Middle income growth has been 3x greater under Democratic Presidents (10x for low income)

[MinM]

Last edited Wed Oct 17, 2012, 08:08 AM - Edit history (1)

Good Read/Listen

This Is Your Brain on Politics
Friday, October 12, 2012

We may think we know all about how we make decisions, but when it comes to political choices, they can hinge on a number of factors that we rarely notice. Brooke speaks with political psychologists and scientists to get to the bottom of why we make the choices we do at election time.

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/oct/12/your-brain-politics/

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Bartels tabulated how the US economy fared when Democrats were in the White House and when Republicans were in the White House.

LARRY M. BARTELS: The average level of real income growth for middle income families has been about three times as great under Democratic presidents as it has been under Republican presidents, and the average rate of real income growth for working poor families has been about ten times as large under Democratic presidents as it has been under Republican presidents.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And yet, Republicans win more elections, partly because of the widespread belief that they’ve been better guardians of the economy...

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/oct/12/your-brain-politics/transcript/

http://audio.wnyc.org/otm/otm101212a.mp3

[Old and In the Way]

1. People vote Republican at their direct economic peril.

Unless, of course, you are investing in the Party for your best longterm economic interests - as a 1%er.

[MinM]

2. The World's First Political Consulting Firm

Here's another excellent segment from last weekend's OTM:

The World's First Political Consulting Firm
Friday, October 12, 2012

Image From American Medical Association Campaign Against Truman's National Health Insurance Plan

In the 1930's, married couple Clem Whitaker and Leone Baxter founded Campaigns, Inc., the world's first political consulting firm. In the ensuing 30 years, Campaigns Inc. pioneered tactics like the out-of-context quote, relentless pamphleteering, and what we now call opposition research, all techniques that are part of the modern campaign playbook. Bob talks to Jill Lepore, New Yorker contributor and author of The Story of America: Essays on Origins about Whitaker and Baxter's political legacy.

http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/oct/12/worlds-first-political-consulting-firm/

http://audio.wnyc.org/otm/otm101212e.mp3