Young, Restless, and Not Voting
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 27th, 2012 11:08 pm by HL
Young, Restless, and Not Voting
Clare Malone, American Prospect
This week, as the general election campaign “ramps up” for the umpteenth time, President Barack Obama has been conspicuous about talking to the young folks of America. He’s gone where they congregate—college campuses to talk about student loans and on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to slow jam the news and stand next to “The Roots,” absorbing their cool by osmosis. In the last presidential election, young Americans ate up the heaping spoonfuls of hope served to them by the Obama campaign—66 percent of 18-29 year olds…
What Would Obama’s 2nd Term Look Like?
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner arrived in the Oval Office bearing socks. President Obama had admired Wenner’s flashy pair on a previous visit, and this gift fit the bill: one pair salmon with pink squares, the other black and pink stripes.“These are nice,” the president said. Then he paused. “These may be second-term socks.”
The Death of the Austerity Fairy Tale
Paul Krugman, New York Times
This was the month the confidence fairy died.For the past two years most policy makers in Europe and many politicians and pundits in America have been in thrall to a destructive economic doctrine. According to this doctrine, governments should respond to a severely depressed economy not the way the textbooks say they should "” by spending more to offset falling private demand "” but with fiscal austerity, slashing spending in an effort to balance their budgets.