Daily Clips: April 12th, 2016
David Brooks cannot connect the dots: David Brooks thinks that our politics has gone south because “starting just after World War II, America’s community/membership mind-set gave way to an individualistic/autonomy mind-set. The idea was that individuals should be liberated to live as they chose, so long as they didn’t interfere with the rights of others.”
I don’t how you actually quantify such nonsense. That point aside, why doesn’t David Brooks in fact look at the economic structure of our society and how World War II exhibited a “community/membership mindset” because we had the most equal society in our nation’s history. Consider this:
The Depression and World War II dramatically reshaped the nation’s income distribution: By 1944 the top 1%’s share was down to 11.3%, while the bottom 90% were receiving 67.5%, levels that would remain more or less constant for the next three decades.
Today, the 1%’s share is up to “22.5% of all pretax income, while the bottom 90%’s share is below 50% for the first time ever (49.6%, to be precise).”
So Brooks has the nerve to moan about the “individualization” of our society, when in fact the party he’s been promoting his entire life has caused the societal disconnect he’s bi**hing about. By promoting economic policies that transfer a huge amount of the nation’s resources to the very top, Republicans like Brooks have dramatically reshaped the social fabric of America. It’s ridiculous that he can write this article with a straight face. And it shows once again why he is such a vastly overrated political thinker.
Republicans haven’t stopped digging their hole with Latino voters: In order to recapture the White House, Republicans will need to gather around 40-50 percent of the Latino vote. I wrote a similar article on Republican’s tall task last year.
A guide to the 5 biggest revelations of the Panama Papers so far: Good summary.
Tweet of the day:
McDonald's CEO calls higher wages "a job killer."
Bro I think you'll be OK. https://t.co/8QfBqrsbix pic.twitter.com/zxHE6AjjJ0
— Hanna Brooks Olsen (@mshannabrooks) April 12, 2016
