Who Be American?

I am a citizen in a new country. I was born Indian, Bolivian, Syrian, Russian and French. I am even American. I invest capital. Some of it is mine; some isn’t. I find this capital by talking to people I meet at clubs, restaurants, concerts, parks, conventions, resorts. Everywhere you might imagine. Everywhere you might be yourself. Especially if you’re one of the folks getting such a boost recently from the newly reported surge in hiring…at restaurants.

The word from government and the press is that the jobs are on the way, that the economy is rebounding. This ebullience points to a basic change going on right now in what the “American Economy” means. Used to be if things got better here, they got better for Americans. Not the case anymore. It’s all about the “new world order,” and the Big Idea.

There are plenty of other ideas: of family, tribe, city, and nation. They all have their places…and have all held sway in their day. The Idea today, however, is none of these.

It all happened about a decade ago, and President Bush The First actually told us about it at the time. Was it a warning or a simple statement of fact when he coined the phrase New World Order? I don’t know. But I do know that he found himself a job that put him in the forefront of the new order. The new allegiance to the market…and to the Money Class. Let his career move be a lesson to us all.

There have always been markets. And there has always been a money class. But these days it’s taken it’s place above the salt. At the head of the table. Beyond Kings and national allegiances. As a member of this investor class, you enter the marketplace buying and selling things and labor. This is not a good or bad thing. But just a reality.

Consider what we call The American Market, like the Dow or the NASDAQ. They are not American anymore. Chrysler is not an American company anymore. No company that outsources or imports components is an American company anymore. Americans do not own such a firm; there is no citizenship requirement to buy, sell or own stocks. The same is true of America, as reflected in Treasury debt. Anyone can own these companies, and even invest in this country…and everyone does.

This makes The Market like a new supernation. Because one way of thinking about what a nation is, is that it is an area within which there are no trade borders. And within which taxation and military enforcement of boundaries, interests and trade are done as a group.

The real citizenship in this new world order? It is earned by having capital. From the altitude of, say, the penthouse of the new multinational Time-Warner fiasco towering above Columbus Circle, you look down and see that the reshaping of the world is already over, not just begun.

The new citizen-investor class, even today, for better or worse, is poised to profit thanks to the rising stock market. And those new domestic jobs in the “American” economic recovery? They will be low paying, like the latest surge in restaurant positions. Or they will be entrepreneurial, which is to say, mostly no-benefit contract workers. Some will rise out of this, amass capital and join the elite. But most will wind up stuck working for the citizen-investors, regardless of geographical location or nationality.

Brutal though this will prove to be for the “middle class” in America, it is not all bad. The new markets for goods and services that arise in countries benefiting from outsourcing will spread capitalism. And the rise of capitalism, historically, is a necessary precursor to democracy. ( See this brief discussion of Solon, economics and the birth of Athenian Democracy)

But is there some way to modulate the brutality of America’s shift to an “upstairs-downstairs” class structure? And should we? Yes.

It will, however, require a bold acknowledgement that classes do exist in this country and a willingness to develop a rational, overall approach to a safety net that assures every American of healthcare, food, shelter and opportunity. This is a long discussion, but, yes, I am talking about some form of “government program,” a.k.a. socialism.

It is needed for altruistic reasons (who wants to step over freezing people on the streets in the winter?) And it is needed for everyone, and not just for the very young (public schooling) and very old (Social Security and Medicare).

It is also needed for very flinty-eyed capitalistic reasons. It is cheaper to subsidize than suppress. And that will become our choice, as it does in all societies with excessive social inequities.

Otherwise, we will, in a few more decades, start seeing the worst manifestations of a two-class system…the very, very rich and the very, very poor. And that is a recipe for revolution…and not the good kind. ¶ 10:56 AM