[lbo-talk] What's the Matter With Kansas? Nothing

[mike larkin]

"ECONOMIC POPULISM....So what's the matter with
Kansas? Brad Plumer answers: nothing, really. It's
just that they're too well off to respond all that
strongly to populist economic messages from Democratic
politicians these days. If there were lines at soup
kitchens that would be one thing, but the reality is
that there aren't many Kansans — or non-Kansans — who
are all that badly off.

As evidence, Brad links to a Steve Rose essay that
hauls out a bunch of statistics:

    *

      Only about 11% of Americans qualify for safety
net programs (aside from retirement programs).

    *

      Another 12% have incomes just above the cutoff
for safety net programs.

    *

      The number of good jobs has increased a lot in
the past 50 years. Today, only 34% of male workers and
10% percent of female workers are part of the
traditional "industrial proletariat."

It's easy to misunderstand the point of all this.
Neither Plumer nor Rose are arguing that liberals
should abandon a liberal economic message. Far from
it. But they are arguing that the days are long gone
when an economic message by itself had enough power to
energize a mass movement......"

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_07/006689.php

		
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