progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL Thesis 5: Advertising…may serve the giant corporation, but it misdirects the collective energies and attention of citizens from the truth that the United States for the most part is already awash in affluence… Thesis 6: The key resource of the modern economy….is the capacity to mobilize organized intelligence…" The Galbraithian view, although it has taken many criticisms over the years, has certain merit. It also has insight into how we as an economy have gotten to where we are now and perhaps as to how we would progress forward. Let me make several observations regarding these six Theses. 1. The large corporations do indeed control certain sectors. Yet they have all too often become a partner with Government rather than its adversary. There is less of an arm's length between the corporations and Government than ever before. One can paraphrase Marcuse, and call this the One Dimensional Corporation; its interests are no longer necessarily orthogonal to Governments. One need look at the recent automotive bail out attempts, the Government financing of the banks, the financing of insurance companies, the closeness of regulators with the incumbent telephone companies and the like. In many cases this closeness is driven by campaign financing, by the strength and presence of the lobbyist, by the desire to seek and obtain mutual favors between Government and the incumbent industries. Thus in many ways the interests align and the controlling mechanism no longer functions. 2. Shareholders have no power. It all depends on which shareholders. In a large publicly held company, say like a Verizon or even a GM, and GE, shareholders are so diluted that they indeed have no power individually. In fact one would not want to have shareholders take any part in the decision making; corporations were set up legally to hire managers to do that exact task. However shareholders have some rights. 3. The financial motivations of large corporations are all too frequently directed a profit maximizing for management. Galbraith did not see the explosive growth in senior management compensation in the mid 60s. At that time compensation was rational, options were not given away so freely and the like. Then again the tax rates were confiscatory. In today's world the management does what it has to do to maximize its own profit, and it does so with de minimis risk, at least the risk it can control. 4. The construct of all sales and growth being driven by advertising was an extension to the 50s book by Galbraith, The Affluent Society. This is many ways is consistent with the Marcuse view in One Dimensional Man that "repressive tolerance is generated by an economy based on planned obsolescence, an economy committed to the production of waste. 208 " Like Galbraith, Marcuse sees that advertising generates false needs while 208 See Marcuse, H., One Dimensional Man, Beacon (Boston) 1964, pp 3-12, 49-52. Also see Eidelberg, P., The Temptation of Herbert Marcuse, Review of Politics, Vol 31 No 4 October 1969, pp 442-458. Eidelberg argues that it Page 200
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL suppressing the true needs, the needs that only the individual themselves could understand if only they were not bombarded by advertising. 7.2.3 Politics and Telecom Let us return to the rather arcane area of broadband, an area that the Obama Administration has thrown tens of billions of dollars and is seeking massive legal and regulatory change. The Obama Presidency has proposed what it calls new positions in Telecommunications. We will look at them and use them as a platform to investigate the overall trend in the philosophical underpinnings. The Obama positions have been stated as follows 209 : "III. Deploy a Modern Communications Infrastructure To realize Barack Obama’s vision of an interconnected democracy, the nation deserves the finest and most modern communications infrastructure in the world. The technology sector has helped keep the United States at the center of innovation and the job growth and wealth creation that has accompanied it. However, while the United States once led the world in Internet deployment, the Bush administration has surrendered that leadership through its indifference to technology and its lack of understanding of the 21st century economy. By rededicating our nation to ensuring that all Americans have access to broadband and the skills to use it effectively, Barack Obama will position our citizens, particularly our young people, to compete and succeed in an increasingly technologyrich, knowledge-based economy. Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Barack Obama believes that America should lead the world in broadband penetration and Internet access. As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access. Full broadband penetration can enrich democratic discourse, enhance competition, provide economic growth, and bring significant consumer benefits. Moreover, improving our infrastructure will foster competitive markets for Internet access and services that ride on that infrastructure. Obama believes we can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of nextgeneration facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives. Specifically, Obama proposes the following policies to restore America’s world leadership in this arena: was with the publication of the One Dimensional Man by Marcuse that he became the voice for the New Left, the establishment of a new socialism but with a philosophy that there are no absolute and common standards and that everything is subjective and that the capitalist society denies people their needs. 209 See http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/technology/Fact_Sheet_Innovation_and_Technology.pdf Page 201
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progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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