Paul Krugman gets to the heart of the Bernie Sanders/Hillary Clinton divide

[applegrove]

Paul Krugman gets to the heart of the Bernie Sanders/Hillary Clinton divide

It's about whether money is the root of all evils, or just many of them

by Scott Eric Kauffman at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2016/01/29/paul_krugman_gets_to_the_heart_of_the_bernie_sandershillary_clinton_divide/

"SNIP.............


In his Friday New York Times column, economist Paul Krugman addressed the issue of whether money is the root of all political evils, or just many of them, as epitomized by the divide between Bernie Sanders (for whom the former is true) and Hillary Clinton (for whom the latter is).

Krugman, as has become increasingly clear, belongs to the Clinton camp. “Oligarchy is a very real issue,” he argued, “but it’s important to understand how America’s oligarchs got so powerful.” It was not merely a matter of “buying influence,” he wrote, that gave rise to “the American hard right,” it was “an alliance between an elite seeking low taxes and deregulation and a base of voters motivated by fears of social change and, above all, by hostility toward you-know-who.”

Krugman admitted that there was a concerted, successful effort by billionaires to push America to the right. That’s not conspiracy theorizing; it’s just history, documented at length in Jane Mayer’s eye-opening new book “Dark Money.” But that effort wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as it has without the political aftermath of the Civil Rights Act, and the resulting flip of Southern white voters to the G.O.P.

Until recently you could argue that whatever the motivations of conservative voters, the oligarchs remained firmly in control. Racial dog whistles, demagogy on abortion and so on would be rolled out during election years, then put back into storage while the Republican Party focused on its real business of enabling shadow banking and cutting top tax rates…



..............SNIP"

[HassleCat]

1. That rightward push he mentions?

It made Bill Clinton president.

[daleanime]

2. +1

[applegrove]

3. I can't wait for the General Election where Trump is nailed of his xenophobia by Clinton or Sanders.

Americans will be asked it they want to be an open country or not. The stakes couldn't be higher.

[PyaarRevolution]

6. I'm just waiting...

For who he'll blame next. FFS, illegal immigrants i.e. Latinos, Muslims i.e. Arabs, etc. Jeez, it's like he's got a list for the next group he'll blame.

[applegrove]

7. Nobody on the right will call him out on it. Democrats will.

[kennetha]

4. K&R

[tk2kewl]

5. How about most evils or almost all evils

And the ones with the money use their power, influence and institutions to wield the other evils as means of amassing more money and power

[Bluenorthwest]

8. The saying comes from Hillary's precious Christian faith and it is 'The love of money is the root of

all evil'. It's not the money. It's the love of money.

[betsuni]

9. K&R

[JDPriestly]

10. Professosr Krugman probably has tenure. He is in a relatively comfortable

economic situation himself. I don't think he understands the links between some of what he views as social issues and the economic ones. When 50% of young African-Americans are unemployed and then, threatened by police and further imprisoned, that is where economics and social issues merge.

Same with women's issues. The issues of family leave, affordable childcare, better education for children, free tuition for state schools and colleges and equal pay for equal work for women merge. They are all about family values and about people being able to support their families in a country in which a life-long or even pretty long-term job is not a very likely prospect for a person joining the workforce.

I have deep respect for Paul Krugman, but I do not think that the damage that losing a job and for many losing jobs over and over because of the economy and not because of poor performance, is something he is likely to understand or ever experience.

Losing a house is also an unlikely event in Krugman's life. It has, however, happened to many, many Americans.

The issues that face us today are not those that faced us in 1992, and some of the laws that have so drastically changed our country were signed by Bill Clinton.

[applegrove]

11. I just don't think Bernie can win. But I do hope he wakes millions up. We need people motivated

to not vote Republican. And to light a fire under Hillary if she wins.

[JDPriestly]

12. I will vote for every Democrat on my ballot except Hillary.

In my view, she is oblivious to the real pain in America, distracted by a lot of issues that are not central to this election.

What is more, her foreign policy stances especially her vote for the War in Iraq demonstrate to me that she has poor judgment and is not patient enough to lead our military and direct our foreign policy.

Watch this.

Hillary and Bush -- using the very same language in talking about eh mythical weapons of mass destruction.

[applegrove]

13. Don't say that. That is a GOP meme.

[JDPriestly]

14. I'm in California. Unfortunately, our primary is not until, I think, June 6.

California will not vote for Trump if he is the candidate. If Cruz or Rubio are the Republican candidate, hard to say, but I think California is solidly Democratic.

I just cannot vote for Hillary. I do not want a vote for her poor judgment on my conscience. I remember voting for LBJ. He was strong on social issues, but the Viet Nam war cost so many lives and was unwinnable.

I met Vietnamese students in France while studying there in the 1960s. They were callously angry. But worse, my experiences showed me that the North Vietnamese controlled the culture from the folklore to pretty much everything else. Those who supported South Vietnam were very westernized in my experience. Anecdotal, yes. But it proved to be true.

Hillary does not have depth of understanding in my opinion. She is not a good critical thinker. She doesn't ask the question, "And then what?" "And then what?" She did not ask it about her e-mails or what was going on in Syria (about which I suspect we know really very little) or about the WMDs in Iraq. She just does not ask the essential questions. That surprises me a bit because she is a lawyer and graduated from one of the best law schools in the country. But I don't think she did that much litigation and did not develop the ability to always try to ask every question that could be asked and examine every bit of evidence that exists.

I do not want a vote for her on my conscience. There are lives at stake, and she is too quick to commit to war in my view.

[applegrove]

15. I think she is measured because she wants to win the Senate back. Then she can get 'her' done

policywise, or at least has a chance.

[JDPriestly]

16. That's what we told ourselves about Obama.

Still waiting for the corruption to be taken out of D.C. Still waiting for a public option. Still waiting for real tax reform.

I like Obama. I worked very hard to get him elected, especially in 2012. But he appointed Rahm Emmanuel ro head his staff. Need I say more?

Then there is Geithner. And the list goes on. The list of corporate representatives on his cabinet and in his government.

Nothing against corporate representatives on boards of directors of corporations. But we need representatives of the people not of the corporations in the agencies that oversee the corporations on behalf of the people.

We want the real thing this time. We want responsible government. Bernie will appoint responsible people who are independent and not merely corporate tools.

In my opinion, we won't get the Senate back until we take a strong stance in defending the working people, the Main Street people, of America.

Hillary has backed so many policies and programs that oppose the interests of the working people of America, and I am not just talking about the loss of the factory jobs following NAFTA. Hillary likes the H1-B program and has talked about it in glowing terms before foreign audiences.

Hillary will argue, of course, that she cares about American working people. But her stances on issues, like her original and probably future stance on the TPP shows that she either does not understand what is causing problems and pain for Americans or that she doesn't care. Perhaps she puts her international agenda before Americans. If that is the case, then she needs to have a back-up plan for Americans and there is no indication that she does.

She thinks a $10 per hour wage is just fine for Americans and that we can pay a living wage to Americans while importing trash from all around the world made by people paid far less than $10 per hour. That will not work.

She thinks that we can solve our economic problems by "growing" our economy. That is not enough in itself. We have to have some form of income redistribution. It won't help to grow the economy if most of the growth goes only to the very top earners and investors in our country.

I just don't think Hillary is very smart or has the answers that we need.

I think Bernie has a much better chance of winning back our Senate. At least he stands up for the American people -- for all of us. I do not have the sense that Hillary stands up for us.

For example, and I mention this only because it is one of a number of examples. I am 72 and on Social Security. That is my income. I do not trust Hillary to stand up against those who want to decrease Social Security coverage (like offering it only to those 70 and above) or privatize it. Why do I distrust her on that issue? Because she and Bill have so many friends including Pete Peterson who oppose Social Security. As a senior, I can tell you that as low as the Social Security payments are, they are better than nothing, and investing in the stock market is a completely unrealistic way to substitute saving money for Social Security. Hillary is just too cozy with Wall Street and the financial sector. And based on that alone, I cannot trust her.

As you see, I do not want Hillary Clinton in the White House.

As for working with Republicans, that will not be easy for any Democrat in the White House. But I am absolutely certain that it will be easier for Bernie than for Hillary. The Republicans despise the Clintons and Hillary has accused the right-wing conspiracy of attacking her. They do and they will continue to do so. Bernie -- not so much. They just call him a socialist. He explains what he means by socialist, and the American people say, "Okay. That sounds good to me."

After 2008, Americans want job security and better pay. Hillary is not responding to those wishes.