Why the Country Needs a Populist Challenger in the Democratic Primaries

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Katrina vandenHeuvel ?@KatrinaNation
Robert Borosage: Why the Country Needs a Populist Challenger in the Democratic Primaries/@borosage http://ourfuture.org/20150217/why-the-country-needs-a-populist-challenger-in-the-democratic-primaries …


____On fundamental issues, all Democrats stand in sharp contrast with Republicans, but they divide dramatically among themselves. Consider:

Globalization. Republicans basically defend current global trade and tax policies, seeking mostly to find new ways to reduce corporate taxation. Obama, and most likely Clinton, support more corporate trade deals and would move to a territorial system that exempts corporations from paying taxes on money earned abroad. For the populist wing, the global trade and tax strategies have been catastrophic, running up record deficits, shipping jobs abroad, and lowering wages at home. The president’s call for “fast track trade authority” will spark a furious debate, pitching the broad base of the party against Obama, Republicans and the Wall Street wing.

Incomes Policy. Republicans oppose every measure to lift wages for working people, except tax credits, which provide a backdoor subsidy to low-road employers like Walmart. All Democrats favor strong reforms for low-wage workers – minimum wage, pay equity, paid sick and vacation days, revised overtime and more. But Democrats divide on empowering those in the middle or curbing the avarice at the top. While sporadically expressing support for unions and the right of workers to organize, both Obama and Bill Clinton were essentially AWOL when it came to pushing for reforms. Populists understand that strong unions are vital if the rewards of growth are to be widely shared. They also argue that reform of our perverse CEO compensation policies – which give CEOs multimillion-dollar incentives to loot their own companies – is critical to insuring workers share in the profits and productivity they help to generate...

Wall Street and Financialization. Republicans have already begun to whittle away at the bank reforms, and argue that deregulation is vital to growth. Obama and Clinton pledge to defend the current reforms. But the big banks are bigger and more concentrated than ever. Populists argue that too big to fail means that they are too big to exist, and would break them up. Populists urge a financial speculation tax to curb the Wall Street casino, and want bankers, not just banks, held accountable for their crimes...

Global Security. Republicans, with few exceptions, have become a war party, supporting U.S. more intervention in conflicts across the globe. Obama has sought to avoid doing “stupid sh#t,” even while sustaining a war on terror that extends into 120 countries at last count. Clinton wants purposefully to run to Obama’s right. Both would increase military spending. Populists argue that America can’t police the world and is exhausting itself trying to do so. We want the empire of bases dismantled, our allies to bear a fair share of the burden, Pentagon waste and abuse curbed, a smaller military used only as a last resort. Clinton’s bellicosity – from Iraq to Libya to Syria and Ukraine – would drain our future...


read more (Climate and the Green Industrial Revolution, Tax and Invest, Shared Security, Crony Capitalism, : http://ourfuture.org/20150217/why-the-country-needs-a-populist-challenger-in-the-democratic-primaries

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1. Kick - good read. nt

[CK_John]

2. Why do you think there will be any primaries?

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3. history

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4. »