If you think the middle class is struggling...you are a "neo-populist"...new Third Way policy.

[madfloridian]

I read this and felt anger. Pure anger. This is one of the latest policy papers from the Third Way. It is meant to cover for the ills that globalization has wrought in this country. I often hear their policy talking points coming out of the mouths of Democrats...so I will be listening for this.

Our middle class is most definitely struggling. Higher insurance bills, higher tax bills, higher medical bills not covered. I could on but I think it is pretty obvious what has happened. These are the groups starting a campaign against Lou Dobbs...not because of his racist immigrant rants but because he says the middle class has been hurt by outsourcing.

About the Third Way

The Democratic Leadership Council, and its affiliated think tank the Progressive Policy Institute, have been catalysts for modernizing politics and government. From their political analysis and policy innovations has emerged a progressive alternative to the worn-out dogmas of traditional liberalism and conservatism. The core principles and ideas of this "Third Way" movement are set forth in The New Progressive Declaration: A Political Philosophy for the Information Age.

So, middle class folks, just quit thinking times are hard. You are not struggling to "get by" at all...you are just struggling to "get ahead."

The pure outrage of this policy paper angers me. This is in pdf format.

New Rules Economy

As progressive realists, we do not doubt that change is disruptive and, for many
people, painful. Globalization has made many jobs obsolete, and both companies and
individuals have been hurt by its impact. As the neopopulists note, all is not well with
the middle class. But we also see the current era of change as one of tremendous
opportunity and potential for the middle class.

In addition, we view the challenges faced by today’s middle class as very different
from the ones that most progressives believe them to be. We perceive the middle class
as struggling to get ahead, not—as the neopopulists argue—struggling to get by.
Middle-class anxiety does not stem from broad dissatisfaction with capitalism but
from the shifting terrain beneath their feet and the increasing irrelevance of an
outdated government.

Neo-populists?

Their goal like that of the right wing, is to do away with the social safety net programs of FDR. Note how they speak of exiting that era and starting a new one...I guess they call it "meo-realism."

"The first progressive era, led by President Teddy Roosevelt, used the whip of
regulation to tame the excesses of an unfettered economy. The second progressive
era, led by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, created the foundation
for economic security with the safety net programs of the New Deal and Great Society.
The third progressive era was arguably begun by President Bill Clinton, the first
progressive realist, with his bridge to the 21st century; his policies principally focused
on understanding the new rules to create a ladder to opportunity and wealth for the
greatest number.
We hope this paper can help to bring about the culmination of this new
progressive era and with it, new opportunities and greater prosperity for America’s
middle class."

New rules? Bill Clinton started the 3rd progressive era? Leaving the FDR era behind?

[Vincardog]

1. FK that we need to pass a guaranteed minimum income. Paid for by a DEATH TAX of 99% on estates over

10 Million.
Plus fix SSI by withholding on every over $200k dollar earned by anyone.
Force corporations to treat Executive compensation the same way sa they treat employee retirement.

Make them publicize their compensation to every one at officer level and have it approved by the share holders.

[MADem]

2. Progressive realists, eh? Who are these clowns? Are the authors named?

Sorry, I don't have ADOBE intalled on the computer I am working from right now....

They don't sound like realists to me. They sound like they're surrendering. This isn't a question of 'getting AHEAD'--it's plain that kids today will have a tough time affording the college their parents did, the lifestyle their parents did, or even the jobs and benefits that their parents had. Life is getting harder for the next generations, not easier. That's pretty plain.

[madfloridian]

3. Here are the authors of that particular policy...and the others involved in the group.

These folks authored this policy:

"Author: Anne Kim, Adam Solomon, Bernard L. Schwartz, Jim Kessler and Stephen Rose :

Here's the management team:

http://third-way.com/leadership

The trustees:

http://third-way.com/leadership/trustees


And the honorary chairs

http://third-way.com/leadership/honorary_chairs

If you look at the management team's bios, many of them came from a group called Americans for Gun Safety. Oddly. Why there would be that similar background, I have no clue.

[MADem]

4. I just can't wrap my head around these folks using the "progressive" term

I'm not going to suggest that they aren't DEMOCRATS--after all, we ARE a big tent, and we have members who heave-ho over to the right on a number of issues. The gun issue that you noted in their texts is a big one, the choice issue is another.

While I don't agree with their stance on this particular middle class issue (either!!!), they certainly have a constituency, they have a right to be heard, but I'll be damned if I can bring myself to regard them as "A Strategy Center for Progressives. It just doesn't fit, to my mind.

It's almost as though they've usurped the word and are bending the meaning, rather like the right did with that wonderful LIBERAL word. I don't like that, frankly!!!

[cosmicdot]

8. lots of corporate investment type folks as trustees

culled from the 'Trustees' bios


Cullman Ventures, Inc., a diversified corporation

serves on the boards of General American Investors Co., Inc

Cap Z Investment Partners

management boards and Investment Committees of funds based in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Executive Director of Foreign & Colonial Emerging Markets (FCEM) in London

Bank of America

investment banker at Lehman Brothers

New America Foundation http://www.newamerica.net/ http://www.newamerica.net/about/board
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2007/ten_big_ideas_for_a_new_america ("every baby a trust fund baby" a.k.a 'ownership society') one of the New Rules authors, Bernard Schwartz, is on the Board

Chairman of Millbrook Capital Management, Inc.

worked in the administration of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

Dyson-Kissner-Moran, a family-owned investment company

Chairman and CEO of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp.

Chairman of the Board

Board of Trustees

board member of Health Quest Systems, Inc.

the global head of equity trading for Goldman, Sachs.

Palladium and JLL (private equity investments)

investment banker at Quadrex Securities Group and an attorney specializing in corporate and securities law at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

Board of Directors of The Hilsinger Company, Haden International, Wise Foods, Syntiro Healthcare Services, Prince Minerals, and Phibro Animal Health.

a Boulder-based partnership of investors in Third Way

Chief Executive Officer of Vail Resorts

Apollo Management L.P., a New York based investment fund

Chairman of the Board of iPCS, Inc., a wireless communications operator affiliated with Sprint.

Managing Director and Co-head of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group in Investment Banking

American Express,

Booz-Allen and Hamilton

St. Paul Travelers, Jefferson-Pilot, Barclays, Lloyds, John Hancock, CNA, Trust Company of the West, Swiss Re, Munich Re, General Re, Fortis, Prudential, Life, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Allstate, Manulife and Zurich Financial and Metropolitan Life.

The Hughes Foundation

the Aspen Institute

partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP

practiced corporate law before moving to Capitol Hill.

former CEO and Chairman of The Mills Corporation, one of America’s most innovative and successful mall developers and managers, founded Western Development Corporation and serves as its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Stockholder.

president and founder of Mesirow Advanced Strategies, Inc. and a vice chairman of its parent, Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc.

chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC.

34 years as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL), and its predecessor, Loral Corporation

the Council on Foreign Relations,

The Brookings Institution

director of the New America Foundation, where he sponsors several fellows

Chairman of StoneWater Capital LLC, a fund-of-funds management firm which invests in Asia ex-Japan, India, Japan and the United States.

Chairman and co-founder of Shaker Investments, Inc., an asset management firm

Warburg Pincus

Vice President in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers, Inc.

think tank in international economics

Chartered Financial Analyst.

venture capital and specialized equity investing.

partner of Apax Partners & Co. Ventures, a leading worldwide venture capital firm

a partner of Warburg, Pincus & Co., one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

Senior Advisor (and past president) of Warburg Pincus.

director of Mattel, Inc. and Journal Register Co. and Flamel Technologies, Inc.

partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LL. one of the largest full-service law firms in the world. practicing in the merger and acquisition arena.

corporate transactions.

[Greyhound]

5. Not surrendering at all, they've been the advocates of this corporatist crap

from their inception. The DLC was founded by a "reformed" Republik, and has always been the 5th column within the Democratic Party.

Just FYI.

[MADem]

6. I've been aware of them for some time. And this, to me, seems like a sea change

from their original goals with regard to the moderate and conservative-lite branches of the party--it's a slight distance from the early nineties, certainly and their original roots. I realize it's only a matter of degree, but this seems as though they've dialed over three or five notches to the right to me.

[Gloria]

7. Robert Reich was on a few days ago defending NAFTA, etc and I

nearly threw my chair at him.... He said they just needed a little "tweaking"---but it was really laughable.

[Elwood P Dowd]

11. Bill Richardson has made similar statements

These bastards fucked us, and they know it. Saying the only thing wrong with NAFTA is a little tweaking is like saying the only thing wrong with Ann Coulter is her hair style.

[madfloridian]

9. "The middle class is far wealthier, more stable, more optimistic than most progressives believe"

Talk about spinning? Middle class folks are absorbing the trickle down effects from the tax cuts of the very wealthy. Higher property tax, higher insurance, higher income tax for many of us.

"Third Way Report Explodes the Myths of Populism

Group Offers a New Path to Middle Class Prosperity in the “New Rules Economy”

Washington, DC – Much of what you’ve been told about the middle class is wrong, according to a provocative new report released today by the center-left group Third Way. The middle class is far wealthier, more stable, and more optimistic than most progressives believe. The middle class does have economic anxiety, but it is based on the shifting sands of change and whether they’ll be able to navigate new economic rules.

The report, entitled “The New Rules Economy,” sets out a new policy framework to create economic growth and widespread prosperity by identifying nine rules for success in the 21st century that have changed from the ones that applied in the 20th. The paper argues that many government policies are outdated and conform to the old rules, not the new ones."

http://third-way.com/press/release/32

[Name removed]

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