Moderate Progressives?

[Red Knight]

That's one way to put it.

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/e-j-dionne-is-far-too-generous-moderate-progressives-were-promoting-inequality

E.J. Dionne used his column to argue that it is not just the establishment Republicans who are facing a crisis because of the rise of Donald Trump. He argues that the establishment Democrats also face a crisis:

“Its ideology was rooted in a belief that capitalism would deliver the economic goods and could be balanced by a ‘competent public sector, providing services of quality to the citizen and social protection for those who are vulnerable.’”

This is far too generous an account. The Clinton Democrats were actively steering the economy in a direction to redistribute income upward. This was clear in a number of areas.

First, their trade policy was quite explicitly designed to put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with low paid workers in the developing world, but maintaining or increasing protections for highly paid professionals like doctors and lawyers. The predicted and actual outcome of this policy is a redistribution from ordinary workers to those at the top. This effect of this policy was aggravated by the massive trade deficit that was the predictable result of the high dollar policy promoted by Robert Rubin.

They also pushed for longer and stronger patent and copyright protection both domestically and internationally in trade pacts. This meant more money for the pharmaceutical, software, and entertainment industry at the expense of the rest of society.

They pushed deregulation in the financial industry, which allowed for an explosion in the share of national income that went to the financial sector. Again, this upward redistribution came at the expense of the rest of society.

And, they effectively supported the explosion of CEO pay. Clinton pushed a transparently absurd measure to cap CEO pay. (He pushed a measure that removed the tax deductibility for non-performance related pay in excess of $1 million a year. This green-lighted huge option based packages.)

Clinton also promoted the outsourcing of government services (a.k.a. re-inventing government). This typically meant replacing relatively well-paid union workers with much lower paid contract workers. At the same time it often meant big profits for well-connected contractors, which meant that taxpayers received no benefit from the deal. The fact a Democratic president pushed this process at the national level encouraged many state and local governments to follow the same path.

[Lizzie Poppet]

1. Married bachelors.

Jumbo shrimp. Violent pacifists. Christian Muslims.

[Todays_Illusion]

2. I agree that was all a con-job, centrist/moderate, they talk liberal govern very conservatively

on all issues, civil rights, political power and especially economics.

I also am quite burned up about all the privatization which is a nice word for legalized graft and an important part of the wage suppression that has been a deliberate planned policy since the E.I.T.C. began to use tax money to provide higher profits for the lowest wage employers.

It is theft of tax money from tens of thousands of workers to the bank accounts of a few dozen already wealthy private contractors.