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On ABC’s This Week this morning, one of Amanpour’s panels consisted of Robert Reich, Senator Shelby of Alabama, and some corporate media talking head who was really irrelevant to the conversation.
Reich said that there was no recovery because there was no demand, there was no demand because 70% of the American economy is based on consumer spending, there was little consumer spending because there were no significant jobs being created, and jobs would not be created by the private sector until there was demand. Therefore, the only way to stimulate demand was for the government to directly create jobs by a new WPA.
Of course, the talking head waffled and Senator Shelby said we had tried stimulus spending before and it didn’t work. Reich cut through something inane the talking head and Amanpour tried to say to ask Shelby a direct question:
“Senator, why can’t we have a new WPA and CCC to create jobs?” Shelby replied, “The WPA didn’t get us out of the Depression, the war got us out of the Depression.”
Reich: “Yes, because when the war started we spent 120% of GDP on job creation. The government put money into people’s pockets, and that created the demand that got us out of the Depression. You cannot have an economic recovery without a jobs recovery.”
Amanpour: “Senator, is there any chance of a new stimulus package being passed by this Congress?”
Shelby: “No.” Talking head: “Blah blah blah.” Amanpour: “Well, that will have to be the last word. Next, (we’ll talk about political sex scandals).” Segue to commercial.
Now, I’m not a total Reich disciple, but he made perfect sense to me today. I found it interesting that no one was able to substantially counter his argument, probably because there IS no substantive argument against it from even a capitalist point of view. Why should businesses spend money to hire people when there is no one out there with the money to buy the goods or services those new hires would provide? The short-term capitalist profit answer is, of course, no reason whatsoever.
So Reich described the bottom line very well. No amount of tax cuts for businesses and the rich, no amount of deficit reduction, no amount of preaching about the wonders of the free market, none of this will create jobs in the numbers required to increase demand.
Since neither the Obama Administration nor the Congress nor the private sector has any intention of implementing a massive program to create jobs, the Great Recession will continue. We have seen this scenario before, from 1929 to 1933 during the Hoover Administration. Hoover and his minions constantly prated that things were getting better, that if people just had faith in the free market and the creativity of business that there would be a “chicken in every pot,” that all government could do was stay out of the way, reduce the deficit, and business would provide.
It didn’t happen then, and it won’t happen now.
34 Comments
Yer tougher than I OG,
I can’t even watch any of that crap any more, not even long enough to surf through it. Reich must be pretty tough too, or at least very disciplined. I’d be diving over the table goin’ for Shelby’s throat.
rec’d
Thanks, good information. Reich also had the chutzpah to mention the trillions of excess laid away capital the corporations are sitting on, and how ridiculous tax cuts are in the fact of their refusal to provide jobs, even when the economy they depend on for their profits requires it to survive.
You’ve hit the nail right on the head. And Robert Reich has the only answer in my view.
You failed to mention, however, that even if we do lower the corporate tax rate, the Multinational Corporations will create jobs in countries where labor is paid as little as 25 cents per hour. Why should they create jobs here, where the costs of labor are so much higher? Multinational Corporations are the terminators today in the USA, profit machines without any sense of patriotism, offshoring work overseas for more profits for their shareholders.
It is these same corporations that are funding the campaigns of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and the Presidency. It is these same corporations funding all of these 527s promulgating this voodoo trickle down nonsense that it would further create jobs here in the USA, when in fact it would result in even more deficits and more cuts in social security, medicare, medicaid, pell grants, and other social net programs.
CETA got me my first job. Because of the Great Society, I obtained an excellent education. Big government is not the bad guy here. Big corporations controlling government is the bad guy here.
I would also go even further. The American Job Matters Act was defeated last week by four votes: it would have required American companies for government contract work. That Act should have been passed.
Also our trade deficits are huge. We must address this issue. Our trade treaties are unfair: there is no level playing field. If other countries are unwilling to have a reasonable minimum wage with employee benefits, that’s endorsing the institution of slavery, and we should not do business with these countries. What is the difference between slavery than paying laborers 25 cents per hour and having slaves? In my opinion, very little.
You’ve hit the nail right on the head. And Robert Reich has the only answer in my view.
You failed to mention, however, that even if we do lower the corporate tax rate, the Multinational Corporations will create jobs in countries where labor is paid as little as 22.5 cents per hour. Why should they create jobs here, where the costs of labor are so much higher? Multinational Corporations are the terminators today in the USA, profit machines without any sense of patriotism, offshoring work overseas for more profits for their shareholders.
It is these same corporations that are funding the campaigns of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and the Presidency. It is these same corporations funding all of these 527s promulgating this voodoo trickle down nonsense that it would further create jobs here in the USA, when in fact it would result in even more deficits and more cuts in social security, medicare, medicaid, pell grants, and other social net programs.
CETA got me my first job. Because of the Great Society, I obtained an excellent education. Big government is not the bad guy here. Big corporations controlling government is the bad guy here.
I would also go even further. The American Job Matters Act was defeated last week by four votes: it would have required American companies for government contract work. That Act should have been passed.
Also our trade deficits are huge. We must address this issue. Our trade treaties are unfair: there is no level playing field. If other countries are unwilling to have a reasonable minimum wage with employee benefits, that’s endorsing the institution of slavery, and we should not do business with these countries. What is the difference between slavery and paying laborers 22.5 cents per hour and having slaves? In my opinion, very little.
You’ve hit the nail right on the head. And Robert Reich has the only answer in my view.
You failed to mention, however, that even if we do lower the corporate tax rate, the Multinational Corporations will create jobs in countries where labor is paid as little as 22.5 cents per hour. Why should they create jobs here, where the costs of labor are so much higher? Multinational Corporations are the terminators today in the USA, profit machines without any sense of patriotism, offshoring work overseas for more profits for their shareholders.
It is these same corporations that are funding the campaigns of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress and the Presidency. It is these same corporations funding all of these 527s promulgating this voodoo trickle down nonsense that it would further create jobs here in the USA, when in fact it would result in even more deficits and more cuts in social security, medicare, medicaid, pell grants, and other social net programs.
CETA got me my first job. Because of the Great Society, I obtained an excellent education. Big government is not the bad guy here. Big corporations controlling government is the bad guy here.
I would also go even further. The American Job Matters Act was defeated last week by four votes: it would have required American companies for government contract work. That Act should have been passed.
Also our trade deficits are huge. We must address this issue. Our trade treaties are unfair: there is no level playing field. If other countries are unwilling to have a reasonable minimum wage with employee benefits, that’s endorsing the institution of slavery, and we should not do business with these countries. What is the difference between slavery and paying laborers 22.5 cents per hour? In my opinion, very little.
Yes, I almost expected to hear cries of “Heresy!” and “Blasphemy!” But the corporate CEOs are trapped by their own system. If they actually start spending some of those trillions they are sitting on to create the jobs that are needed to provide consumers with the necessary money to spend on corporate goods and services, their short-term profits would fall, their stock prices would drop, and their shareholders would call for their heads.
They would also lose their bonuses. Can’t have that. So the impasse continues, and everyone from the President to Congress to the Chamber of Commerce preach patience and tax cuts and deregulation and shared sacrifice. IOW, they are telling us to have faith in our current economic model.
Faith-based economics has no more chance of working than faith-based science does.
Well, I didn’t mention the effects of lowering the corporate tax rate and unfair trade policies because they didn’t really come up in the show’s segment, though Shelby and the talking head DID mumble something about it.
Of course, I agree with everything you said 100%. Multinational corporations have loyalty to one thing and one thing only: profits. It’s what they are set up to create, it’s their only purpose and objective. Of course they have no loyalty to any country or people. It always comes back to the simple fact that the only goal of capitalism is to create more and more capital. That’s it.
But until We the People look at what they actually DO instead of being distracted by what they SAY this situation will continue. The fact that the multinationals know full well that once that realization is reached they are in deep doo doo is telling.
Reich’s comments could be put into a neat graphic show the cycle of demand and the outcomes of either further depression or recovery.
Imagine spending 120% of GDP on jobs creation (120% which would not be war/defense jobs) but WPA and CCC creation?
I might be asking national corporations what would be you “dream” step to take to grow your business to create US based jobs and keep those jobs here in the US? (More tax breaks and more deregulation are answers which would not be allowed. I am talking innovation and invention.)
A couple of months ago, budgetary necessity forced me to make some cuts. Expanded basic cable cost $73 a month once all of the fees were added up. So it went. An investment of the same amount got me free over-the-air TV, which, much to my surprise, brings in between 1 and 2 dozen channels depending on the weather(including 4 PBS channels) and better picture quality.
So, once a week, I watch ABC’s This Week to get a feel for the current fascist intraparty squabbling talking points of the week. Every once in awhile, they screw up and let somebody on there who describes something approaching reality.
“Why should businesses spend money to hire people when there is no one out there with the money to buy the goods or services those new hires would provide?”
Businesses are hiring; they just aren’t hiring more expensive American workers. What we need to do, and this is a key area Reich and I disagree, is punish American-based companies that hire foreign workers. Reich says that will hurt the economy; I disagree.
These punishments could include such things as nationalizing the offending corporations, taking away capital gains “discount” tax rates from those who profit from their stock, ending federal contracts with those companies and many other things.
It is nothing short of treasonous to allow an American-based company to betray American workers. It’s brought the country to its knees.
In my view, Reich is among the very best we have. He totally gets the inequities created by the wealth gap. It’s too bad no one with any power is following his advice.
For those of you who missed this episode of “This Week”, you can watch the video and read the transcript of the exchange between Senator Shelby and Robert Reich on the Barefoot Accountant’s website: http://www.cpa-connecticut.com/blog/?p=3535
Reich is right. The only way out of this jobless recovery is a dramatic and bold move: a massive government jobs program, comparable to the WPA during the 1930s.
Shelby erred in saying that the WPA and massive government spending did not take us out of the depression, claiming World War II did. Well, World War II did entail massive government spending, 120% of GDP. This resulted in huge tax increases on the rich and corporations: and this was, in essence, a transfer of wealth to middle class America.
Why is this transfer of wealth justified today? Because for the last 30 years we witnessed the greatest opposite transfer of wealth from middle class America to the 1% of Americans at the top of our economic society. It’s just reversing all of the transfer of wealth started by President Ronald Reagan (may he burn in hell) and continued by Presidents Bush, Sr., Clinton, Bush, Jr., and continued under Obama.
Oh, I agree with you, little doggie. As I said, I am not a total Reich disciple. After all, he’s still a capitalist and I’m a socialist. However, as you said, he’s one of the very best we have. Once Keynesians were the norm, but the Gospel According to Friedman has dominated our economic policy for a generation now. To most in power, trickle-down(or as I like to call it, piss-on-down) economics cannot be questioned any more than the Pope could be in Europe 500 years ago.
“It is nothing short of treasonous to allow an American-based company to betray American workers. It’s brought the country to its knees.”
I think you are right on, there, but the CEOs, boards of directors, and shareholders of those same American-based countries really don’t give a damn about America; all they care about is their short-term bottom line. And they use the Gospel According to Friedman to justify their actions. They even claim that they are morally right to act as they do, using everything from mystical libertarian arguments to success theology and good old-fashioned Social Darwinism as foils(Darwin himself would be horrified by that).
Maybe I should address this in another diary entry, but I think it appropriate to point out how corporations and even government agencies pay thousands of dollars a pop for “motivational speakers” to come to workplaces and preach this tripe to captive audiences who are required by their employers to attend. “Success is all in YOUR attitude!,” they bleat. “If you are unhappy with pay cuts or furlough days or increased health care costs or pension cuts, well, it’s YOUR fault for feeling that way. After all, you have a CHOICE in how you choose to feel about what life hands you!”
Barf. Blame the victim. Your bosses had no choice. You are being punished by God for the Original Sin of not being an owner or a manager or a good-enough capitalist. Shame on you for being angry! THAT won’t do anyone any good.
Well, I’ve had more than enough of my fill of that. Thanks for the reply, Welsh.
Check out this video starting at the 3:00 minute mark:
http://robertreich.org/post/4556843699
and it doesn’t get too much better than this one…
http://robertreich.org/post/6120174430
Reich deeply understands how badly money has corrupted our political processes.
Twice in the last week the media has opined in favor of stifling job creation anyway. The Supremes ruled in favor of Roche and against Stanford in the patent suit. The NYT editorialized that the government had set up the Baye-Dole act to stimulate business creation, it should have been followed, given that taxpayer money was involved. Fair enough as far as that went. But then they went on to opine that the Court had no right to “romanticize” about the long-gone lone inventor creating new ideas on their own? Two days later they were opining that a draconian bill that basically in the interests of protecting content providers would criminalize any watchdog/whistleblowing site on the internet — Take home message: IP rights should be trampled on if they are individual inventors, not if they are publishing or movie houses.
Then Thursday, Marketplace delivered a full court criticism of Sonia Sotamayor’s decision against Microsoft, arguing that corporations should have the easiest time possible contesting little guys’ patents they want to infringe in court — otherwise it could affect the flow of cheap consumer products.
The whole premise of free trade and globalization is that the jobs sent offshore by these companies will be replaced by better ones invented and innovated here, the whole premise of liberals’ job retraining and conservatives outsourcing alike. But the same corporations holding that trillion dollars offshore and refusing to hire Americans are now looking for ways to bust down the barriers to just outright stealing those innovations and taking them offshore too. So they don’t even want new jobs to be created here to replace the ones they’ve taken away.
Oh, good ones. I especially like Reich’s description of the military-industrial-congressional complex(MICC?). I bet Obama has not signed that executive order banning corporations such as Lockheed-Martin, General Dynamics, and Kellogg, Brown & Root(KBR, which includes Halliburton and Dick Cheney) who get more than 50% of their revenues from the government from lobbying.
Would I win that bet? Sure I would. Obama, good little Fascist lapdog that he is, would NEVER restrict the “free speech” rights of these most patriotic corporations. (dripping sarcasm intended)
We can see Reich as the tip of a wedge. But the tip can only go so far without a force driving it in. That has to be us. No getting around it.
Everywhere I go, when anyone asks (or even if they don’t), number one demand is WPA-style jobs program.
Of course not! Then they would have to pay American-level salaries. That would be less profitable.
“Wouldn’t be prudent.”
–President George HW Bush
Ohio Gringo, you are so right:
“It didn’t happen then, and it won’t happen now.”
But you know what? The Obama Administration and the other millionaire yahoos in Congress, both parties, don’t give a rat’s behind. This stance does not hurt them one tiny bit. They recovered from the recession two years ago. As long as they can hold off and do nothing, their increased dividends from Wall Street (and those of people like Rachel Maddow who call themselves “liberals”) continue to pay out big time.
The minute they start creating jobs and actually dealing with the expense of actually doing business, the size of those dividends will diminish. They don’t like that and why would they? By firing people and selling off assets they can inflated the value of their stock and thus the dividends that they pay to their wealthy investors.
That’s the con that Obama and his”bipartisan” pals have going.
F them all is what I say.
WISE UP AMERICA. Run for office in 2012. Support a friend. Get these people OUT OF CONGRESS! Yes it is realistic. We are the majority–not them.
STOP VOTING FOR THESE AHOLES AND STOP WATCHING THEIR MAINSTREAM MEDIA HYPE
sorry about the typos. Hope you get the drift.
This a topic that absolutely makes me crazy.
The majority of the elected officials in Washington DC as well as their Wall Street buddies (and who has more than Obama?) along with ALL the mainstream media side show Bobs–regardless their political position–are making out like bandits on their inflated salaries and stock options and I include Rachel Maddow, ODonnell, along with O’Reilley and Hannity and all the others–they are all part of the problem. It doesn’t matter to me if I agree or disagree with their rhetoric. What I disagree with most is that they are all supporting a corrupt system that is stealing from the majority of Americans. They are all sucking off the American people. They are ALL WALLSTREET WELFARE SCUM
As far as I’m concerned ANYONE who has taken dividends from GE for the last two years and that includes all 82 members of Congress as well as employees of NBC and MSNBC have stolen from the American people. Dividends paid to these wealthy shareholders was made possible because GE not only did not pay U.S. income tax on billions of dollars that they earned for the past two years, they even got a billion dollar tax credit from the American people.
In my book this is stealing. and if wealthy shareholders like the 82 members of Congress who own GE stock are not part of the problem, then who is?
Well! I hope you feel better now after letting all of that out. Don’t get me wrong. I empathize completely, as demonstrated in my vitriolic reply to ExtremistGreenie in one of your threads–wrongly, as it turned out he/she was being facetious and I took him/her literally. Sorry again, EG.
On another website, I was accused by an Obamabot of demanding that everyone march in lockstep with me, and if they didn’t, that I would label them fascist. Never mind that I used Mussolini’s definition of the term and printed it. Never mind that I have never demanded any such thing as total obeisance to the mighty OG.
No, I just call a spade a spade. Which means calling a Fascist a Fascist. Or a vampire a vampire. You are correct. Wall Street welfare scum ARE sucking the lifeblood out of the American people.
Garlic, anyone? Anyone? Stakes, anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
:)
Shelby was on auto response…what the hell was he talking about when he said companies are not hiring because they are worried about their children’s future??? HUH??? And NO ONE said anything to this clown??? So the heads of the forture 500 are not hiring because they are worried about paying for the kid’s college education? Give me a fucking break..did Shelby attend church with T Perkins last week?
Shelby is a perfect representative of his state.
we do need garlic but I think that Goldman Sachs cornered the market on garlic in 2008 when they were pulling the fast one with wheat on their commodities index–you know that fast one where their traders bought and bought wheat driving up the cost of wheat to the point that people in emerging nations couldn’t even by bread. Millions more than normal starved to death in year when wheat production was the highest it had been in 100 years. At the years end, Goldman sold it to their corporate live stock farm buddies at a bargain for cattle feed.
They have the garlic stored in Ft Knox where it can’t be used against them. There is plenty of room since they long since transferred all the gold to Switzerland.
There, how’s that for a conspiracy theory? I guess we will have to settle for tricking them into coming into the daylight.
More than anything my wish is that the majority of Americans will realize how the rich 12% are leading the rest of us around by the nose: One minute we are yammering about Balloon Boy, the next minute Reverend Wright, the next minute Weiner’s weinie, the next minute Sarah Palin’s emails.
We need to turn away from main stream media and lead with the topics on the Internet and in live discussions with friends that make a difference in our lives. We need to disconnect from their programming–all of which is designed to control the topic of our conversation in the direction of topics that THEY want us to be discussing–not of which are topics that make much difference to the quality of our lives.
This truth really hit me in 2008 when I was watching one of the Republican debates on TV. Wolf Blitzer was the MC. I’ll never forget the moment. LOL. He actually asked these candidates for the highest office in the land to please hold if their hand if the did or did not believe in evolution (I can’t remember if it was if the believe or didn’t believe)
That was my moment of truth when I thought “OMG! Discourse in the USA has actually sunk this low.” What the heck difference does it make to the quality of my life whether a government official believes or doesn’t believe in evolution? To me that is like asking someone if they believe in the Virgin birth or not.
Go ahead and be a fool if you want to is my motto, but leave me the hell out of your opinion and religion. I won’t hold it against you if you adhere to myths–as long as you don’t try to force me to believe in them as well.
Amen to your quip about Reagan.
and then, of course, you will have a genuine battle on your hands.
I remember that debate. At the time, I couldn’t decide which was more pathetic–the ones that held up their hand that they did not believe in evolution, or the fact that they all took Wolf Blitzer seriously. After all, Wolf Blitzer was the same guy who went on Jeopardy and thought Jesus was born in Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem.
Anyway, in the long run this isn’t worth getting too excited about. Our current political and economic system cannot survive because it doesn’t work. I guess, I feel, I think that I know, that sometimes one must just have a little faith. I remember this little dialog from Star Trek, the Undiscovered Country:
Spock: Logic, logic, logic. Logic is just the beginning of wisdom, not the end. You must have faith.
Lt Balarus(probably misspelled): Faith? Faith in what?
Spock: That the universe will unfold in the way in which it was intended.
But I’m a Buddhist. Specifically, in the Way of the Laughing Buddha. Laugh at all the Universe throws at you, and you will find peace. The Universe will laugh at you, anyway, so you might as well laugh back. But that’s just me.
Doesn’t mean I still don’t get pissed off every once in awhile, though. Thanks for the replies, Liz. They are appreciated.
Go ahead and be a fool
But do we have to let them vote?
There’s more coming. There is a bill to change the patent award from first to invent to first to file. Again, it benefits big corporations at the expense of small inventors, and helps ship technology manufacturing overseas. Where are those retraining jobs supposed to come from? The U.S. Constitution established first to invent with the founding of the country. The excuse for changing the system is the “backlog” and lack of skilled examiners.
I recommend the Jamie Dimon solution: Talent is attracted to money, at least that’s what we heard when he and his crowd were chafing under the scrutiny over bonuses. If you need more examiners and they need a high level of skills, get out your wallet, I’m sure you can find a lot of skilled people during a period of 9.2% unemployment. Especially to fill a Constitutional obligation to build the manufacturing base.
ain’t really
ain’t nothin’ but a movie
______________________
But did you catch the subtle glance Shelby threw Reich when he said something about the poor verses the rich, and Shelby gave a side long glance, (like: I’m here working for those guys, I know who I’m working for, go on take your shot, I ain’t gonna forget my lines… )
Now krugman here:
“Senator, why can’t we have a new WPA and CCC to create jobs?” Shelby replied, “The WPA didn’t get us out of the Depression, the war got us out of the Depression.”
Shelby answered: “Yeah well we want to do that but with private firms.” So privatization was inserted there.
Reich was at his top form today, I also am not complete fan, but in this forum, I think it shows, what the problem is, when a knowledgeable and honest professional is pitted against a those who’s interest is only to stonewall and box in and stop the development of further understanding of the situation, what can he do. If he would go any further, the moderator, Christian, or other, normally will stop that too. Guys like Shelby have it pretty good, they just repeat the same old tired crap, and it still works, one of the reasons it works is 90% of people accept it, they aren’t really that curious.
And back to the quote, the reasonable one, (Krugman) asks… ["Senator, why can't....."]
there is a weakness in asking like he is begging please imploring sir….
That comes from a self acknowledgment that his statement is maybe a wee theoretical or too lofty to stand up, which plays with the game that… well that’s the game, that is the problem, He only puts out that little morsel, because he is being the “good cop,” type a deal.
“That was my moment of truth when I thought “OMG! Discourse in the USA has actually sunk this low.” What the heck difference does it make to the quality of my life whether a government official believes or doesn’t believe in evolution? To me that is like asking someone if they believe in the Virgin birth or not.”
It makes a huge difference when the issue is on the table, which it is unfortunately.
99% of Christians wish that America was an theology. They cant accept anything less. God and David koresh (oops I mean Jesus) Must be in the forefront of every Christians life. The new testament asserts that beyond any doubt. And all will fail in their eyes that does not put jesus above everything.
“as long as you don’t try to force me to believe in them as well.”
They intend to force it on you. And that is exactly why you care if an politician believes that 95% of the field of biology is reality or not.
BTW no one “believes” in evolution no more than anyone can believe in gravity.Neither are religions, they are hold cold facts. Which have been proved beyond any doubt.
Not going to happen Jeff. The right will pt. to the huge nos. of people that already collect a Gov’t check. Here’s our dilemma, this isn’t 1933. In that era we were still coming out of a time when Gov’t was very small as compared to today. It was pre-Keynesian. Today we can’t say that. We admittedly have huge bureaucaries now at all levels of Gov’t. Plus, the right is very adeptly playing these public workers off against the private workforce. Not all of their stories are false either. Were I live the average small business person barely scrapes by these days, but a new firemen or cop makes 65K out the door with full benefits. This pisses a lot of people off. Its not the fault of the lucky public employees. They happen to have great Unions, but it doesn’t matter the comparison is made and its seen as unfair. So, the 30′s answer won’t fly politically. Here’s another problem its much easier for the private sector to do nothing and force down wages and they are doing just that. They won’t stop till much of us are reduced as near 3rd world standards as possible. They want a huge pool of unemployed to act as strike breakers ( scabs) and as an excuse to drive wages down even further. Its happening everywhere. The bosses attitude these days is STFU and be happy you even have a job, because you could be among the millions that don’t in a heart beat. How do we fight this equation? billions of desperate people out here on planet Earth and a few million who own the game? I can think of only one way. But, even that path is blocked now because of the history of the 20th century. Add to this a powerful increasingly ugly Nat’l Security State that will soon declare that any dissent they don’t approve of is terrorism and will be assaulted. That’s already begun on our margins.
Well, I guess we’re all doomed then. They are all powerful. We should cook and eat our children, since they have no future and we’ll need the nutrition before starvation makes them all stringy.
Then we can build prisons out of mud, they don’t have to be too strong because we’ll just lock ourselves in, and elect 4% of us guards who can beat us to death if we wander.
Or do you have any ideas that MIGHT work?