The struggling middle class

MANIFESTO

Kevin Drum has time to do the legwork on something I've written about frequently: the absolute emasculation of the middle and lower classes in this country.

He writes:

I happen to think that median wage stagnation has gone on long enough that it's plainly a serious problem and plainly something that needs to be addressed via policy. For some reason, the free market has disconnected wage gains from productivity gains in recent years, and there's no indication that this is going to change on its own. For that reason, I favor things like a higher minimum wage, looser union organization rules, saner trade policy, more labor-friendly tax policies, and an immigration policy that would have the effect of reducing total immigration.

While I'm not entirely sure I buy all of this, at least the first two suggestions seem eminently reasonable.

God knows the federal oligarchs (who include the free marketers and the supply side crowd) have no desire to improve things for the country's poorer denizens. Perhaps the inexorable Democratic landslide in 2008 will make things better.

The Democrats certainly seem to have the right idea.