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Got Class Warfare? Occupy Wall Street Now!

Class warfare has once again entered the vocabulary of mainstream national politics, but this time with a strange twist. Right-wing politicians such as Paul Ryan and various high-profile conservative media pundits and corporate-funded think-tank spokespersons have made visible what ruling classes have long tried to bury beneath the discourse of meritocracy and the myth of the classless society - that is, the harsh consequences of class power, hierarchical rule and savage inequality.

According to the ruling elite, the real class war is being waged against the belief in free and unfettered markets, the reign of unchecked capital, a culture of individualism and happiness itself - in spite of the fact that it is precisely these beliefs that serve the interests of Wall Street elites who brought the world to the brink of ruin in 2008. Arthur C. Brooks, the president of the ultra-right American Enterprise Institute, says it all in defending the legitimating and empty ideology of the rich and elites in his comment: "Free enterprise brings happiness; redistribution does not. The reason is that only free enterprise brings earned success." (1) In this insipid comment, railing against inequality amounts to railing against earned success. But the secret order of politics that haunts this statement is a fear of democracy matched only by a hysteria that fuels an unabated belief in the virtues of a plutocracy and a disdain for democratic ideals.

The appeal to "earned success" and individual entrepreneurial rings hollow given the millions of dollars in bonuses paid to failed CEOs and hedge fund managers and an economic recovery that has only benefited banks. With CEOs taking in millions in salary and bonuses while major corporations are laying off thousands of workers each month, the assertion that an unrestricted market is the only mechanism ensuring one's hard work pays off appears both disingenuous and desperate. What Brooks willfully omits is that any society in which morality disintegrates into self-interest and cruelty is celebrated as a central element of a market-driven social order has nothing to do with either freedom or democracy.

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Week of June 6, 2011

While the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) medical loss ratio (MLR) and rate review provisions have been getting most of the media attention, a new coalition of business organizations has come together to draw attention to another important requirement of the ACA. Calling themselves Stop the HIT on Small Business, more than 25 national business organizations have joined forces to work toward repeal of new taxes the ACA would impose on private health insurance starting in 2014. Business leaders behind the effort say that small business owners, their employees and the self-employed will ultimately bear the brunt of $87 billion in additional health care costs in the first 10 years as a result of the new taxes. The group is planning Capitol Hill outreaches and grassroots efforts.

Federal

Support is growing in Congress (over 80 co-sponsors) for Mike Rogers’ (R-MI) and John Barrows’ (D-GA) legislation that would exclude agent commissions from the MLR calculation.  Currently, commissions count as administrative expenses in calculating insurers’ MLRs.  This support was highlighted in a House hearing last week before the Health Subcommittee of the Energy & Commerce Committee, where the larger issue of the MLR burden was front and center.  Witnesses representing agents and brokers, insurers and academia all testified against the unintended, negative consequences of the MLR requirement, with agents and brokers in particular noting the direct financial impact to small business and individual agents and their families. The Rogers/Barrows bill would simply not factor commissions into the MLR calculation. The day before the hearing, Congressman Tom Price ((R-GA) introduced an even more aggressive bill, as his proposal would repeal outright the MLR provision of ACA.  While it is unlikely that either bill will get traction in the Senate on its own, bipartisan support for the agents and genuine concern about unintended consequences puts this issue in play as part of any potential mega-deal on the budget/deficit/debt ceiling issue over the next few months. The Senate was not in Session last week; and the House is out this week.

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