“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Richard (RJ) Eskow: After Baltimore: Soul Searching in Another America
When asked about Baltimore last week, President Obama said this: “… if we think that we’re just gonna send the police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise (in our inner cities), without as a nation and as a society saying what can we do to change those communities … then we’re not gonna solve this problem.”
He added:
“We can’t just leave this to the police. I think there are police departments that have to do some soul searching. I think there are some communities that have to do some soul searching. But I think we, as a country, have to do some soul searching.”
The President is right. But how, exactly, does a nation go about searching its soul in times like these?
Perhaps it begins by reflecting on his own brilliant words from the 2004 Democratic Convention — the words that set him on the path to the White House. “There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America,” Barack Obama said that night, “there’s the United States of America.”
That summer evening seems so long ago now.
Robert Reich: Trans-Pacific Trickle-Down Economics
Have we learned nothing from thirty years of failed trickle-down economics?
By now we should know that when big corporations, Wall Street, and the wealthy get special goodies, the rest of us get shafted.
The Reagan and George W. Bush tax cuts of 1981, 2001, and 2003, respectively, were sold to America as ways to boost the economy and create jobs.
They ended up boosting the take-home pay of those at the top. Most Americans saw no gains.
In fact, the long stagnation of American wages began with Reaganomics. Wages rose a bit under Bill Clinton, and then started plummeting again under George W. Bush.
Trickle-down economics proved a cruel hoax. The new jobs created under Reagan and George W. Bush paid lousy wages, the old jobs paid even less, and we ended up with whopping federal budget deficits.
Daniel DiSalvo doesn’t like public sector unions. That is the main takeaway from Government Against Itself (Oxford University Press) DiSalvo’s new book on public sector unions. In the course of reading the book, they are likely to conclude that he is not especially fond of unions or workers, in general. He also doesn’t like Social Security and Medicare. He even manages to get in a drive-by directed at Senator Elizabeth Warren.
But the main villain of the book is clearly public sector unions. DiSalvo paints a dark conspiracy where public sector unions push for ever higher pay and benefits, work rules that allow for endless loafing on the job, and disciplinary policies that prevent even the most incompetent from being fired. High costs and low productivity strain public budgets, but the political power of public sector unions prevents effective steps to counter their abuses. Since the unions are such large donors to political campaigns, politicians can’t stand up to them. It’s a moving story — the data just don’t quite fit the picture.
Robert Kuttner: Some More Radical Ideas for Hillary
I am going to periodically suggest ideas that Hillary Clinton might consider — both to establish that she is a real-deal progressive and to rally political support from voters whom the economy is leaving behind. Clinton might even outflank some leading progressives by going beyond what is considered politically safe in the current environment.
Another name for that is leadership. So if Hillary wants to show that she’s a fighter, let her pick some good fights. [..]
It’s time. Some Wall Street supporters might get off her bandwagon — and good riddance. She has plenty to spare.
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