American Depressions

[Rajiv]

Why America Is Depressed, and What To Do About It

Our lead article in the current print issue of Tikkun is “American Depressions” by psychotherapist Harriet Fraad. The Table of Contents of the whole issue is here — check out Chris Hedges on Celebrity Culture and the Obama Brand and other great pieces, most of which you still have to buy the print magazine to read: try your local bookstore or get one here. You can also subscribe to get the most visionary magazine on the American Left!

Harriet Fraad says she wrote “American Depressions”

out of a great sadness that Americans have been unable to defend their lives and stop the bleeding of their wounded salaries, their jobs, their homes and their relationships. I read about the militant and successful demonstrations and other tactics that defended Europeans and wondered, what happened to us?

The Left is well known for providing a gloomy read on America — after all, somebody has to tell the truth. But it used to be that the Left was also the place to go for vision about this world, the dream of socialism. That dream has taken some knocks, just as the mainstream American dream has taken some knocks. What’s to keep a person’s spirits up?
Well, first, it helps to have good analysis of what’s gone wrong. And then some pointers as to ways forward. Fraad’s article does both. As to what went wrong, Fraad writes in her article:

… What happened is a result of at least five major, interrelated forces. One is a transformation of American morality, and with it the loss of belief that the social and political realms could be shaped by morality, ethics, and secular spirituality. Another is an economic depression. A third is a transformation of the family, which has been the foundation of American emotional life. A fourth is the decimation of Americans’ social participation in all areas, from bridge clubs and PTAs to political parties. A fifth is the tranquilizing and numbing of the American population with psychotropic medications.

The bulk of the article explains those five points. Then she goes to what is to be done about it, and writes:

We can look to the four areas that have grown in the current social drought. They are, in order of their growth, self-help groups, internet groups, evangelical church groups, and GLBT groups.

Today in an email Fraad said:

Since I wrote the article, on January 26 in fact, I read an exciting piece of news. No one made a big commotion about this exciting victory. Tea Party actions are well publicized. This seems like another symptom of the right-wing money accumulated at the top and used to influence media. The good news is that the people of Oregon voted against the tide. They refused to raise money by cutting teachers, homeless shelters, etc. Instead, they decided to tax incomes over $250,000 a year and add an even higher tax on incomes over $500,000 a year. They also raised a tax on corporations. They fought a wealthy lobby and won with a coalition of PTA members, union members, and progressive Democrats. Is this a sign of change yet unheralded? I hope so.

American Depressions


Society-wide depression has struck America. Why it's happened and what we can do about it.

An unnatural economic and psychological disaster has struck America. Five contributors, each interacting with and shaping the others, have devastated the American moral, economic, psychological, and social landscape. Each is fed by related streams, but each contributes its own force to the disaster. The American dream in which each generation surpassed the previous generation in real wages has all but disappeared, along with dreams of an intact family, a steady job, a home, and an honest supportive community.


This article looks at each of five collaborators in the crisis in order to answer the following questions:


How did this happen? What forces are responsible?


Why are Americans passive as millions lose their homes, their jobs, their families, their hopes of justice, and the American dream?


Why do Americans remain disorganized at home while their European and Asian counterparts flood into the streets and strike in militant, organized protest? Why do others believe in their potential to reclaim their lives while we do not?


What happened is a result of at least five major, interrelated forces. One is a transformation of American morality, and with it the loss of belief that the social and political realms could be shaped by morality, ethics, and secular spirituality. Another is an economic depression. A third is a transformation of the family, which has been the foundation of American emotional life. A fourth is the decimation of Americans' social participation in all areas, from bridge clubs and PTAs to political parties. A fifth is the tranquilizing and numbing of the American population with psychotropic medications.

1. The Crisis in Morality and Social Ethics
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2. The Dying of the Economic Dream
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3. What Produced the Crisis in Personal and Family Life? .
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4. Americans' Increasing Isolation from One Another .
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5. The Drugging of America
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What Can We Do?
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[Master Shake]

Re: American Depressions

The best way to deal with Depressions is to prevent them. The best example of that is the much maligned Presidency of Warren Harding.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/powell-jim4.html

Of course, the socialists in the article you posted no doubt favor FDRs approach, more and more government, which only prolonged the Great Depression.