"The day the right lost the economic argument...President Obama's speech clinched the case..."

[ProSense]

The day the right lost the economic argument

President Obama's speech clinched the case against Norquist-style austerity — and won over the likes of USA Today

By Michael Lind

If you need any further evidence of the stark ideological divide that separates progressives from conservatives, you can find it by contrasting President Barack Obama’s speech on the economy with the response of the House Republicans...the president provided a capsule summary of the mainstream progressive narrative about the U.S. economy from 1945 to 2009:

In the period after World War II, a growing middle class was the engine of our prosperity. Whether you owned a company, swept its floors, or worked anywhere in between, this country offered you a basic bargain – a sense that your hard work would be rewarded with fair wages and benefits, the chance to buy a home, to save for retirement, and, above all, to hand down a better life for your kids.

But over time, that engine began to stall. That bargain began to fray. Technology made some jobs obsolete. Global competition sent others overseas. It became harder for unions to fight for the middle class. Washington doled out bigger tax cuts to the rich and smaller minimum wage increases for the working poor. The link between higher productivity and people’s wages and salaries was severed – the income of the top 1% nearly quadrupled from 1979 to 2007, while the typical family’s barely budged.

Towards the end of those three decades, a housing bubble, credit cards, and a churning financial sector kept the economy artificially juiced up.

That’s an excellent statement of the progressive theory of the case. What collapsed in 2008 was not merely the lesser stock and real estate bubble of the 2000s, but the larger Bubble Economy which had been “artificially juiced up” since the 1980s.

If you accept this thesis, as most progressives do, there can be no going to back to pre-2008 “normality”— because from Reagan to George W. Bush the “normal” was abnormal and sustained only by the Keynesian stimulus provided by Reagan’s and George W. Bush’s military build-ups and the stock market and real estate bubbles fueled by tax cuts for the rich. (Conservatives oppose Keynesian stimulus in the form of productive infrastructure investment, but support Keynesian stimulus if it benefits rentiers, defense contractors, real estate speculators and money managers).

- more -

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/25/the_day_the_right_lost_the_economic_argument/

[malaise]

1. K & R

Were it not for the hacks and goons on M$Greedia, people would be screaming in the streets for progressive economic policies.
The corporate media is as much a problem as the ReTHUGs

[ProSense]

3. True. n/t

[watoos]

10. The M$M enables them.

Every network, and I mean every, is corporate-controlled by people who control the narrative. msnbc simply puts a liberal slant to the narrative and if you stray from the message, you end up like Olbermann, Uygar, Ratigan.

[liberal N proud]

2. Yet nothing will sway the GOP from their pledge to Grover and their obstruction

This last week they have doubled down on blocking anything Obama proposes.

[abelenkpe]

4. K&R

[certainot]

5. unfortunately the country is blanketed with RW radio's take, like on all other issues/events

the left makes a HUGE mistake ignoring RW radio- that's the bully pulpit whenever obama's not actually on it- and on many of his speeches (eg global warming/energy) he really doesn't even have it then.

democracy-loving americans really need to stop giving RW radio a free speech free ride.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Not only ignoring

but not supporting those on radio countering it. Al Franken tried with Air America and even that withered on the vine with bits and pieces of it (with Bill Press, et al) still trying to hang on. There are wealthy Democrats who could have easily bought up bundles of cheap stations to promote liberal and progressive ideas, but I expect there are deep philosophical reasons among those who are liberal for not using such a tool for filling the airwaves with 24/7 hate-filled vitriol. The only other widespread outlet is the internet.... at least as long as the trolls are kept at bay.

[certainot]

27. 2 ways to fight/end RW radio monopoly

it's a well protected monopoly and it would take a huge leap of money to do it by trying to compete. there are ways though to challenge it and it really needs to stop getting that free speech free ride- ultimately it can't survive if exposed. stoprush boycott is doing damage but is specifically targeted.

1) another way to challenge/expose it would be to monitor the top 50 or 100 blowhards in the country with automated transcription software and computers. make that available for search and study of the topics and patterns and repetition - that's why it works, its invisible. why these GOP freaks can repeat lies and myths on the floor of congress or the sunday shows needs to be exposed so they can be shamed. would we have the sequester if limbaugh had been exposed as the biggest seller of the debt 'crisis' suicide? that goes back 25 years of talk radio successes - and now the transcription software may be able available to automate it.

2) and RW radio's piggybacking of our universities and college sports programs needs to end. 170 + (28%) of limbaugh stations have the team logos of 70 major university football programs on them https://sites.google.com/site/universitiesforrushlimbaugh/
to leech community credibility and sell ads. how many student activists are allowing their own universities undermine their activism by endorsing the shit from the rw state megastations? it's stupid. RW radio would fall apart if those universities started honoring their mission statements.

IMO there are more effective things to do to end that RW advantage than try to buy stations and compete with that monopoly. i suspect if a few unis declared they were going to go to non partisan alternatives others would follow and a lot of those stations would go to other formats or try to bargain by offering balance. and the RW liars couldn't compete. that would give us a lot more prog radio opportunities.

[cantbeserious]

6. Nice Summary

eom

[SunSeeker]

8. K & R

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. "Global competition sent others overseas."

*cough*TPP*cough*

[arely staircase]

11. Thanks for posting. Lind is one of my favorite political writers

First book I read by him was Up from Conservatism back in the 90s. I went back and reread it not to long ago and it is amazing how it has held up to time. He is a smart guy who gets it.

[ProSense]

12. You're welcome. n/t

[Scurrilous]

13. K & R

[socialist_n_TN]

14. So does this mean that Obama's "new era" is a return to FDR style......

New Deal policies? If so, WHY does he warn Democrats to get ready for changes to cherished programs in his speech?

[Sentath]

15. Sweet, now we just have to let the world know that the argument is lost.

'Cause I'm sure we've all seen zombie arguments still falling out of the mouths of the talking heads of the right, sometimes years after they perished.

[freshwest]

16. Off to the Greatest Page!

[Doctor_J]

17. He didn't "clinch" anything unless he and Reid and Pelosi STAND FIRM

NO CUTS TO PROGRAMS FOR THE ELDERLY OR NEEDY

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

18. Obama is leading the charge. Either help or get out of the way. K&R. nt

[Progressive dog]

19. K&R nt

[sheshe2]

20. K&R!

[Cha]

21. Damn Straight. And, isn't this where

greenwald reared his willfully ignorant, ugly head and said there was no difference between Dems and repubs? And, whining there was "no policy"? Or was that some other asshole who makes his money off of whining about nothing?

Grover looks pissed.. as are all those who want to take down the President. yeah, you know who I mean.

thanks ProSense~

[ProSense]

22. Not a good idea to absolve Republicans. n/t

[Scurrilous]

23. Boink.

[flamingdem]

24. K&R

[great white snark]

25. Great read.

Thanks for posting this.

[ProSense]

26. Kick! n/t