We are just 10 days from the 2024 Iowa presidential caucuses and it's also Friday, the day of week when I share a quotation intended to be informative or uplifting. This morning's words of wisdom come from a long-forgotten Ford Motor Co. executive. (That's not as random as it sounds, as you'll see.)
Today's date, January 5, is an eventful anniversary in U.S. cultural, economic, and political history. Harry Truman delivered his "Fair Deal" speech on this day in 1949; House Speaker Tip O'Neill died on Jan. 5, 1994; John Boehner was elected speaker on this date in 2011.
If you hail from New Jersey, you can celebrate today's date for the release of Bruce Springsteen's debut album, "Greetings From Asbury Park." Or if San Francisco is your hometown (as it is mine), you may know that construction finally began on the Golden Gate Bridge on Jan. 5, 1933.
The long-awaited project was delayed by world war, political squabbles, environmental concerns, litigation, and funding issues. The latter hurdle was cleared when a San Francisco-based financial institution, Bank of America, purchased $35 million in bonds as a way of helping the Depression-saddled economy of Northern California.
"San Francisco needs the bridge," chief engineer Joseph Strauss told Bank of America's founder and CEO A.P. Giannini.
"We will take the bonds," Giannini replied.
In 1992 as Bill Clinton faced headwinds in New Hampshire over revelations ranging from extra-marital dalliances to draft dodging, political savant James Carville kept the Clinton campaign team on task with a famous four-word summary of the issue foremost on voters' minds: "It's the Economy, Stupid."
It does seems more complex these days. One could say, "It's the culture, stupid." Or, it's the border. Or Ukraine. Or China. Or COVID, crime, fentanyl. Or the brutal attack on Israel. Or the inexplicable rush to blame Jews for being attacked and all the campus crazies. Or abortion, censorship, the future of democracy itself. And, of course, Trump.
There's a lot going on.
Still, let's not forget James Carville's wisdom. America's political writers would do well to remember that kitchen table issues still are crucial in close elections. What's happening in the economy in 2024 is not a linear equation, however. Inflation is finally under control, gasoline prices are dropping, unemployment is low, the stock market is booming. Those are positive developments. But the news is not all good. Wages haven't kept up with prices, the federal deficit is out of control, interest rates are higher than they've been in a generation, and high housing prices are contributing to homelessness and angst among young voters.
Surprising numbers of young Americans think socialism is the answer. This view is, let me say, inharmonious with the realities of the 21st century. It may be something of an indictment of our educational system. I'll use Venezuela as an example. To make a long story short, in 1998, Venezuelans elected a junior military officer and Communist antisemite named Hugo Chavez as president. In the ensuing 15 years until his death, Chavez made himself president for life, wrecked Venezuela's economy, and set in motion his succession by a Marxist dictator just as corrupt and incompetent as he was, but lacking Chavez' charisma.
One result: In late September, President Biden granted 500,000 recently arrived Venezuelans work permits in the United States. That number is not a typo. The moral of the story is that Venezuelans want to work, but their nation's economy is such a basket case they have to leave the country. In other words, despite the many excesses of U.S. corporations, some of them quite grotesque (vulture capitalists stripping the nation's newspapers for spare parts, for example), no other system has proven itself more adaptable to the needs of society. Having said that, the best company owners, to paraphrase Carville, know that "it's the workforce, stupid."
On this date in 1914, Henry Ford announced profit-sharing for Ford Motor Company employees, three round-the-clock shifts in his factories of eight hours each, and a minimum wage of $5 a day, which represented a significant bump.
"Even the boy who sweeps up the floors will get that much," the New York Times noted in awe.
"It is our belief that social justice begins at home," company treasurer James Couzens said on that January day. "We want those who have helped us to produce this great institution and are helping to maintain it to share our prosperity. We want them to have present profits and future prospects. Thrift and good service and sobriety, all will be enforced and recognized."
If America had more executives like this today and fewer of the kind that award themselves multi-million-dollar pay packages while laying off thousands of workers, my guess is that the 2024 electorate would be less restive.
In any event, James Couzens' aspirational words are our quote of the week.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon
