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Written by: Huang Yunna Cheng Xue
2020-03-29 20:35
Last updated: 2020-03-29 20:35"The United States will never become a socialist country." U.S. President Trump made such a vow when he delivered his State of the Union address last year; a year later, facing the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic, Trang Pu launched a US $ 2 trillion (approximately HK $ 15.6 trillion) economic stimulus package in one fell swoop, not only intervening vigorously in the market, but also using public funds to support small and medium-sized business operations and pay salaries for wage earners, and he became a "socialist president." Coincidentally, in order to save the unemployment rate, capitalist countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Denmark have also introduced unprecedented aid measures, instead of companies paying salaries to workers who were unable to work due to the epidemic, as if "sudden communism." This is definitely a vivid lesson for the SAR government that has been stuck with "laissez-faire" dogma for many years and dare not to "actively and actively" reform-it seems that capitalism is not necessarily a "magic bullet" and socialism is not " "Flood beast", if you can uphold fairness and justice, why not take what you need and reshape Hong Kong?
"Socialism promises prosperity but brings poverty; socialism promises solidarity but hatred and division." Back in February, Trump criticized "socialism" during his State of the Union address, and Trump was in Florida. Florida International University's speech once again stormed "socialism"; later, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the theme of "socialism" as the "axis of evil" was flooded with. Larry Kudlow even called on his supporters to join Trump and push "socialism" in the United States to the trial and convict him.
Kudlow, the White House chief economic adviser, has called on supporters to join Trump in pushing the United States' "socialism" to the trial and convicting him "guilty." (Profile picture / Associated Press)
Trump's attack was not targeted. Within 30 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the separation of capitalism that advocates freedom and socialism that pursues equality, the United States, as the leader of capitalism, has been striving to maintain a free market, but it has gradually emerged in favor of fairness, justice, The flame of socialism that values social welfare; especially those young people born after the Cold War, most of them have no ideological baggage, whether they are left or right, they only seek justice and prosperity. As a result, Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate who claimed himself as a "democratic socialist," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Beto O ' (Rourke) and other sudden emergence, even in the recent US presidential elections and mid-term elections with great fanfare, it is no wonder that Trump is going to fire on "socialism."
New crown pneumonia impacts the West
However, history always hits the face of politicians. In the epidemic of the new crown pneumonia, Europe and the United States have blocked cities and countries, causing economic production and business exchanges to almost stop. In response to an unprecedented economic crisis, Trump, a self-proclaimed "wartime president," launched a $ 2 trillion stimulus package to vigorously intervene in the market, so he was nicknamed "the most left-wing socialist president in the Republican Party." The plan was passed by both houses of Congress last week and signed by Trump. It includes a distribution of $ 120 billion to most adults for $ 500 billion, and a loan of $ 500 billion to businesses hit hard by the epidemic. The U.S. dollar injects capital into state governments, local governments, and the health care system. There are two most powerful ways—a $ 350 billion loan to small businesses, each of which is 2.5 times the monthly salary expenditure, which is enough for companies to earn no income at all. Under the circumstances, support for six weeks will not fail. If the company does not lay off employees or reduce wages within one year, there is no need to repay; the unemployment insurance and other unemployment insurance benefits have been significantly increased by 270 billion U.S. dollars, allowing workers who are not on dismissal and on vacation to obtain Subsidies for up to four months of wages-this is equivalent to being paid directly by the US government to wage earners. At the same time, Trump also issued a federal decree under the National Defense Production Act, forcing auto maker GM to modify some plants to produce 100,000 medical ventilators within 100 days-that is, the US government directly determines the production of enterprises.
In fact, when US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin submitted to the stimulus package to Congress, he stressed that if the government does not intervene anymore, the epidemic may cause the U.S. unemployment rate to soar to 20%; it is worth mentioning that when the United States recently announced In February, the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, its lowest point in half a century, and the average hourly earnings increased by 3% over the same period last year. Not long after, James Bullard, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, even predicted that the US's second quarter gross domestic product would fall by half, and the unemployment rate would soar to 30%, which was greater than the Great Wall Street crash of 1929, which led to a major economic downturn. The depressed 25% unemployment rate is five percentage points higher; he also called on authorities to respond with strong fiscal measures to make up for the $ 2.5 trillion in income that could be lost in the second quarter. It was too late, and a few days later, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits from March 15 to 21 actually surged more than ten times to 3.28 million from the previous week, far higher than the expected 1.7 million. , A new record high.
When US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin submitted a stimulus package to Congress, he stressed that if the government does not intervene, the epidemic may cause the US unemployment rate to soar to 20%. (Profile picture / Reuters)
"If China cannot repeat its role from 2007 to 2008, the burden of getting rid of the current economic crisis is now shifted to the United States. This is the ultimate irony: the only policy that is economically and politically effective is far more than Sanders might propose Any policy is more socialist, and these rescue plans must be launched with Trump ’s support, presumably under the banner of "making America great again." David Ha, the most influential Marxist geographer of our time David Harvey wrote an earlier review of the "anti-capitalist politics of the spread of the new crown pneumonia", which had foreseen the emergence of "large-scale government intervention against the neoliberal trend", but he asserted that this would require the United States to The entire economy is socialized without being labeled socialist.
In fact, in the 1930s there was also a major intervention that was not named Socialism, although it was full of socialism. The "Roosevelt New Deal" used to save the capitalist economic crisis and social contradictions in 1933. With the bankruptcy, corporate bankruptcy, production halt, and 13 million people unemployed across the country, the then-President Roosevelt Jr., who had strong financial capital, adopted an economic policy that incorporated capitalist and socialist functions. The former included budget adjustments to reduce deficits. , The establishment of a deposit insurance company by the state to prevent run-ups, the abolition of the gold standard monetary policy to keep currency circulation from being restricted by gold reserves, reviewing the bank's operating conditions and issuing certificates of compliance, and the establishment of a series of systems that regulate the supervision of securities and financial markets, the latter having Build a large number of public works to absorb surplus labor, establish social welfare systems such as unemployment benefits and endowment insurance, set minimum wages and maximum working hours to enhance their consumption capacity, implement progressive income tax and increase inheritance taxes, require enterprises to declare production scale, etc. ——It has similarities with the Principles of Communism.
The "Roosevelt New Deal" not only enabled the United States to overcome the economic crisis and bring about long-term economic growth, but also provided a realistic basis for British economist Keynes's "state intervention theory"; however, despite the government's increased power and expenditure, it did not solve the problem of capital The Fundamental Question of Doctrine-How to Make Rich Governments Perceive People Who Are Surviving in Non-emergency Situations? How can those huge natural wealth and amazing production potential benefit all Americans? In short, it is how to let the general public directly share the country's development dividend and economic assistance, without letting vested interests deprive and accumulate capital from it. Whether it is capitalism or socialism, no matter whether it is Roosevelt Jr. or Trump, this big question cannot be avoided.
New Coronal Pneumonia U.S. Epidemic: Chicago March 28 saw the nation's first infant deaths associated with a new coronavirus pneumonia. The picture shows a notice on March 28 in Chicago that encourages people to stay at home. (Associated Press)
Should Li Min be trapped in the water and fire?
Coincidentally, in order to combat the economic crisis brought about by new coronary pneumonia, many capitalist countries in Europe have also adopted unprecedented intervention policies. Taking the UK as an example, it will not only provide loans of 330 billion pounds (equivalent to 15% of UK GDP) to businesses in various industries, help businesses pay rents, wages and supplies, but also order all bars, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, fitness centers Restaurants, playgrounds, night clubs and other catering and entertainment industries are suspended, and the government will pay 80% of the wages for employees who cannot work due to the virus epidemic, up to a maximum of 2,500 pounds of basic monthly income, so that people can maintain their basic livelihood without work. . In other words, the British government will also pay salaries directly to the working class; this unprecedented economic initiative, born of the Conservative Prime Minister Johnson, is also very intriguing-the Conservative Party as a "resolute supporter" of neoliberalism, since the 70s In the 1950s, after Mrs. Dezor became party leader and re-elected as prime minister, she minimized state intervention, held up the free market, and privatized public enterprises and cut public expenditures. She terminated the concept of national welfare and classified the poor as "worthy" and "unhelpful." "It is worth helping" to distinguish the social security and welfare work from collective to private individuals; to this day, under the impact of the epidemic, the Conservative Party has also had to "violate" the dogma of freedom and provide salary subsidies to prevent British unemployment The rate doubled to 8%.
Other European countries, less constrained by neoliberal ideology than Britain, have introduced similar policies. Denmark announces payment of up to 75% of salaries for private companies that are financially distressed and agrees to dismiss employees; Ireland is studying similar measures to allow employers to further pay 75% of salaries under the current scheme of allowing employers to apply for a weekly subsidy of 203 euros for temporarily unemployed workers. ; France has expanded the "Partial Unemployment Allowance" program to allow temporarily dismissed workers to claim benefits equivalent to up to 84% of their wages, and employers must continue to hire them after the crisis.
The government's measures to pay workers seem to violate the principle of laissez-faire, and even "socialism" that departs from "capitalism". However, in times of crisis, if we are to stick to ideology and sacrifice national interests, it is certainly not what we should do for the government. Furthermore, the so-called "water and fire" ideological dispute has long evolved into a game of "you have me, you have me", and after this "epidemic", I believe that the government adhering to neoliberalism also has a deep It is understood that it is difficult to lead the anti-epidemic work alone based on market forces, and it is impossible to naturally overcome economic difficulties. Therefore, it is necessary to take action when it is time to do so, and to merge when it is necessary.
Affected by the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, business in the catering industry in Hong Kong has been dismal. (Profile picture / Photo by Huang Baoying)
It is a pity that Hong Kong, which was hailed as a "fortress of free economy" by the late Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, has been entangled by this label and cannot be extricated, and therefore misreads "one country, two systems", thinking that "50 years "Immutable" refers to the need to rigidly and dogmatically maintain the current capitalism and "tolerate change". Therefore, since the reunification, no review or even reform of the various shortcomings of capitalism has been proposed, which has caused Hong Kong to fall into today's structural difficulties. Bureau, which severely tilted resources towards vested interest groups, and formed the world's most corrupt and distorted capitalism. First, regardless of the governing team or the mainstream public opinion, they have misunderstood the development law of capitalism and even ignored Hong Kong's entry into society. In the critical period of the transformation, the corresponding industry and distribution policies could not be proposed. Second, the role and role of the "government" in economic development was fundamentally misunderstood. For example, it only served a very small number of vested interests and could not fulfill the protection of society. Most of the basic responsibilities; Finally, the rationale for "one country, two systems", "regional development" and "global development" It is as narrow as the ideological dispute of the dual thinking of holding the surname "Zi" and "So", and often only sees "crisis", insists on "opposition", and then builds a car behind closed doors. "Collaboration" and ignorance of "fusion", thus creating a win-win situation for multiple parties.
What's worse, Hong Kong, which is usually caught in an ideological vortex and has been dying for years without any structural reforms, seems to have not awakened to the need to reform capitalism in the face of sudden public health and global economic crises. The shortage, or the later anti-epidemic fund, all adhered to the laissez-faire policy. They neither increased supply or stabilized prices, nor established unemployment assistance to directly protect wage earners. Instead, they continued to believe in the "drip effect" and believe that "Hong Kong has good employers" There are many unscrupulous employers. I believe that as long as a large amount of money is used to "support the business", indirect "preservation of employment", but it is increasingly deviating from the fairness and justice that resource allocation should uphold, and the common people need to be blessed!
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The above excerpt is from the 207th issue of "Hong Kong 01" weekly report (March 30, 2020) "Britain and the United States suddenly" communist "Is Hong Kong still clinging to" laissez-faire "?
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