Obama virtually nationalized the auto industry. It was collapsing, so it had to be kind of built up by the taxpayers. So he took over most of the auto industry. There were a few possibilities. One possibility, of course, was the one that was followed. Bail out the owners, bail out the banks, give it back to the same people, or other people with different faces but essentially the same roles in society, and have it continue to produce what it had always been producing — automobiles. There was another possibility.
Give it to the work force. Subsidize them to develop and have it produce what we need. What do we need? I can give you a personal example.
My wife and I came to New York by train from Boston. The train took only an hour and a half longer than when I took it in 1950 for the first time. Either it was standing still or it was going slower than the trucks on the Connecticut Turnpike.
There isn’t a country in the world where this happens. And that’s just a symbol of the country. This is the richest country in the world that has incomparable advantages and it’s just falling apart.
—Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky Talks US Militarism and Capitalism, at Home and Abroad
This “Daily Show” bit is quite good:
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/new_daily_show_contributor_puts_america_shame_comparison_to_africa_20141208
The end, where the correspondent starts singing a faux-charity number, was pretty classic.
I saw that. The statistics comparing the US today with aparteid South Africa have been making the rounds. But it is wrong to say that we achieved these things without trying. These are the result of specific government policies, brought to us by the two major American political parties. Remember, only Nixon could go to China and only Clinton could end welfare as we know it. I’m so proud.
An irony I’ve tried to point out for some time to friends is how we didn’t demonize Russia during the Cold War for internal repression, show trials, murder of dissidents and the like. We demonized it for being less good at providing all the nifty consumer stuff. People waiting in lines for bluejeans. As an afterthought, we propagandized how failed Soviet satellite states like Romania had shitty services. The elevators didn’t work, the water only ran two days a week, and so on.
Well, we don’t wait in line for bluejeans, but the elevators don’t work. The water main breaks all the time. Christ, Detroit is actually considering privatizing water. Holy shit. That’s just about the worst thing I’ve ever heard. Everything we demonized the Soviet Union for, all the corruption and incompetence — my God, we’re actually worse now than they were in the ’80s. That’s one remarkable accomplishment of turning a country into trash, right there.