Unequal Politics
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on October 2nd, 2010 4:31 am by HL
Unequal Politics
Sam Petulla, American Prospect
Jacob Hacker (New America Foundation)TAP caught up with Hacker and Pierson to talk their income disparity analysis, criticisms from around the blogosphere, and the kind of politics needed if someone's going to start standing up for the middle-class. So the rich are getting really rich now. How did that help put us in the economic situation in which we find ourselves? PP:: The focus of this book is on [the] long-term economic crisis rather than the immediate economic crisis that we're facing, which we see as a symptom of a broader problem — the dramatic shift in the way the…
A Revolution Against Incumbency
Joe DioGuardi, RealClearPolitics
Americans are revolting against the Washington establishment. We saw the first uprising with the election of Chris Christie as Governor of New Jersey, and from there it seemed like a domino effect -Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts, Bob Bennett's loss in Utah, and the list goes on.The people have lost confidence in Washington, and with that loss of confidence, Washington incumbents have forfeited the support of voters. In just two years, federal policymakers passed a “stimulus” package that didn't create jobs, pushed through so-called health care reform that failed…
The Stimulus Isn’t a Waste of Money
Michael Grunwald, Time
People of good faith can disagree over whether President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package is creating enough jobs, piling on too much debt, or helping the country in the long run. But it's about time to retire one set of critiques of the stimulus: that it would be riddled with fraud, hamstrung by delays, and crippled by cost overruns. So far, while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is clearly not a political success, it is just as clearly a managerial success — on schedule, under budget, and according to independent investigators, remarkably free of…