“Love Came Down at Christmas,” an appealing carol sung at the annual “Nine Lessons and Carols” at Trinity Church in Ossining, was a perfect expression of the traditional Christmas spirit. However, another carol by Gustav Holst seemed a more apt expression of the spirit alive in the land this yuletide season ”“ “In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like stone.”
The American character this season would seem more akin to Marie Antoinette”™s attitude to the poor when she issued her famous edict ”“ “Let them eat cake!” That was before she lost her head, of course. We are not likely to wind up with a revolution but there are troubling signs afoot that should not be ignored for the long-term health of the country.
An OpEd in the Wall Street Journal (Dec. 17) entitled “Our Dickensian Economy” lays it out succinctly. Alan S. Blinder, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton, says, “Starting in the late 1970s the labor market turned ferociously against those with less education and in favor of those with more.” Up to that time, Mr. Blinder claims, wages in the country advanced more or less in line with productivity. But the fact is that in the last 35 years productivity in the nonfarm business sector is up 86 percent while real compensation per hour has risen only 37 percent.
Even so, there are those who claim that the middle class is fine. Up to the early ”™80s the U.S. had run modest deficits while the economy expanded. Then a major shift occurred. The principle of maintaining a semblance of balance between governmental income/outgo was thrown out the window. Taxes, mostly for the rich, were reduced and the government was expanded. From that point on, right to the present day, it just didn”™t seem important to pay for anything. When the economy slowed down five years ago the deficit exploded.
There seems to be money for certain human needs but not others. Consider this. No matter the nature of the disasters in the world there seems to be money to help out. But expand unemployment benefits for the long-termed unemployed at home, money that will absolutely be plowed right back into the economy, and members of Congress demand it “should be paid for,” whatever that means. They do that while maintaining the tax cuts for the wealthy would not require any reduction in spending. During the holiday season, and for that matter any time, this mean-spirited behavior on the part of Congress, and many governmental bodies, is hard to stomach.
As the soup kitchens at the churches strain to feed growing numbers of American citizens having trouble putting food on the table, there is exuberance on Wall Street when the price of a barrel of oil goes up. A real investment opportunity there. No thought is given to the pain that will be inflicted on a very large percentage of the population as the cost of gas and heating oil also continue their inexorable climb. No investment opportunity there.
Maybe this really was a Scrooge Christmas. As Congress went home two days before Christmas the members had actually shown some heart, an ability to work together, and, just like Scrooge, opened their eyes to the suffering of others. Not a perfect record but we can only hope that a new light will be shining on Congress this January.
