Raising Cain: Herman Cain’s Irrational Ideology… : ThyBlackMan

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Raising Cain: Herman Cain’s Irrational Ideology…

October 6, 2011 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com)   It pains me to write this article. It really does. Being that Herman Cain made such a fine pizza, and pizza happens to be my favorite food I had a crisis of conscience.  But alas, my rationalism outweighed my taste buds, and so I have to take a brief moment to put presidential candidate and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO on the hot seat.

In a recent article in the New York Daily News, Herman Cain was quoted saying this in response to the Wallstreet protesters:


Two things trouble me about this comment. The first is that it was made by a Republican candidate front runner.  What this indicates to me is that a large  percentage of individuals from this particular party share or support his ideological views on economics and jobs.  Which leads me to my second, and most salient reason for being troubled by this comment. It shows a tremendous ignorance, willful ignorance it seems, about the way our modern economy works. And this from a potential president.

So let’s parse out some of the key components of this statement, which are clearly ideological and not rational, in nature. 

A) Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job – Cain

For Herman to suggest that major corporations and banks don’t have culpability in this mess is absolutely wrong.  In many cases it was bad fiscal and corporation management (and in some cases outright corruption) that spurred the financial crisis.  Bad loan portfolio management, led in large part to the housing bubble, which set off the successive chain of events that lead us to where we are at today. High unemployment rate, low GDP growth, and lack of investor confidence.  All of this is occurring while corporations have seen significant growth in profits.  According to the website marketwatch.com,

According to the latest data, profits of U.S. corporations are at record levels even as the U.S. economy gasps for air. Profits have been totally divorced from the economic fortunes of the American people.

If you recall, I recently wrote an article that discussed the failure of the trickle down economic effect that so many conservatives use to justify their economic plan. The assumption of trickle down is that as the rich get richer, and corporations acquire more profitability the average citizens in this country will be economically better off. This model has both failed us and exposed the irrationality of Mr. Herman  Cain’s position. Remember that far right conservatives have created a modern demagogue of Ronald Reagan who was a strong advocate of trickle down economics. So is Herman Cain acting his party’s hero in asserting that trickle down economics doesn’t work?

 If corporations or the wealthy have no impact on the jobs and the condition of the average American, then how exactly can one believe in the trickle down effect which says that as the corporations and wealthy do better it will improve the condition of the average American?  So exactly how can Mr. Herman Cain asserts that banks and Wallstreet have no impact on folks “not having a job”? If the trickle down effect theoretical works to improves the condition of the average American when corporations and the wealthy do good, wouldn’t it subsequently harm the condition of Average American’s when it goes bad? It seems like this is simply another area where Mr. Herman Cain’s ideology trumps being a rational and logical individual.

In regard to the unemployed being at fault for not having a job. Remember this, the unemployment rate is a statistic composed of individuals ACTUALLY SEEKING JOBS. It currently sits around 8%. This means that 8% of the potential workforce that would like a job can’t get one. So Herman, how exactly is that THEIR FAULT?

B) It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed  if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself – Herman Cain

This may be the most troubling quote, and scary quote yet.  I makes an irrational assumption that context, society, and circumstances have no impact at all on the success or failure of an individual in America.  This is a common far right position that tries to make individuals believe that all success or failure is based upon the person’s will power alone. This is that old rugged individualism promoted by the When Atlas Shrugged author, Ayn Rand and repackaged under far right ideology.


If you fail because Bank of America terminates 30,000 jobs, and yours happens to be one of them and as a result you lose your house, car, savings, and credit rating drops to the bottom of hell, Herman, HOW EXACTLY IS THAT THEIR FAULT?

This is the danger of the willfully ignorant ideology of Herman Cain, and many of his Tea Party and far right conservative supporters.  They somehow want us to disbelieve what every economic text book, social psychology text book, and sociology text book tells us, that environment, the economy, and context matters. That corporations and individuals who have the ability to tremendously damage the economy, the environment and our American context shouldn’t be accountable. They want us to believe that it is all the individuals who are suffering under this downturn’s fault.

That friends, scares an independent political pragmatist like me. It should scare you…the average American, too.

Staff Writer; Dell Gines

For More Power Pack Business Info do visit; I Am Dell.

Also connect with this brother via Facebook; D. Gines.



12 Responses to “Raising Cain: Herman Cain’s Irrational Ideology…”
  1. GMiller says:

    Cain’s coment was ill-advised in light of today’s economy.

    Even in a good economy, it is estiamted that a 3.5-4% unemployment is full employment, since some don’t want to work.

    But, our true unemploymen rate is more like 20%, when people whose unemployment has run out, the ployed self-employed and underemployed are considered. So, lots of people who want jobs and are trying hard to get them, still can’t, or may end up with crummy jobs paying a fraction of what they might be worth in more prosperous times.

  2. Nicholas says:

    Herman Cain has never been serious about his campaign. He is too smart to believe the GOP would alow him to represent their party. If he really believed he would not have made these outragious statements and presented that rediculous “999 tax plan”. Most recently that “I am the Koch brothers, brother of another mother” statement takes the cake. I think was just raising some money while selling a book and pandering to the tea party he did’nt expect it to go this far. He is running a scam on the media,the GOP, the Koch brothers and any supporters that falls for this scam. When is the little person in the devil suit going to appear and tell us we are on Hell date.

  3. markus says:

    Come on now.

    All Cain was doin was tellin people to take responsibility for themselves and to stop blaming others when we have the power to change our own lives. That’s some healthy advice and if any other black man had said it, it would have been considered all good.

  4. John says:

    Every society has what they call the “unemployable.” 0% unemployment is a fallacy. There is always one portion of society for lack of a better word that is indigent. You can put 50 people on an island and come back 400 years later, and there is that one layer of indigents that just came out of society. So while there are some that work the system for free benefits, there are others, and most of the unemployed are like that, that actually want to work.

    As for blaming yourself. I see myself as unemployable. I have to work for myself or I will be a failure in my mind.

  5. hoodgirl says:

    Bush left Obama with over 300 billion in TARP funds to assist with the housing crisis. Then Senators Dodd/Frank wrote legislation to stabilize the financial industry. Obama revamped this legislation to give over 700 billion of taxpayer dollars to Big Banks in the form of interest free loans without any restriction…no job creation was tied to these loans…nor was bank executives required to give up their million dollar bonuses.

    Yes, this was an epic failure on the part of Democrats who blocked legislation, including then senator Obama, to reign in FANNIEMAE and FREDDIEMAC…quasi-govt agencies that insured the bulk of these subprime loans. It was also Mortgage Brokers that bundled this worthless paper with good paper and sold it to banks under the guidelines of FANNIEMAE and FREDDIEMAC. It was also Real Estate Brokers that helped their clients to purchase this worthless paper. It was ultimately homeowners who knew they were in way over their head with debt to income ratios well above 75%.

    Cain is correct, no one should be allowed to escape personal responsibility!

  6. B Cucardo. says:

    Herman Cain you got my Vote.

  7. Jean says:

    He clarified this statement. He was talking about the Wall Street Protesters and those not trying to get a job. He is deeply concerned about the rate of unemployment in our country. I really like the guy and I am not rich.

  8. Pauline S. says:

    I don;t see any discussion here of the Dodd-Frank bill and the role it played in the financial meltdown. I don’t see any mention of exactly how the banks and “Wall Street” somehow managed a hostile takeover of the U.S. Treasury. The protesters seem to imply this is what happened and blissfully igonore the fact that the bailouts happened because of our representatives in Washington, D.C. (Let’s not even mention that some banks were FORCED to take TARP loans). The people protesting on Wall Street are by and large college students who think they should get a free education being egged on by unions, the Hollywood left and their ilk. It seems to my that you missed an awful lot in this article and perhaps thyblackman should make an effort to include more FACTS in thy column.

  9. Frank Rodgers says:

    Sorry Bud… you mentioned 8%…. yes times are hard and not all of those 8% are serious about obtaining work. There is not one of those 8% that can’t go out and find a job doing something in America. The biggest issue is that when we keep extending their unemployment benefits bringing them more dollars than cutting a lawn, or painting a fence, they decide to take the free dollars, food stamps, etc. Herman Cain should be applauded in every sense. Don’t give me that it is not their fault for not being able to work. Unless your severely disabled or in a coma, you can find work today. So stop your nonsense and the sympathy. It is time to move on. Pick yourself up, and sart over… if you have the will… there is a way. Stop crying.

  10. Staff says:

    There are a few “Herman Cain” articles posted within the last 2 days… Perform a search… -Smile-


  11. richard martin says:

    What happened to my.previous comment?

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