Say It Ain't So Already

Matt Taibbi on David Brooks, Populism and the Capitalist Economy

January 28, 2010 at 5:49 PM Leave a comment

HERE’S A MUST-READ

On January 25, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an op-ed titled, “The Populist Addiction.“  In it, he took 14 paragraphs to say the same thing we hear all the time from conservatives, that elites control the system and they create all the jobs, so poor, dependent, ungrateful slobs like you and me had better cut the populist anger about the way things are, or we’re going to be living in the woods somewhere:

Hamilton championed capital markets and Lincoln championed banks, not because they loved traders and bankers.  They did it because they knew a vibrant capitalist economy would maximize opportunity for poor boys like themselves. They were willing to tolerate the excesses of traders because they understood that no institution is more likely to channel opportunity to new groups and new people than vigorous financial markets.

This week, Matt Taibbi, a writer who I love because (1) I almost always agree with him, and (2) he doesn’t mince words, had a thing or two to say to Brooks in what is a must read:  Populism:  Just Like Racism!

I think it’ll lift your spirits because Taibbi says so well what so many of us are feeling.

Entry filed under: Financial Crisis, Our Tax Dollars, Republicans, Including Wingers & "Moderates", We the People. Tags: .