I’m looking forward to reading this. I hadn’t thought of it this way before, exactly, but the sentiment resonates.
I mean, it’s a fundamental problem with capitalism, and I suspect the only solution is regulation, so in a way I think it is a political problem, but not one of merely trying to appeal to a class of people.
The other problem is, no matter what your messaging, special interests with money will endlessly advertise and twist your actions to appear harmful to the people you’re helping. There are armies of Goebbels, trained in state and private education, to twist the truth, and they are employed by companies with endlessly deep pockets. How do you fight that?
Especially when those special interests with money take “the economy is very bad, and the Democrats are improving it only in modest ways” and use it to argue, “The Democrats are hurting everyone on purpose, so let’s give power to the Republicans instead.”
Regulation is just a temporary band-aid, it doesn’t get to the root of the problem. Disparity will continue to rise and Capitalism will continue to centralize, with power in fewer and fewer hands, until it inevitably collapses.
great article that really sums up what the fuck happened in this election
The US economy is currently experiencing strong growth, low unemployment, and rising wages - the “stuff of economists’ dreams.” However, this macroeconomic success has not translated into broad prosperity. Beneath the surface, many workers are struggling with rising costs of living, debt, and declining real wages, especially for low-income households. While the top income brackets thrive, the bottom 40% now account for just 20% of all spending, leading to a deeply unequal and unstable economic recovery. This disconnect between headline economic indicators and the lived experiences of many Americans led to discontent that was reflected in the 2024 election, with voters citing the economy and immigration as key factors. The Democratic Party’s focus on macroeconomic performance failed to address the deeper social and economic crises faced by working-class voters, including inflation, job insecurity, and rising costs. The left must confront these issues head-on, rather than dismissing them or resorting to nostalgic historical analogies. Rebuilding a broad and solidaristic left politics will require grappling with the contradictions within the right’s fragile coalition, as well as the ways that racism, misogyny, nativism, and other forms of oppression intersect with economic precarity. It is not enough to simply call for “bread and butter” policies; the left must work to mobilize people on different ideological terrain, forging a culture of solidarity that can challenge the uneven terrain of contemporary capitalism.
Summarized by Article-Summarizer
Good summary. Agree completely with the article - it actually makes sense out of the blind spot that Dems had in this election. Plus that pointer on how Mexico bucked the worldwide trend theorectically gives Dems a pointer on how to recalibrate and take back the initiative.
This is a good examination of what happens when Dems pander to the millionaires while the GOP aims for billionaires. The big spenders will naturally overtake the ability to spend for their message.
The Dems are ignoring the giant bloc of voters for the much smaller but well financed upper-middle class suburbanites. Liberals are causing the left to fail. Progressive politics will win elections.
Progressive politics will win elections.
Owner class will not permit DNC to go this route.
It seems to me that rather than explicitly trying to listen to the elite and ignore the cries of the common class, the article instead explains that the indicators that Dems were using to get a measure on the economy sort of betrayed them. See for example,
For those focused on short-term macroeconomic indicators like growth and unemployment, that immiseration has been hard to see—and voters’ cries of misery beggared belief.
And also,
rates of homelessness and child poverty predictably resurged. Yet since this was in effect simply a return to the pre-Covid norm, it seems to have barely registered
They saw the traditional indicators said things looked great and rolled with that, instead of digging deeper after a pandemic unprecedented in modern times to see if maybe those traditions had become outdated (as the article hints at).
Overall this is a more positive take, because it means that if Dems just looked at the wrong place and got the wrong idea as a result, they’d be more open making whatever necessary adjustments are needed to avoid a repeat mistake.
