From the Guardian:
Median family income is lower now than it was 16 years ago, adjusted for inflation. Workers without college degrees – the old working class – have fallen furthest. Most economic gains, meanwhile, have gone to top. These gains have translated into political power to elicit bank bailouts, corporate subsidies, special tax loopholes, favorable trade deals and increasing market power without interference by anti-monopoly enforcement – all of which have further reduced wages and pulled up profits.This is both a reasonable explanation for the rise of Trump, and it does not require any special appeal to racism or misogyny (not that both weren't present, but they would be very depressing as a complete explanation). The key item is to think about ways to tackle these issues without introducing xenophobia. Once the Democrats have decided on how to do this, the path back will be a lot clearer.
h/t: Mike
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteTaking it a step farther, median income figures and unemployment rates actually understate the problem. We have people, previously employed full time at good jobs, who are now working multiple jobs to earn what they did before, or less. We have people who are working part time but can't get a satisfactory full time job. We have people who are self-employed, not because they want to be entrepreneurs, but because they can't get a real job with pay and benefits in their chosen line of work. These are real people: some of them are my neighbors and relatives. Some of them voted for Trump. While I think it is delusional to believe that Trump offers a solution to these problems (in fact, I think he will only make them worse), it is easy to understand their anger.