Why is the Left Losing in a Moment it was Made for?

The UK, US, and Australia have a few things in common—most of which are pretty benign and banal. When it comes to their economic situations, however, the similarities that are emerging appear to be deeply troubling.

Currently, all three countries suffer from a worrying confluence of minuscule wage growth, near-record levels of household debt, and soaring corporate profits. A holy triumvirate of inequality and insecurity, if you will.

One would expect the left in these countries to be extremely successful in times like these. After all, the Labor Parties in the UK and Australia and the Democratic Party in the US are supposed to be the sole representative of “the worker” — the very individual who is being left behind in today’s underwhelming economy.

But the opposite is true. All of these countries have elected conservative governments that are arguing for varying levels of austerity.

Let’s start with Australia, which emerged far less wounded from 2008 than the US and the UK. The cost of living there is now outpacing people’s paychecks, where wage growth is at record-low levels. That’s bad, but it gets even worse when you consider that household debts have increased to “a record level relative to incomes.”

Researchers recently discovered, to their horror, that about half of all Australia’s mortgage debt “was in the hands of borrowers whose debt was more than four times larger than their gross income.” What could possibly go wrong?

Oddly, though, the profitability of Australian corporations hasn’t stagnated like wages. In fact, corporate success has “soared” recently with gross company profits seeing their largest jump since 2001.

Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, wages have actually fallen in the first three months of 2017. And it’s not like the UK had any incredible median wage to start with—in 2015 the average median salary was equivalent to $35,915 US dollars. For reference, the median household income in the US is around $58,673 (though remember that US citizens have to pay for this thing called health care).

These cash-strapped Brits, like their colonial relatives down under, also hold record levels of debt. According to the BBC, the average UK household now owes a “record amount of £12,887, even before mortgages are taken into account, according to the TUC.”

But wouldn’t you know, the UK’s corporations have avoided this financial downturn. Corporate profits reached an all-time-high in the fourth quarter of 2016.

The same pattern continues in the US.

Wage growth in America is below the historical average since 1960 — and that’s even with the help of minimum wage increases across the nation. In real dollar terms, the median household income in 2017 is still lower than what it was in January 2008.

If that weren’t dire enough, household debt just surpassed its peak reached during the Great Recession.

Again though, US corporations, like their UK and Australian counterparts have, somehow, someway, escaped this reality. In May of this year, the Wall Street Journal noted that the “largest US companies are booking their strongest quarterly profits in five years.”

So why can’t the left win right now? The groundwork is set for their electoral success. The fat cats are getting fatter while the average worker is losing ground. How are conservatives, who are generally guardians of the status quo, still in power during a time of economic listlessness?

A compelling explanation comes from John Harris, who outlines why the western left is losing in a moment it was made for:

First, traditional work — and the left’s sacred notion of “the worker” — is fading, as people struggle through a new era of temporary jobs and rising self-employment, which may soon be succeeded by a drastic new age of automation. Second, there is a new wave of opposition to globalisation, led by forces on the right, which emphasise place and belonging, and a mistrust of outsiders.

Simply put, conservatives in the UK, US, and Australia have provided the people more effective explanations to these issues. Whereas Democrats and Labor uncomfortably straddle between globalization and economic nationalism, conservatives around the western world are embracing a sort of “pseudo-protectionism.”

While the left offers “innovation” as the tool to dig low-income workers out of this economic hole, conservatives propose “authoritarian countermeasures” in strong, jingoistic, and, sometimes, racist language.

Donald Trump, Theresa May, and Malcolm Turnbull have no qualms casting the “other” as the villain behind their nation’s economic malaise. They are all too willing to blame immigrants for low wages and poor job opportunites—cloaking their suggestive rhetoric with slogans that “emphasise place and belonging” like “Australian jobs and Australian values first”, “Make America great again,” and “Take back control of our borders.”

Meanwhile, the left is stuck defending the “other” from these unjust and underhanded attacks. In the process of standing up to conservative bigotry, the left appears to care more about “identity politics” then leveling with white people’s anger about their paychecks and lives.

To seize this moment of frustration, the western left must not be afraid of throwing out the playbook and starting anew. That’s easier said than done, but thankfully across the globe there are many politicos working hard on this problem. The transnational nature of the left’s dilemma means that progressives in the US should be keeping a close eye on the strategies employed by Labor in the UK and Australia — and vice versa.

Eventually, a transportable strategy will emerge from London, Canberra, or yes, maybe even Seattle. Now, it is up to the left to keep their eyes and minds open. They have nothing left to lose.