The Polder Model

Russell Shorto has become fascinated with the ‘polder model’. He does not understand that Americans once had their own form of polder in Farmer and Consumer Cooperatives, which were always limited by a Government who feared countervailing power, and actually driven into extinction by the Corporate domination of the Government starting in the 1980s. American Cooperatives basically were the brainchild of European settlers still not acclimated to American life in the later half of the Nineteenth Century, which operated quite well in the Capitalist system of this Country. Their success led to the Corporate envy which demanded an end to the tax preferences granted to such organizations, forcing a metamorphism to the more traditional Corporate form. I irreverently once stated that Corporations could not tolerate a Business structure which actually protected the interests of its own Stockholders; Corporations were tired of the existence of financial organizations which actually cleared it’s Books yearly. American Cooperatives met their own demise in Tax regulations which stated they must meet the Corporate model in order to obtain the Tax advantages of Corporations, as lobbied into existence by the Corporations. Thereafter, Cooperative members had to suffer the same ineptitude as Corporate Stockholders.

Robert Shiller advanced the position that there is no Depression because People cannot believe there could be a Depression. He indicates an element of Wonder at this attitude, while I ask why he should. Americans witness the huge Labor Force currently employed with employed labor heavily outnumbering unemployed Workers. They are aware that conscious control of their own expenditure patterns has brought down the price of Energy, and suppressed the rise in Prices in other Retail outlets. The majority of Americans are well on their way to owning their own homes, with ability to refinance what remains of their mortgages upon Need. Every American who is threatened by economic duress is outweighed by eight Americans who will curse within a Recession, but will only lose their Entertainment outlet. The Rich may have lost trillions of Dollars in the Recession, but all their wealth basically derived from the last Booms; the average American is in much better shape than they were prior to the previous two Booms, with no Warnings Signs that such Gain is in any way threatened. Americans are still doing well, though the Rich may feel ill.

Contrast what I have said with this Post. Surveys are poor vehicles to determine how People feel; they believing the Survey being a stage to vent their frustrations. A probable 80% of Those surveyed are far more Content than the Survey Results would indicate. The huge Percentage of People adopting lower-paying occupations express a huge level of Comfort. The primary indication over the last decade has been an innate American desire to pursue the ‘polder model’ of Europe, where Crisis Management is not a daily fact of life. I agree with my fellow Americans, and would suggest the Corporate types solve their own troubles without Expense to Ourselves. lgl