[PEN-L:32903] Re: Re: US: Another industrialist at the US treasury?

[Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Monday, December 9, 2002 at 09:46:00 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes:
>Isn't this kind of amazing? The Reps are now the party of deficits
>and a weaker currency, and the Dems the party of fiscal orthodoxy and
>a strong currency.

Very good point.  Chomsky noticed this as well a while back:

     In the  United States,  the political system  is a  very marginal
     affair.  There are  two  parties, so-called,  but they're  really
     factions of  the same party,  the Business Party.  Both represent
     some range of business interests.  In fact, they can change their
     positions  180 degrees,  and  nobody even  notices.  In the  1984
     election,  for example,  there was  an actually  an  issue, which
     often there  isn't. The issue was Keynesian  growth versus fiscal
     conservatism. The Republicans were the party of Keynesian growth:
     big spending, deficits,  and so on. The Democrats  were the party
     of fiscal  conservatism: watch the money supply,  worry about the
     deficits, et cetera. Now, I  didn't see a single comment pointing
     out  that   the  two   parties  had  completely   reversed  their
     traditional positions! Traditionally, the Democrats are the party
     of  Keynesian growth,  and the  Republicans the  party  of fiscal
     conservatism. So  doesn't it strike you that  something must have
     happened?  Well,  actually,  it  makes sense.  Both  parties  are
     essentially the  same party. The only question  is how coalitions
     of  investors have  shifted  around on  tactical  issues now  and
     then. As they do, the parties shift to opposite positions, within
     a narrow spectrum.

     --- Noam Chomsky, February, 1990.  Interviewed by Adam Jones
         (http://adamjones.freeservers.com/chomsky.htm)


Bill