Trumps: White Angry Middleclass

[catherine]

Ignoring the very real suffering out there would be cruel.

Promising to fix it with the economic equivalent of magic beans is crueler still. There simply aren't enough billionaires out there to dispossess.

LDAHL, you're much too smart to draw these dramatic oversimplifications of the possibilities of needed change. No one is looking to overtake the bourgeoisie. Just looking to see how the tax code may be improved, Wall Street can be reined in, and money can be kept from their off-shore tax havens without upsetting the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I don't think it's magic--if so we need to consult with the wizards of those countries who have already conjured it up.

[LDAHL]

LDAHL, you're much too smart to draw these dramatic oversimplifications of the possibilities of needed change. No one is looking to overtake the bourgeoisie. Just looking to see how the tax code may be improved, Wall Street can be reined in, and money can be kept from their off-shore tax havens without upsetting the lifestyles of the rich and famous. I don't think it's magic--if so we need to consult with the wizards of those countries who have already conjured it up.

One of the few public services Clinton has performed during the campaign has been to point out how unrealistic Sanders' proposed policies are.

I don't think there's any magic to how the faltering welfare states of Europe work their magic. High taxes on individuals, lower taxes on corporations, weak military establishments and high unemployment. I agree with you that's more sophisticated than "soak the rich".

[catherine]

One of the few public services Clinton has performed during the campaign has been to point out how unrealistic Sanders' proposed policies are.

I don't think there's any magic to how the faltering welfare states of Europe work their magic. High taxes on individuals, lower taxes on corporations, weak military establishments and high unemployment. I agree with you that's more sophisticated than "soak the rich".

Where there's a will there's a way. Is our response to be "let them eat cake?"

[LDAHL]

Where there's a will there's a way. Is our response to be "let them eat cake?"

No. But neither does promising a free lunch.

[Ultralight]

I think part of the issue is that we as a culture need to realize we don't need such big lunches or any cake for dessert.

[Williamsmith]

Since we can't agree on whether the rich are rich enough, the poor are poor enough and middleclass screwed enough.....how bout we just start from scratch. And within a week, the rich will be rich again in the same proportions, the poor will be poor again in the same proportions and the middleclass screwed.

The carbeurator needs adjustment, this engine is running too rich.

[LDAHL]

Since we can't agree on whether the rich are rich enough, the poor are poor enough and middleclass screwed enough.....how bout we just start from scratch. And within a week, the rich will be rich again in the same proportions, the poor will be poor again in the same proportions and the middleclass screwed.

The carbeurator needs adjustment, this engine is running too rich.

That's the problem. Too many people think the solution is adjusting the carburetor when the world has moved on to fuel injectors.

[Lainey]

Best description for Trump, courtesy of Thom Hartmann: "the Duck Dynasty version of Ronald Reagan."

[catherine]

That's the problem. Too many people think the solution is adjusting the carburetor when the world has moved on to fuel injectors.

Funny thing for a conservative to say. What are the fuel injectors? Rampant capitalism run amok? Or can the fuel injectors be the modulators that ensure capitalism serves its purpose? TIME Magazine's cover story is one about how the markets are choking the economy. The author says that the rules of the free-market system have been warped through an increase in "financialization" and the stifling of business and innovation.

"Academic research shows that only a fraction of all the money washing around the financial markets these days actually makes it to Main Street businesses."

So I don't care if you're a dyed-in-the-wool free market capitalist or a Democratic socialist, you have to acknowledge that this is a marker of ill financial health. I'm not concerned about the tanned billionaires or the size of their yachts or any other part of their fiscal anatomies, but I am concerned about the stopped up plumbing of our economy.

[Gardenarian]

I think part of the issue is that we as a culture need to realize we don't need such big lunches or any cake for dessert.

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