Last night, I attended a symposium, sponsored in part by The Nation magazine, focused on the current economic crisis. The moderator, John Nichols, stated that the decision to come to Detroit was easy. FDR came here when he was campaigning against Hoover. The modern labor movement was born in Detroit. Malcom X came to Detroit and Dr. King first gave his “I Have a Dream” speech in Detroit. Finally, the collapse of the auto industry has had a devastating effect on the city and the surrounding communities.
The panel consisted of six highly regarded activists, both local and national. The local activists were Dianne Freeley, a retired UAW worker; Joann Watson, a city council member; Elena Herrada, a community organizer in the Latino community; and the legendary Grace Lee Boggs. The national voices included John Conyers, author Barbara Ehrenreich, and economist/author Robert Pollin.
John Conyers spoke first (and he stayed the whole evening). The speech was a bit rambling, but the essence spoke to the notion that President Obama is a smart man, but that not everyone around him is not, including advisers. Of course, in my mind, that begs the question why did such a smart President pick a bunch of dummies to advice him. But, I digress.
The rest of the evening saw the various panelist answering a specific question from the moderator. For example, the first question went to Robert Pollin. It was a nice, simple question – What went wrong? His answer to this question was truly an eye-opener.
According the Pollin, in the 1970s, our political system turned itself over entirely to capitalist. This is marked by two “events” The first is that “full employment” ceased being the central premise in politics. In 1972, the average, non-supervisory worker made a little over $19 an hour (adjusted to current values). By 2007, before the current crisis really took hold, that wage had fallen to $17.40 an hour. This represents about an 11 percent decrease. In the same time period, U.S. productivity rose a whopping 90 percent.
The second thing that began to happen in the 1970s was the slow dismantling of the Glass-Steagall Act which separated commercial banking and investment banking interests. The bill was full repealed in 1999 (thanks a lot Bill).
It was important to hear from Barbara Ehrenreich that her book, Nickled and Dimed, was published in 2001 (pre-9/11). Her research was done during the boom years of the 90s. That means all the low wage workers she met were not seeing any noticeable boom. That was, of course, due to the fact that housing costs were sky rocketing out of control.
City Council woman Joann Watson reminded us that corporations have never voluntarily done the right thing – including stopping child labor. Grace Lee Boggs said that we have to re-image both ourselves and our planet as we attempt to rebuild. We can no longer afford to be crass consumers, the planet can simply longer sustain that type of behavior.
There was so much good information that it’s hard to piece it all together. The most important feeling I took out of this symposium was the realization that there are people out there fighting for the poor, the planet, and our future. It was good to get my hands on information about actions that are currently taking place in the city or will be soon. For example, from June 15-17, CEOs from a number of giant corporations will meet in Detroit. To counter all that unfettered greed, a People’s Summit and Tent City has been organized and will take place near the ballparks. Additionally, from June 22-26, 2010, the US Social Forum will take place in Detroit. One of the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the leave was to reconnect with the activist I was in college. These two events will give me a perfect opportunity to do just that.
X-posted at Tunnel Traveller