• INDUSTRIAL DISEASE ~ Soft Cures in the NeoEconomy
— Feb. 1993, rev. March 2009
( IndlDisease_v7a-mr09.pdf: 37 pp/485 kb )
…a research & policy essay composed as the Clinton administration came in espousing economic change.
I contacted the new National Economic Council, they invited input, so I went to work… this was presented in Feb. 1993, more than they bargained for: The writing surveyed emergent economic critiques in the journals of sustainability, regionalism, responsible investment, and urban design — and forewarned of crisis if industrial loss and financial excesses persisted. It then posited a ‘NeoEconomic’ model to anchor policy upon these insights, and proposed strategic R&D & program initiatives to set this work in motion.
Unfortunately this work product went nowhere, and I never met with the honchos in DC as planned:
Clinton’s centrists backpedaled on their rhetoric, rolled over on NAFTA, China trade, and bank deregulation, and left things more the same than ever. Of course the Bush era ran on retrovision and cranked up corporate pilferage (Enron notwithstanding) – leading to the mortgage crisis & financial collapse of 2008.
Obama entered office with a mandate to save the economy, and this might have been a transformative moment… so “Industrial Disease” was re-submitted to his ‘NEC’ in March 2009 — the body text unchanged, but with a new Foreword, an augmented Epilogue, and this reverent inscription:
“Dedicated to Victor Steinbrueck, Robert Swann, Jane Jacobs – esteemed rogue pioneers
in the stewardship of our towns, lands & commonwealth, and heroes of mine.”
Unfortunately Obama’s centrists didn’t get it either and put Goldman Sachs back in control.
So “Supply-side” oligopoly consolidates and gobbles assets, the percentage racketeers are cleaning up and wealth is polarized like never before… and now the pandemic has plunged the economy into crisis again.
Now after the trauma of Trump, a humbly flawed decent man steps up… what a difference.
The grownups are back, maybe repentant for what they did not see, and evolved enough to look…
and maybe “Industrial Disease” can kick loose a progressive economic agenda, at last.
The nature of ideas before their time is that their time eventually comes — maybe it’s time.
_______________sca_Feb.’21_______________________________
Related Commentary & Corr:::
• W’s Bailout | The Big FunnyMoney Boondoggle (Oct. 2008)
~ reflections on the unfolding Wall Street collapse & Treasury heist.
• Letter to NEC: ‘Industrial Disease’, Again (eM: 3/17/2009)
~ the NeoEconomic policy essay and White House initiative, déja vu
…sent to Lawrence Summers, Chair — National Economic Council
• FOIA Request, re: NEC Organization and Output (5/1/2009)
~ mailed to the National Economic Council , faxed on 5/7
• FOIA followup, re: Request & Non-Response (5/17/2009)
~ challenge to NEC on refusal to respond