Never Letting a Crisis Go to Waste

Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor and political fixture during the Clinton and Obama presidencies, once preached that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” This twisted political wisdom was definitely taken to heart by his Clinton Administration colleague Robert Reich.

In the wake of Kentucky’s recent deadly storm, Reich used tornadoes to attack capitalism. In particular, he focused on a candle factory in the town of Mayfield, where employees who worked late into the night of the storm blame the owners for “flagrant indifference” that led to the deaths of eight of the 110 people working when a tornado hit.

While survivors have filed suit, and a court will determine management’s liability,  Reich took to Twitter to suggest it was a cold, hard fact that “[c]orporations will literally let you die to make a buck.”

“Never forget that,” Reich tweeted.

But Project 21 member Charles Butler responded that Reich – who is now a Berkeley professor – is trying to turn this tragedy into a political weapon. Charles said:

Like most establishment liberals, Robert Reich is exploiting a crisis just like Rahm Emanuel suggested. He is embellishing a horrible decision by one company in order to demonize the entire capitalist system.

He did so knowing full well this incident is not reflective of the most successful economic system in world history for the upward mobility of individuals.

Don’t forget that it was the liberals in the North and the South who strategically denied and made black integration into the American economic mainstream inaccessible – defying the benefits of capitalism. For example, the Davis-Bacon Act has destroyed opportunity for skilled black labor in order to benefit unions.

Now they are assaulting every attempt for black economic parity by diluting the race issue with “diversity.” Black economic development is not a serious agenda item for the liberals. It has been abysmally absent as they started implementing social programs and economic disenfranchisement in the 1960s. It is obvious today as they favor the needs of illegal immigrants over black Americans.

But they have used the capitalist system to enrich themselves, their families and their friends.

Never forget that!