Looking at the erosion of the middle class and the widening gap between the nation’s richest and poorest while at the same time worker productivity levels have soared it is hard to see how capitalism, as it is currently administered, is working for the vast majority of Americans. Wages haven’t kept pace with inflation and the gains from increased worker productivity have been directed to the “ruling class” that control most of the wealth. Starving the middle class will eventually be the undoing of the current system so it is hard to understand why there hasn’t been more debate about prevailing economic development strategies of enticing huge conglomerates to the area and coming up with effective alternatives.
Coos County, has seen more than its fair share of economic development boondoggles and its low population density coupled with a bleak economy makes it a prime target for developers looking to cash in on the various subsidized financing and consulting fees associated with closing a deal… any deal. The county’s gas pipeline comes to mind. Watch the short documentary about the fall of Stockton, California to get a sense of how this works but basically slick operators identify the local movers and shakers and pitch them on an idea and the sales job begins.
In Coos County it always seems to be the same small collection of people who succumb to these pitchmen and back these schemes. Despite their association with repeated failures the same faces are dug in like a tic with the local economic development crowd and the local paper still gives them a platform to help spin the latest scheme. Regardless, the citizens are ultimately responsible for allowing themselves to be fooled time and time again.
Coos County can either confine its economic options to the constrained imaginations of the few affiliated with the Port of Coos Bay, SCDC (South Coast Development Council) and the chamber of commerce or it can take a more democratic approach and work toward something like Workers’ Self-Directed Enterprises based upon the hugely successful Mondragon Model wherein local workers eschewed the views of the ruling elite and took charge of and democratized the economy. Coos County’s potential is only limited by imagination and with both the port and SCDC both imploding now is the time to break free and begin the discussions necessary to develop something new and workable.
Economist Richard Wolff, author of Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism
Taming Capitalism Run Wild from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.
