Group obsessions always lead to something bad............. Sounds like there may be a voice of reason within the democratic party, but they don't stand a snowball's chance in hell in today's democratic party. Reason is highly frowned upon by today's democrats.
http://theweek.com/articles/586634/democrats-populist-obsession-inequality-downfall
The Democratic Party clearly has an inequality obsession. But have liberals gone too far? "Yes," Republicans would surely say, while probably adding a zinger about "class warfare" or some such.
And if the debate ended along those partisan lines, there wouldn't be much to this story. But here's the thing: It's not just Republicans dinging the Dems for their inequality obsession. Several Democrats are getting in on the action, too.
The left's feverish focus on the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent strikes some Democratic-leaning wonks as well-intentioned but misplaced in a slow-growth economy. They see it as too much attention paid to wealth redistribution rather than wealth creation. Too much kvetching about unfairness and a "rigged" economy rather than dealing with the macro forces of globalization and technological change that are both creative and disruptive.
Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and long-time "New Democrat" policy guy, argues that the party's "middle-out" economics "actually will do very little to move the needle on the most important drivers of economic prosperity: productivity, innovation, and competitiveness." Similarly, Jim Kessler, head of the Third Way think tank and former policy director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), says Democrats should "rigorously question the electoral value of today's populist agenda."
Of course, it's hard to hold an intervention when everyone else thinks you're the one who needs help. And while Atkinson and Kessler — we'll call them Innovation Democrats — aren't alone, their influence is waning. It's Inequality Democrats, folks like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who seem to have the momentum. It's hard to be a pro-market, 1990s-style Clinton Democrat when even Hillary Clinton doesn't seem to be one anymore.
http://theweek.com/articles/586634/democrats-populist-obsession-inequality-downfall
The Democratic Party clearly has an inequality obsession. But have liberals gone too far? "Yes," Republicans would surely say, while probably adding a zinger about "class warfare" or some such.
And if the debate ended along those partisan lines, there wouldn't be much to this story. But here's the thing: It's not just Republicans dinging the Dems for their inequality obsession. Several Democrats are getting in on the action, too.
The left's feverish focus on the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent strikes some Democratic-leaning wonks as well-intentioned but misplaced in a slow-growth economy. They see it as too much attention paid to wealth redistribution rather than wealth creation. Too much kvetching about unfairness and a "rigged" economy rather than dealing with the macro forces of globalization and technological change that are both creative and disruptive.
Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and long-time "New Democrat" policy guy, argues that the party's "middle-out" economics "actually will do very little to move the needle on the most important drivers of economic prosperity: productivity, innovation, and competitiveness." Similarly, Jim Kessler, head of the Third Way think tank and former policy director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), says Democrats should "rigorously question the electoral value of today's populist agenda."
Of course, it's hard to hold an intervention when everyone else thinks you're the one who needs help. And while Atkinson and Kessler — we'll call them Innovation Democrats — aren't alone, their influence is waning. It's Inequality Democrats, folks like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who seem to have the momentum. It's hard to be a pro-market, 1990s-style Clinton Democrat when even Hillary Clinton doesn't seem to be one anymore.
