Good writing and bad spelling below.
Adorno & Jazz
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 10:33AM I haven't read Adorno's book on jazz, but its existence is irksome given my love of the music. Anyway, in the most recent issue of "Mind", Roger Scruton writes a book review on Andy Hamilton's Aesthetics and Music. Since Hamilton bases his discussion on some of Adorno's work on music, Scruton offers a concise assessment of the Frankfurter's arguments:
Adorno, as is well known, used [the Culture Industry] argument to dismiss not only the popular music of his day, but also the entire jazz tradition. This has caused a certain consternation among left-leaning musicologists, who have been tortured by the attempt to reconcile the leading Marxist in their discipline with the obligatory need to stand up for the working classes against cultural ‘elitism’.
There are two easy ways out of this consternation. The first is to reject Adorno’s argument about commodification, and in particular to reject the Marxian theory of commodity fetishism and all the sub-Hegelian and Feuerbachian mumbo-jumbo that it has served to perpetuate. The second way out is to endorse Adorno’s elitism, and to be robustly dismissive of the consumer culture: surely a more plausible stance in the days of Oasis and The Verve than it was when Adorno directed his guns at inspired melodists like Richard Rodgers and Hoagy Carmichael.
Meaning, I take it, Adorno was premature in his assessment of the culture industry, that it became more apparent after Communism was no longer an economic possibility. But if that's the case, then the theory of the culture industry is still incomplete, given that there is no other economic system to compete with, only a hodgepodge of capitalisms connected by an amorphously globalized society. That, I believe, is the social paradox theorists like Lauren Berlant, Slavoj Zizek, an Derridean critics try to address.
Theory is dead; long live Theory.
Economic Policies in Summary
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 06:01PM Here is a brief summary of economic policies for each Presidential Candidate.
Sen. Obama, based on his Blueprint for America (BPC):
- Taxes: "cut income taxes by $1000 for working class families to offest payroll tax" (BPC 11). From what I read, this means that the Federal Income Tax Returns for families earning less than $100k annually will be reduced by $1k, thereby "offsetting" the taxes accrued on weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly pay checks. This, in essence, is not a "tax cut" in the sense that overall taxes will decrease, but rather a "tax reduction" in the sense that the money and time spent on Federal taxes will decrease proportionate to the amount of total household income (less income = less taxes).
- Trade: "trade should strengthen the American family and create more jobs": that is a no-brainer. On page 12 of BPC, Obama voices specific opposition to NAFTA, but general encouragement for negotiated foreign trade.
- Domestic Investment: Obama proposes a remarkably ambitious plan to overhaul the American economy, which seems to include four steps: (1) improve "education, training, and workforce development to leverage [American] strengths"; (2) use high skilled manufacturing workforce to implement 21st century industries and alternative energy ("first wave of green technologies"); (3) deploy next generation broadband "Open" Internet; (4) invest in rural communities. I agree with these investment priorities wholeheartedly, especially (1) and (2).
- Labor Policy: protect workers rights and raise minimum wage. These are more traditional Democratic platforms.
- Mortgage & Credit: here, Obama proposes consumer-based policies that I don't quite understand. Part of the message in this section appears to be that the mortgage and credit system is designed so that consumers don't easily understand it, and that appears to be Obama's main focus for change.
- the Workplace (or, "Balance of Work and Family"): Obama's final economic concern is the way in which Americans work. The policies he proposes on pg 15 of the BPC are more liberal, reminiscent of some European policies on family and the workplace. They include paid leave for medical emergencies and child-bearing, flexible work arrangements, protection against childcare discrimination, and after-school opportunities for children. These policies are not unreasonable, but difficult to implement.
More information on Obama's economic policies can be found here.
Sen. McCain, based on his Jobs for America document:
- Taxes: (1) keep tax rates as they are for the top bracket while phasing out the Alternative Minimum Tax; (2) cut corporate taxes; (3) allow tax deduction for new technology investments; (3) create research and development tax credit; (4) eliminate the Estate Tax. In all, McCain has a much more elaborate tax policy, but proposes effective incentives for those who already have money (corporations and the wealthy) and does not propose (in this document) any overhaul of the IRS. Which means: more loopholes for the rich. That could translate into a more robust economy, but only considered globally, i.e. the rich get richer and the poor rely on the "trickle down" effect.
- Trade: "the U.S. should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules." Like Obama, McCain is justifiably vague, since nobody can predict the outcomes of international market performance. Unlike Obama, McCain writes only two paragraphs on "trade" leaving the remainder of page 7 blank!!! To be fair, McCain has a few pages of extensive energy policy, which I will comment on later.
- Domestic Investment: (1) Improve energy policy, (2) improve education, and (3) improve unemployment insurance. Again, I'll take a look at McCain's energy policy later; otherwise the highlight here is unemployment insurance, which McCain proposes making into a program for retraining and relocating. This sounds very interesting, but it is another very short paragraph, and I wonder what is to be done to keep people from losing jobs.
- Labor Policy: Essentially none. Not a traditional Republican issue. I shoud probably take a closer look at labor policy in general at some point.
- the Workplace: essentialy no policy initiatives here, unless you consider the abolishment of the Estate Tax a family-oriented economic policy.
More information on McCain's economic policies can be found here. I have not included Health Care, Energy Policy, or Government Reform as economic policies in this assessment, as I consider them worthy of their own Issue headings.
In summary: when it comes to a reasoned consideration of economic issues, I choose Obama. Given my prior preference to Obama, I'd say my current likelihood of voting for him in November is 3 to 1 (granting McCain one point for credit and giving him a non-zero possiblity). We'll see how my current preference will change as I consider these coming weeks Health Care, Energry, Government Reform, Foriegn Policy, Civil Rights, Immigration, Socal Secuirty, and--my personal favorite--Education.
Be a friend...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 05:47PM I'm putting people who link to me on my "Friends" list on the sidebar under "Links". If you have a link to Sportive Thoughts, and I haven't included you, drop me a line!