Social Democracy Outlook:
October 01, 2017
The mindset of us social democrats during the early months of the Trump administration might be likened to that of a kidnap victim, held hostage and subjected to regular abuse against which we possessed no good defenses. At least from the perspective of The Social Democrat, we feel that, with the coming of autumn, we have entered a new phase. No longer outraged by—or even interested in—the predictably boorish, inane and irrelevant commentaries of the Accidental President, inured to the persistent attacks on social democratic values and programs, we have hunkered down for the long haul. The pattern is clear: an unqualified, sadistic and erratic president, irregularly allied with a congressional GOP determined to dismantle as much social democracy as possible while it can continue to convince the public it has something worthwhile to offer. The abuse is still felt, but we have hardened ourselves to the inevitable; here at The Social Democrat we are determined to keep our wits about us, monitoring the status of social democracy here and elsewhere, keeping tabs on what we must fight to protect, what we are losing or have lost, and what we should be prepared to strive for when a better political dispensation offers the opportunity.
The historic storms that battered the country’s southern shores and Puerto Rico right through the month, along with what knowledgeable observers have termed an “apocalyptic” wildfire season in the West, should serve as a serious wake-up call that our fossil-fuel–driven economy must give way to sustainable energy production. Neither the administration, unfortunately, nor Republicans in Congress, have not gotten the memo.
With the deadly weather—and the battle of nuclear-grade schoolyard insults between Trash-Talker-in-Chief and the equally unstable Kim Jong-un—providing more drama than was probably healthy for the nation, high-stakes political battles were shaping up in Washington.
Trump’s early deal with congressional Democrats on the federal debt ceiling and Hurricane Harvey relief caused talk of potential future alliances on other topics; The Social Democrat is skeptical of any fruitful cooperation with the Erratic President, but we would not rule out further alliances of convenience.
For the remainder of the month, the president predictably rooted for Republican initiatives, most especially the Senate GOP’s last-ditch, failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In the wake of that farce, Trump has still not committed to ongoing funding of legislated subsidies needed to make the exchanges work, and the administration has gutted funds for marketing the exchanges during the upcoming open enrollment. A bipartisan effort to shore up the exchanges, spearheaded by Democrat Senator Patty Murray (Washington) and Republican Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) is still alive, however, and offers the best hope at present for keeping the ACA functioning as intended.
Legislators from both parties worked in near lock-step with Trump in approving a $700 billion defense budget for the coming year, more than 10% larger than the previous annual budget for the nation’s military and three times greater than the next largest military budget in the world, that of China. Meanwhile we are told by the GOP that the nation cannot afford healthcare for low-income citizens, universal pre-school for its children or food stamps for the hungry. In a sign that compassion has not entirely fled Capitol Hill, the Senate Finance Committee did vote to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which enables millions of low-income children to receive medical care. This measure most still run the gauntlet of the full House and Senate before funds run out at year’s end.
The other major political move coming out of Washington in September was the announcement by the Trump administration of its proposal to revise the U.S. tax code—a plan developed in concert with congressional Republicans. Many details are yet to be provided, but the basic outlines are clear: the plan will add as much as $3 trillion to the federal debt over 10 years in order to provide large tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy. While bringing corporate tax rates into line with those of other nations would be healthy for the U.S. economy, it should be accompanied by a closing of loopholes by which many companies pay only a fraction of the statutory rate—not part of the Trump plan. The theory, advanced by Trump and congressional Republicans, that the tax cuts will pay for themselves by spurring economic growth, is contradicted by voluminous historical evidence.
Threats to the natural environment continue to mount under the Trump administration, the latest being the revelation, on the 16th, that the Department of Interior has taken steps to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The move is no surprise from the Trump administration, which places fossil fuel extraction over almost all other values: Trump’s Accidental Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, after months of review, on the 18th proposed opening several national monuments to extraction activities.
The month’s ecological news was not without some bright spots, however. The Sierra Club and WildEarth Gardens achieved a tactical victory in their court fight against coal leases in Montana’s Powder River Basin, when a federal judge ruled that the Bureau of Land Management’s analysis downplayed three proposed mines’ effects on global warming. California meanwhile continues to be a pathfinder toward a green future: a bill introduced into the state senate at the start of the month requires California utilities to acquire 60% of their power from non-carbon sources by 2030, with a total phase-out of fossil fuel energy by 2045. Also outdistancing the U.S. government in the forward thinking department, backward dictatorship China announced regulations on the 29th requiring a 10% mix of green vehicles sold in the country by 2019.
On the economic front, the tepid Obama recovery continued, with surveys indicating further job creation. New figures reveal also that median incomes rose about 3% in 2016—but in inflation-adjusted terms the increase only matched the median income of 1999, as gains increasingly went to the wealthy. The Federal Reserve’s decision, announced mid-month, to begin selling its $4.2 trillion dollars worth of stimulus assets may unfortunately hinder further recovery in the job market. It is jobs—50,000 of them—that are at the heart of the drama being played out around the country, as scores of state and municipal leaders attempt to lure Amazon’s new headquarters to their jurisdictions. Jobs are also on the agenda with NAFTA talks, which are proceeding with little demonstrable progress at present.
Social democracy saw some gains at the state level during September. Maryland took steps to reign in exorbitant drug prices with a bill that includes fines and injunctions against price-gouging; California passed a landmark package of bills to spur the construction of affordable housing; and New York Mayor Bill Blasio announced a plan requiring older buildings in the city to upgrade their energy efficiency—part of the city’s commitment to reduce greenhouse emissions 80% by 2050. Democratic legislators in Illinois came to a long-sought agreement with the state’s Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, to provide equal funding to low-income school districts, but it came with a price: $75 million in funding for private school vouchers. In Minnesota, it was a Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, who scored points against that state’s Republican assembly: countering its inveterate opposition to necessary taxes by withholding funding from the legislature itself. In the Deep South, meanwhile, religious fanatic Roy Moore’s win in the state’s Republican primary for its special U.S. Senate ballot in December points up just how wide a rift the nation must negotiate between opposing worldviews.
European social democracy was in the spotlight last month, with major doings in the two nations at the heart of the continent. In Germany, Chancellor Angel Merkel coasted, as expected, to a fourth term, but both her Christian Democratic Union as well as its coalition partner, the SPD, or German Social Democrats, lost seats to the nationalist AfD, which moved from the fringes of German politics to a 12% share in the German Riksdag. The Social Democrats have declared their intention to leave the coalition government in order to present a vital left-of-center opposition to a government expected to consist of Merkel’s CDU, the Free Liberal Party and the Greens.
In France the government enacted the reform of the country’s labor laws which were a key plank in President Macron’s campaign last spring. The reforms, which will make it easier for employers to terminate unwanted employees and permit labor negotiations at the plant level—rather than industry wide—have come under criticism ranging from mild to vehement by France’s three major labor unions. Demonstrators have taken to the streets, and Macron’s approval ratings have plummeted. Proponents of the reform hold the country’s stringent labor protections responsible for stifling hiring and impeding growth. Opponents see the code’s protections as necessary measures for the dignity and security of French workers, and attempts to weaken them as a neoliberal plot to tilt more power to the wealthy.
