‘Big Government’ Will Have to Solve Crises
In Energy, Housing, Credit and Health Care

It is hard to remember a time when the average American was so overwhelmed by a series of major domestic problems that neither the government nor the private sector seem capable of solving.

The economic “stimulus package,” which was a welcome handout to millions of hard-pressed families, has had no visible effect on soaring gas and oil prices, the increase in housing foreclosures, the credit crunch, and the rising tide of people with little or no health insurance. Then there is the cost of the war in Iraq that will add tens of billions to our swollen federal deficit, which future generations will have to pay for.

The worst of it is that our problems have become out of our control, even as we are forced to alter our life styles. Unless we’re high-level economists, we don’t understand what is happening to us or why.

Take the mortgage loan crisis. The U.S. Treasury is proposing a plan to rescue the two giants in the mortgage financing business, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, who have lost billions in faulty loans. Even if Congress approves of the idea, will that solve the mortgage crisis and put a halt to foreclosures? Even the savviest financial experts are not prepared to predict what the long-term bailout of the two mega-companies will be.

Nor has the government nor the free market come up with an answer to the gas and oil problem, not even to limit the profits of the oil companies. Lots of talk about generating new technologies to develop new sources of energy, but no major government investments.

While there is general agreement that our health care system must serve the millions of people who are without health care, there are conflicting ideas of how it should be done.

What Role Can Organized Labor Play in Resolving Crises?

The AFL-CIO is conducting a vigorous national campaign for universal health coverage, but it has not defined which of the plans it favors. It will be difficult to come up with a plan that reconciles the different interests of doctors, hospitals, investors, labor unions researchers, insurance companies, HMOs, politicians, drug corporations, medical equipment manufacturers and, of course, the needs of patients, each with its own staff of lobbyists. It would be a near miracle if a universal health coverage bill passed Congress in 2009. The AFL-CIO should strive to be a consensus-builder on this issue.

Both the AFL-CIO and the CtW should hire top-level analysts who can keep union members informed about the intricacies of economic developments on Wall Street and other financial centers, particularly in the global job market. It is especially alarming to learn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the past year’s average wage increase of 2.8 percent was wiped out by a 4 percent inflation rate.

It’s been ages since we’ve heard what AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and the members of the Executive Council are saying and doing, individually and as a team, about the loss of jobs and homes and lack of health care that so many union members are facing. Do they have anything concrete to propose? Is there any course of action they would recommend?

We’ll have an excellent opportunity to find out what’s on the mind s of our leaders when the Executive Council meets in Chicago on Aug. 5-6. We’ll be listening.

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