New Labour is now as far beyond parody as it is beneath contempt. The Tories and the Lib Dems can see the good in restricting the size of banks and in banning retail banks from involvement in hedge funds, private equity and proprietary trading. But New Labour, unlike the Obama Administration, knows nothing of the words of Theodore Roosevelt:
"I hold that a corporation does ill if it seeks profit in restricting production and then by extorting high prices from the community by reason of the scarcity of the product; through adulterating, lyingly advertising, or over-driving the help; or replacing men workers with children; or by rebates; or in any illegal or improper manner driving competitors out of its way; or seeking to achieve monopoly by illegal or unethical treatment of its competitors, or in any shape or way offending against the moral law either in connection with the public or with its employees or with its rivals. Any corporation which seeks its profit in such fashion is acting badly. It is, in fact, a conspiracy against the public welfare which the Government should use all its powers to suppress.
"If, on the other hand, a corporation seeks profit solely by increasing its products through eliminating waste, improving its processes, utilizing its by-products, installing better machines, raising wages in the effort to secure more efficient help, introducing the principle of cooperation and mutual benefit, dealing fairly with labor unions, setting its face against the underpayment of women and the employment of children; in a word, treating the public fairly and its rivals fairly: then such a corporation is behaving well. It is an instrumentality of civilization operating to promote abundance by cheapening the cost of living so as to improve conditions everywhere throughout the whole community."
For more on this President Roosevelt and these matters, those of you eccentric enough to listen to the radio (never mind watch television) on the Internet should have a listen to this. I have been hoping for years to read a proper study of the two Presidents Roosevelt in terms of their similarities, preferably leading to a synthesis of their thought as applicable in the present age. If anyone knows of such a work, then do please let me know davidaslindsay@hotmail.com.
Don't bet against Obama's next move being the auditing of the Fed.
The US Supreme Court has just lifted the ceiling on corporate funding of political campaigns. Jolly good. Let Americans look out for the candidates clearly funded by those opposed to these splendidly conservative measures. And let them vote accordingly.
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On your book request, the classic study is "Team of Roovals: Rooseveltian Political Philosophy from Square Deal to New Deal", by Arthur M Kreutzfengler Jr (Harvard, 1971). I think it's still in print.
ReplyDeleteVery many thanks.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmmmmm. I'll leave that one to the Library of Congress to look up Lamb, I think, it should keep them occupied.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing is the contrast between a sort of 'League of Nations' proposal that Mervyn King made the other day to merge the IMF and the G-20--a countervailing regulator of the sort Woodrow Wilson would have wanted-- and Obama's proposal. The latter is much more like the TR's 'new nationalism, though it reminded me a bit of Nixon hitting out at speculators when he ran into a little trouble. It's intuitively challenging since you'd expect the roles to be different at first glance.
David, read Theodore Rex by Emund Morris, and then James mcGregor Burn's Three Roosevelts. I can think of a few others, but will hold back a bit; after all, you'll have your work cut out with the 'Roovals' if you fall for that one.
Will do.
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