WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE ECONOMY, THE DEMOCRATS & THE GOP

Some things are the same, some extremely different.

 

I have been asked once again by some readers to show what’s happening in the nation with the economy in general and the direction of today’s two political parties.

 

My first comment is that for the economy, nothing has changed much in the last six months.  And the way people are looking at the different types of presidential candidates is a sign that the American voters are ready for a major change.  In fact, with the rise of those like “The Donald” and Dr. Ben Carson, the American public may be ready for such a radical change as there was when Jimmy Carter was elected president.

 

But okay, let’s look first at what’s happening in the two parties.

 

It is appearing that the Democrats are turning more toward the liberal end of the party as the Millennials have come into voting age.  The age of the moderate Democrat is diminishing as in the House, where the once powerful moderate Blue Dog Coalition had 54 members. That group is down to only 15 members. 

 

The House Democrats are listed today as being 79% liberal versus 21% moderate.  One high-level Democrat admitted this week that, “the party is now a populist party.”  The Democratic Leadership Council, which was the idea factory behind Bill Clinton’s rise, it closed four years ago. As a case in point, the likely 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has now joined populist insurgent Bernie Sanders in opposing the new Pacific trade deal.

 

Now for the Republicans, that’s a very different story.  That party keeps graying and shrinking and they are divided into a number of very different groups such as the Freedom Caucus, the Tea Party, the Religious Values Group, the Old School Republicans and the Young Republicans.  Only 22% of Republicans are considered in the moderate Old School Republicans.  And the newer, Young Republicans have values that agree more with the policies of some Democrats than the more extreme GOP policies.

 

Needless to say, the new Republican Speaker, Paul Ryan will have his hands full with these diverse Republican groups in the House.

 

As to the economy, Americans are very leery because even though the economy has slowly been improving, middle-class Americans haven’t felt any improvement in decades.  Wages continue to be stagnant and income inequality is at an all-time high.

 

Today, there is no dispute that the top 1%’s share of US income has doubled, or more, over the past 35 years. And the Federal Reserve last year reported that “only families at the very top of the income distribution saw widespread income gains between 2010 and 2014.”

 

Some conservatives have argued that “income disparity also doesn’t necessarily correlate with stagnating middle class wages.”

 

But for that situation, the populists say, it’s all the more reason to do something about today’s income distribution. “The trade-off many argue — to tackle inequality necessarily weakens growth — simply isn’t there,” said Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute. This, he said, justifies, “bolder policies such as higher taxes on the wealthy, more restraints on big banks and executives, campaign-finance reform and more rights for workers“.

 

As Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post: “If America’s yawning gap between the super-rich and everybody else offends our sense of justice, isn’t that reason enough to do something about it?”

 

I agree. 

 

So there’s the latest on what’s going on with Democrats, Republicans and the US economy.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015