Third Way report pushes back against populism

[portlander23]

There’s actually a big economic fight happening in the Democratic Party
Jim Tankersley
Wonkblog
The Washington Post

The struggle of the middle class is "not because the economy is unfair or because the deck was stacked," says Jim Kessler, Third Way's senior vice president for policy. "It's because the economy has fundamentally changed."

The difference there is crucial, for policy and for messaging. One side believes what's gone wrong for the middle class is that wealthy and powerful players have rewritten the tax code, trade deals, labor law and other policies in order to advantage themselves, at the expense of workers. Middle-class stagnation, in this view, is a choice that can be corrected by shifting power back to workers, at the bargaining table and elsewhere.

The other side, the Third Way side, believes that the stagnation is a natural consequence of a globalizing economy, which has disproportionately benefited people with high skills and people who own stock, businesses and other forms of capital. That's the story Kodak is meant to represent. Its demise wasn't imposed by someone else's policy choice, it was a failure of the company to adapt. To boost the middle-class, by that logic, workers need to be given the means to adapt.

Sanders, in particular, blames inequality and middle-class stagnation on policies deliberately pushed by the wealthy and big corporations. His proposals to counter those trends include large expansions of government programs and regulations, such as massive infrastructure spending to create jobs, higher taxes on the rich, a $15-an-hour nationwide minimum wage and single-payer health care.

The Third Way report released Tuesday — "Ready for the New Economy" — pushes back against that populism. It starts by asserting that populist arguments about rules and fairness have been losers for Democrats in recent elections. It also says populist prescriptions won't work to restore middle class prosperity.

“We propose that Democrats be Democrats," says Jonathan Cowan, Third Way's president, "not socialists”

It's on the 70-plus policy recommendations that the group really splits from a Sanders-style agenda.

Third Way argues for some things that make government bigger (though it would pay for new programs through other savings and limits to tax deductions that benefit the rich. Mostly it argues for making government better — and making government spending do a better job of spurring private investment.

Related:

Third Way Moderate Democrats Confident Clinton Would Govern From the Middle

Clinton Supporters: Should she follow Third Way's order to reject The Left and move to the Right?

Third Way Democrats warn of 'economic populism' and Bernie Sanders

Third Way President: The evidence is in, populism has tanked with the middle class

Lobbyist: Hillary Clinton will become Mrs. Wall Street if she’s elected

Not so fast! Clinton Now Re-Opens Door to Supporting Obama Trade Deal

[Scuba]

1. I wish they'd stayed in the Republican Party where they belong.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. It's both.

The struggle of the middle class is "not because the economy is unfair or because the deck was stacked," says Jim Kessler, Third Way's senior vice president for policy. "It's because the economy has fundamentally changed."

The economy IS unfair, and the deck IS stacked, AND the economy has fundamentally changed. But the economy did not fundamentally change all by itself. It was changed BY the rich, FOR the rich. Globalization did not just happen. It was pushed on us by people who own companies, so that those companies and those shareholders could make more money, even though they knew it would cost American jobs and decouple the link between productivity and wage growth.

the Third Way side, believes that the stagnation is a natural consequence of a globalizing economy, which has disproportionately benefited people with high skills and people who own stock, businesses and other forms of capital.

Again, that's true. But again, 'a globalizing economy' was not just nature at work, it was the result of specific policy choices made BY rich people FOR rich people. Because they decided to stack the deck by removing tariffs that protected companies that made quality products with American workers, and instead reward those who chose to seek out the cheapest labour possible and the most lax environmental and worker safety regulations.

[daleanime]

4. +1

Of course they want to leave that part out.

[Doubledee]

3. A resounding maybe!

I have no doubt that emerging third world nations play a small role in an economic balancing act that has seen the West living large on the backs of the rest of the world for a very long time.

However, I believe that this is only a small part of the story and the main problem is the increasing disparity , not only of wealth, but of control of our governments direction. Along with usurping wealth, killing off the middle class, always looking to shrink that portion of our budget going to safety nets while increasing an already bloated military budget and an unfair tax code.

Kill off Citizens United and restore our government to doing the will of the people and not the wishes of the wealthy.

[AZ Progressive]

5. The DLC tries to claim that they are Democrats? FDR built the party into the successful party...

it was in the 20th century. The Democrats dominated congress for the middle of the 20th century. Thus a real Democrat would follow how the Democrats were between the 30s and 70s. The DLC has no right to say that they are Democrats and that Sanders isn't. Sanders is a real Democrat and they are Moderate Republicans dressed up as Democrats.

[AZ Progressive]

6. The DLC needs to be tarred and feathered. Phony Democrats taking space that real Democrats could..

occupy.

[AZ Progressive]

7. And who made this "new" economy? Jobs sent overseas to destroy manufacturing in America...

With the excuse that those jobs were repetitious and boring.... At least people were able to support themselves and its not like other jobs are so much better (with many being very stressful.)

This is absolutely a big issue because no matter how good you are in your industry, with the current economy you have to be absolutely afraid that one day the economic weather will turn against you and possibly destroy your job or industry, and leave you without work and with an uncertain future. Everyone has to fear the economic cliff. So thus everyone has to work so much that they practically sacrifice their life to work, and even that may not be enough.

[Nitram]

8. The economy HAS changed. That doesn't mean Sanders is wrong.

It means solutions to inequality have to take into consideration a more factors than just taxes and government policies that favor the wealthy. It's complicated.