New Problems, Old Solutions

By Matthew Dunn

                The Roman politician and philosopher Cicero once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is always to be child.  If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must always remain in the infancy of knowledge.”  Too often in today’s world people look for new solutions for today’s problems.  However, many times they fail to realize that past civilizations dealt with many of the same issues.  So, in light of that, here are some modern day problems, and how we might solve them with techniques used in the past.

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

                These two groups of people have fighting for control of a strip of land that is around the same size of New Jersey since Zionist Jews started moving to the area in the early 20^th century.  Many attempts at peace have been made since 1993, but the situation remains completely unsolved.  Israelis continue to occupy the West Bank with their military, and Israeli settlers continue to settle there, even though this land is supposed to be part of the state of Palestine.  Palestinians continue to find ways to attack Israel leading to Israeli military invasions of their territory.  Violence continues, Israelis feel insecure, Palestinians live in permanent occupation, and there is almost no talk now of any solution.  So what is to be done?

                Some have argued that a two state solution is effectively dead, and a one state solution would be preferable.  In this solution all citizens would be given equal rights regardless of ethnicity.  However, this would not be appealing to Israelis because the Zionist belief is to create a Jewish homeland for the Jewish people.  So, if Israelis are unwilling to give full civil rights to all people, then perhaps they should follow the example of Islamic civilizations that lived in the Middle East centuries ago.

                Islamic civilizations were very successful at getting people of other religions to convert to Islam.  This was because when they took over a region, they would offer Muslims a tax exemption.  People of other religions were allowed to practice, except they had to pay a non-Muslim tax.  Because of this, Islam spread very quickly in regions where Muslim armies conquered.  I propose that the Israelis follow this example.  They should raise a tax on all non-Jews in Israel and the occupied territories.  If people then convert to Judaism, then they can avoid the tax.  Once Muslims become Jews, then they will be allowed to become full citizens of Israel.

                Once a large amount of Muslims convert to Judaism and gain full civil rights, then most of them will probably no longer wish to attack Jews.  Those who do not convert will be forced to pay a tax, they will be denied citizenship to Israel.  The choice would obviously be beneficial for Palestinians who converted.  Not only will it decrease the amount of enemies to Israel, but it will also raise more tax revenue.  Strict Muslims will also find, that there are plenty of sects of Judaism that follow many of the same strict practices.  When the Israelis make the option of becoming a Jew beneficial to the large Muslim population of the Holy land, then they may find that a better state will be created.

The European Debt Crisis

                Many of the countries of Europe are struggling with economic problems.  Under the terms of the European Union, countries which use the Euro as a currency can only retain a certain level of debt.  Many countries of Europe have gone over this level and have gone into crisis.  This has led the countries which have the most debt to follow austerity policies and unemployment has followed. 

                The European countries with the most problems should just leave the Eurozone and re-create their old currencies.  Countries like Greece, Spain, and Ireland are not on equal footing with countries like Germany and France.  They should not use the same currency.  If these countries leave the Euro, then they will have much weaker currencies and their exports will be much less expensive.  In addition to this, once they have their own currencies then if they have problems with debt, then they have the option to default on their debt, and no other country will tell them how to run their finances. 

                Now, this is not a decision to be taken lightly.  There is no doubt that this will have some short term bad effects for the countries of Europe.  However, rather than going from crisis to crisis, Europe needs a long term solution, and the countries who have had the most trouble, will never be able to get back into the levels of debt required by the EU without shady accounting practices.  In terms of defaulting on debt, countries such as Spain, Portugal, and Greece have a long history of defaulting on their debt.  These countries were empires and when their empires collapsed, they were not able to pay their bills. 

                Defaulting on debt, if it has to happen is not always a bad decision.  Ecuador defaulted on its debt several years ago intentionally.  After they defaulted the value of their bonds plummeted, and then Ecuador bought the bonds back from their creditors at a fraction of the price.  Nation-states should be allowed to make their own decisions about their economies, without foreign interference. 

The U.S. Economy

                Although the U.S. economy has recovered from the worst times of the recession, the U.S. still faces economic problems.  The U.S. has a high trade deficit, with many more imports coming in, than exports leaving.  This has led to high levels of debt and a low number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.  Like the other two examples, the U.S. needs to go back to history to find solutions.

                In the beginnings of the United States Republic, the U.S. faced great economic problems.  Some observers predicted the United States wouldn’t even last.  Into this stepped Alexander Hamilton.  Hamilton proposed the United States put high tariffs on foreign products in order to encourage American manufacturing.  This would also raise much needed revenue.  Tariffs were a very essential part of U.S. trade policy throughout the 19^th century.  Other well known politicians such as Henry Clay, Benjamin Franklin, and even Abraham Lincoln believed very much in tariffs.  Today, tariffs are very low and companies can have their products manufactured anywhere and brought back to the U.S. relatively cheaply. 

                So, the U.S. needs to pass restrictive tariffs on foreign products.  Companies which employ workers overseas, will need to pay high tariffs if they want to sell their products in the United States.  This will lead to a rise in employment in manufacturing in the United States, as most large companies will do anything to avoid taxes.  In addition to this foreign companies, will begin to locate more of their manufacturing in the U.S. in order to gain tax free access to the American marketplace.  And lastly, if foreign companies don’t manufacture things here, they will still mostly likely want to sell their products here, and the tariffs will help our government raise revenue.

               

                So what it seems the world might benefit from is a sense of nationalism.  This does not have to be an imperialist nationalism where countries try to dominate others.  It can be a more human nationalism, where countries look after their own citizens better.  It will be the type of nationalism, where nations will say that these are their people, and we are going to do our best to allow our people to live the best lives that they can. 

Mike Rowe and "Dirty Jobs"

By Matthew Dunn

Recently on Real Time with Bill Maher, television host Mike Rowe appeared.  Mike Rowe is the host of The Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs.  The premise of this show is that the host visits various regions around the country and shows really disgusting work that some people do.  The point of this show is to show the types of things that ordinary people have to do, in order to make our lives comfortable. 

                On the episode of Real Time, Mike Rowe talked about his initiative to support the skilled trades and hard work.  He said that the worst advice in the world was given to him by his high school guidance counselor to pursue a college degree.  He also said that there was a poster that had a picture of a college graduate and a picture of a dirty blue collar worker and it said underneath to work smart and not hard.  A picture of this poster can be seen on Rowe’s website http://profoundlydisconnected.com/.  The message of this poster is that blue collar work is degrading and difficult and college will lead to better jobs.  He believes that this is a problem, because now we have many people going to college, but we have a shortage of people who can work in skilled trades.  By promoting the skilled trades, presumably he is trying to solve unemployment problems in the United States. 

                I take several issues with Rowe’s point of view and his television program.  First is Rowe’s personal background.  The recently cancelled Dirty Jobs, was about hard working Americans doing difficult, dangerous, but beneficial work.  So what is Mike’s background?  He went to college and then got a job doing a very dirty job of being an opera singer.  He then went on to work for the very dirty industry of home shopping and voice over work.  If you are expecting us to do work, that you yourself did not want to pursue, I learned in college that makes you a hypocrite. 

                My second issue is basically with this old adage that Americans don’t want to do those jobs.  People want to go to college and pursue more creative careers and they neglect blue collar work.  Well that may be true for a lot of people, but I’ll bet there’s a tremendous amount of unemployed people in this country right now, who would be willing to work in any number of Mike’s “Dirty Jobs”.  If companies need people to do their jobs, they could go to any big city and find a tremendous amount of people who would work for them.  If they don’t have the skills, why doesn’t the company pay for their training?  Oh, that’s right because they want the schools to do their work for them.  So, basically the purpose of schools is to give a handout to corporations in the form of workers?  Mike gave the example of Caterpillar Inc. as one of the companies that couldn’t find workers.  Caterpillar Inc. is a billion dollar company, I’m sure they can afford to train some people. 

                One of the things that Mike forgot to mention is how poorly many dirty jobs pay.  Dirty jobs often are considered the lowest of the low, not because of the work that is done, but because of the pay.  I bet you have tons of people signing up to do the dirtiest jobs in the world if the pay was good.  There is no job dirtier than a sanitation worker, especially in New York City.  In New York being a sanitation worker is considered a good job.  However, a New York Times story about a sanitation worker who passed away recently reveals that he was making around $58,000 yearly around his time of death.  That’s not that much considering the work and how important it is to society.  Yes, they get a pension and can retire after 20 years, but how long do you think people can do that work?  Having them only work 20 years also gives people an incentive to retire and open up spots for new people.  The New York City Sanitation Department also has a notoriously long waiting list for jobs.  Guess people want to do dirty jobs after all. 

                Lastly, maybe people don’t want to go into the trades because those aren’t very good jobs.  Much of trade work is seasonal, and if you talk to many people who work in the trades, you will a lot of people who have been out of work.  Also a great deal of trade work is not only dirty, but dangerous.  Unless you are going to pay enormous sums of money, I doubt you are going to find many people who want to do work requiring them to put their life on the line.  That’s part of the appeal of Dirty Jobs in the first place.  To show us how the other half lives, and to be grateful that we don’t have to do that work.

                So since Discovery Channel has cancelled Mike’s show I recommend he start a new one.  This one will be called Shitty Jobs.  Mike and his crew will do work like working in a fast food restaurant, or Wal-Mart, or health care aide in nursing homes.  Not only will they do this work, but then at the end of the episode, they will get the same pay as the people who did the job, probably no more than $10 an hour.  That wouldn’t be reality television,  that would be REALITY.  I’m sure this will be a step down from Mike’s position on Dirty Jobs, where I’m sure he probably made more an episode than the people on show made in a year.  Something tells me, Mike probably isn’t going to want to do that for long.  

One Upping Ronald Reagan

By Matthew Dunn

               

                “The nine scariest words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” said President Ronald Reagan.  This quote pretty much sums up how Republicans have felt about the government since the 1980s.  They have wanted to deregulate, privatize, and lower taxes at any cost.  Since the 1980s they have taken major steps to carry out this mission with a great deal of success.  However, I would argue, that they haven’t taken it far enough.  

                There is still way too much that the government is doing.  One of the things that they have done way too much of, is that they have regulated and taxed everything.  Regulations and taxes are the things that are killing business in the United States.  The government needs to get out of the way and let business do what it does best, make profits.  Like Grover Norquist, I believe that government spending should be where it was before Teddy Roosevelt and all the Socialists took over.  The government is hampering business and we need to liberate business from the government.  However, the current Republicans, who claim to be for smaller government haven’t done enough.  There are some things that they haven’t proposed, which need to start being on the table.  I propose a seven point plan for deregulation and lower taxation to make our economy boom. 

1.       No more taxes on the rich!: I’m sick and tired of people blasting the rich people of this country.  The rich are the job creators and they are our betters.  Rich people today have gotten a very bad rap.  We should be saluting the 1% not bashing them.  These are some of the most oppressed people in the country.  I hear that some of them have to make do with only 3 houses, 4 cars, and only one helicopter.  So in order to elevate the wealthy members of the United States to where they should be I propose ending all taxes on people and businesses who have assets of over one million dollars.  Just think how competitive our country will become in the world economy if we do this.  Wealthy companies and individuals will have so much more disposable income to spend.  Think of all the boats, cars, houses, and servants that they will be able to buy.  Think of all the art museums and symphony performances.  Recently I’ve been watching Downton Abbey, which takes place in England in the early 20^th century.  That was a society that knew how to treat its rich people.  Rich people all had personal servants, huge palaces, and titles that ordinary people had to address them by.  That was a society that knew how to treat its wealthy people.  We need to start having that kind of society in this nation.  A society where if someone wants to get ahead, they better start saluting their betters. 

2.       No more entitlements:  Our government spends way too much on entitlement programs, like social security and medicare.  People should not be entitled to these things.  When the rich people of America stop having to pay oppressive taxes, then there will be plenty of open jobs as their servants.  Then the rich people will take care of their servants, as long as they dedicate their lives to their lords.  And if rich people don’t care for their servants in their old age, well then that’s just too bad.  Don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of jobs in textiles, and we all know old ladies love sewing.  And we’ll have a lot more people with money, thanks to no taxes on the rich, and we can hire old men to patrol the streets yelling at everyone.  Who yells better than old men?

3.       Child Labor Laws:  Children in this country have it way too easy.  This has led to a problem.  In other countries, like India and China, there are no restrictions on child labor.  This has led their economies to become more competitive than our own.  Children will work for almost nothing, they don’t know any better.  When we can start hiring children to work in factories, then the manufacturing jobs will start coming back to the U.S.  I’ve been to other countries and I’ve seen children do a great job of selling things on the street.  American children are so lazy, let’s discipline them with some good old fashioned hard work.  Besides what are they really learning in school anyway?  How to sell drugs?  How to think?  What a waste of time.  In addition to this, we can get the old men to be the slave drivers in the factories, kill two birds with one stone. 

4.       Immigration Reform:  America has way too many illegal immigrants.  So I propose we legalize all of them immediately.  Now I know there is a lot of you out there who are going to oppose this, but hear me out.  What we will do, is completely open our borders to anyone who wants to come and work in this country.  Now to prevent terrorism, we will keep detailed dossiers on every single one of these people.  We can farm this out to Booz, Allen, Hamilton and all kinds of private security companies.  Then we will tax all immigrants who have lived here for less than 25 years 50% of their income.  This will help us pay for military security that we will need to police the country (because remember we can’t tax rich people because they create jobs).  Also the more immigrants we have in this country, the more downward pressure on wages that will be created.  When enough downward pressure on wages happens, then jobs will start coming back to the United States.  Plus think of all the new servants for wealthy people. 

5.       Eliminate National Parks:  We have so much available land in this country, but we don’t use it because it’s protected.  We need to use every bit of land in this country to make it productive. What a waste of space.  Who really gives a crap about some big trees and a big canyon.  Boring! You know what people like casinos!  We can turn Yellowstone into Vegas North.  Wrangell-St Elias National Park in Alaska covers over 32,000 sq kilometers of space.  Just think of how many cell phone towers, shopping malls, and bars we could fit there.  Just think, you can party in Alaska, all day and all day! We need to use every bit of land in this country to make it productive.  Privatize all of the national parks so it can be used for private development.  We could use that land for drilling oil, or building new resorts.  Just think we are going to have more rich people with more money.  Why do we want them going on vacation to other countries?  Keep them here.  Hell, if they stay in the United States we should pay them to go on vacation.  Just think of the great jobs that will pop up in the tourism industry, like carrying bags, personal assistants, and cleaning up rich people’s toilets. 

6.       Workplace Safety and Health Codes:  Workplaces get such a bad rap for being unsafe.  Health inspectors and all those government agencies make us pay a lot in taxes so they can police us.  I’m sick of it.  I don’t need to know if my restaurant food is clean, I can see if it’s clean or not ok.   Besides with all the extra money going around, the well to do will be able to own plantations like in the good old days, and all the food will be freshly prepared.  Plus, if we get rid of the regulations on safety, think of how much more business the healthcare industry can take in.  I’m tired of people being able to sue for anything they please.  These frivolous lawsuits are driving up the costs for all of us.  So the next time sometime slaps your ass at work, just be thankful for the attention sweetheart.

7.       Unions and Collective Bargaining:  These need to be gotten rid of ASAP.  From Twinkees to professional sports, unions have destroyed our sacred American institutions.  Now union busting techniques have been very good for the last 30 years, but it needs to happen faster.  Laws need to be put in place to outlaw unions.  Just think of how attractive we will look to companies all over the world, when they know that people in the United States don’t have a right to organize.  I know what you’re saying, “Don’t people in a free market system have the right to choose if they join a union?”  Forget that.  Workers don’t know what’s good for them.  We all know rich people always make the right decisions.  We need to put our complete faith in them.  Unions like to say that they helped make the weekend possible.  Wrong!  God is responsible for the weekend.  He rested on Saturday for Jews and on Sunday for Christians. 

So there it is.  A seven point plan, to help business succeed in America.  If we help business succeed, I know they will always have all of our best interests at heart.  And if you don’t like the system don’t worry, we will deregulate the drug market, and make it legal to get all kinds of uppers and downers over the counter at your pharmacy.  Regulations requiring cigarettes and alcohol only be sold to people over the age of 21 will also be removed, so all those children who are working can get just as wasted as the working adult.  And if you still don’t enjoy this new America, well then we’ll also deregulate the assisted suicide industry as well.  

In A Delaware State Of Mind

By Matthew Dunn

                Taxes:  we all hate paying them.  We pay them when we buy things, we pay them on our income, and we pay them on our homes.  Every year most of us hire some kind of tax expert to try and help us save a few bucks on our taxes.  We love to complain about taxes and how high they are.  But as much as we complain, we always do it, partly because we want to be good citizens, partly because we have no choice, and partly because we don’t want to go to jail. 

                There is one group of people that hates paying taxes more than any other group in the United States though.  These are the people who are in charge of America’s corporations and large businesses.  However, unlike the rest of us, corporations have the ability to escape taxes.  Sometimes, they do this by lobbying Congress to change tax laws and sometimes they do this by hiring highly skilled tax professionals.  One way which has come under more scrutiny in recent years, is that corporations move their bases of operation to places which have much lower taxes, to so called “tax havens”. 

                This was explored on a piece in 60 Minutes.  Journalist Leslie Stahl visited tax havens and also visited with corporate leaders to discuss this issue.  In her report, she spoke to corporate officials, and economists who thought that the corporate tax rate of 35% in the United States was much too high.  Companies could move their bases to other countries, and pay a much lower rate.  Stahl interviewed John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco, and Chambers defended this practice.  He said that because corporate taxes are lower abroad, then companies will move there.  When this happens unfortunately the United States will lose tax revenue and jobs. 

                This is a view shared by a great deal of corporations within the United States today.  Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook, appeared before the U.S. Senate, and scolded the government for its outdated tax system and its outrageously high corporate tax rate.  Because of these tax conditions, corporations move part or all of their operations to countries like Ireland, where they have a friendly tax environment.  However, not all companies move abroad to gain favorable tax status.  A lot of them move within the United States, to Delaware, to get the same treatment that they can get at international tax havens.

                Delaware is a very small state, both in area and in population.  Besides current Vice President Joe Biden and the fact that it was the first state, I can’t off the top of my head think of anything that it’s famous for.  However, Delaware has been known in business circles for quite a long time.  That is because Delaware has a long history of creating favorable conditions for business. 

                The number one favorable condition for business in Delaware, is the fact that it has no corporate tax rate.  This alone would draw great amounts of business but it is not the only reason.  Delaware also has no laws against usury (loaning money at excessive rates of interest).  This is why almost all of the credit card companies are based in Delaware.  In addition to these conditions, Delaware is famous for its Chancery Court.  Delaware’s Court of Chancery, is considered the leading court in The United States in matters of business law, and many companies prefer to use this court in sorting out their business disputes.   Delaware is home to many prestigious corporate law firms so they can access this court system.

                Because of these conditions, Delaware has become a great state for doing business.  Delaware has over 800,000 businesses chartered.  This is especially amazing considering that the current population of Delaware is under 1,000,000.  That makes as many businesses as 4/5 of the state’s population.  Besides credit card companies, Delaware has been a favorite location of companies who package complex financial instruments, which most of us first became familiar with during the financial crisis. 

                So Delaware has created wonderful business conditions, and in return many businesses have opened up shop there.  Delaware has combated the so called anti-business policies of the U.S. government and given business a place to thrive.  However, although business in Delaware may be thriving, many of the people who live in Delaware are not. 

                According to the most recent study from the United States Department of Labor, Delaware’s unemployment rate is 7.2%.  This puts it at the 31^st highest unemployment rate in the nation.  For young people who are hoping to enter the skilled workforce, the only major state university in the state of Delaware is the University of Delaware.  The tuition rate for Delaware residents is currently at $11,192 a year for state residents according to U.S. News and World Report.  The University of Delaware is also ranked by the same report as the 75^th best college in the nation.  In contrast to the University of Delaware, UC Berkeley, long thought of as one of the best colleges in the United States and #21 on the same list, had a tuition rate of $11,767 a year for state residents.   Add to this, that Delaware does not have any public law or medical schools, and it appears that Delaware students have a very limited and expensive options when it come to professional degrees.

                Delaware also made national headlines in 2009, when their legislature voted to allow gambling on sporting events.  Although this move, was criticized by some major sports leagues, Delaware saw it as a necessary step to helping its fiscal woes.  Delaware had been running a large state deficit, and gambling was seen as a way of bringing revenue into the state.  When states run deficits, they cut public services which negatively impact many citizens of those states.  So even by creating a friendly climate for business, Delaware was not able to solve its fiscal and employment problems.

                What might be seen as possibly the most troubling aspect of Delaware though is the condition of its largest city, Wilmington.  Although Wilmington is one of the centers of business in the United States, Wilmington has an unemployment rate that hovers around 10%.  With these consistent high rates of unemployment, Wilmington also has a great deal of problems with poverty, health, and crime.  Wilmington has one of the highest rates of HIV infection, leading to a type of public health crisis in the local community.  In 2010, Wilmington had 27 homicides.  This may not sound like a lot, but also consider that Wilmington is a city of only 70,851 people.  This gives Wilmington a homicide rate of 38.10 people murdered per 100,000.  This homicide rate gives Wilmington a higher homicide rate than Johannesburg, South Africa, considered one of the most dangerous places in the world.  Indeed for reasons like this, Wilmington is considered one of the most dangerous cities per capita in the country, and 98% of American cities are considered safer than Wilmington. 

                Many American states and cities seem to be starving for revenue at this time.  Corporations complain that corporate taxes are too high and they have to go elsewhere to employ people.  However, states will not solve their financial woes by catering to business’s needs.  Delaware, has about the most friendly business environment, and it still has a host of problems.  In fact, Delaware is largely exploited by businesses and businesses generally just use Delaware as an address without providing meaningful employment to the citizens of the state.  If state leaders want to find solutions to their fiscal woes, then they will have to stop bowing to the needs of wealthy businesses who always seem to be trying to get something for nothing. 

*Much of the information for this article was found in Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens by Nicholas Shaxson.  This very detailed book provides information about corporate policies and tax havens all over the world. 

  

                

Big Bad Teacher Unions

By Matthew Dunn

                What do Kim Kardashian and teachers’ unions have in common?  They are both given a tremendous amount of negative attention by the American press.  The American media in recent years feels that they have stumbled onto the twisted and selfish dealings that are conspired on inside teacher unions.  If you don’t believe me, Google teacher unions, and you will find that one of the first search results is an anti-teacher union website. 

                There has been a remarkable shift in the way that teachers are portrayed.  At one time it seems that they were held up as saints for the work that they did.  It seems now, that there is a much different attitude towards teachers and their unions in particular.  Conservative commentator Ann Coulter once referred to teachers as “taxpayer supported parasites who were inculcating students in the precepts of the Socialist Party of America”.  That statement may be extreme but it isn’t that far off from moderate columnist Nicholas Kristof, of The New York Times, who says that “he is not a big fan of teachers’ unions”.    

                In 2010, there were several mainstream documentary films about schools which saw teacher unions as the problems.  Both Waiting for Superman and The Lottery, were played widely, and garnered much publicity.  In celebration of the release of Waiting for Superman, NBC played a series of reports about how public schools were failing, and it seemed as though teachers’ unions were given a great deal of the blame. 

                Teachers’ Unions are portrayed as reluctant to school reforms, influential with government officials, and protective of bad teachers.  Recently, Fox 5 Editorialist referred to the UFT (The New York City Teachers’ Union) as keepers of the status quo.  He also referred to them with words such as union boss, to describe the President of the UFT, and a very organized and effective political machine.  In a recent town hall debate, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey said that teachers’ unions are the problem. 

                So with all this bad press, is all of this information true?  Are teachers’ unions causing schools to fail?  On teachersunionexposed.com teachers are said to use their political influence to block school reform.  However, in 2001 the No Child Left Behind Law was passed, creating a federal mandate for reforming schools.  This law passed Congress by heavy majorities in both parties.  If teachers’ unions opposed this reform, it seems as though their influence with Congress was lacking.  In fact there was only one Democratic Senator ( the party that most teacher unions support ) who voted against the bill.  Teachers’ unions have also worked with governments to create new teacher evaluation plans, in response to the federal government’s race to the top initiative. 

                So if teachers’ unions are detrimental to education, that means that states that have few teachers’ unions must have excellent educational systems right?  Wrong.  In fact some of the worst educational systems are in southern states which have routinely the worst educational systems in the nation.  Mississippi, almost always ranked in the bottom of the list for worst places to be a child, only has 36.8% of its teachers unionized.  New Mexico, recently voted the worst state to be a child, has 41% of its teachers unionized.  In contrast to this, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, which have some of the best educational systems in the nation, and are considered some of the best places for children to live all have over 80% of their teachers unionized.  Perhaps because the conditions are better for teaching in these states, they attract more talented people.  So maybe unions aren’t destroying education for children.  Apparently, people who have respect for others rights might be good teachers after all.   

Can We Work It Out or Was I Just Born This Way?

            Music is a pervasive influence in all of our lives.  We listen to it when we drive to work, we personalize it when we run on the treadmill, we celebrate with it when important things happen, and we remember it when we either try to remember or forget the past.  To meet a person who does not hear music in their daily life would probably be more difficult than meeting someone who has been struck by lightning.  Music reflects our moods and emotions, our sorrows and joys, and is one of the best ways to see how people define themselves. 

            In today’s popular music, there seems to be a great commonality.  It seems that individual artists have become the main driving force and musical groups seemed to have declined in popularity.  There are still groups of course but many of them seem to be holdovers from earlier decades.  Individual artists seem to the mainstay of today’s music.  If one peruses the Billboard charts or the Grammy nominations, one will likely see mostly songs and albums by individual artists such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Adele, and Bruno Mars.  In many of the hit songs by individual artists we notice that many of them feature other individual artists such as Katy Perry featuring Kanye West or Enrique Iglesias featuring Pitbull. 

            This trend of individual artists seems to have changed from the past when individual artists started out in groups.  Artists such as Eric Clapton and Michael Jackson became very famous as solo artists but they started their careers in collaborative groups.  After a number of years artists such as these moved on from their groups perhaps because they had outgrown them or perhaps because their particular talents were better suited to individual work.  However, in today’s music (of course there are exceptions) it seems as though many of the solo artists have come out of nowhere and suddenly they burst onto the scene almost like someone who makes a grand entrance at a party. 

            Why has this become the trend?  A little over a decade ago, the 1990s brought us an age of musical groups in various genres.  Why such a great change in so little time?  There could be many speculations at why this has occurred.  First of all is the American Idol effect.  American Idol has by far been the most popular show of the last decade in American television.  It has spawned many spinoffs and copies such as The Voice, America’s Got Talent, and the X-Factor.  These shows sometimes have the artists in collaborative situations but for the most part the show celebrates individualism.  Each of the shows features mainly individual performers singing for a panel of judges.  The judges then give their opinions which sometimes vary widely depending on the judge’s persona.  After the votes are then tabulated, singers are sent home until one becomes the winner.  The genius of American Idol is that it seems to give people a sense that anyone can be a star, and we give everyone a chance, even those who are dreadful.

            Hip hop music has also seemed to have changed the musical landscape.  Hip hop (especially gangsta rap) celebrates the individual.  From how much money they make, to the jewelry they wear, to the amount of bitches they be pimpin, to the amount of motha fuckas they shot, hip hop music seems largely to be an expression of individual accomplishments.  Since the 1990s hip hop has very successfully branched out and become incredibly popular.  With this, hip hop music began to blend into many different kinds of music and white artists whose music would seem to be very different from hip hop began to collaborate with hip hop artists.  Whoever thought that a young white girl from California would be collaborating on a pop song with a gangsta rapper whose claims to fame were being a member of the Crips, smoking weed, and a trial for murder.  Perhaps hip hop has added more individuality to popular music. 

            Another factor in making the individual star more popular is of course computers.  Like music computers are part of all aspects of our lives.  With the advent of the personal computer and the internet, the way people listen to music was forever changed.  People all over the world can now listen to music absolutely for free at any time.  When this happened it changed the business model of the music industry.  Instead of relying principally on sales for revenue, they would now have to rely on artists generating revenue through other outlets such as concerts.  Individual artists require less attention than groups and their leading personalities usually manage to draw very large crowds even when tickets are excessively priced. 

            Perhaps the individual artist is better than the group.  Musical groups tend to be ripe with turmoil.  This infighting in the group can sometimes lead to great music, but almost always it eventually leads to the end of the group.  Perhaps now we have a better handle of ourselves as individuals.  We don’t need to define ourselves as part of a group, and individual artists seem to suit our tastes better.  Or maybe perhaps our music has become too individual becoming shallow and materialistic and focusing on fantastic things that many of us can only dream about having.  Many of us seemed to have lost a sense of community and we don’t aspire anymore to be in a rock band, we all just aspire to be singers while playing rock band. 

            The choices we make about our music are like most of the ones that we make in society.  They are in fact our individual choices, but they do not exist in a vacuum.  We make them based on what is presented to us, and what the general zeitgeist is.   

Summer Reading List

By Matthew Dunn

                If you are in the mood to learn about the world that we live in this summer, any of the following books might be good. 

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein:  The history of the free-market economic revolution.  Klein challenges the popular myth of this movement’s peaceful global victory.  Klein shows how the followers have repeatedly harnessed terrible shocks and violence to implement free market policies. 

Dirty Wars:  The World is a Battlefield by Jeremy Scahill:  A story describing the evolution of the War on Terror.  This work of investigative journalism details the rise of Joint Special Operations Command or JSOC and how it has changed the face of warfare, and what the implications are for the world.

Fordlandia by Greg Grandin.   A history of Henry Ford’s unsuccessful business venture into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest.  A story that is interwoven with the history of the Ford company and how one very famous capitalist tried to re-create society. 

The Death and Life of the American School System by Diane Ravitch.  Diane Ravitch sifts through the headlines about the problems facing public education and constructs a narrative detailing the great changes that have arose from the educational reform movement.

Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt.  A dying historian’s take on how the world has changed in his lifetime for the worse and recommendations for how the world could precede for the better. 

Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love by Dave Zirin.  This book details the policies and practices of many sports owners.  These policies and practices have led to overpriced tickets, robbing of public funds, and not necessarily good sports teams. 

Tropic of Chaos by Christian Parenti:  This book outlines the problem of climate change and how it has intersected with other world factors to make some areas of the world very violent places. 

If you have any other suggestions about good books about current events please let me know about them in the comments section. 

Are we the Starks or the Lannisters?

By Matthew Dunn

                The fantasy series Game of Thrones on HBO has captured some of the highest ratings that the channel has ever seen.  The series, based on the novels by George R.R. Martin, is a tale of a fantasy world called Westeros, where noble families fight for power.  Much of the first three seasons of this show deals with the conflicts between two of these families, the Starks and the Lannisters.  Even though the series is fantasy, it seems to echo many of the events happening in the world today. 

                The Starks in the series are a noble house who control the northern lands of Westeros.  The Starks value honor above all else, even when it puts them in dire conditions.  In the first season, the family patriarch, Ned, is sent to the capital of Westeros to serve as the lead advisor to the king.  Ned is quickly overwhelmed by the amount of backstabbing, spying, and plotting which leads to his inevitable downfall.  Due to his trusting nature and his desire to keep his family safe, he eventually ends up without a head, thanks to the rival Lannister family.

                The Lannisters in contrast, seem to value power above all else.  During the series the Lannisters are in control of the country’s monarchy.  The Lannisters most influential character throughout the series is the eldest daughter of the family, Cersei, who serves as Queen of Westeros.  Cersei is driven only by her lust for power, and her desire to keep her children safe.  When Ned Stark discovered that her firstborn son, Joffrey, was the illegitimate product of incest between her and her brother Jamie, she outmaneuvers him, and has him imprisoned.  Joffrey once he has control of the crown, beheads Ned, as a show of force to all others would challenge the Lannisters. 

                In the second and third seasons of the series, Ned’s son Robb, seeks vengeance for his father’s murder.  He rallies his loyal troops from the North and marches to the South.  He wins key battles, but he is not able to gain much ground on the powerful Lannister forces.  Like his father, Robb puts a great deal of emphasis on his code of honor, and this eventually leads to his undoing.  He is outwitted by the patriarch of the Lannister family, Tywin, and is murdered at a wedding feast. 

                The United States fights in multiple countries around the world today, in the name of freedom, security, and democracy.  When Presidents Bush and Obama spoke to the nation about the goals of these wars, they sounded much like the Stark family calling for honorable sacrifices.  Islamic terrorists who attacked the U.S. on 9/11 were against our way of life we were told.  In Lannister fashion, the Islamic terrorists seemed to call for war on an honorable people.  Therefore, U.S. leaders called for vengeance much like the Starks would.   

                However, in reality Islamic terrorists seems to share much more in common with the Starks than the U.S.  The Starks of the North are a tribal people, and the people of the North are hold on to their traditions because of the harsh conditions of their region.  People in the North are deeply spiritual and hold on to old religious beliefs even when the rest of the world seems to change.  In the North, the Starks even practice honor killings, and they personally behead members of citizens who break the codes of honor.  Any one of these descriptions could just as easily fit many members of Islamic fundamentalist groups. 

                In fact the United States in its culture today seems to behave much like the Lannisters.  Our nation seems to be completely driven by desires both carnal and material.  Even though we still have sexual taboos, they seem to be flaunted everywhere, much like the Lannisters flaunt the taboo on incest in their world.  The Lannisters are the richest and most powerful family in their world, yet none of the members of the family seems to be happy.  Sounds almost like America, doesn’t it.  

                What is perhaps more disturbing though, is that the United States increasingly has behaved much like the Lannisters in the realm of foreign policy.  Jeremy Scahill’s recent book and documentary Dirty Wars, details how the United States have conducted secret military actions around the world.  We have routinely got into bed with unsavory characters in order to fight the war on terror, and also have committed atrocities.  In one particularly disturbing story from Dirty Wars, U.S. Special Ops raided a party at night, killing several people, who had no known links to the Taliban or terrorists.  This sounds eerily similar to Lannister actions at the Red Wedding where they murdered Robb Stark. 

                Perhaps Martin’s tale is a warning about empires or perhaps it is a prediction of what comes to empires.  We find out in the third season, even the supremely wealthy Lannisters have accumulated large war debts.  Tyrion Lannister, who is serving as the bookkeeper in the third season, says this is dangerous because if they don’t pay their debts, the lenders will support their enemies.  Time will only tell if both the Lannisters and the United States have overleveraged themselves.  If this is true, then both the United States and the Lannisters could fall from powerful dragons from the east.  

Is Batman Good for Gotham City?

By Matthew Dunn

                Since his creation Batman has become one of the most popular characters in the superhero genre.  Bruce Wayne, traumatized after witnessing the murder of his parents as a child, swears revenge on criminals as an adult.  He transforms himself into Batman, and he aims to strike fear into the hearts of criminals or those who would harm others.  Batman throughout his existence has had many changes since his character was created.  Perhaps one of the darkest interpretations has been created in Christopher Nolan’s recent Batman trilogy. 

                In the first film of the series Batman Begins, we see Bruce Wayne as a young man and his transformation into Batman.  At the beginning of the film Bruce is trying to learn about the criminal element and because of his great skills, intelligence, and resources, he is recruited by a secret organization known as the League of Shadows.  The League of Shadows, led by Ra’s al Ghul, is committed to stopping crime around the world.  They do this by committing huge acts of destruction and sometimes genocide in order to make the survivors re-evaluate their lives and to bring balance to the world as they see fit.  After training with the organization, Bruce disagrees with their extreme plan to destroy his home city of Gotham, and he proceeds to destroy the temple of the organization along with many of its members.  However, he saves his mentor, who we later find out was Ra’s al Ghul, who had hidden his identity.  

                When Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham he proceeds to construct his new identity of Batman.  He uses his family’s great wealth and business dealings to arm himself with a plethora of weapons including a Kevlar suit and a tank ( a great departure from the Batmobiles of previous Batman stories ).  Once becoming Batman he seeks to rid the city of corruption and crime by frightening his enemies.  While doing this he stumbles upon a plan concocted by the surviving members of the League of Shadows to unleash a terrible toxin upon the city which will put all the citizens of Gotham into a psychotic state whereby they will turn upon each other and a genocide will commence.  Batman with the aid of perhaps the only non-corrupt member of the police force, Jim Gordon, realizes a solution to the plan and eventually stops the League of Shadows from committing their terrible actions.  Although not explicitly mentioned by the police or government officials, Batman becomes a hero to the citizens of Gotham.

                However, is Batman really the solution for Gotham?  After all the League of Shadows originally recruited him in order to destroy Gotham.  Since he refused and then subsequently destroyed their headquarters, one might see their later attack on Gotham as revenge on Bruce Wayne.  Also the League of Shadows carries out their terrible plan with stolen weapons from Bruce Wayne’s own company.  Had Bruce Wayne carried out the same actions as Tony Stark in Ironman, he would have had his company stop making weapons and thereby decreased the ability of the League of Shadows to wreak havoc on the citizens of Gotham City. 

                The problems created by Batman become even clearer in the second part of the series, The Dark Knight.  In this film Batman meets his most famous nemesis, The Joker.  The Joker is a sociopathic madman who seems to find mass killing to be humorous and enjoyable.  Unlike the League of Shadows he has no wider aspirations than just causing chaos for the sake of having chaos.  In these ways he shows himself to be the polar opposite of Batman, for Batman has the goal of ridding the city of crime, and at the same time has a great respect for human life.  In the beginning of the film, the organized crime elements of Gotham give financial support to the Joker in order to kill Batman because he has severely damaged their abilities to do illegal business.  The Joker then proceeds to take that money and use it to terrorize the people of Gotham in order to confront Batman.  At the end of the film, when the two rivals battle each other, Batman wins the fight and then saves the Joker from death.  In his final speech the Joker reveals that the two of them essentially need each other because they complement each other’s needs. 

                We see in this film the true problem of Batman.  Although he may possess many great abilities he cannot stop crime.  In fact his presence leads to an increase in crime.  He may have stopped many of the low level criminals but as his trusty butler and companion, Alfred Pennyworth, instructs him in their desperation they unleash a truly destructive force.  The Joker takes crime to a whole other level threatening to kill thousands.  Also because of Batman’s refusal to kill the Joker because of his own psychological needs, the Joker will live to battle Batman again and presumably kill countless more in the process.  As the Joker says in his final scene, “I think that you and I are destined to do this forever.” 

                In the third and presumably final film, The Dark Knight Rises, we are introduced to a Gotham that has not seen Batman for several years.  This Gotham seems to be much more peaceful, due to the absence of Batman and the new criminal laws which were passed.  These laws place harsh punishments on criminals and also allow law enforcement more leeway in fighting crime, much like the PATRIOT Act or Rico laws in the United States today.  However, the peace does not last and soon Gotham is confronted with another vicious and powerful villain known only as Bane.  Bane, like Bruce Wayne, has been trained by the League of Shadows and is a mental and physical match for Batman.  With the help of a wealthy businessman who seeks to take over the Wayne business empire, Bane makes an attack on the Stock Market and gains access to a nuclear core designed by Wayne enterprises and turns it into a bomb.  After defeating Batman in hand to hand combat, Bane reveals that he intends to finish the work of the League of Shadows and destroy Gotham City.  He then imprisons Bruce Wayne in the prison where he spent most of his life, where escape is nearly impossible.  While he does this, Bruce will be forced to watch, tortured as he can do nothing to save the city. 

                Without Batman to stand in his way, Bane proceeds to become overlord of Gotham.  With the threat of a nuclear attack, he proceeds to set a government to his liking.  He releases criminals held in the city jails, steals the property of the wealthy, and sets up show trials similar to the ones in Revolutionary France or The Soviet Union under Stalin, whereby the verdicts were predetermined and the accused were always sentenced to death.  Bruce Wayne who is far away in prison is forced to watch the destruction of the city he had worked so hard to defend.  Then after hearing a story of a child who escaped from the prison he is in, he trains and eventually escapes to return to Gotham as Batman. 

                After Batman returns to Gotham he confronts Bane once more, this time defeating him.  However, he is stabbed by Miranda Tate, a woman who Bruce had entrusted with the nuclear technology his firm had created and had a sexual liaison with.  She reveals that her real name is Talia al Ghul and that she is the daughter of the slain leader of the League of Shadows.  She was in fact the child who escaped from the prison with the help of Bain.  It seems as though Bain carried out his atrocities in Gotham mainly as a labor of love for her.  Soon after this scene, Talia attempts to detonate the nuclear bomb in an attempt to destroy Gotham.  After escaping Bane, Batman manages to thwart her efforts by obtaining the bomb and detonating it from his fighter jet over the ocean.  Batman appears to have died in the blast, but it is revealed in the last scene of the film, that he escaped and moved abroad with Selina Kyle who was Catwoman during the film. 

                Once again in this film, we see how the existence of Batman leads to death and destruction for Gotham.  Bruce Wayne’s nuclear research leads to the creation of a neutron bomb and his trust in the wrong person puts the bomb in the hands of someone who seeks genocide.  Also we see Talia carries on her father’s work, but specifically targets Gotham because of the desire for revenge on Batman.  This is why Bane tortures Batman.  Lastly, the re-appearance of Batman after Bane’s attack on the stock market allows Bane to elude police capture.  Once again, we see Batman putting his psychological needs to stop crime ahead of what actually might be good for the city of Gotham. 

                Looking at Batman in this light can shed some very important lessons for our world.  First criminal activity cannot be stopped by the escalation of violence against criminals.  For example, many countries have escalated an incredibly violent war on drugs.  However, this has not stopped the drug trade, but made the drug cartels more violent and in fact in some places such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia the drug cartels regularly do battle with the military and win.  Next, just because someone is very skilled like Batman, does not mean that they have any grand solutions to the injustices of our time.  Batman has great skills and resources but even with the best of intentions he cannot accomplish his grand goals.  Lastly, Batman offers us a lesson about our own needs.  Batman fights crime in order to deal with the pain of watching his parents gunned down.  Therefore we see that he is in fact dishonest about his motives, which really appear to be purely selfish and not really about making the city a better place.  For if crime was eliminated from Gotham, he would have no purpose much like the Bruce Wayne that we saw at the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises.  Perhaps the final lesson here, is to acknowledge that we do all in fact have needs, but we need to recognize the needs of others as well.  If the Batmans of the world did this, both Gotham and the rest of the world might be better off. 

Is it still My Kind of Town? Chicago in the Age of Neo-Liberalism

By Matthew Dunn

                Chicago, the windy city, The Second City, Chi-town.  A place where the only thing bigger than the  skyscrapers are the dreams of its citizens from the traders in the pits, to the ballers on the courts. Creator of the of deep dish, the Chicago dog, and all kinds of magnificent meat.  Home of those lovable losers, The Chicago Cubs, the presently great Chicago Blackhawks, and of course Da Bears.  It gave us Michael Jordan, who not only won basketball championships, but forever cemented the relationship between business and sports.  Chicago gave us the Second City Comedy troupe, which spawned the careers of many of our great comedians like Bill Murray and Steven Colbert.  It allowed the rise of an African American woman, Oprah Winfrey, who was born into poverty to triumph over adversity and become one of the most successful media personalities ever.  And of course last but not least, Chicago gave rise to a small time community organizer, who would eventually become the most powerful person on the planet. 

                There is no doubt that Chicago has been a tremendous part of the American culture.  Besides these cultural phenomena, Chicago was also the birthplace of many of the most influential economic ideas.  Most of these came from The University of Chicago’s Department of Economics.  The Chicago School of Economics has long been considered one of the world’s best economic departments.  The faculty of the department have won more international awards for achievement in economics than any other university.[1]

                Along with the prestige of the university department, has come a general set of economic ideas.  Collectively these ideas make up much of what could be called free market fundamentalism, monetarism, or neoliberalism.  The ideas of neoliberalism could best be described in a quote by Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, who taught at the University of Chicago:

The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither.  The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.[2]

                Those who follow along with the neoliberal way of thinking believe that government causes almost all major economic problems.  This happens because governments try to contain or control the economic market.  Because of this neoliberal economists advocate for governments to de-politicize the economy. 

                Price Inflation is one of the major problems that neoliberal economists believe is caused by governments.  Neoliberal economists advocate for government to limit its actions so it can stop inflation.  Because governments have a tendency to spend more money than they take in, governments find themselves running deficits quite often.  Therefore because governments increase the supply of money, they are the main cause of inflation.  Neoliberal economists advocate that governments counter this by having government pass laws requiring governments to balance their budgets.[3]  In order to help them reach their goal of having a balanced budget, governments should also sell off assets, which private business could run at a profit.  This will help private business as well as helping government to unload costly assets.  Also, neoliberal economists recommend that governments loosen and end regulations on the market, in order to allow the market to reach its full potential.[4] [5]

                Since many of these ideas were formulated at the University of Chicago, it is only natural that they would have a great deal of influence on the city.  Since the 1800’s Chicago had been home to the Chicago Board of Trade, the world’s oldest futures and options exchange.  This exchange and the others that followed (such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) trade futures contracts on commodities such as eggs, meat, and grain.  These contracts are designed to reduce the amount of risk in price fluctuations for the suppliers of these commodities.  Traders who buy and sell these contracts can profit greatly or fail greatly, when they speculate on the contracts.  Free market economists from the University of Chicago saw these exchanges in the postwar United States as one of the last bastions of true free market capitalism. 

                In the 1960’s Leo Melamed became Chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  Melamed was very interested in the ideas of free market capitalism and sought to expand the business of the exchange.  He believed that the exchange could make a great deal of profit trading futures in financial products such as currencies, stocks, and bonds.  Melamed discussed his ideas with Milton Friedman who went on to write a paper arguing for futures trading in the currency market.[6]  Friedman’s article and Melamed’s business savvy, worked and the exchange began trading futures based on financial products in the 1970’s.[7]  With trading in financial futures underway, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange expanded rapidly, and financial trading would create enormous fortunes in the city of Chicago in the following decades. 

                Soon after this in the 1980’s, Chicago would see the rise of it longest ever serving mayor, Richard M. Daley.  Daley is the son of the second longest serving mayor in Chicago history Richard J. Daley.  The elder Daley, was known as a tremendous power broker in the national Democratic Party, rumored to have rigged the Presidential Election in Chicago in 1960 to help John F. Kennedy become president.  However, once the younger Daley became mayor in the late 80s, his economic policies looked much more like a strong Republican’s rather than the party his father had been so influential in.  It seems as though he was strongly influenced by the economic ideas which emanated out of the prestigious university of his hometown. 

                Daley’s election was celebrated by the Chicago business community.  Daley was thought of as pro-business, which essentially meant that he supported neoliberal economic policies.  He laid off workers in city industries to cut government spending, supported renovations to bring in tourism and wealthy residents, and privatized city industries.  In one of his most famous moves, Daley privatized the city’s parking meters and gave a private company rights to the meters for 75 years.[8]  In addition to this, Daley along with Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, pressed for more accountability in the schools, closed failing schools, and opened up more privately managed charter schools.[9] [10]

                Daley was able to win five terms as mayor in Chicago, serving even longer than his father did.  After his fifth term ended he decided not to run for another and Rahm Emmanuel, The White House Chief of Staff, succeeded him.  One of Emmanuel’s first jobs in politics was working on Daley’s campaign.[11]  Emmanuel won by a large margin in the mayoral election and has largely carried on Daley’s policies especially the one’s dealing with Chicago’s public schools. 

               

                So how has all of this free market policy worked out in Chicago?  Has it become an entrepreneur’s  paradise, that might have been imagined by economists at the University of Chicago?  Are the people of Chicago actively pursuing their own self interest, leading to a greater good?  For many of the residents of Chicago unfortunately the answer is no.

                Chicago in many ways can be seen as a failing city.  Descriptions of Chicago in recent business magazines use words like depressing and miserable in their headlines to describe the current state of affairs.  The unemployment rate and the rate of home foreclosure in Chicago are both well above the national average.  For those who are not employed, high sales taxes, long commute times, and the highest gas prices in the nation make for unpleasant travel conditions.[12]  For those without regular employment, coupled with a public transportation system that is perpetually underfunded, it compounds their already difficult situation.[13]  In addition to this, the parking meters, which were privatized under Daley, are now the most expensive in North America.[14]  Turns out privatization doesn’t always work out best for the consumer. 

                Chicago’s schools were reorganized in a neoliberal fashion under Daley as well.  However, this has not led Chicago’s schools to any kind of great improvement.  According to Northwestern University Chicago’s dropout rate is two points higher than the national average, and one out of every five male Chicagoans does not have a high school diploma.[15]  On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, tests that measure educational ability nationwide, Chicago’s test scores remained flat between 2003-2007, and high school performance continued to be very low.[16]  However, despite this, Mayor Emmanuel has continued to follow neoliberal policies in education, and is in the process of closing over fifty schools.[17]

                Although Chicago has had neoliberal policies drive their government actions for over 20 years, it has not helped with the city’s deficit.  The city has run deficits since 2001, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.  The budget deficit is predicted to continue increasing and may reach $800 million by 2014.[18]  With many public services already cut, and key assets sold off to private companies, one wonders where the city government will find the money for their debts. 

                Neoliberal economists believed that the power of the market combined with the reduction of the welfare state, would help African Americans improve their station in society.  Throughout his famous documentary “Free to Choose”, Milton Friedman showed many enterprising African Americans who were not taking government handouts and working hard to become part of the entrepreneurial and middle classes.  Chicago was a city that was much affected by segregation in the postwar era.  Martin Luther King Jr. moved to Chicago in 1966, in order to highlight the great amount of housing segregation which existed there.[19]  Has the power of the marketplace liberated African Americans from extreme poverty there?  Unfortunately it has not.  The average black person makes 45% of what whites make in Chicago.  The only city where the income disparity is worse between whites and blacks  in America is Dallas.[20]  In addition to this, segregation seems to continue on a great scale in Chicago.  The historically African America district of the South Side which has a population of 752,496, continues to be 93% African American.[21]

                Statistics such as these are abhorrent to many, but perhaps the most horrifying statistic about Chicago is the murder rate.  According to a recent investigative report, between 2003 and 2011 Chicago had 4,265 people murdered. This is death toll almost as high as the number of Americans killed in The Iraq War during the same time period.  In 2012, 512 people were killed.  This has led to some gang members nicknaming Chicago “Chiraq”.[22]  With murder rates as high as this, Chicago is one of the most violent cities in the nation. 

                In November of 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.  As a man who had worked his way up through Chicago politics, he had much to thank the city for.  When he first went to Washington, he brought Arne Duncan and Rahm Emmanuel along with him, to give them high level cabinet posts.  By appointing these two men to his cabinet, he showed that he was in favor of the policies that Chicago had followed in the decades before.  Frank Sinatra once sang in the famous song “My Kind of Town”, that Chicago was one town that won’t let you down.  Unfortunately for many of the residents of Chicago, the conditions have let down many, especially the most vulnerable populations.  If these neoliberal policies, many of which originated in Chicago, continue in the United States, much of the country will continue to be let down. 

               

               

               

               

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[1] University of Chicago Economic Department, http://economics.uchicago.edu/about/history.shtml.  (Accessed June 18, 2013). 

[2] Friedman, Milton.  Free To Choose: A Personal Statement.  Directed by Peter Robinson.  Arlington, Virginia, 1980. 

[3] Chang, Ha-Joon.  Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism.  New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008.  Location 3167. 

[4] Klein, Naomi.  The Shock Doctrine.  The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.  New York:  Picador, 2007.  Pgs 68-69. 

[5] These are no means the only ideas of neoliberal economists, just some of the major ones.  If you are interested in learning more about neoliberal economic theory any of the books or films mentioned in these footnotes can give you a great deal of information.

[6] Lambert, Emily.  The Futures:  The Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World’s Biggest Markets.  New York: Basic Books, 2010.  Pgs 80-82. 

[7] Harvey, David.  The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 2010.  Pg 262. 

[8] Moreci, Michael.  “Chicago: The Privatized City of the Future”.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moreci/chicago-the-privatized-ci_b_187753.html.  (April 16, 2009).

[9] Kingsbury, Kathleen.  “Will Arne Duncan Shake Up America’s Schools?”.  http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1866783,00.html.  (December 16, 2008). 

[10] Mayor Daley put Chicago’s schools under mayoral control.  The superintendent’s of the Chicago Public Schools was redefined, and renamed the Chief Executive Officer.  This title implies a business leader, rather than a civic one. 

[11] Rahm Emmanuel Biography.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel.  (Retrived June 17, 2013).

[12] Wile, Rob.  “25 Facts That Make Chicago The Most Depressing Big City in America”.  http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-is-the-worst-american-city-2013-6#this-year-forbes-named-chicago-the-countrys-fourth-most-miserable-city-its-residents-suffer-from-long-commutes--1. (June 2, 2013).

[13] Moreci, Michael.  “Chicago: The Privatized City of the Future”.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moreci/chicago-the-privatized-ci_b_187753.html.  (April 16, 2009).

[14] Abernathy, Samantha.  “Chicago Has North America’s Most Expensive Parking Meters”. http://chicagoist.com/2012/12/26/chicago_has_nations_most_expensive.php.  (December 26, 2012).

[15] Wile, Rob.  “25 Facts That Make Chicago The Most Depressing Big City in America”.  http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-is-the-worst-american-city-2013-6#this-year-forbes-named-chicago-the-countrys-fourth-most-miserable-city-its-residents-suffer-from-long-commutes--1. (June 2, 2013).

[16] Ravitch, Diane.  The Death and Life of the Great American School System:  How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.  New York:  Basic Books, 2010.  Pgs 158-159.

[17] Democracy Now.  “Chicago to Shutter 50 Public Schools: Is this Massive Closure an Experiment in Privatization?”  http://www.democracynow.org/2013/5/28/chicago_to_shutter_50_public_schools.  (May 28, 2013). 

[18] Jones, Tim.  “Chicago’s Budget Deficit Widens $50 Million to $635.7 Million”.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-29/chicago-s-budget-deficit-widens-50-million-to-635-7-million-mayor-says.html.  (July 29, 2011).

[19] Allen, Susie and Michael Drapa.  “When King Made History At UChicago”.  http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20120109_mlk/.  (Retrived June 18, 2013).

[20] Cottrell, Megan.  “Second City or Dead Last?  Income Apartheid in Chicago”.  http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-muckrakers/2011/02/second-city-or-dead-last-income-apartheid-in-chicago/.  (February 28, 2011). 

[21] Demographic Information gained on Wikipedia’s article on the South Side of Chicago.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Side,_Chicago#Demographics.  (Retrived June 18, 2013).

[22] Morton, Thomas. “Chiraq”.  VICE produced by HBO.  Originally aired on June 9, 2013.  Statistics found on corresponding website, http://hbo.vice.com/episode-nine.