>Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>Michael Pollak wrote:
>>
>>>The most populist conceivable economic platform today would be
>>>single payer health care. You don't think that could be a vote
>>>winner?
>>
>>
>>Oh yes. But that's not populism - that's social democracy! (Just joking.)
>
>
>You're not totally joking. are you?
What joke is ever totally unserious?
To me, economic populism has its roots in appeals to small business and the self-employed, which is what gives it its mixed character, sometimes progressive and sometimes not. Thus, easy credit and deregulation. Social democracy is far more comfortable with bigness, and wants to regulate capital and insulate the working class against the harshness of the market. So you caught me!
Doug