Things You Might Have Missed In the Class War: February 2011

About this blog:

What if they held a class war and nobody noticed? For decades, liberals and progressives have been bashed for conducting a "class war" every time they suggest that it would be appropriate for the extremely wealthy to shoulder a bit more of the burden of paying for government. Meanwhile, a swarm of far-right think-tanks and political action committees have been working tirelessly to promote the idea that taxes on the wealthy should be lowered further from their historic lows, and that entitlement programs such as social security and medicare are too expensive to sustain (and in any case, immoral). The latest attempts to delegitimize public employee unions are the logical next step in what genuinely appears to be the systematic dismantlement of the middle class. This blog will highlight some of the more extreme examples of this activity that may not always show up in your news feeds.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

You Really ARE Losing Ground

Ever get the feeling that you're falling behind, economically? You might be inclined to think it's because of unrealistic expectations regarding the tempting consumer goods with which we are constantly bombarded in the media. Or maybe the housing slump.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's because almost all of the economic gains have been going to the top 1% in the country. Take a look at this very nice, in-depth article by Kevin Drum at Mother Jones for details.

Jon Stewart: The New David Broder?

Digby points out the unfortunate truth about Jon Stewart's recent shows: he is adopting that false equivalency, pox-on-both-your-houses stance that characterizes so many of the DC Villagers. I really have to question how much longer I'll be able to watch his show based on some of his recent outings.

Robert Reich on the Marginal Tax Rate

Here is a nice article by Robert Reich that lays out the case for increasing the tax rate on super-high incomes (e.g., 70% on any income over $15M/year). At issue is whether it's a political non-starter, and Reich argues that it would be much easier to sell for Democrats than their consultants are telling them.

Welcome to the New Blog

I started this blog, because my other one (meant to be primarily about issues related to academia) was ending up as the de facto place for me to post on my concerns about the escalating war on the middle class. Why muddy the water, when Blogger lets you set up as many blogs as you want? So, from now on this is where I'll post my thoughts and links on this critical issue.