The Free Market Chant

A couple of weeks ago, I saw Karen Hughes, a former close aide and continued friend of President George W. Bush, on television. I believe it was on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” When it was mentioned that the economy had not only stopped falling, but that it had actually shown slight growth (the show was on prior to the most recent economic data announced the week of February 1), Hughes quickly awarded credit for the positive developments to the Bush Administration. Not only that, it was noted how the Obama Administration had continued many of the same Bush initiatives on the economy. Now, is this claim true? Yes, to some extent, but……

Hughes claimed credit, but she also left out the part about responsibility for the near collapse. This kind of reminded me of a person who stabs you in the gut, but then goes to the hospital and gives blood for your transfusion, and then takes credit for having saved your life. Of course you wouldn’t have been in the hospital on the brink of death had it not been for this same person’s sharp knife. Throughout the Bush years we heard about “free markets” and that government had no place in business affairs. When oil and gasoline prices soared on the whims of greedy investors, beating down many an American family, the Bush folks kept up the chant of “free markets, can’t do anything about it.” When millions of Americans were losing their homes, or threatened with such, the chant continued, “free markets, can’t do anything about it.” When trade deals took American jobs overseas, or resulted in decreased wages/benefits for American workers, we not only got the same answer of “free markets, can’t do anything about it,” but we got more trade deals! *

When the cumulative effects hit home, something neither the administration nor the Federal Reserve seem to have anticipated (DUH!), the “free market” chant stopped, and Americans were told that “Uncle Sam,” long the belittled, or even hated, relative of the free marketers, was needed to prop up “free market” businesses. The “free market” idea of “sink or swim” was turned on its head as, “swim, but if you can’t, Uncle Sam will jump in and save your behind.” So, Karen Hughes needs to retool her message. “If you want to take credit for the sunshine, you’ve got to take the blame for the rain.” ** And it hasn’t stopped raining on millions of Americans. (A word history is after the notes)

* George W. Bush did give protection to the American steel industry during his first term, but this seems to have been purely a political move in preparation for the 2004 reelection bid, as steel producing states were seen as critical for the election. Gradually the protections were removed, and within about 18 months, they were gone. Two points: this is not to only smack Bush for the political move on steel protections, as politicians in BOTH parties have made, and continue to make moves based purely on politics all of the time, but then again, that is our system. I said the protections were “gradually” removed. In my opinion, if the trade deals had been put in place the same way, GRADUALLY, there may not have been the same pain for American workers. Unleashing foreign goods produced by people who make only a fraction of the wages/benefits of American workers was not in our interest. Later, during the financial meltdown, the poor negotiating by the administration reared its head again, as banks and insurance companies were given hundreds of billions in bailouts, but with few if any strings. This led to billions in bonuses paid to executives within these industries, thus infuriating the beleaguered American public.

** The same standard applies to the Obama Administration.

WORD HISTORY:
Heft/Hefty/Heavy-All of these words are from the same Old Germanic base that gave English "heave" (see previous "Word Histories"), which meant "to lift," with the idea of "throwing" coming a bit later. Old Germanic "khabiz" was a noun that meant "weight," and which spawned the adjective "khabigaz," or "weighty," if you will. This was passed down to Old English as "hefig" (the "k" sound obviously was not prominent, and died out), and later as "heavy." Dutch, a close relative of English still has "hevig," but the other Germanic languages, all once having had a form related to the English word, have found other words to express "heavy." The Dutch word took the more figurative meaning "intense," but let's not forget our extended meaning of "heavy" as something that is "heavy or weighs" on our minds; and the notion of "intensity" is certainly present. Heft developed in English during the 1400s (one source says 1600s) and meant "heaviness/weight," and hefty came from it during the 1800s. The form "heft" seems to have developed from the examples of "weave" and "weft" (seldom used anymore) and "thieve" and "theft," and the past participle of "heave" was "heft."