… A just-published study by sociologists Clem Brooks and Jeff Manza adds to the evidence that polarization in the general public is increasing. It also has an interesting message about whether and how reality – in this case, the economic crash in late 2008 – affects Americans’ views on government […] Read more »
Can the Government Actually Do Anything About Inequality?
For a moment, let’s forget the central debate of our political period — how much of a role government should play in our lives — and ask a different question: can government policies counteract inequality in any meaningful way? [cont.] Tom Edsall (Columbia U.), New York Times Read more »
Fighting discrimination, as inequality grows
… According to Gallup, 54 percent of blacks believe government should play “a major role” in improving the economic and social welfare of minorities in this country. Only 22 percent of whites agree. The role of government is at the core of the partisan division in this country. It’s a […] Read more »
Hard Times, For Some
On July 24, President Obama returned to Galesburg, Ill. to reiterate a promise he made in 2005 as a freshman Senator: to create new opportunities for the nation’s beleaguered middle class. … Obama wants to raise living standards while powerful headwinds are pushing back. It’s not only Republican opposition. National […] Read more »
President Obama’s Economic Speech and Public Opinion
President Obama’s hour-long speech at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, on Wednesday was a major effort on the part of his administration to focus attention on what White House Adviser Dan Pfeiffer called “the most important issue facing the country” — namely the economy. Pfeiffer is right on that count. […] Read more »
Why did court treat two minorities so differently?
Gays win, blacks lose. That’s the upshot of this week’s landmark Supreme Court decisions. … Why did the Supreme Court treat the two minorities so differently? Because the two minorities face significantly different problems. Since the civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s, inequality has become a bigger problem […] Read more »