MONEY AND POLITICS IN AMERICA
Spring 2013
Professor Richard K. Scher
204 Anderson Hall
352-273-2356
Office Hours: Tu/Th 9:00-10:30
and by appointment
CLASS SYLLABUS
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.”
Justice Louis D. Brandeis
“In the Soviet Union, capitalism triumphed over communism. In this country, capitalism triumphed over democracy.”
Fran Lebowitz
Course Description – examines the role of money in U.S. politics, emphasizing the growth of economic inequality in America since the mid 1970s, the political dominance of economic elites in creating public policies that promote inequality, the acquiescence of US policy makers in enhancing, underscoring, and perpetuating economic inequality, the political consequences for US citizens and residents of that inequality, and the danger to American democracy of large-scale economic inequality.
Classes – students are expected to attend class regularly, and come prepared to participate actively in our community of scholars. Students are expected to read the required materials in advance of class, and come prepared to use them as a vehicle for discussion. Attendance will NOT be taken, but students are responsible for everything that happens in class whether present or not. Likewise they are responsible for ALL of the information on the syllabus. In particular, students must pay careful attention to due dates for written assignments – in this class, NO LATE PAPERS will be accepted under any circumstances except for excused absences as listed by UF. Early submission of written work is always acceptable and welcome. Students should take advantage of the instructor's office hours to discuss issues with him.
Examinations – there is no midterm exam in this course. There is a cumulative and comprehensive take-home final examination of the essay variety, based on readings, class materials, films, etc. It will be handed out on the last day of class, Tuesday, April 23 and e-mailed to students via the list serve later in the day. It will be due the following Monday, April 29, at noon in the instructor’s office. (“Noon” is defined by the official U.S. Government time service, http://www.time.gov/timezone.cgi?Eastern/d/-5/java .) NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT the prior approval of the instructor, subject to the stipulation below.
Make-up Policy – students with UF approved excused absences will be permitted to make up missed assignments or turn in assignments/examinations late as long as appropriate documentation is presented, without penalty. Assignments or examinations missed or turned in late that do not meet UF approved reasons, or which are not accompanied by publicly verifiable documentation, will receive a grade of ZERO. No exceptions.
Required Readings – there are two kinds of required readings in this course: three books and numerous articles, most of which are online. The latter will be sent to students via the class list serve. It is essential that students read the required materials in a timely fashion, as some written assignments are based on them and they are crucial for class presentations and discussion. Specific due dates for readings will be announced in class, occasionally over the list serve as well.
· Required books are:
o Robert Reich, BEYOND OUTRAGE
o Peter Edelman, SO RICH, SO POOR
o Hedrick Smith, WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM?
§ Recommended books:
· Timothy Noah, THE GREAT DIVIDE
· Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, THE RICH AND THE REST OF US
· Andrew Sorkin, TOO BIG TO FAIL
· Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE
· Required articles:
· Sent via class list serve
· Students must read and archive these readings, as they will be needed for written assignments and the final examination.
Class List Serve – the UF Registrar provides a list serve for each class, and maintains it. The instructor has nothing to do with it, except to use it to provide readings and announcements. Students must consult it regularly, remembering that the Registrar uses the email address you provided at registration, not the one you might use regularly and privately. If you have a problem with the list serve, or realize you are not receiving items sent on it, consult the Registrar, not the instructor.
Assignments – each student must complete four assignments:
· Two as part of a group
· Two individual projects
Group projects:
· Students will assign themselves to a group of their choice (no more than 5 members) and prepare reports on each of the following:
o A critical reaction to and evaluation of any THREE (3) films shown in class;
o A critical reaction to and evaluation of Robert Reich’s recent book BEYOND OUTRAGE (2012).
· These assignments will be discussed in class.
· Papers must NOT exceed FIVE (5) pages in length, printed and double spaced (12 point type) including references and citations
Due Dates:
· Film paper – April 23
· Reich paper – April 18
No late papers will be accepted under any circumstances. Early submissions are welcome.
Individual projects:
· One project must be on a topic of interest to the student, germane to the subject matter of this course. Topics are not limited to those covered by the syllabus. The project need not be a paper; students should consider carefully the kind of project they wish to do and the mode of presentation, because how the subject is handled and presented impacts the substance and meaning of the project. Possible alternatives include videos, notebooks, annotated bibliographies, review essays, etc.
o NOTE: the only presentation mode NOT acceptable is PowerPoint slides.
o If the project is a paper, it should be THREE (3) to FIVE (5) pages in length, including citations and references.
· The second project MUST address issues raised by one of the books assigned in the class (excluding Reich but potentially including recommended books). It must be a written paper, THREE (3) to FIVE (5) pages long, including citations. The paper must be of a critical reaction nature, not a book report or review.
In all cases, students should discuss their projects, including the mode of presentation, with the instructor before proceeding.
Due Dates:
· Individual choice – April 11
· Book reaction – April 23
No late papers will be accepted under any circumstances. Early submissions are welcome.
Films – a number of films will be shown in class (always on Thursdays, double period day). These may include but are not necessarily limited to the following:
· Inside Job
· Frontline: Inside the Meltdown
· Frontline: The Warning
· Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
· Too Big to Fail
· The Flaw
· Wall Street
· Capitalism Hits the Fan
Students are just as responsible for the content of the films as for the readings and class presentations/discussions. Knowledge of the films shown will be required for one of the group projects as well as the final examination.
Topics covered and required readings (except for those distributed via list serve):
Introduction: Money and Politics in America
· The ideology of private property in the US
· Worshipping the market, and why it’s a false religion
· Why we engage in vacuous, smoke-and-mirrors, diversionary, irrelevant politics in America, and keep central and critical issues off the table; or, Why our politics is an illusion, devoid of serious content, and dysfunctional to all but a small minority.
o How this allows the rich to get richer, and the rest of us to get the shaft.
Four Brief Case Studies on the Connection Between Money and Politics, the Inequalities it creates, and the Danger to Democracy It Presents:
· Private Money and Public Elections: Campaign Contributions
o Citizens United v. FEC (558 US 310, 2010)
· K-12 Education: The Haves Get More, the Have-Nots Get Less
o TBA
· Corporate Media: The Public Interest, or Theirs?
o TBA- Chomsky
· American Tax Policy: Reward the Rich, Make the Middle Class and Poor Pay
o TBA
Distribution of wealth in US – since mid-70s
· Whatever happened to social mobility in this country?
· Wealth-Income Gaps
o Edelman, required
o Smiley and West, recommended
How did this happen? How and When Did the War Against the Middle Class and Poor Begin?
· Smith, required
o Prologue, Parts I and II
o Parts III and IV
o Parts V and VI
· Sorkin, McClean/Nocera, recommended
The Demise of Keynes, the Triumph of Hayek
· The Fallacy of Market Economics
o Even Adam Smith saw that the “invisible hand” doesn’t always work in real life (lecture)
· Right Wing Politics, Voodoo Economics – Europe and America
o Paul Krugman (lecture)
· Lessons from History
o DARK CONTINENT/The Great World-Wide Depression (Mark Mazower, lecture)
The Great Recession 2007-Present – who was hurt, who made money?
· Noriel Roubini – CRISIS ECONOMICS (lecture)
· Robert Kuttner – THE SQUANDERING OF AMERICA (lecture)
· Joseph Stiglitz – FREEFALL and THE PRICE OF INEQUALITY (lecture)
What About American Democracy? Is There Any Left?
· Hacker and Pierson – WINNER TAKE ALL POLITICS (lecture)
· Rise of the Austerity Class
o Berman – RISE OF THE AUSTERITY CLASS (list serve)
Is There a Way Out? Or Are We Stuck, and Worse?
· Occupy Wall Street
· Class warfare in America – it’s just not what the media and politicians say it is.
o TBA
Assignment values and grading scale:
o Two Group Projects (@ 20 pts.) – 40 pts.
o Two Individual Projects (@15 pts) – 30 pts.
o Final Examination – 30 pts.
There are a possible 100 points in the class. Final letter grades will be determined by the total of points achieved, according to the following scale (grades are NOT curved):
· 90-100 – A
· 80-89 – B
· 70-79 – C
· 60-69 – D
· <60 – E
Plus (+) grades are assigned at the margins. For example, a 78 or 79 total is a C+; 77 is a C. No minus grades are given in this class.
NOTE: all written assignments MUST be presented in hard copy. ABSOLUTELY NO electronically submitted assignments will be accepted, as we do not have the money to download and print papers (complain to the Governor and Legislature, not me, about this). PLEASE NOTE – this stipulation especially applies when a student attempts to get a paper in on time; electronic submissions are not acceptable, hard copy only. Early submissions of assignments are always welcome.
NOTE: Because of budget constraints, there is no hard-copy version of this syllabus. Nor is it posted on any website. There is only the e-version. Please download it or preserve it in some way so you will have ready access to it.
NOTE: ALL ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE FULLY DOCUMENTED AND CITED. No particular format is required, but all references must be clear, complete, and accessible.