If you thought that most people vote according to their self-interest, then how is it that George W. Bush is the two-term US President? Okay, the first time was thanks to the Supreme Court "sorting out" a very messy situation in Florida, but the second time was a very conscious popular vote majority. And yet:
- the budget surplus Bush inherited was given away to the top 0.5 percent of Americans
- more Americans are added every year to the ranks of the medically uninsured
- the "credit card" war in Iraq will continue up to and beyond his last day in office
- the long post war (WW II, that is) housing boom has tanked on his watch, and millions of Americans are losing their homes
Now, when you juxtapose this with the oft-related story of Americans' response to pollsters ("I'd rather have a drink with Bush than with Kerry or Gore"), you truly must wonder if people link their political choices to their pocketbooks. Time to enroll in your local Economics 101 course, or at least read what is available for free on the web. Here's my honor roll:
- Paul Krugman, who writes Mondays and Fridays in the New York Times, freely dispenses world class economics that costs students thousands at Princeton and MIT
- Thomas Friedman, also of the NYT Op-Ed Page (currently on book leave), has a wider political scope, but has done yeoman work in focusing on the national security - energy security link
- Naomi Klein hails from the left of most Americans, but is worth reading for her pitiless coverage of neocon economics. Her latest book, "Shock Doctrine," has hit bestseller lists worldwide
- Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor, often prescribes sensible policy solutions in The American Prospect, the political monthly he helped found
- Jane Bryant Quinn of Newsweek, whose practical advice also has a very responsible social element
- William Greider of The Nation, has a long view of what a fair economy can be, as shown in his most recent book, The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to A Moral Economy
- Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post, whose column The Color of Money extends practical advice informed by a social conscience
Finally, in case you don't want to read about the "Dismal Science" (if ever there was a misnomer to the single most important social science, this has to be it), you can listen to it. If you're in the US, National Public Radio plays "Marketplace" daily, but if you're out of range of NPR like me, you can catch it on their excellent website.
So, "Uncle" doesn't want any more complaining about how voters were tricked into policies inimical to their interests. Read, listen, and learn, and realize how politics, above all, influences economics - in other words, the way we all live.
And for the neocons out there who might chance upon this blog, take a risk and read some of the links above. My feeling is that their views will become ever more influential in a future Democratic White House.