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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Only a fool would think someone could save you

Only a fool would think someone could save you

by DougJ|  March 3, 201111:48 pm| 34 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., We Are All Mayans Now

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Via Atrios, Chris Hayes has a good piece on how/why Washington elites simply don’t care about jobs for middle-class Americans:

There were already Two Americas before the Great Recession, but in the wake of that seismic disruption, those two continents have only moved further apart.

This manifests itself in our politics in two ways. For one, it just so happens that policy-makers, pundits and politicians are drawn from the classes that are in recovery, and they live in an area where new sushi restaurants are opening all the time. For even the best-intentioned and most conscientious staffers and aides this has, I think, a subconscious effect.

[….]

The other problem is that our system is responsive only to voices at the top of the social pyramid—the bankers and businessmen who are raking in record bonuses and the professional upper middle class, which is recovering much faster than the nation as a whole. In a 2007 paper titled “Inequality and Democratic Responsiveness in the United States,” Princeton political scientist Martin Gilens analyzed 2,000 survey questions from 1981 to 2002, looking for the relationship between public opinion and policy outcomes. He found that “when Americans with different income levels differ in their policy preferences, actual policy outcomes strongly reflect the preferences of the most affluent but bear little relationship to the preferences of poor or middle income Americans.”

The change here has to come from the bottom up. As long as the top one percent can convince one half of the middle-class to focus its rage on the other half of the middle class, our elected officials have little incentive to respond to actual middle-class economic concerns.

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Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    March 3, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    And you know, overreaching assholes like Govs Walker and Kasich are helping to focus the attention of the bottom. Scales are falling from the eyes of some of the previously deluded. I am cautiously optimistic, long term. Short term, it’s gonna be a very bumpy ride.

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    March 3, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Yes, yes, yes. The MSM are the GOP’s co-belligerents in the great class war, the top 5% vs everybody else. And this seems like a good moment to remind them that they’re also really stupid:

    David Gregory was making some point about the stock market and said something about how “it isn’t just the fat cats, it’s you and me”

  3. 3.

    Gian

    March 4, 2011 at 12:04 am

    Does anyone else remember when it was mainstream news and an issue that Bush the elder didn’t know the price of bread or milk or that grocery stores had scanners or something?

  4. 4.

    Stillwater

    March 4, 2011 at 12:07 am

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I agree with this. Walker and etc. have done more to unite people of middle incomes than any positive argument a liberal/progressive could have ever offered. My guess is that plenty of folks who always thought liberals were the enemy of freedom are waking up.

  5. 5.

    freelancer

    March 4, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Is this discussion going to involve cookies? If it doesn’t have anything to do with cookies, I don’t care.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 4, 2011 at 12:09 am

    What worries me the most is that the fuckwits at the top are really, really screwing it all up. They think that social instability is a win for them, for some bizarre reason.

    Actual historical conservatives were interested in enhancing social stability. You know, by taking away reasons for the masses to rise up and use violence to effect change? One of the sterling examples of this is Bismarck, who created the concept of “Social Security” as a way to defang the Social Democrats of Germany. It worked! It insured that the existing social order would be sustained, at least until WWI screwed things up, and WWII drove the Junkers into extinction.

    These guys are bound and determined to recreate the situation that the brain trust of Louis XVI faced in the late 18th Century…fucking up the finances of the country through overseas adventures (ironically, the support of the rebellion of the British North American colonies) and ignoring growing social unrest domestically.

  7. 7.

    General Stuck

    March 4, 2011 at 12:22 am

    Their is a fail safe point to where the lie gets overtaken by reality. I have thought we were at that before, but the American public are blockheads until the bank account gets too low.

    I watch polls, but don’t take any one or more that seriously. But there is something that is different about them lately. Not that people are all of a sudden going pointy head liberal, but subtle shifts, especially in the internals, where the usual march in lockstep goopers are not answering in normal approved wingnut ways. I don’t have any solid evidence that there is anything like a major reealignment happening, or anything like that, and it all could be temp, but my senses tell me something is not quite in line with our two decade, or so, fifty fifty split between dem and repub. Stay tuned.

    The problem republicans have, is you can fool a lot of people a lot of the time, until their bank accounts show signs that something is wrong. When the rubes get hungry, or get afraid of getting hungry, they start asking pesky questions, which is a wingnut’s worst nightmare coming true.

  8. 8.

    Stillwater

    March 4, 2011 at 12:33 am

    @General Stuck: Part of the recent con, but which was in prior times not a con, was that if you started at the economic bottom, hard work, perseverance, bootstraps, etc etc could get you to a comfortable place. That’s not apparent anymore. Quite the opposite, in fact.

    Tribalism and out-group hate can only take you so far. In the end, it’s about the bank-account. As you said.

  9. 9.

    DanielX

    March 4, 2011 at 12:36 am

    Well, there’s a big “no shit!” and two thumbs way up. Congress, the punditry, etc, being unresponsive and/or not noticing the problems of the rest of the country? As the subject heading goes…..hoocoodanode, when six of the top highest income counties in the US are in the DC metro area? Folks there are riding the gravy train, and they have no more idea of how the rest of the country is doing than than do of the plight of subSaharan Africa. Kind of amazing, considering how close West Virginia is….

  10. 10.

    Chuck Butcher

    March 4, 2011 at 12:42 am

    I guess short term profit trumps all. Whatever political equation works for the GOP in the next bit of time by breaking unions and other plutocratic enhancements all falls apart in the long run. Bad economic outcomes for large segments of the public created by the GOP can cause unrest – unless the frog in the pot works for them. That is possible – has worked before.

    The actual wealth, the 0.1% don’t have reason to give a shit, they’re insulated from it. Anyone much under that has real reason to care about such a thing, they aren’t economically insulated – said lack increase with each downward increment.

    The middle-class has not given a rat’s ass about the implosion of blue collar wages up until it moved up to them. They still don’t give a fuck about it, they do care that they’re now squeezed. Doubt that, check their voting and polled attitudes.

    You can throw a lot of blame on the poor and lower income groups for not voting – but you also have to ask why they see it as pointless in that judgement. Per the voting record of Congress, their economic concerns will not be addressed. Period.

    They might just as well vote religion, guns, resentment, or not at all for all the good it will do them.

  11. 11.

    Stillwater

    March 4, 2011 at 12:43 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: But isn’t the big difference that capital centers were immovable back in the day – for logistical as well as trade-related reasons?

    Now, capital flight is not only permitted, it’s encouraged. Domestic instability doesn’t have the same meaning to them. The peasants were revolting once upon a time, and that meant the potential loss of property and income. Now they’re just unsightly.

  12. 12.

    Mark S.

    March 4, 2011 at 12:50 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    They are completely fucking clueless. David Brooks wouldn’t know a revolution was coming until his head was on a pike in an Applebee’s salad bar. He’d still be arguing (while they were strapping him to the guillotine) that Americans are really concerned about the deficit.

  13. 13.

    Chris

    March 4, 2011 at 1:06 am

    What’s this “two Americas” stuff? Don’t you guys know that once John Edwards had a love child, that invalidated his “two Americas” argument?

    You know, just like Al Gore being fat/having a beard/divorcing Tipper means that global warming/climate change are fake.

    (/sarcasm)

    Actually, I’d say there are three Americas: rich America, poor America, and delusionally-still-thinking-they’re-middle-class-or-even-upwardly-mobile America.

  14. 14.

    Chris

    March 4, 2011 at 1:13 am

    This line:

    “He found that ‘when Americans with different income levels differ in their policy preferences, actual policy outcomes strongly reflect the preferences of the most affluent but bear little relationship to the preferences of poor or middle income Americans.'”

    reminds me of a(n) (apocryphal, but nonetheless enduring) pre-internet SATSQ exchange:

    F. Scott Fitzgerald: “The rich are different than you and me.”

    Hemingway: “Yes. They have more money.”

    To paraphrase Hemingway’s alleged retort, the rich are different from the rest of us: THEY MAKE MUCH FUCKING BIGGER POLITICAL DONATIONS.

    Politicians who don’t know this, do not remain politicians for long.

  15. 15.

    moe99

    March 4, 2011 at 1:20 am

    “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” –Jay Gould

  16. 16.

    TenguPhule

    March 4, 2011 at 2:26 am

    The solution is obviously to break a few kneecaps and order them to the mines…oh wait, that’s the rich’s version of union busting…..

  17. 17.

    TenguPhule

    March 4, 2011 at 2:27 am

    “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” —Jay Gould

    We will only have peace when the last teabagger is strangled with the entrails of the last Wall Street broker.

  18. 18.

    Jim Newell

    March 4, 2011 at 2:36 am

    Sorry, I’m gonna have to go with Booman’s better explanation here.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/3/4/01629/33748

    Washington has always weathered recessions, even the worst recessions, better than the rest of the country. It’s a city dominated by employees of the federal government or those that rely on it. This is why they call it “recession-proof” — it is, by nature, not as responsive to market forces as most other places in the country.

    The difference now is simply that one party has gotten so tied up in its own rhetoric and ideology that it’s managed to convince just enough people that government is *the* sole problem, and any major attempt it makes to create jobs or improve conditions will fail. This wasn’t the case in the early ’80s recession. Washington, despite being better off than the rest of the country then too, was scared shitless about 10% unemployment every waking morning and its electoral repercussions for both parties. This was before the Myth of Ronny was pushed so relentlessly for years that it put a permanent daze over half of the nation’s voters. And Democrats have thus far been too chickenshit to fight back in any meaningful way, because it might require raising taxes.

    I live in Washington and may have some sort of bias, although I don’t really leave my house so we’re not much different. But I guaranteee you there are a shitload of very smart and talented people here who are just as concerned as you, and just as frustrated. But the political prerogatives of the two parties drown that all out. It’s a shame. I felt so sorry for the lifetime health care policy researchers, those who moved here to work on this as a career, who finally got their chance after decades to implement their life’s work, but watched as meaningful provision after meaningful provision was stripped out over a retarded Sarah Palin facebook shart about “death panels.” I met the person who wrote that language for end-of-life counseling reimbursements in the bill, and it’s hard to explain how frustrating it was for her, and the experts who worked with her staff for years, to see it taken out over this kind of temporal cable news bullshit. It’s complicated. Chris Hayes, who I like, should know this.

  19. 19.

    guckertgannon

    March 4, 2011 at 4:43 am

    I read recently that in the early 1900’s Jay Gould said, “I can hire half the middle class to kill the other half.”

    History, you repetitious time warp, you!

  20. 20.

    matoko_chan

    March 4, 2011 at 5:16 am

    But-but-but- Master Troll! We are all the same, really. That is what Important Glibertarian Wankstahs like EDK and Ross Douthat teach us!
    heres my pre-deleted comment from that thread.
    Thank you for your submission. Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
    Your Submitted Comment
    Display Name
    wheelers
    Location
    denver
    Comment
    But the Tea-party is racist. 72% embrace birtherism(subliminated racism, because overt racism is taboo in America today), up from 67% at last years CPAC. And you conservative elites cant seem to turn it off, try as you might…
    that is why I dont think you will be able to turn off the Palinism either, Ross.
    I warned you about pushing that Palincrack back at TAS.
    Shez no Elle Woods, is she?
    <3 always Matoko_chan

  21. 21.

    matoko_chan

    March 4, 2011 at 6:19 am

    So hey…..did you guys give EDK the boot or did he tell you it isnt free anymore?
    I said the right arent smart…they sure are cunning though…or cunning enough to spoof the cudlips at least.
    Was this the legendary double reverse troll backside 1080?
    You trolled the LoOGies so EDK pranked you back with a fake conversion?
    he was still here on the 28th.
    when did he go?
    i think you might have missed this in the scroll off of mistermixes last pimping EDK post.

  22. 22.

    matoko_chan

    March 4, 2011 at 6:24 am

    EDK disappears between the 3rd and 4th of March….was there a PSA that I missed?

  23. 23.

    Doug Hill

    March 4, 2011 at 8:17 am

    @Jim Newell:

    Thanks. I will do a follow up post.

  24. 24.

    Ann B. Nonymous

    March 4, 2011 at 8:24 am

    @matoko_chan: Aw! You’re missing your crush. MC and EDK sitting in a tree…

  25. 25.

    matoko_chan

    March 4, 2011 at 8:30 am

    hehe
    I think not.
    For me, the ineffable sweetness of this moment is like the dinner scene in Hannibal when Clarice Starling says to Paul Krendler….
    “See if I sound like Oliver Twist when I ask for MORE!”

    hahahahahahahah

  26. 26.

    El Cid

    March 4, 2011 at 8:50 am

    @Chuck Butcher: Capitalists for much of the 20th century were concerned about being rich not only ‘now’, but for decades, even generations hence.

    That’s why some of the richest supported social reforms, even sponsored the think tanks and policy advisers of the day to write their own studies for programs very much like the Social Security we eventually got.

    Because with such stability, they can continue to be wealthy and increase vast wealth instead of facing constant disorder and labor difficulties (even when they can crush them, they are annoyances and always potential threats) and even the risk of elections making real changes.

    Not all of them, clearly.

    But for whatever reasons now the focus appears to be so much more frequently grabbing as much as possible on the most immediate chances (not all can do so), no matter the risks to the general economy and stability.

    A lot of people have argued that this is based in the way executive compensation is structured, leading to clear benefits for smash & grab. And that the huge lowering taxes on the wealthy discourages long-term investment.

    Things have changed, though. Even the robber barons aimed to build their empires over the decades. Today, not so much.

    Or maybe a big difference is in how much of the economy has transited to an imaginary economy: financial casinos. That sector is given to rampant speculation and gambling whenever there’s the slightest opportunity.

    Combine that with the executive compensation and virtual zero taxes on capital gains (the super rich’s overwhelming income) and even inheritance taxes, and that financial titans have never cared much about the long-term future as it’s not a real industry, and maybe that’s a lot of it.

  27. 27.

    El Cid

    March 4, 2011 at 8:53 am

    Oh, crud, I used the word for ‘kasino’.

  28. 28.

    El Cid

    March 4, 2011 at 9:02 am

    Gallup says the combined unemployment and undesired part time work has reached 20%.

    Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, hit 10.3% in February — up from 9.8% at the end of January. The U.S. unemployment rate is now essentially the same as the 10.4% at the end of February 2010…
    __
    …The percentage of part-time workers who want full-time work worsened considerably in February, increasing to 9.6% of the workforce from 9.1% at the end of January. A larger percentage of the U.S. workforce is working part time and wanting full-time work now than was the case a year ago (9.3%)…
    __
    …Underemployment, a measure that combines part-time workers wanting full-time work with those who are unemployed, surged in February to 19.9%. This resulted from the combination of a sharp 0.5-point increase since the end of January in the percentage unemployed and a 0.5-point increase in the percentage working part time but wanting full-time work. Underemployment is now higher than it was at this point a year ago (19.7%)…
    __
    …This deterioration in the jobs situation combined with surging gas prices, budget battles at the federal and state level, and declines on Wall Street tend to explain the recent plunge Gallup recorded in consumer confidence. They also align with the continued “new normal” spending patterns of early 2011. Although Gallup’s Job Creation Index has improved over the past year and showed modest improvement in February, the improvement has not been significant enough to positively affect underemployment and unemployment.
    __
    Warren Buffet said Wednesday on CNBC that the U.S. unemployment rate should be in the low 7% range by late 2012. If that is going to be the case, the job creation environment must change dramatically from what it is today.

    That’s why we need to fix the deficit right now, although without any revenue, because if you stop all da spendin’, them jobs come back somehow or ‘nother.

  29. 29.

    Paul in KY

    March 4, 2011 at 9:39 am

    @TenguPhule: One banker, one bullet.

  30. 30.

    Paul in KY

    March 4, 2011 at 9:43 am

    @matoko_chan: I think you must have finally driven him nuts. I hear he’s joined a trash collection co-op up in Madison.

    Cudlip ;-)

  31. 31.

    Fuck U6: A More Accurate Measure of the Total Amount of Duck-Fuckery in the Economy

    March 4, 2011 at 9:47 am

    The sad thing is that no matter how insufferable I find Kain, the ‘tako-chin makes him seem far more rational and appealing than if we didn’t have her constant insipid mewling.

  32. 32.

    brantl

    March 4, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    And still, nobody’s talking about how this is crushing the poor, while it bends the middle class in discomfort.

  33. 33.

    Wile E. Quixote

    March 4, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    @Tenguphule One banker, one bullet at least one bullet.

    Fix’t.

  34. 34.

    DPirate

    March 5, 2011 at 10:55 am

    As long as the top one percent can convince one half of the middle-class to focus its rage on the other half of the middle class, our elected officials have little incentive to respond to actual middle-class economic concerns.

    Yes, and they are able to do so in many ways. Once Joe is put into competition with Charley, the box of dirty tricks is bottomless. Mechanism is the base ill, and particularly agribusiness which has destroyed the historical power base of the middle class. What was once a constituency of independence, has become wholly dependent upon a multitude of factors that can be finagled as needed to raise one sector against another.

    (I figure it doesn’t really matter, though, because people enjoy OTB. Horses will be available when we need them.)

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