[lbo-talk] Left alternative to The Economist? An Anti-Economist?

Robert Wrubel bobwrubel at yahoo.com
Wed Aug 15 06:34:26 PDT 2007


You really can't compete with the Economist because it has the resources to have worldwide coverage. Business ads are the reason, of course. Not likely that any left magazine would ever attract that kind of revenue.

"Liberals" who read the Economist (charmed by its glossy look, hip writing, "toughminded" attention to the under-reported but foundational economic level) are the same ones who will vote for Hillary. 'Nuff said.

BobW

--- Charles Peterson <charlesppeterson at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Is there a left alternative to The Economist
> magazine?
> And is there an Anti-Economist somewhere that
> debunks
> the outrageous spin, cherry picking, strawman
> constructing, and smug attitude dismissive of
> alternative points of view that characterize this
> small but highly influential rag that spreads the
> propaganda of neoliberalism throughout the liberal
> intelligentsia?
>
> Many of the most influential people "liberal" people
> I
> know brag about keeping up by reading The Economist,
> even if they'd never follow its voting
> recommendations. And from people like that,
> neoliberal dogma propagates into the minds and
> corridors of power. I worry that its influence far
> exceeds its base.
>
> But what could I recommend as an alternative?
>
> Of course, there was the once great (and now
> lamented?) Wall Street Journal, where you could get
> all the facts that fit (except on the editorial
> page,
> which has always been Fox News). But even when I
> could recommend WSJ, who can keep up with it all? I
> can hardly keep up with The Nation.
>
> What's needed is a weekly (or monthly, even) with an
> international perspective, and which covers the
> world
> or thereabouts in every issue (or web update). The
> International Socialist Review has a good range, but
> it also rates fairly high on spin-to-fact ratio, if
> in
> another direction. And, though I subscribe to ISR
> myself, I could hardly recommend it to my liberal
> friends. I continue looking for something better
> and
> more universal. As it is, I feel like my reading
> ISR
> and filtering out the spin is much like my liberal
> friends reading The Economist and claiming to do the
> same.
>
> At the USSF in June, Yes! magazine had a seminar on
> positive trends (greater democracy, opposing
> neoliberalism) in Latin America and I picked up a
> couple of copies. I like it, but honestly I worry
> it's a bit too uncritical (though it does bring
> needed
> perspective to a US audience who is used to blanket
> denunciations of Cuba, Chavez, etc.)
>
> Even if we on the left are nowhere near being able
> to
> organize the masses, the least we could do would be
> to
> present a clear and evolving picture of what's
> actually going on in the whole world, and constantly
> challenge the Washington Consensus, especially here
> in
> Washington's homeland, where The Economist may have
> its largest influence.
>
> Charles Peterson
> San Antonio, Texas
>
>
>
>
>
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