Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

A consequence of cucumbers

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

This blog will pay for itself.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Let’s finish the job.

“woke” is the new caravan.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Today’s David Brooks Howler

Today’s David Brooks Howler

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Public sector unions obviously need to be abolished:

[…] Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.

As a result of these imbalanced incentive structures, states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises. […]

That massive public union clout is evident in the latest election in Wisconsin (and Indiana, as Kay notes). As for the second claim, it shows how little Brooks actually knows about real America when he ignores the budget crises in non-unionized Texas and Arizona, and he lives right down the street from Virginia, which doesn’t have collective bargaining and has a budget crisis.

Reader Interactions

50Comments

  1. 1.

    Carnacki

    Being right doesn’t pay when you speak for the right. Being stupid, a liar or both is where the pay dirt is at for right wing media figures.

  2. 2.

    batgirl

    Most important, public sector unions corporations help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in federal, state and local races.

    I fixed that for Brooks.

  3. 3.

    Keith G

    Fucking A, Bobo….Don’t defense contractors and banks definitely choose who they will be bargaining with?

    Edit: And what Batgirl says.

  4. 4.

    cleek

    So, does brooks know he is arguing to keep all mass influence out of politics? No corps, no parties, no unions,no PACs… any entity that might negotiate with the govt should be prohibited from influncing elections! Yay!

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dave C: FDR was a truly great President. He also was wrong about a number of things. This is an example of why the argument from authority fallacy is a fallacy. (N.B. This is also an example of why Sully is a douchebag.)

  7. 7.

    BGK

    I was a captive audience for about an hour of Fox News last night, and there was a panel of Der Krauthammer, Juan Williams, and some Weekly Stan-tard holding court on the protests in Wisconsin. While I was spared the captions, one could tell from body language and facial expressions that they Were Not Amused. None of these clowns has ever had a real job. One would think this would disqualify them from running their pieholes about anything labor-related. Yet, lack of direct experience in a given subject seems a prerequisite for conservative gasbaggery. Hmmm…

  9. 9.

    Xenos

    Actually, that talking point/FDR quote has been circulating for days. It is a fallacy and irrelevant, of course, but it is about the strongest support for Walker et al. that anyone can come up with.

    I guess if FDR was weak on civil rights we have to let the GOP take us backwards on civil rights, too?

  10. 10.

    sparky

    i loathe Brooks, but there is one state, interestingly not mentioned, where there is some truth to this argument: New York state and New York City. in those jurisdictions, the public sector unions along with the teachers union and unions like 1199 have immense clout in the legislature. but NYS & NYC are anomalies and it is disingenuous in the extreme to pretend that NY is the norm.

    it’s also rather amusingly chickenshit of Brooks to name the state he’s talking about.

    all in all it’s the usual piece–support a superstructure of shibboleths with a single anonymous example. opinion journalism at its worst.

  11. 11.

    YellowDog

    And massive corporate contributions determine who gives the corporations nobid contracts. Politics is about winners and losers (except when Republicans lose, then it’s about winners and whiners).

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Xenos: It is interesting to me that they are relying on this quotation because it is emblematic of the right-wing style argumentation. Find a marginally germane quote from an “authority,” state it, cross arms, and smirk.

  13. 13.

    Violet

    Why do people like Brooks still have jobs? Is this a product of the crappy “old media” system? He’s wrong so often it’s ridiculous. If he had another type of job, and got this much stuff wrong, he’d be fired.

  14. 14.

    tomvox1

    Oh, great. Another day of cosseted and rich “reasonable conservatives” telling the working men and women of this country what’s in their best interests. And that when they collectively bargain against the powerful interests arrayed against them, “America” somehow loses.

    Here’s an idea: Let’s consistently ask these douchebag pontificating pundits who have never done a day’s worth of real labor in their lives to volunteer to pay Clinton-era tax rates as a way of “sharing the sacrifice.” And if they refuse, we must regrettably and repeatedly call them the worst insult in the Beltway lexicon: Deeply Unserious People.

    Also, too, David Brooks: Did I miss your column condemning Citizens Fucking United?!?

  15. 15.

    funluvn

    From DJ Dionne:

    Washington is acting as if the only real problem the United States confronts is the budget deficit; the only test of leadership is whether the president is willing to make big cuts in programs that protect the elderly; and the largest threat to our prosperity comes from public employees.

    Thanks media! Your tea party is coming home to roost!

  17. 17.

    PurpleGirl

    I’ll agree to more sacrifice (although after being unemployed for 2+ years, spending down to non-existence my savings and retirement account, almost being evicted several times and begging relatives for help, I’m not sure how much more I can do) when Mr. Bobo agrees to a 75% cut in income (salary, any bonuses he may get, and financial instrument options), and gives up his health insurance (and doesn’t move back to Canada to be a parasite on their system). Hopefully that cut in income will cause him to either be unable to pay rent or face foreclosure on his house.

    He motto must be: Austerity for thee but not for me.

  18. 18.

    anon84

    Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.

    Is he speaking about wealthy political donors and corporations suckling on the public teat with sweetheart government contracts?

    There are 125 million employed workers in the United States.
    Of these, 103 million are private sector jobs and 22 million are public sector jobs.
    Each sector has 7+ million union workers (7.1 million private, 7.6 million public)

    Union workers are 11.9 % of the population. Public union workers are 6%.

    states with public sector unions tend to run into fiscal crises

    Bullshit. This smell just like “Saddam has WMDs!” & “Cut Social Security or the deficit will destroy us”. Fearmongering bullshit.

  20. 20.

    Southern Beale

    And corporations help choose who unions negotiate with by using their enormous economic clout to elect right wing “free market” anti-tax, anti-government and anti-union people to elected office. So, “both sides do it.”

    Jesus. I don’t get this obsession with unions involvement in politics. It’s not like the Chamber of Commerce isn’t out there trying to swing elections too. If people are really so chapped about this we could scrap the whole thing and just have public financing of elections. How ’bout it?

  21. 21.

    russell

    I’ll trade him public sector unions for private corporate lobbying and private corporate contributions to any and all political activity.

    We don’t want folks who are going to regulated choosing those who are going to regulate them, do we?

  22. 22.

    Kryptik

    @Violet:

    That’s because you’re assuming journalism is a meritocracy. A common mistake. It’s a Demeritocracy. As in, the more you fail for the right reasons, the more you succeed. It’s not about telling the truth or getting it right. It’s getting it wrong for the ‘right reasons’ and ‘right people.

    And despite how many people are getting up and being heard, I can’t help but simply be depressed by the whole thing, simply because, as history has shown, protests from anywhere but the batshit wing of the right are either ignored or taken as proof of the rightness of the cause being protested, and our leaders end up following suit to fuck us over once more, despite the ‘will of the people’ they listen to boiling down to ‘whoever Broder talked to over at the deli’.

  24. 24.

    Chris

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It is interesting to me that they are relying on this quotation because it is emblematic of the right-wing style argumentation. Find a marginally germane quote from an “authority,” state it, cross arms, and smirk.

    Thinking which is axiomatic in nature, as someone here once called it.

    You forgot to mention that this arguing technique can be brought to its pinnacle by the following technique: find a marginally germane quote from an “authority” on the other side of the aisle, state, and go “ha! Your guy said it! What’d you think of that, eh, what’d you think of that!”

  25. 25.

    Leah

    Here’s an answer re; FDR from a labor historian as interviewed in Salon.

    Brooks has a comments section; he gets some push back but and an equal number of milk-toast right-leaning centrists. I’d suggest that everyone who leaves a message here go over and leave the same comment at the NYT and emphasize despite this being an opinion piece, facts are facts and right-to-work states are in just as much budget trouble as blue states, and the reason so many are is due to the economic meltdown of 2008 up to this very day, and not union workers.

    It might even be worth an attempt to ask the ombudsperson at the Times why it’s okay to misstate facts in an opinion piece, but not okay in a news story, (although it happens often enough there, too). You have to register for the Times, but the facts that have already been placed on view and will continue to be all day might do more good over there. Not an either or suggestion, comment here and there.

    You can contact Sully by email. Don’t bother to if you’re too angry to be polite; sometimes he is moved to at least modify a position by what readers send him – he did so on late-term abortions, but abusive or even just a smart-ass tone will only confirm his prejudices.

    Just a thought.

    If we lose this union issue, our collective liberal-progressive goose-asses are cooked for sure.

  26. 26.

    Sly

    FDR was also not a big fan of people suspected of constituting a “fifth column,” so he and Sullivan actually have two things in common.

  27. 27.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude

    Most important, public sector unions help choose those they negotiate with. Through gigantic campaign contributions and overall clout, they have enormous influence over who gets elected to bargain with them, especially in state and local races.

    See, for example, WI, IN, and OH.

  29. 29.

    Cacti

    @YellowDog:

    And massive corporate contributions determine who gives the corporations nobid contracts. Politics is about winners and losers (except when Republicans lose, then it’s about winners and whiners).

    And actual people and citizens (public employees), should never enjoy the same rights as fictitious people and citizens (corporations).

  31. 31.

    Scott

    Man, they are working the refs really, really hard. I know part of it is to try to convince folks that, hey, all these well-dressed pundits say unions are teh evulz, so jump on the bandwagon to destroy your future! But part of it has to be working to wear everyone else down so they’ll be too fatigued to keep complaining about Our Benevolent Corporate Overlords…

  32. 32.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude

    @Leah: The historian is quoted as saying

    But like many people, had he lived into the postwar era, he might well have changed his mind.

    I’m never comfortable with If condition that didn’t occur then person would have done whatever, for what I think are obvious reasons. Do you suppose this quote will be picked up by the Republicans, who are strongly/violently opposed to virtually everything FDR accomplished?

    ETA: Minor clarification.

  33. 33.

    RalfW

    I continue to be amazed that the same people who are terrified of government and unions will cede total control of their lives to a handful of corporations. What the freakin hell is so magical about incorporating that makes it above reproach? I know, it’s money, filthy lucre. Give a man a choice between freedom and an infinitesimal shot at money, and he will, it appears, take the lottery ticket every time.

  38. 38.

    Exurban Mom

    @Southern Beale: Sorry, but that’s easy: unions are one of the few identifiable and attack-able bastions of Democrats. They have a lot of money, they have many foot soldiers during election times, and they are reliably Democrats. They’ve taken down ACORN, they are working on the unions. They had a nefarious plan in place to attack several progressive groups, since brought to light…What’s left of the reliable Democratic infrastructure? Not much, I’m afraid.

  39. 39.

    PIGL

    People laugh at Bobo for his pseudo-intellectual pretentiousness and his ludicrous half-witted pop sociology.

    But he’s not funny. He’s a witting, mendacious, treacherous propagandist for the ruling class.

  41. 41.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude

    The comments at the NYT on Brooks’s column are generally pretty good, including one from someone who claims to be a top bracket financial maven who thinks taxes on the wealthy should be increased and spending on education and infrastructure should be increased. On the other hand, one commenter from Beverly Hills says

    Columns like these show Brooks at his best: fair to both sides but not wishy washy, informative but not pedantic, critical but with a positive input.

    He’s actually describing the David Brooks from Opposite World.

  43. 43.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude

    @E.D. Kain: Which argument? David Brooks is a fool vs. David Brooks is a tool?

  44. 44.

    Moses2317

    Here’s my comment over at the NYT on this ridiculousness from Brooks:

    First, your attempt to connect collective bargaining by public employees to state budgetary woes fails, as states that prohibit such collective bargaining are also suffering from fiscal shortfalls right now. For example, Texas prohibits collective bargaining, and its projected FY2012 budgetary shortfall of $13.4 billion is 31.5% of its FY2011 budget. Similarly, North Carolina’s $3.8 billion projected shortfall is 20% of its budget. Wisconsin’s shortfall, meanwhile, is 12.8%.

    Second, it is flatly incorrect to suggest that we are facing budgetary problems that will take decades to fix. The current deficits are largely the result of two things – the Bush tax cuts and the Bush Recession. If we rescind those tax cuts and restore economic growth, much of our short term deficit issues will disappear.

    Third, your suggestion that everyone must be hurt by austerity is highly problematic. Over the past 30 years, large tax cuts and deregulation have enabled the wealthy elite to make out like bandits while the middle class has rapidly disappeared. The gap between the rich and poor has widened, and the vast majority of economic wealth created over the last three decades has gone to the top 20% and, especially, the top 1%. It is only fair that those same folks should be asked to contribute more to reducing our deficits than those in the middle and at the bottom who have hardly benefited from our economy over the past 30 years.

    Taxes are currently at 9% of GDP, which is half of the average in post-WWII America. So, let’s increase that to 18% to begin with by asking the wealthy and large corporations to begin paying their fair share again.

    Then, let’s cut military spending, and eliminate agricultural and other corporate subsidies.

    Then, let’s expand on the efforts in the health care reform bill to make our health care system more efficient so that we can reduce cost growth in Medicare and Medicaid.

    Then, let’s have the Social Security tax apply to all income, rather than just the first $90,000.

    Then, let’s get more immigrants on a track toward legal status and then citizenship, so that we have more younger people paying into Social Security and Medicare.

    Finally, let’s invest in infrastructure and restore state and local government budgets so that we can restore economic growth and, therefore, increase revenue.

    If we do all these things, our budgetary issues will largely disappear. What do you say, Mr. Brooks? Are you serious about cutting the deficit, or are you just using it as a guise to eliminate government social programs under the guise of “hurting everyone”?

    http://www.winningprogressive.org

  45. 45.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude

    @RalfW: C.mon, dude, the company is only trying to

    to better align its cost structure with market conditions.

  46. 46.

    SatanicPanic

    I keep hearing from people yapping about how such and such red state doesn’t have budget problems, but California, New York and all the other blue states do. So I’m planning on moving, because when choosing a state to live in, the most important factor is whether or not its budget is balanced. Things like quality of life and literacy are secondary, at best.

  47. 47.

    azlib

    Unfortunately, all this was avoidable if we had followed the Keynesian economic prescription to boost demand. The reign of the austerians will result in a longer recovery and perhaps a double dip recession, if many of the cuts proposed by Republicans across the country are enacted.

    Of course this fits the austerians strategy of prolonging the recovery and keeping the unemployment rate high, so they can gin the anger up in 2012 and take the Presidency. The Dems, including our President, are on defense because they never had a really good long term offensive plan to push back against the destructive austerity agenda.

    As for Brooks, I stopped reading him a long time ago. He is simply a shill for his corporate masters and his columns are quite predictable in both tone and message.

  48. 48.

    Allan

    Four years after the revolution and the old king’s execution
    Four years after I remember how those courtiers took their final vow
    String up every aristocrat
    Out with the priests Let them live on their fat
    Four years after we started fighting
    Marat keeps on with his writing
    Four years after the Bastille fell
    He still recalls the old battle yell
    Down with all of the ruling class
    Throw all the generals out on their arse
    Good old Marat by your side we’ll stand or fall
    You’re the only one that we can trust at all
    Four years he fought and he fought unafraid
    Sniffing down traitors by traitors betrayed
    Marat in the courtroom Marat underground
    Sometimes the otter and sometimes the hound
    Fighting all the gentry and fighting every priest
    Businessman the bourgeois the military beast
    Marat always ready to stifle every scheme
    of the sons of the arse licking dying regime
    We’ve got new generals our leaders are new
    They sit and they argue and all that they do
    Is sell their own colleagues and ride upon their backs
    And jail them and break them and give them all the axe
    Screaming in language that no one understands
    Of the rights that we grabbed with our own bleeding hands
    When we wiped out the bosses and stormed through the wall
    Of the prison they told us would outlast us all
    Marat we’re poor
    And the poor stay poor
    Marat don’t make
    Us wait anymore
    We want our rights and we don’t care how
    We want our revolution now
    Why do they have the gold
    Why do they have the power
    Why why why
    Do they have the friends at the top
    Why do they have the jobs at the top
    We’ve got nothing
    Always had nothing
    Nothing but holes and millions of them
    Living in holes dying in holes
    Holes in our bellies and holes in our clothes
    Marat we’re poor
    And the poor stay poor
    Marat don’t make us wait anymore
    Poor old Marat they hunt you down
    The bloodhounds are sniffing all over the town
    Poor old Marat you work til your eyes turn as red as rust
    poor old Marat
    We trust in you ….

    Highlighted the line about David Brooks so he could find it.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Sullivan does the research and can find no mention of doing away with collective bargaining, so they can take their “Walker won!” argument and cram it.

    Meanwhile, the usually lucid (on domestic issues) Jonathon Chait describes “Chuck” Lane–neocon and opponent of the minimum wage and health care reform– as “center-left”.

  50. 50.

    chopper

    so i guess it’s wrong for private union members to own any stock in the company they work for, because then they have a voice in who they negotiate with.

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