Bob Lord

Posted by Bob Lord

I love it when really smart people see things the way I do. Bob Borosage of Campaign for America's Future describes how the stars are aligning for a populist movement in his Truth-out piece, Populism Rising? If you're a progressive and you want to be uplifted, read Borosage's piece.

A few tibits:

Populist movements grow out of popular discontent. For over thirty years, inequality has been growing. Profits and productivity and CEO salaries have risen, but workers haven't shared in the growth. But hard times, as Lawrence Goodwyn, the great historian of the Populist Movement notes, do not generate democratic movements. Times have been "hard" for most people for a long time. When families lose ground, people tend to believe that they are at fault, that their luck has been bad, that they made the wrong choices. They work harder; they take on debt; they get by. Resignation and deference are normal. Movements start only when reality – and organizers – begin to open people's eyes.

[snip]

Posted by Bob Lord

We're seeing the beginning of what's promising to be quite the war between the so-called center-left and a re-energized populist progressive left. It's a war we need and a war progressives must win, even if we lose a few battles in the early going.

The recent Third Way attack on Elizabeth Warren and Bill deBlasio was a sure sign of how concerned the Democratic establishment is. The Third Way stumbled badly, but this fight only is beginning. 

Another pathetic salvo was fired by Bill Keller in Sunday's NYT: Inequality For Dummies. Keller tried mightily to explain the wisdom of what he called the "center-left" (translation: the Democratic establishment), as compared to the "left-left" (progressives). He failed miserably.

In one of the best take-downs I've read, Dean Baker rips Keller to shreds in Bill Keller's Center-Left is the Reason We Are Growing Less Rapidly. But Baker's piece is more than a great take-down. Baker exposes the utter depravity of center-left policy, which makes his piece an important read without regard to the entertaining take-down of Keller. Baker builds an airtight case for his conclusion:

In sum, it is actually fairly easy to summarize the distinction between Keller's center-left and his left-left. His center-left wants to continue the policies that have led to a massive upward redistribution of income over the last three decades. The left-left wants to reverse these policies and replace them with policies that will lead to more equitable and more rapid growth.

That is the essence of why progressives ultimately must prevail over centrists. You can follow Baker even if you don't have time to read Keller's piece first.

Or, if you're really short on time, follow me after the jump for a few highlights.

Posted by Bob Lord

The BlueMeanie pointed me to Kathleen Geier's piece at the the Washington Monthly, Deserving vs. undeserving poor — for the love of God, here we go again, which contains this brilliant analogy explaining the way in which we conflate two separate and distinct aspects of poverty:

Posted by Bob Lord I'm 11 days out from my last post here at BfAZ. My day job is killing me right now.  It's too bad…there's lots going on, and a lot of it good. We just may be getting to the point where the 90%, or at least the sane members of the 90%, … Read more

Guest Post by Donna Gratehouse

Lots of local politicians and pundits are weighing in on Arizona’s unfolding Child Protective Service crisis, mostly blasting department head Clarence Carter and top CPS administrators for incompetence in allowing thousands of child abuse and neglect reports to go uninvestigated. And, okay, I’ll stipulate to the conclusion that the people running CPS are the most incompetent managers ever and their clients would be well served by them being replaced.  Perhaps CPS should be spun off from the state’s Department of Economic Security and run as a stand-alone department as many observers have suggested as well. Perhaps doing those things would lead to more thorough investigations and quicker resolutions of some cases.   

AZ Republic columnist Bob Robb’s suggestion to sweep funds from First Things First (Arizona’s early childhood education program funded by cigarette taxes) and put them toward “more fundamental needs for children”, is simply laughable but I do have to hand it to him for having the chutzpah to exploit this opportunity to push for his heart’s desire on that subject yet again.

AZ Capitol Times has been doing extensive coverage on the CPS situation and for their Tuesday piece they interviewed a couple of state legislators, including my own Rep. Kate Brophy McGee (R-N. Phoenix).

           Too big to manage?