I think I said it wrong, local labor vs. global capital.

I just left a comment asking you if I could post your comment as a diary on Daily Kos. That’s not the first time I’ve wished I could take someone else’s comment and just post it as a separate whole diary, I thought it was so great. Amy Goodman just had a column about Yip Harburg, The Man Who Put the Rainbow in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. A commenter there pointed out that Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book was a political/monetary policy allegory for the US depression of the 1890s, “a parable of Populism.” The Scarecrow = midwestern farmers, The Tin Man = industrial workers, the bad witches of the East and West were bankers, the good witch of the North represented the electorate, munchkins were the poor, the Wizard was the president, the Emerald City was Washington from whence greenbacks came, the yellow brick road was gold, and Dorothy’s slippers were silver (not the movie’s ruby). It was fascinating. A later commenter pointed to other scholarly articles on the allegory which have some differences with the first commenter — e.g., whether William Jennings Bryan was represented by the cyclone (election) or the Cowardly Lion, whether the Cowardly Lion was all politicians or just Bryan. Can’t remember all of it, but it was all a fabulous read.

Relevant point here: The Tin Man:

Next, she encounters a Tin Woodsman, representing the industrial workers, rusted as solid as the factories of the 1890s depression, and who have lost the sense of compassion and co-operation to work together to help each other during hard times. Also, a spell cast upon him by the Wicked Witch of the East meant that every time he swung his axe, he chopped off a bit of himself – he downsized!

and from one of the linked articles:

The Tin Woodman . . . had been put under a spell by the Witch of the East. Once an independent and hard working human being, the Woodman found that each time he swung his axe it chopped off a different part of his body. Knowing no other trade he “worked harder than ever,” for luckily in Oz tinsmiths can repair such things. Soon the Woodman was all tin. In this way Eastern witchcraft dehumanized a simple laborer so that the faster and better he worked the more quickly he became a kind of machine. Here is a Populist view of evil Eastern influences on honest labor which could hardly be more pointed.

The Eastern witchcraft that had caused the Woodman to chop off parts of his own body reflected the dark magic of the Wall Street bankers, whose “gold standard” allowed less money into the system than was collectively owed to the banks, causing the assets of the laboring classes to be systematically devoured by debt.

If we only had a heart. A brain. A home. The nerve.

Yes, that’s actually the point of the Wizard of Oz, with shadows:

http://www.webofdebt.com/excerpts/chapter-1.php

Like the Populists, Dorothy and her troop discovered that they had the power to solve their own problems and achieve their own dreams. The Scarecrow in search of a brain, the Tin Man in search of a heart, the Lion in search of courage actually had what they wanted all along. When the Wizard’s false magic proved powerless, the Wicked Witch was vanquished by a defenseless young girl and her little dog. When the Wizard disappeared in his hot air balloon, the unlettered Scarecrow took over as leader of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz came to embody the American dream and the American national spirit. In the United States, the land of abundance, all you had to do was to realize your potential and manifest it. That was one of the tale’s morals, but it also contained a darker one, a message for which its imagery has become a familiar metaphor: that there are invisible puppeteers pulling the strings of the puppets we see on the stage, in a show that is largely illusion.

But the thing is, the similarities between the 1890s depression and ours seem soooo familiar, yet I still don’t know how to get back home:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091110_who_put_the_rainbow_in_the_wizard_of_oz/#282861

In America during the 1890s, as in Britain, there had been a severe depression. Many businesses had gone bankrupt, farmers forced to sell, factories closed and workers made unemployed. True, some farms in the Mid-West were suffering from drought, but most were still capable of growing food; the businesses and factories were still capable of providing the things that people needed; the workers still wanted to work to provide those things, and people would still want the goods and services produced if they had the money to buy them.

I guess we just Go Forth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uBsV8wAEhw

Lived here 38 years ago, out here every summer, still have family land and friends in the region, have watched some of the changes. Still has worker folk and available low income housing as well as plenty of trustafarians.

From my experience here over the years (69-09) has moved from “namaste”/late 60’s into the 70’s to “have a nice day”/ 80’s to “get out of the way” would you 90’s and beyond .

Now those are obviously generalizations but there is some basis to it. Lots of homeless come because of the modern homeless shelter. Lots of hispanics behind the St. Juliennes (fancy hotel) and elsewhere coming out for breaks behind the posh restaurants for their cigarette breaks. When I start to ask questions “no speaka english” is the common refrain

If I were looking to bust some businesses hiring illegal workers,I would be looking in the kitchens and hallways of the resort hotels around here. But no the Feds look to bust the working folks not those who hire illegals.

probably at Naropa which I attended in 73 for a bit.

great place for kids, so much to do.

If some of those trustafarians etc could get out of their cars and use their legs or the mass transit (which is great) as transportation.

Back to “made in China made in the world” sorry ew