Breaking the Spell

Marxist economist Richard Wolff is a favorite of mine. His Economic Update for April 13, 2020 (The Psychological Aspects of Today's Crises) consisted of a discussion with his daughter, a psychotherapist in Manhattan. In this blog I use their exchange as a means of understanding my own perceptions.

Substantive economics has been made esoteric by both our vulgar materialistic milieu and (as Tess Frad-Wolff observes) the way the disciplinary pie of study has been carved up. If a student specializes in validating non-monetary/non-commercial relations they will likely not be able to use this knowledge for gainful employment. She theorizes that a massive piece of social psychology has gone missing but this exclusion is common to all of social and medical science. Richard hopes to expand the boundaries of his heterodox economic focus to increase understanding of the revolutionary possibilities of crisis. I've been at this for decades myself as a participant observer of culture(s). Democrats discuss resilience but I doubt they empathize with the overwhelming poverty of consciousness that pervades under so-called normal conditions.

Coincidentally, I was about the age of Tess, taking graduate courses after a time in skilled crafts, when the spell was broken for me. Richard needs Tess as a discussion partner and  an interviewee for this show. Tess is a professional helper who has had her routine disrupted and displaced, but she is privileged with a depth of comprehension most lack. It's apparent this session with her father is therapeutic for her (as well as for Richard). She starts out worrying about robberies and assaults in formerly safe public space, but a half hour later she is thankful for compassionate political leadership and tele-commuting technology. Viewers might assume that living in the densest part of Manhattan would make the anxieties caused by this pandemic more acute, but I dispute that because I'm seeing the same suffering and shortfall in my semi-rural locale.

A month has passed (now May 12) since the Wolf's discussion and we have the advantage of hindsight. At the earlier moment I was like Richard, hopeful that many unhealthy spells would be broken, as thought priorities shifted along with behavioral necessities. America had to admit that most citizens had been living on the financial edge and that intervention was urgent. A reservoir of fiat money had its dam opened. The relief packages though have proven a blunt tool more helpful to more comfortable people than the poor and powerless. A few have received large loans to bailout businesses, and a few more an unemployment compensation supplement of $600 a week, but many have not even gotten their $1200 per capita relief check after two months. (i have not.) There are long lines for emergency food relief and routine services have broken down. People tell me that schooling by Internet is mostly unsatisfactory. It has become clear that money sent by Congress was ultimately intended for creditors, but only slips through the bank accounts of the masses. We are sacrificing while slicing and dicing to save Capitalism. Any new packages will be more of the same, because of ideological limits. A fascist, classist and racist Executive Branch continues to sabotage and deny even testing for virus and PPE. A majority of experts predict a second wave of infection in the Fall even as localities are reducing restrictions. The approaching election motivates some of this irrationality.

Coincidentally, I was about the age of Tess, taking graduate courses after a time in skilled crafts, when the spell was broken for me. Richard needs Tess as a discussion partner and  an interviewee for this show. Tess is a professional helper who has had her routine disrupted and displaced, but she is privileged with a depth of comprehension most lack. It's apparent this session with her father is therapeutic for her (as well as for Richard). She starts out worrying about robberies and assaults in formerly safe public space, but a half hour later she is thankful for compassionate political leadership at the state and local level and tele-commuting technology. Viewers might assume that living in the densest part of Manhattan would make the anxieties caused by this pandemic more acute, but I dispute that because I'm seeing the same suffering and shortfall in my semi-rural locale.

A month has passed since the Wolf's discussion and we have the advantage of hindsight.

At the earlier moment I was like Richard, hopeful that many unhealthy spells would be broken, as thought priorities shifted along with behavioral necessities. America had to admit that most citizens had been living on the financial edge and that intervention was urgent. A reservoir of fiat money had its dam opened. The relief packages though have proven a blunt tool more helpful to more comfortable people than the poor and powerless. A few have received large loans to bailout businesses, and a few more an unemployment compensation supplement of $600 a week, but many have not even gotten their $1200 per capita relief check after two months. (I have not.) There are long lines for emergency food relief and routine services have broken down. People tell me that schooling by Internet is mostly unsatisfactory. It has become clear that money sent by Congress was ultimately intended for creditors, but only slips through the bank accounts of the masses. We are sacrificing while slicing and dicing to save Capitalism. Any new packages will be more of the same, because of ideological limits. A fascist, classist and racist Executive Branch continues to sabotage and deny even testing for virus and PPE. A majority of experts predict a second wave of infection in the Fall even as localities are reducing restrictions. The approaching election motivates some of this irrationality.

There is background Richard discusses elsewhere (Global debt bubble and petro dollar demise) that will cause the implosion of United States hegemony and Empire. How fast? No one knows. But when the spell of routine and normalcy and exceptionality is broken a tsunami of anxiety and rage is possible. And that worries me more than what cuts of meat remain available in super markets. (I'm a long time vegetarian, part of the 5%, who is watching produce, flour and yeast with urgent intensity... for all our sakes. Revolution is rooted in the kitchen table.) Food prices are creeping up. Even if a good vaccine becomes generally available in record time this nightmare won't stop.

It was helpful to me to compare the anxiety of two successful professionals to my own worries. In any case there are several layers of spells afflicting us.