dagblog - Comments for "Are Well-Off Progressives Standing in the Way of a Real Movement for Economic Justice?"

When I visited Cambodia first

Desider — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:48:32 +0000

In reply to The tricky part about all of

When I visited Cambodia first time, I was struck by the fact that no one I saw wore glasses. Quick Darwinian selection?

Hope lies eternal.Not sure

Desider — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:36:40 +0000

In reply to Give her 50 years, she'll

Hope lies eternal.

Not sure what that means, but could go on some after-shave lotion, or a naïve polito-blog roll.

Give her 50 years, she'll

quinn esq — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:22:31 +0000

In reply to Good find. She makes some

Give her 50 years, she'll make more sense. ;-)

Well there ya go. It's always

cmaukonen — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:08:26 +0000

In reply to The tricky part about all of

Well there ya go. It's always something.

The tricky part about all of

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:55:58 +0000

In reply to Are Well-Off Progressives Standing in the Way of a Real Movement for Economic Justice?

The tricky part about all of this is that "they" went and had Lasik invented for themselves, and now one can no longer be sure of who has to be sent to re-education camps in the countryside by whether or not they wear eyeglasses.

For some reason, your comment

EmmaZahn — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:44:00 +0000

In reply to "...the people who work at

For some reason, your comment reminded me of yesterday's Luckovich cartoon

I don't think it's the

cmaukonen — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:26:06 +0000

In reply to The original blog was

I don't think it's the salaries bu themselves but the attitudes of those who receive them. Some have never had to themselves or their immediate families had to scrape by. And those that di and still managed to get where they are either acquire the attitude of Frank Burns, conveniently forgetting from whence they came and discount any help or lucky breaks they may have received along the way. In other words lack of humility and empathy.

I am not say all are like this but a good many are.

Thankee

cmaukonen — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:18:23 +0000

In reply to Good find. She makes some

Thankee

Good find. She makes some

EmmaZahn — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:46:13 +0000

In reply to Are Well-Off Progressives Standing in the Way of a Real Movement for Economic Justice?

Good find. She makes some good points and her youth gives me hope.

The original blog was

Elusive Trope — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:49:19 +0000

In reply to One thing that is fairly

The original blog was attempting to make the case that the fact that those on the left in the think tanks, media outlets and policy centers are well paid (and well educated) makes it impossible for those people to develop policies, ideas, etc that are aligned with the well-being of the poor and working classes. The fact that they are part of the wealthy elite (granted on the lower end of it) inevitably means they will be disconnected and unconcered about the interests of those less economically fortunate.

If this is so, we are doomed. In order for a policy center focused on sustainable energy or transporation systems to be effective, a large number of people who are involved need both extensive education and work experiences. And given the way, the work world tends to operate, this means they will need to be nicely compensated (if to attract them to the position in the first place).

It is unfortuate in this country that there is such a large number of people who have a negative knee-jerk response to anything that smacks of being not fully aligned with capitalism and the "free market." It is a battle in and of itself. If one is focused on dealing with problems in education, transportation, poverty, etc. etc. - taking on the economic system would either be a full time task or end of marginalizing one's other work.

In the end it boils down again to whether we should use the incremental approach or the more revolutionary approach. A big part of incrementalism is the technocratic strategy. It has its flaws, but I don't think having nice salaries for the employees of the think tanks et al is one of them.