The Failure of Trickle Down
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The Failure of Trickle Down: Since 2010 the wealth of the US, adjusted for inflation, has gone up 12.6%, as measured by GDP. However, the Pew Charitable Trust study shows that average household expenditures, adjusted for inflation, have gone up about that much while average household incomes, adjusted for inflation, have actually declined.
The pie is growing but the vast number of Americans have actually seen their slice of it grow smaller. While other presidential candidates this year have been debating about the the cost of health care, how to fight terrorism, planned parenthood, the rights of minorities, etc.,Sanders has stuck to the bread-and-butter issue of dividing an expanding pie more fairly. Trump, while not discussing this issue head-on, speaks to voters who toed the Republican line for many years but find themselves frustrated by a deep sense of betrayal--for all their political correctness, all the Tea Party legislators and Republican governors elected in the past few years, they still just as far are behind the curve ball. He addresses their frustration by blaming political correctness itself, by blaming immigration policy, and simply pointing to poor leadership in both parties. Both candidates give voice to the frustrations of people angry at a political system that doesn't address the underlying problem laid out in Pew report.
The rigged nomination process in the Democratic Party is analyzed by Charles M. Blow in the NY Times op-ed piece about the superdelegates. This is the best briefing I've seen of this deliberately confusing maze of rules that privileges establishment (that is to say, entrenched) elements in the party.
The Wisconsin Democratic Primary election will probably be close between Sanders and Clinton. RealClear Politics summarizes the latest polling data. As is true everywhere, Sanders is overwhelmingly the choice of younger voters, under 50.
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