Did the Poor Cause the Crisis?

[Swede]

snip

Acemoglu breaks down the Republican narrative into three distinct questions. First, is there evidence that US politicians respond to lower-income voters’ preferences or desires?

The evidence on this point is not as definitive as one might like, but what we have – for example, from the work of Princeton University’s Larry Bartels – suggests that over the past 50 years, virtually the entire US political elite has stopped sharing the preferences of low- or middle-income voters. The views of office holders have moved much closer to those commonly found atop the income distribution.

There are various theories regarding why this shift occurred. In our book 13 Bankers, James Kwak and I emphasized a combination of the rising role of campaign contributions, the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, and, most of all, an ideological shift towards the view that finance is good, more finance is better, and unfettered finance is best. There is a clear corollary: the voices and interests of relatively poor people count for little in American politics.

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/johnson16/English

[barbtries]

1. sure they did.

just by existing. damn those poor people. gw doesn't "get" them.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[3waygeek]

3. But the Republicans love poor people...

that's why they've made so many of them.

[Autumn]

4. They just love them to death

and as far as they are concerned that can't come soon enough.

[Hissyspit]

5. No.

The poor are not in charge.

They do not design the systems and institutions.

[KT2000]

6. Can't pick their pockets!

They don't have the retirement accounts to be raided or broker accounts to be periodically wiped out. Poor people just do not contribute to the greater "good" of the elites' financial ambitions.

[Ikonoklast]

7. The trajectory is unsustainable.

When the vast majority of those in this nation finally wake up one day and realize that, yes, they are now poor, you will see a real crisis that makes this one look like fun and games.

Except, those on the other side won't be the winners.

It will be ugly.