- The gulf between liberalism and Old Left ideas — socialist ideas — has only grown since the 1930s.
A statement from the WaPo is way too general and offers too little to be thought provoking.
A research paper from the Harvard Kennedy School was published in August 2016 and is already outdated as the election of president Trump and the discussion in the EU on Brexit has already seen a backlash. The election in The Netherlands and France in 2017 is an indication.
○ Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash
The Chapo Trap House taps into political differences of an angry crowd, has the profile of a cult movement and is likely short lived.
- In general Sanders is not taken seriously with establishment DC types. You can even see that in Booman’s reaction in his thread on neo-liberalism. In this he badly misreads the contours of the generational politics on the left of center all over the world.
Too optimistic and also too general. The European elections are quite local events with the domestic agenda and the leading politicians of the parties determining the outcome. In general terms of Brexit, Trump, Rutte and Macron referendum/election one can witness a strong undercurrent of anti-establishment feeling. There is very little substance offered as far as forward looking policy is concerned, the political discussion is mostly short term and immediate self-interest.
This is the trap offered by today’s media and quite often on reading blogs too.
The true long-term political battle is the attack on democracy itself from within the US itself by the GOP billionaires (Koch bros.) and the policy set out by James McGill Buchanon. The neo-con militaristic agenda is intact due to U.S. Congress and the complex of right-wing think tanks, the Pentagon, CIA and the whole IC. The president is a prisoner in the White House.
Europe’s Socialism Beats IMF Forecast …
Continued below the fold …
IMF cuts 2017 growth forecasts for UK and US | The Guardian |
The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast for the UK economy this year after a weak performance in the first three months of 2017.
In its first downgrade for the UK since the EU referendum in June last year, the IMF said it expected the British economy to expand by 1.7% this year, 0.3 points lower than when it last made predictions in April.
The Fund raised its forecasts for the UK after the Brexit vote as a result of the much stronger than envisaged activity in the second half of 2016. In October 2016, it pencilled in growth of 1.1% for 2017, raising this forecast to 1.5% in January this year and to 2% in April.
Maurice Obstfeld, the IMF’s economic counsellor, pointed to a marked change in early 2017. He said the UK’s growth forecast had been lowered based on its “tepid performance” so far this year, adding: “The ultimate impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom remains unclear.”
The IMF left its growth forecast for the UK in 2018 unchanged at 1.5% but said one key risk facing the global economy was that the Brexit talks would end in failure.
It contrasted its gloomier outlook for the UK with a rosier forecast for the rest of the EU, with 2017 growth upgrades for the four biggest eurozone countries – Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Brighter skies over eurozone as growth and employment pick up | The Guardian |
What a difference a few months make. As 2017 opened, eurozone politicians still raw from the shock of the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s presidential triumph were nervously awaiting elections in the Netherlands and France.
They feared that discontent would propel the populist wave into the heart of Europe and usher in far-right, anti-euro leaders. In the event, the predicted surge for Dutch populist Geert Wilders failed to materialise and in France, Front National candidate Marine Le Pen was decisively beaten by pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Now, the economic picture for the currency union is looking brighter. Unemployment in the bloc is at its lowest for almost eight years and economic growth was 0.5% in the first quarter, well ahead of the UK’s 0.2%.
More to follow later …
