Democracy is in Retreat

For all the talk about the national debt and the fiscal deficit, what truly threatens America is a dangerous and growing democracy deficit. This country presents itself as the champion of democracy against authoritarianism across the world, but at home, democracy is in retreat in areas vital to our lives. Consider.

- Jesse Jackson

Will millions of workers be thrown out of their jobs in order to reach 2 percent inflation – a totally arbitrary goal? That decision which could have a brutal impact on families across the nation is being made not by the Congress or the president; but by the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee – an unelected committee with members drawn largely from banking and finance.

Faced with the rising prices that accompanied the reopening of the economy after the pandemic shutdown, the Fed has hiked interest rates with record rapidity. Its chair warns that getting inflation down to 2 percent may well cause a recession. This is a foolish and wrongheaded policy. It ignores the major sources of inflation – which are supply shocks and corporate concentration. It ignores the reality that climate calamities and war add to the disruption. And it ignores how destructive mass unemployment is.

This month’s jobs report showed that the unemployment of African Americans has begun to rise. Since Blacks are usually the last hired and first fired, and the Fed is committed to more hikes in interest rates, the chances are good that millions more working families are going to be punished by this unelected board.