Political Economy category archive
“The Silent Revolution in American Economics” 0
Robert Reich argues that President Biden is working to reverse the damage done to the economy and to workers’ rights since the Reagan Devolution.
Or you can read the transcript.
Scapegoating Scholarship 0
Sam and Emma talk with professor Nick Kraus about the neoliberal campaign against (small-l) liberal education.
The Privatization Scam 0
Sam and the crew dissect the deception behind the duplicity behind the double-talk.
Our Welfare State 0
Robert Reich (emphasis added):
“We renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” Donald Trump has said.
Someone should alert him that America is already a hotbed of socialism. But it’s socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism.
Follow the link for his evidence.
H/T Job’s Anger.
Manifest Dynasty 0
Thom looks at the intellectual rationales plutocrat propaganda used to justify This New Gilded Age.
Denial Is Not Just a River in Egypt 0
Chris Satullo looks at the numbers, which indicate that unemployment is down, inflation is down, employment is up, and, that in general, the economy is in the best shape it’s been in years.
He wonders why so many person aren’t willing to believe the evidence. Here’s a bit from his article:
(snip)
Vast numbers of Americans, for a variety of reasons, prefer to feel miserable, angry, oppressed, screwed, cornered. And eager to blame the president, the guy on whose watch all those real economic measures improved, for how they feel.
. . . and many apparently feel that the only way to lift us out of these doldrums is to bring back the guy who told us to drink bleach to cure COVID.
Or, to put is another way, “It’s the Stupid, Economy.”
“Reverse Robin Hood” 0
Michael in Norfolk explains why the Koch network has decided to support Nikki Haley. A snippet:
This New Gilded Age 0
At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gene Collier forcefully argues that what lies behind many price increases is not, as Republicans would have you think, inflation, but, rather, greedflation. Here’s a bit from his article:
Such price-tampering methods included exporting eggs to reduce the domestic supply and limiting the number of chickens through various means including artificially limiting cage space, flock reduction, and “early slaughter.”
(snip)
The result of all that, you’ll doubtless recall, was ridiculously high egg prices Republicans blamed on Joe Biden, the old chicken farmer. More pointedly, it validated what some economists had taken to calling greedflation.
His whole piece is worth your while.
Afterthought:
This is the result of not enforcing anti-trust laws, of thinking that trusts can be trusted.
The first Gilded Age taught us that they could not, and we chose to forget that lesson.
Persons Sometimes Forget: Words Have Meanings 0
I think my old Philly DL friend Noz might be onto something.
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy tries to make sense of senselessness.
Accessories after the Fact, Reprise 0
Susan Estrich exposes the con. A nugget (emphasis added):
But don’t tell that to Johnson, who wasted no time at all in getting on the hard-right bandwagon, wrongly trying to convince middle-class taxpayers that they are the ones who will be paying the bill if the IRS budget isn’t cut.
Misdirection Play, SOL* Dept. 0
James Rosen reviews the myth behind the misdirection and what the misdirection is meant to misdirect us from. A few tiny excerpts (emphasis added):
(snip)
The notion that more rigorous standards, whether imposed by states or the federal government, can significantly improve public education prevents us from confronting a harsh truth: Teachers, tasked with one of the most demanding and crucial jobs, don’t get paid enough.
(snip)
My experience has shown me that one great teacher is more important than any academic standards that produce only rote and superficial learning.
__________________
In my home state, “SOL” is alleged to stand for “Standards of Learning.”
Marie Antoinette Redux 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini paraphrases Arizona Representative Andy Biggs’s stance on the impending shutdown of the federal government:
The (Corporate) Welfare State 0
At AL.com, John Archibald runs the numbers and concludes that Alabama is happy to pay welfare to rich corporations, but not to poor individuals.
I suspect you can find similar numbers for other states.
Afterthought:
Archibald doesn’t address this in his column, but it occurs to me that persons who can’t afford, say, for example, day care for their children and therefore have trouble finding jobs likely also cannot afford campaign contributions.
