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The best sentence I read this morning
It is a thrilling, if repulsive, dream.
For more, here is Will Wilkinson on whether we are entering a new populist era.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 31, 2007 at 12:05 PM in Political Science | Permalink
Comments
Aye. Will hits is on the head when he talks about politics seeing the economy as a great zero-sum game (which it is, in the short-run.) When somebody tells me "the people" want this or that, I start thinking about what job-title they're hoping to get out of it.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at Aug 31, 2007 12:48:17 PM
I really enjoyed that.
Posted by: josh at Aug 31, 2007 1:13:15 PM
He's correct in that there isn't a great degree of table-pounding - yet. Outsourcing hasn't reached levels to where a populist movement would take root and may not ever, given that companies are starting to realize that "savings in employee salary $" is only part of the equation when considering offshoring of labor.
My guess is that some intellectuals get excited about populism because they thrill to the fantasy of riding popular passions to power and harnessing them to set in place their ardently desired policies. It is a thrilling, if repulsive, dream.
Substitute "libertarianism" with "populism" and that statement rings equally true.
Posted by: fustercluck at Aug 31, 2007 2:22:14 PM
My thrilling, but not at all repulsive, dream is for libertoad brothers
Cowen and Willkinson to get fired and try their luck in
a global marketplace.
Who knows, they may become multimillionares, globalism is so good for
supermen.
Posted by: mik_infidelos at Aug 31, 2007 2:26:03 PM
"Who knows, they may become multimillionares, globalism is so good for
supermen."
Seems to be working alright for the rest of us. You get laid-off from the local buggy-whip factory or something?
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at Aug 31, 2007 2:30:40 PM
Intellectuals on both the east and west coast are so thoroughly removed
from reality it is quite scary.
Academia and think tanks are probably the worst places on the planet be
tuned with reality. Sitting in an office reading is bad enough, doing it
in the rarified, overfunded air of Washington or Berkely makes that worse.
I'm with Mik.
Posted by: save_the-rustbelt at Aug 31, 2007 2:32:26 PM
Substitute "libertarianism" with "populism" and that statement rings equally true.
Which libertarians think Washington is about to swing their way? Most seem to expect mild gains for populism and not much progress for liberty. I suppose some goofballs think Ron Paul can win, but I don't think anyone has claimed Congress will lurch libertarian.
Posted by: TGGP at Aug 31, 2007 3:44:55 PM
Actually, Wilkinson misstates the idea he is trying to express. Populists get excited about the prospect of populism's revival. One can take it as a given that populists are excited by populism.
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Aug 31, 2007 4:32:12 PM
People who complain that "intellectuals" "are so thoroughly removed from reality, its quite scary" are so thoroughly removed from reality it's quite annoying.
Seriously, are any of you having that hard of a time finding a decent job or do you strictly speak on behalf of other people?
Posted by: josh at Aug 31, 2007 5:07:55 PM
Once again the camps are talking past each other. I think Wikipedia does a good job of highlighting the problem.
Here's the entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism
The takeaway is that what constitutes "populism" is in the eye of the beholder. If people want to make a claim that the country is (or should be) moving in a certain direction then they would help their cause if they would use more precise and less confrontational terminology.
What I see is that there is a movement to equalize wealth distribution on the part of a certain group of activists and commentators. A few politicians, but not many, are also trying out variations on this theme. The only policy changes that I see being discussed to do this have to do with altering taxes. There is also some vague suggestion of changing executive compensation in some way.
I don't see this as having become a big issue with most people as yet. If people are feeling squeezed they usually look to high taxes or the high cost of necessities as the reason and not that the boss is getting paid too much. I suppose blaming "outsourcing" is also become a popular theme as well. A smaller(?) group feels that immigration is also a factor.
Notice that there are no viable policies being proposed to remedy any of these conditions. Whatever has been done over the past decade or so hasn't worked or we wouldn't still be discussing the same issues. Even if some proposed reforms get passed (such as new tax rates) I expect the effect will be relatively minor. Raising, say, $50 billion from the upper 5% won't have much effect on a budget which is running a deficit of about ten times as great.
I'll leave it to the libertarians to explain exactly what they mean when they use the term "populist".
Posted by: robertdfeinman at Aug 31, 2007 5:52:13 PM
Someone tell that this assessment has nothing to do with the Democratic party winning a single national election. On an anti-war platform (which I thought WW is on board with) ...
These guys need to remember that the Faithful's excitement in 2000 was populism, too, and that different populists are excited because the party that pays lip service to their agenda is on the rise.
Posted by: Matt at Aug 31, 2007 7:27:42 PM
Whatever has been done over the past decade or so hasn't worked or we wouldn't still be discussing the same issues.
I don't think there was real danger from Jewish conspiracies in Weimar Germany, but it was nevertheless a hot political issue. Your statement seems a bit of an argumentum ad populum.
Posted by: TGGP at Aug 31, 2007 8:07:24 PM
TGGP:
Ah, yes, why let democracy intervene when people like you know all the answers? If we just leave you in charge everyone will come out ahead.
In addition to your usual ad hominem, attacks you resort to dragging in totally irrelevant material. I don't know why I bother.
If you refer to me personally, you are not engaging in a discussion of the issues, and, yes, that's what I'm currently doing, but I'm going to stop and you can't.
You have no arguments to offer. I'm always advising others not to rise to the troll bait, but have been failing to take my own advice. This will now change.
Posted by: robertdfeinman at Sep 1, 2007 10:21:40 AM
I'm curious why so many progressives like to wish the worst upon those who disagree with them. Latest example on this thread
My thrilling, but not at all repulsive, dream is for libertoad brothers Cowen and Willkinson to get fired and try their luck in a global marketplace.What is up with that?
Posted by: TJIT at Sep 1, 2007 12:34:51 PM
Hey, guys.
Tyler Cowen is working in the global marketplace.
In the advertisements on this web site.
And the books he's written.
John
Posted by: Shakespeare's Fool at Sep 1, 2007 1:37:03 PM
Sheesh, rdf, I didn't expect you to take it that way. I did not intend to disrespect you, and if you let me know what I wrote that you found offensive I will try to avoid that in the future. I also don't see where I referred to you personally, I just quoted things you said and wrote other things in response.
I am not claiming I should be in charge, I just don't think anybody else including a majority of der Volk should be either! I gave that example because it is a case I think you would agree in which there was not a real problem but enough people thought there was that it became a serious political issue. I am not trying to say that inequality is not a problem, only that it is a fallacy to claim it is because we are still discussing it.
Posted by: TGGP at Sep 1, 2007 2:37:37 PM
Actually, save_the_rustbelt, my micro professor said he made $300/hr. for different firms out in the "real world" in his spare time. It's a myth, at least for non-humanity professors, that tenured professors can only make a living through some posh arrangement with academia. Most have different, non-monetary, reasons for trying for highly-sought-over tenured positions instead of the private sector.
Posted by: Matthew at Sep 2, 2007 1:17:39 AM
Matthew, your professor more than likely snagged that rate as a function of his academic title.
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