On Jan 12, 2008, at 12:38 PM, Charles Peterson wrote:
> I see this review as a terrible example of "circular
> firing squad of the left". Doug, from the far left,
> is shooting down Kuttner, from the center left,
> strangely, it appears, because of Kuttner's possibly
> exaggerated rhetoric of what the center left had
> accomplished before the Reagan Revolution. Some of
> this review could have been written by Bill Bennett.
I'm curious which part. Kuttner has a streak of social conservatism - he flirts with anti-immigration economics, has some critical things to say about day care, seems to miss the one-paycheck Golden Age, though he mostly pulls back from those flirtations.
But would you disagree with this? 1) Kuttner's love of "market dynamism" makes no damn sense if he doesn't like insecurity and polarization; you can't separate them. 2) Liberal/soc dem reforism is dead in the water without a more radical movement to which it seems like a palatable alternative. 3) Right now, populist economics has only a limited appeal with the American electorate - otherwise the Edwards campaign would be doing a lot better.
Doug