STOCK MARKET WATCH - Friday, 17 February 2012

[Tansy_Gold]

46. ". . . the declining rate of profit in domestic manufacturing. . . ."

The elites had done well through the Golden Age and even through the Depression, but after WWII, the enormous increase in consumer product manufacturing, the rising power of unions, and post-war education benefits hugely benefited the middle class. It was that prosperity that fueled the various civil rights movement for blacks, for women, for the elderly, for the poor, for gays. Through the 50s and 60s there was an enormous push for legislation that would overturn the various forms of oppression that had protected the elites and inhibited the growth of a dominant middle/working class that posed a serious threat to the power of the elites.

Given the history of "The Family" as presented a couple years ago by Jeff Sharlet, I suspect now that the high water mark of the middle/working class may have been reached right around 1973, with the Roe v Wade decision, which dealt a massive blow to the social structure of the patriarchal elites. (And remember, I'm writing from the perspective of a radical marxist feminist, so the power of the patriarchy is the "root" of all evil.) Prior to that, the road looked straight ahead -- there were a bunch of socialistic programs coming to fruition, everything from Head Start to the school lunch program to Medicare to Medicaid to Title IX to voting rights enforcement and so on.

But Roe was the catalyst for the rise of the right, because foundational to their ideology is the absolute hierarchical power of The Male, and Roe had sent a tremor of mortal fear through them.

Why do you think there are men on the right who actually advocate for the rights of rapists? It's not just because these nutjobs are crazy -- they believe in a doctrine that is so skewed to the patriarchy's favor that they cannot allow ANY woman to have authority over ANY man.

The elites were pretty much powerless to stop the economic rise of the working classes who were protected by increasing union membership and increasing social power through legislation like OSHA. All of this was chipping away at the ability of the elites to maintain economic control. Never mind that their short-sightedness and greed eventually turned the country off the road to success and onto the path to revolution.

We are a long way from revolution. The peasants of France and Russia and even Cuba put up with much more oppression before they chose to fight to the death than we are today. We are still too fat and comfortable, and therefore even the more revolution-minded of us continue to enable our own economic enslavement.

The BF and I were talking about it -- again -- over supper last night and while he is sympathetic to The Cause, he doesn't understand how extremely nuanced it is. There are no easy answers, there are no quick fixes.

It will take, I suspect, a young and charismatic leader to come along at just the right time and right place.