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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

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
Page 1 and 2:
+++ The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM
Page 3 and 4:
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, IN
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
The Telmarc Group Preface PROGRESSI
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
The Telmarc Group 4.1.3 Hobbes and
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
The Telmarc Group 4.5.2 The New Fre
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
The Telmarc Group Hofstadter contin
Page 149 and 150: The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, IN
Page 199: The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, IN
Page 223: The Telmarc Group and the Progressi
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?