If anyone in the Western hemisphere hasn’t weighed in on the events in Wisconsin, then it’s news to us. It’s a situation perfectly designed to excite both sides – conservatives have an opportunity to deliver a final blow in their long fight against the labor movement, while the unions, having contrived to lose most of their major battles in the last thirty years, see a chance to win a fight.
One interesting dialogue has emerged, with notables like Krugman and Drum on one side, and Avent to the other. In the first argument, unions represent the last meaningful political power that still fights for the middle class. America is already flirting with oligarchy, so it seems inopportune to surrender the field to vested business interests.
On the other hand, as Ryan Avent persuasively points out, unions haven’t been terribly good at mobilizing for the middle class any time recently. Wages have stagnated, jobs have disappeared, and union membership is falling. Much of this blame lies elsewhere. The mechanization of manufacturing brutalized many traditionally staunch union vocations. An increasingly globalized world was always going to decrease America’s relative share of the international economy.
Also, as others note, unions are not angels. They lead to cartelization and abuse. Often, they fight to deliver a larger share of a shrinking pie, rather than promoting policies that would lead to greater economic growth for all. They sometimes protect the employment of workers who are not fit for their positions.
Further, while cursory evidence strongly suggests no correlation between union membership and state budget deficits, and weak correlation between membership and per capita spending, state employees are an expense on the public purse. At a time when the largesse of the government is constrained, it is perfectly equitable that they should shoulder some share of the burden.
We’re big fans of Avent. We like the cut of his jib. But in this case, we disagree. Not, we’re afraid, for any terribly factual or rigorous reason. We’re just pissed.
To us, it seems that this recession has offered innumerable opportunities for the poor and the middle class to “shoulder their share” of the burden. The mortgage cramdown was defeated because it posed a threat to bank balance sheets and because renegotiating mortgages rewarded irresponsible borrowers. The Republicans suggest cutting social programs because we can not afford things like nutrition assistance or worker retraining – but tax cuts are probably ok. We can’t afford more stimulus, can’t countenance a rate of inflation that would erode nominal debts, and certainly aren’t about to let those dastardly public workers of the hook.
Yet we passed TARP. We repaired the balance sheets of the big banks. We recapitalized the financial sector. We made good on AIG’s collateralized obligations. We didn’t stand in the way of record bonuses on Wall Street. We didn’t pass clawback taxes on bonuses or a Tobin tax, or raise bank collateral independent of Basel III, or pass a strong Volcker rule. We allowed exemptions for derivatives trading on clearing houses and we didn’t touch the taxation of capital gains. The wizards of the financial world ran the economy over a cliff and in return, we did nothing.
And there was always a reason for it! Always a perfectly good reason. We’ve got to keep the economy humming, we have to make the financiers happy ensure a smoothly running economic machine. Only it’s not running very smoothly, not these days, not with growth below trend and inequality growing and revenues down and budget deficits on the rise. So now we take the axe to the public sector unions. Because someone has to help balance the books.
So when we defend the unions in Wisconsin, it’s partially because we’ve reasons to like the concept of organized labor as a countervailing political force. But also because, in a fit of pique, we want a line drawn in the sand. We want our fucking revolution. Because when it’s time to pay the pound of flesh, our betters always seem to have better things to do, but we’re given a knife and asked to start cutting. And that’s not right. That’s not right at all.
