The End of American Apathy Towards War?

November 16, 2015 Nick Cassella

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2016

Americans love war, but after waging (at least) two in the last decade, we have become tired of spilling blood in foreign lands. Our current apathy towards conflict has been labelled the “ Iraq Syndrome ” – a disease characterized by our collective doubt regarding the use of force. However, our fatigue towards warfare may be succumbing to the threat of ISIS. A CCN/ORC poll from October discovered that 46% of the country would support sending ground troops to fight the Islamic State. This number will most likely increase after the latest attacks in Paris, driving support for another war in the Middle East even higher. The outcome seems clear: the media will do all they can to sell fear and hatred, while Republican candidates will happily provide their nativist base with racist generalizations and fantasy-like plans for war. Take for example Jeb Bush: a stumbling presidential candidate who is hoping to become the third Bush to start an American war in the Middle East. After the Paris attacks, Bush said that the US “should declare war” on ISIS. Specifically, he advocated for taking “it to them in Syria and Iraq.” He then went onto explain how he would do this: You destroy ISIS. And then you build a coalition to replace this radical Islamic terrorist threat to our country and to Europe and to the region with something that is more peace-loving. (It’s all so simple! Just blow ISIS up and create a peace-loving regime in its place. Why hadn’t Obama thought of that before?) During this incredibly unintelligent interview on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd asked Bush what he would say to an American people wary of future wars in the Middle East. His answer is revealing : I tell the American public that a caliphate the size of Indiana garners strength each and every day if it’s not taken out. In
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Daily Clips: November 16th, 2015

November 16, 2015 Nick Cassella

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Tweet Democrats need to learn to defend Obama’s record on foreign policy: If you watched Saturday night’s debate, you would have seen the Democratic candidates uncomfortably defend the status quo in the Middle East. It felt awkward and half-hearted. Matthew Ygelsias provides a useful narrative for Democrats to champion Obama’s foreign policy going forward: …But then again, the Middle East was a violent and chaotic place when Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were in office. Obama has not managed to solve the problems of the region, but he has defended America’s core interests — including, crucially, the absence of terrorist attacks at home — without incurring the thousands of American military casualties than we saw under his predecessor. It is, all things considered, a pretty good record. Across the country, voters want to limit money’s control of politics: Americans are demanding new solutions “to the age-old problem of money in politics.” From Seattle to Maine, Americans are trying to ameliorate this situation and “piece by piece and city by city, we’re strengthening the levees of our democracy. From city halls to the Capitol, we are working on adopting innovative approaches to give all Americans the ability to be heard. The returns from Maine and Seattle suggest there is common ground and voters are ready to act. Left, right and center, everyone has had enough of politics that serves only the interests of big political donors.” Obama says no to ground troops: “It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers, that that would be a mistake,” Obama said of putting boots on the ground. “A strategy has to be one that can be sustained,” the president added. Growing number of states refuse to accept Syrian refugees: Michigan, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, and Indiana have all refused the relocation of refugees after the Paris attacks.

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Daily Clips: November 13th, 2015

November 13, 2015 Nick Cassella

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Stiglitz: Sanders is right – everybody has the right to healthcare, sick days and paid leave: Here is an intriguing conversation between Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, and Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! They talk about a range of issues, mostly relating to the 2016 race, but this section of the talk I found to be particularly interesting: AMY GOODMAN: So that’s Hillary Clinton. You advise Hillary Clinton? JOSEPH STIGLITZ: I talk to her, yes. AMY GOODMAN: So, her response—”We’re not Denmark”—as a put-down to Bernie Sanders? JOSEPH STIGLITZ: Well, it’s a fact we are not Denmark. But the question is whether the United States is rich enough to be able to make sure that everyone has a basic right to healthcare, family leave, parental, you know, sick leave—we are exceptional—whether we are a society that can tolerate—that should tolerate the levels of inequality that we have. I think Bernie Sanders is right about that. And I think that we—Hillary is right that one of the strengths of America should be that we can give opportunity for small businesses. Actually, Denmark and Norway do that, as well. So, what I would say is that Bernie is absolutely right that providing the basic necessities of a middle-class society should be the right of everybody in our country. David Brooks criticizes Marco Rubio! For the first time in this race, Brooks had stern words for Rubio – a man he has previously lauded as “ young and thus uncorrupted .” In his latest column, Brooks seems to have had enough of Rubio’s fence-sitting on immigration, stating: “I’m sorry, Marco Rubio, when your party faces a choice this stark, with consequences this monumental, you’re probably not going to be able to get away with being a little on both sides.” The real job for the next Democratic president: There are a lot of promises which are being made by Bernie, Hillary, and Martin, but the odds of them accomplishing any of these commitments are very low. As
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Daily Clips: November 12th, 2015

November 12, 2015 Nick Cassella

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Homeless students and college: I must confess, prior to reading this article I had no idea that 56,000 college students in the US were homeless. These students oftentimes have many barriers to graduation, and so Senator Patty Murray “this week reintroduced legislation to end financial aid requirements that ask students to verify their living situation every year and supply documentation stating they’re homeless.” Democrats scheduled debates on days when nobody will watch: The next Democratic debate is scheduled for this Saturday night – the one day of the week where most people have plans or don’t want to engage with the realities of life. This debate isn’t a one-off either. They also scheduled a debate six days before Christmas (which also happens to be on a Saturday)! All said, “half of the six [Democratic] debates are on days that are just bad if you want a wide viewership.” Thanks, Debbie. Look, this stinks of backroom deals. As Democrats, we should be proud of the politicians we’ve put forward for the 2016 race. While Republicans are front and center in the national conversation, Democrats have retreated. Why? To diffuse Bernie’s momentum? To make sure the American people don’t get sick of Hillary? Whatever the reason, the scheduling comes off as sketchy. The insanity of Republican economics: “As Grunwald notes, the problem here is that the current GOP still can’t digest awkward facts. The success of the TARP bailout is ideologically antithetical to everything the GOP stands for right now. More generally, a robust call for greater deregulation in the financial sector evokes the ghosts of financial bubbles past. In this sector, it is difficult for traditional Republican policies to resonate. The response to this seemed to be just asserting things that were not true.” Students marching for free college: According to Reuters, students are set to walk out of classrooms across the nation in order to protest increasing tuition fees and student loan debt. The movement’s organizers say, “Education should be free.
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Daily Clips: November 11th, 2015

November 11, 2015 Nick Cassella

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The GOP is living in a fantasy world: For those of you who tuned into last night’s Fox Business “debate,” you’ll know that every single one of the candidates peddled the same-old trickle-down platforms. Less regulation, more tax cuts = economic growth! Amanda Marcotte at Salon summarizes their flirtation with economic fantasy: The continued popularity of Donald Trump and Ben Carson clearly sent a signal to the rest of the field that primary voters simply hate reality, particularly when it comes to economics, and will swiftly punish any candidate who feeds them anything but soothing, if ridiculous fantasies. She’s right, but the denial of reality was apparent within this party long before Trump and Carson showed up. In the face of decades of economic research, these corporate puppets continue to dish out the same economic treatments with slightly different language. If the American people are not smart enough to see that, they may win this election in 2016. Ben Carson lied about the minimum wage: In last night’s debate, Carson claimed that “Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.” PolitiFact rated this as “False” and concluded, “it’s not at all clear that a minimum-wage hike was the primary culprit for the periods in which joblessness rose, since those periods also coincided with broader recessions in the economy.” The 8 weirdest economic ideas from the GOP debate: There were some doozies: 1. The Fed should stop controlling interest rates 2. The TPP is a Chinese conspiracy 3. The Fed caused the 2008 crash by raising interest rates

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Takeaways From “The Kids’ Table” Debate

November 11, 2015 Nick Cassella

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2016

The first GOP debate of the night has come and gone. Thankfully, Fox Business spared us all by making the “kids table” debate shorter than usual. Here are some of my takeaways: As Paul Constant predicted earlier this morning , Chris Christie clearly came off as the best candidate of the bunch. He never took the bait on any of Bobby Jindal’s (numerous) attacks and instead took every opportunity to bash Hillary Clinton. And when I say bash Hillary Clinton, I really mean give her a good verbal beat down. The language he employed against her was nothing short of venomous. Rick Santorum had some seriously awful answers. For the entire debate, he seemed to be on the brink of angrily snapping at someone or something. At one point, he flat-out yelled into the microphone . It appeared Howard Dean-esque and all very desperate. I’d be surprised if he is a candidate come January 2016. Bobby Jindal came into this debate with a clear game plan: Distinguish himself as a “government-cutting conservative” and portray the others in the debate as “tax and spend liberals.” In fact in a couple of instances, he insinuated that the Republican party was failing as a national party because they are too liberal on policy issues. The moderators were once again feckless and weak. At one point the candidates were asked to name a Democrat they respected and not one of the men on stage answered the question. It was quite revealing that they couldn’t even name a Democrat they admired. What’s worse, the moderators didn’t even jump in and get them back on track. The phrase “government picking winner and losers” was repeated at least three times by Chris Christie and also from Rick Santorum. It’s an empty platitude, but it clearly must poll well with Republican voters, otherwise they wouldn’t have used it so liberally (pun intended).

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Daily Clips: November 10th, 2015

November 10, 2015 Nick Cassella

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Thousands of workers who were shorted on overtime pay are headed to the Supreme Court: Today, SCOTUS plans on hearing oral arguments “in a crucial case that could tighten the rules dictating how workers and consumers band together in the first place.” Labor groups and low-wage worker advocates are in support of the workers, “while the Chamber of Commerce and other major business lobbies have lined up behind [Tyson Foods].” I wonder which side is trying to advance justice and economic fairness. The GOP’s uniquely embarrassing vetting season: Michael Gerson is one of those conservative thinkers liberals should take seriously. While his solutions are often different than what I propose, at least he recognizes the problems (a step that evades many Republican talking heads). In his latest column, Gerson talks about the never-ending vetting process which has descended upon the GOP clowns. He wonders if Trump, specifically, cannot be undone by the normal probing, asking “How do you hold Trump to performance standards when part of his appeal as an outisder is a blustering, appalling ignorance of policy?” Democrats push for automatic voter registration: While Republicans try to make it as hard as possible to vote, Democrats are looking for ways to expand voter registration and by proxy, voting turnout. “With automatic voter registration, we can not only make our electoral system more modern and fair, but bring 51 million American citizens – most of whom are disproportionately poor, young and minority – permanently into the political process,” said senior advisor to iVote, Hari Sevugan. It frightens me that this message of inclusion would actually be opposed by one of our major political parties. But such is life in America. As this article points out, in 2012 only 53.6 of the voting age population cast ballots in America. That’s inexcusable. Atheists shouldn’t be president, according to Ted Cruz: Here’s an interesting article which looks at the public perception of atheists, and the results are depressing (if you are a godless heathen, of course). Predictably, the US public have
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Daily Clips: November 9th, 2015

November 9, 2015 Nick Cassella

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The war against Exxon Mobil: A truly awful piece from Robert Samuelson. A champion of the big-guy, Samuelson defends Exxon, saying that environmentalists are wasting their time going after the big oil company for misleading the public on climate change. How should we address this situation instead, you ask? Samuelson doesn’t bother to give us any alternatives: The larger problem is the inherent difficulty of doing something significant about global warming. Fossil fuels supply four-fifths of primary global energy. To stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, fossil fuel emissions need to go to about zero. How is that going to happen? He then goes onto say that environmental advocates who say that Exxon knew about the harmful effects of climate change “are essentially proposing that the company be punished for expressing its opinions.” How ridiculous. What is it with right-wingers and falling back on the whole “corporations are people” dogma? This isn’t an issue relating to freedom of expression. It’s an issue of lying systematically to the American people. They have every right to lie to us, but they also have every right to be held accountable. Rubio and his immigration retreat : The Washington Post’s editorial board has some harsh words for Senator Marco Rubio and his “craven flip-flop” when it comes to immigration polices. They ask “is he so politically pliable and ideologically biddable that he will say anything, and take any stance, to shield himself from the ugly nativism Donald Trump has tapped among Republican primary voters?” Tomorrow’s GOP debate moderators: After the Republican presidential candidates moaned about the liberal-ness of the CNBC debate, expect Maria Bartiromo, Neil Cavuto, and Gerard Baker to lob softball questions for the entire night. Vox provides individual breakdowns of these moderators. Here’s a scary video for you:

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Daily Clips: November 6th, 2015

November 6, 2015 Nick Cassella

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POTUS rejects Keystone pipeline: It’s been a long time coming, Mr. President! Obama explained his decision by saying, “America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. Frankly, approving this project would have undercut that leadership.” Environmental activists across the country will be celebrating because of this news and rightfully so! On the flip side, Republicans are reacting like you’d expect them to: The Obama Admin's politically motivated rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline is a self-inflicted attack on the U.S. economy and jobs. — Jeb Bush (@JebBush) November 6, 2015 We will not give up and the House will continue to fight for the priorities of the American people. #KeystoneXL https://t.co/7p2Egbhj7t — Rep. Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) November 6, 2015 Economy adds over 270,000 jobs in October: What a month for the US economy. According to Politico, “The size of the labor force grew, wages rose at a faster pace and a broader measure of joblessness that includes discouraged workers — which Republicans love to cite as an indicator — also fell to its lowest point since 2008.” Due to the strength of these numbers, it appears like a Fed rate hike will occur next month. Ben Carson admits to fabricating his West Point scholarship: Dr. Carson, welcome to the media scrutiny which accompanies a front-runner. It appears that America’s favorite sleepy doctor lied about being given a “full scholarship” to America’s prestigious military academy. How presidential. Baby boomers are what’s wrong with America’s economy: I usually do not like articles which assign blame to an entire generation, but Jim Tankersley produces a very convincing argument here. He contends that baby boomers “soaked up a lot of economic opportunity without bothering to preserve much for the generations to come” and have “left its children and grandchildren with some bones to pic through and a big bill to pay.” Thanks Mom and Dad!

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Trickle-down economics is as old as Plato

November 5, 2015 Nick Cassella

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Economics, Policy

For over three decades, Americans have been fed a lie. Through reinforcement and repetition, from stump speeches to cable news, Americans have become convinced that economic prosperity originates from the vaunted “job creators.” We have been warned that any attempt to regulate or tax these individuals would lead to economic ruin. As a result, we have seen everyone around us accept trickle-down theory as the best way to ensure economic growth. The theory is simple. It’s persuasive. But it’s also not true. Rest assured, this isn’t the first time the powerful have lied in order to justify their authority. Over a millennia ago, Plato came up with a very similar concoction in his Republic. Plato needed a clever way to justify the inevitable class differences in his ideal society, so he came up with “the noble lie.” This lie was also designed to be simple and persuasive. It would lead people to believe that the rulers of the land had literal gold within them, while the lower classes merely possessed iron and bronze. Plato suspected that this noble lie would become so embedded into the collective narrative of the society that even the rulers themselves would come to believe it. While Plato’s noble lie sought to legitimize the political rulers in his society, trickle-down proponents have tried to legitimize the economic rulers in American society. In essence, trickle-down economics has made us believe that the proverbial “gold” of our economy resides within the rich. And although lies can be well-motivated, the falsehoods of trickle-down economics and the misguided policies which have followed it have established a deeply exclusive type of capitalism. These lies are neither imagined nor are they irrelevant to how our politicians have shaped economic policies since the late 1970s. As Nick Hanauer wrote in Democracy Journal in 2013, “ [t]he picture you have in your head about how the world works absolutely determines what you think is possible or beneficial. ” Consequently, a
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