[lbo-talk] Obama Realignment

[123hop at comcast.net]

"Galbraith calls for lowering the age to enter Medicare to 55 and increasing Social Security benefits. This would encourage people to retire who might otherwise delay (opening up positions for everyone else), be one more step toward Medicare for all, and support retirees and the 
nearing-retirement whose plans have been decimated. I say, we argue for that and 
mark the response. "

That would be OK.  According to Eric Karus in the latest "Truth and Beauty"

By contrast with some of its more democratic peers in the West, Russian policy been singlemindedly
focused upon supporting the poorer segments of the population – raising wages
and pensions, rather than on bailing out the owners of financial assets. Medvedev has
stressed the vital importance of maintaining the >50% decline in poverty acheived over the
past decade.

But, just as wizened generals sent millions of men to charge machine guns in WWI, I fear that ideology will trump reality in the U.S. of A & that the bottom up approach will be late and half-hearted.

Joanna