Re: European Union

["John Gelles" <jjgelles@xxxxxxxx>]

	BBC and GBH (US PBS) representing the best of
	democratic capitalism in action (as not-for profit
	competitive media giants) have produced "People's
	Century".  The fourth program aired in LA last night;
	I just saw it for the second time (on tape). The
	episode is called "Bread Line : 1929".

	The gist of program is that the nations which rearmed
	last (1936-37) were also the last to recover from the
	depression between the wars.  Germany was the heavy-
	weight leader of its fascist alliance, although Russia, too,
	put people to work (or to death) in its early bid for
	power.

	Roosevelt explicitly called for executive power to
	end unemployment similar to those he would have to
	repel an invasion.

	The scene now (after the program is over) switches
	first to Russia where menace looms as a result of
	economic failure -- and then to the euro where some
	of us see continental planning that is not fascist or
	communist.

	(Incidentally, in the episode above, Sweden is
	portrayed as the only competent nation on earth.
	I hope Per and friends will help develop the issues
	on which a PKT slant on the EU may be needed.)

	German law on corporate and labor union powers
	and relationships is a hopeful item.  It may bleed
	over to nations on all continents to create some of
	the labor standards the Europa site isn't promising.
	
	To recap some of the issues that have appeared in
	several messages:

		- Employment -- high or really full?

		- Wages -- a reflection of (a) automation and
		   a huge output of necessities that define a
		   minimum standard of living favorable to
		   ordinary people, or of (b) exploitation by
		   capital preaching austerity for all but the
		   unscrupulous greedy?

		-  Union effectiveness and influence on
		    corporate boards of directors?

		-  Equalizing real wages north and south.

		-  Avoiding unmanageable bubbles (especially
		    those that burst) in real estate and stocks?

		-  Consumer demand suppression (to
		    encourage public spending instead), OR
		    consumer demand development by
		    imposing a negative interest on savings?

		-  A set of eurocratic institutions stealing for
		    insiders all they can, or of democratic ones
		    where modest lifestyles are untaxed and
		    immodest ones are forced into philanthropy
		    by very heavy opulence taxes?

		-  Some kind of competitive game between
		    the $, Y, and E -- what is its purpose,
		    how is it played?

		-  Taxes, taxes, taxes?

	Please refine, reword, rework, etc.

	                                 John Gelles
        jjgelles@xxxxxxxx                http://www.rain.org/~jjgelles/
        Modern nations cannot afford poverty, it costs too much.
        Its price is the money  the poor don't spend  that the rest
        would earn if they did.  If those with the least spent what
        it takes for a decent life, the rest would all have more for
        a grander one. That is  the nature of  production and free
        enterprise  protected  from monopoly  by law, and  from
        deflation and inflation by  individual indexed savings held
        in tax free accounts to create a controlled flow of money.