Robert Reich

[haikugal]

I continue to be amazed and appalled that even excellent journalists (such as the New Yorker’s Margaret Talbot, whose article is below) can write pieces about Bernie Sanders without mentioning what has happened to America that has brought Bernie to prominence. Were we not now experiencing the greatest concentration of wealth at the top since the Gilded Age of the 1890s – and if the median wage of the bottom 90 percent weren’t now below what it was 30 years ago, adjusted for inflation – no one would be talking about Bernie Sanders. He is gaining ground because he is specifically and boldly addressing this central economic crisis of our time.

I suppose it’s more fun to read about personalities than about the great U-Turn our political-economic system made around 1980 – from an increasingly inclusive society to an increasingly fragmented one – but it’s impossible to understand the Bernie phenomenon without this context. And the movement Bernie has fueled is less about Bernie than about the takeover of America by a relative handful of wealthy people, giant corporations, and Wall Street banks, and the absolute necessity of reversing this.

What do you think?

From facebook

[JDPriestly]

1. I agree. Income disparity and our unhealthy economy are the biggest issues.

Everything else flows from those problems.

Race and violence are also problems. I do not think that the economic disparity causes the oppression based on race or the violence, but somehow acknowledging the reality of all these problems and summoning the courage to deal with them so as to reduce them requires the same underlying progressive viewpoint.

I think we can do this.

The income disparity and the unhealthy economy affect all Americans negatively.

Racial oppression and violence affect large segment of the population, but the uniting issue, the issue that unites most Americans is the issue of economic inequality.

[davidpdx]

3. The DLC sellouts on DU will try to tell you that we shouldn't be making it a big issue

They are the same ones who specifically state that he is wrong to highlight the economic problems. We have gotten fucked for the last 35 years despite 8 years of President Clinton and almost 7 years of President Obama. It hasn't been enough to turn the tide against what we have lost. In the case of both aforementioned presidents, a large hole was left for them to repair (more so for President Obama). We need something along the lines of Franklin Roosevelt patching. That will take decades even if we start pushing now.

And still people want to back the 1%er who represents Wall-Street.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. I think they're terrified their Holy Man is being exposed as a fraud....

Probably because too many followers are underwater.