How Democrats betrayed the working class by pursuing campaign finance parity with Republicans in the 1980s and 1990s.
Today’s Democratic elites see the professional/creative class as a “meritocracy”. They were unwilling to reign in Wall Street in 2008 and now because Wall Street is populated with their fellow Ivy League alumni and they identify with corporate leadership.
Notes
The day after Donald Trump was elected president, The New York Times recommended six books “for those trying to understand the political, economic, regional and social shifts that drove one of the most stunning political upsets in the nation’s history.” Among them: Thomas Frank’s Listen, Liberal: Or What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?
Frank, a Kansas City native, has followed up, embarking on a 13-city barnstorming tour to talk to Trump voters, union leaders, and progressive activists across the Midwest in conjunction with Listen Liberal’s release in paperback. On his last stop¬in Kansas City¬he discusses what he has learned.
This event is co-presented by Rainy Day Books. Frank discussed Listen Liberal at the Library in March 2016; you can view the video on YouTube, and you can find the book in the Library Catalog.
Tens of thousands of U.S. Veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq are sick — many say due to the military’s trash “burn pits.” Veterans have had to fight to get their illnesses recognized as linked to their service and smoke exposure — a critical step to qualify for medical and disability benefits. Congress is considering legislation to change all that. John Yang and Dan Sagalyn report.
Professor Steve Keen explains how mainstream economics is driving the climate disaster
Professor Steve Keen was one of the few economists to realise that a serious economic crisis was imminent in 2005. He publicly warned the world, and helped his native Australia navigate the 2008 crash without the major repercussions that crippled markets everywhere else.
He is now working on a new model of economics for a post-crash world. He joined me today to discuss why and how capitalism needs to be constrained, the economics of climate change and what mainstream economists and academics are getting wrong—to the detriment of us all.
