure, has elements of both arguments and never actually achieves any kind of partisan or philosophical perfection.

It's pragmatic, it includes the best aspects of socialistic thought and of free-market capitalism and it works because we don't let it work entirely. And that's a hard idea to think – that there isn't one single silver bullet that gets us out of the mess we've dug for ourselves. But man, we've dug a mess.

<snip>

After the second world war, the west emerged with the American economy coming out of its wartime extravagance, emerging as the best product. It was the best product. It worked the best. It was demonstrating its might not only in terms of what it did during the war but in terms of just how facile it was in creating mass wealth.

<snip>

It wasn't just that we could supply stuff, or that we had the factories or know-how or capital, it was that we created our own demand and started exporting that demand throughout the west. And the standard of living made it possible to manufacture stuff at an incredible rate and sell it.

And how did we do that? We did that by not giving in to either side. That was the new deal. That was the great society. That was all of that argument about collective bargaining and union wages and it was an argument that meant neither side gets to win.

Labour doesn't get to win all its arguments, capital doesn't get to. But it's in the tension, it's in the actual fight between the two, that capitalism actually becomes functional, that it becomes something that every stratum in society has a stake in, that they all share.

<snip>

The idea that the market will solve such things as environmental concerns, as our racial divides, as our class distinctions, our problems with educating and incorporating one generation of workers into the economy after the other when that economy is changing; the idea that the market is going to heed all of the human concerns and still maximise profit is juvenile. It's a juvenile notion and it's still being argued in my country passionately and we're going down the tubes. And it terrifies me because I'm astonished at how comfortable we are in absolving ourselves of what is basically a moral choice. Are we all in this together or are we all not?

If you watched the debacle that was, and is, the fight over something as basic as public health policy in my country over the last couple of years, imagine the ineffectiveness that Americans are going to offer the world when it comes to something really complicated like global warming. We can't even get healthcare for our citizens on a basic level. And the argument comes down to: "Goddamn this socialist president. Does he think I'm going to pay to keep other people healthy? It's socialism, motherfucker."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/08/david-simon-capitalism-marx-two-americas-wire


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This article was really impressive. Not only on being on the same page on Marx but also myself that more than I supported unions (which I do) is that I supported the process, collective bargaining. This article is longer than most columns posted her but well worth the read. There was so much I wanted to post but I had to be real selective and kinda went over 4 paragraphs

[Baitball Blogger]

1. I figured that out in the late nineties.

As did many minorities. So glad to see everyone else finally catching up.

[JonLP24]

4. I don't think he had a problem finally figuring something out

He was a Baltimore Sun reporter from 12 years in the 80s and 90s. He also wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991) and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1997) with Ed Burns. Best known for being co-creator of The Wire (most of the inspirations for characters and plot come from the 80s but designed to fit in a post-2000 time period) it is remarkable how much he does from figured out from the concentrated poverty neighborhoods, police department, city hall, the dying unions, and the school system. Later he was co-creater of Treme (about New Orleans post Katrina) and Generation Kill which I must say is the closest thing to the war experience as you can get with actors, all the way down to the stack of water bottles in the middle of tents and incompetent hotheads that outrank the lower enlisted.

Everything in all, he describes the problem very well. I stumbled across it looking for "casino economy" which is from this -- which is well worth the watch. Less about the show but more about America which is what the show is about.

[newfie11]

2. Oh to know the future

If only I knew 40 years ago what I know now, I would have left then. Now I'm to old.
I hope Bernie wins but as long as our congress , with few exceptions, is bought and paid for things won't change.
The majority of both houses are bought and paid for by the wealthy. I won't get into the MIC and wars that didn't have to be. Today there are a limited number of extremely wealthy that are remaking America and it ain't going to end well.

[Mopar151]

3. We could change the system by changing how we keep score.

Focusing on 90 day numbers, either operating p&L or stock price, creates havoc with longer term gain in value. And we need to do something about high speed trading and other arbitrage/skimming schemes that basically bleed capital away from more productive use.