Daily Archives: May 17, 2022

In two neighboring industrial states, we are about to get a test of the proposition that economic populism is the key to a Democratic resurgence. We are also going to find out just how much havoc Donald Trump is wreaking on his own party.

In Ohio, a genuine pocketbook populist, Tim Ryan, is in a campaign for an open Senate seat against the ultimate faux populist, J.D. Vance, who went from hillbilly to hedge fund executive. Vance won his primary thanks largely to Trumps endorsement.

This is a Republican-trending state where one of the Senates most effective economic populists, Democrat Sherrod Brown, keeps getting elected and re-elected while other Democrats dont win statewide. Maybe Brown and Ryan are onto something.

In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is favored to win the Democratic primary today for another open Senate seat against the more centrist Conor Lamb (assuming that Fettermans recovery from a stroke is on track). The Republican side is too close to call and features a tight three-way race between candidates who epitomize the widening schisms in the GOP.

More from Robert Kuttner

Until a few weeks ago, a traditional Wall Street Republican, David McCormick, was the front-runner. He worked at McKinsey and got rich as CEO of a software company called FreeMarkets. He then joined the George W. Bush administration as undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs. He left to work for a hedge fund, Bridgewater, becoming its CEO in 2017. You couldnt invent a better antithesis of a populist.

After flirting with a McCormick endorsement, Trump endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz. In case youve been living on Jupiter, Oz is a TV doctor (with actual medical credentials) who has been accused over the years of promoting one fake cure after another.

Oz is Trumps kind of guy. He and Trump have been on each others TV shows. Trump prizes Ozs celebrity.

Oz doesnt actually live in Pennsylvania; he registered at his in-laws Pennsylvania address in 2020. (The Oz campaign says the doctor grew up in Greater Philadelphia, aka New Jersey.)

But Oz is being threatened from the pseudo-populist right by an even coarser right-wing celebrity, Fox News commentator Kathy Barnette. The Oz camp has frantically been running ads about Crazy Kathy, and Trump has warned that she could not win the general election.

So both Ohio and Pennsylvania display Trumps continuing gift for wreaking havoc on his own party as one fake conservative populist vies with another.

Its worth pausing to ask, what is populism?

Though the word is often sloppily used to describe both a left and a right version, populism definitely comes in two distinct forms. The only thing that connects them is disaffection and disgust on the part of common people with ruling elites and a call for radical reform. But the analysis and set of remedies are entirely different.

Right-wing populism is on the spectrum with fascism. It tends to be nationalist, nativist, drawn to autocrats, and scapegoats racial and ethnic minorities. Examples would be Viktor Orban, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Donald Trump.

Though the word is often sloppily used to describe both a left and a right version, populism definitely comes in two distinct forms.

Left populism draws on economic grievances, but looks to radical economic reforms and expanded democracy. FDR was the quintessential progressive. He rallied the people against the moneyed interests, and with good reason.

Bernie Sanders is a left populist. He could have been the Democratic nominee in 2016, and a far better counter to Trump than Hillary Clinton, who was the antithesis of a populist.

Heres the insidious part. You can count on centrist commentators, nervous about angry masses on the march, to warn against the perils of populism generally, and to tar the progressive variant with the sins of its right-wing namesake.

Our friend John Judis makes this useful distinction. Left-wing populism rallies the bottom and middle against the top. Right-wing populists champion the people against an elite that they accuse of coddling a third group, such as immigrants, Islamists, or African Americans.

As the past several decades show, if we dont have effective progressive populism, right-wing populism fills the vacuum. And right-wing populists, like Trump or Mussolini, are very deft at marrying the symbols of popular grievances to the reality of serving corporate interests.

This explains two paradoxes: why corporate execs who found Trumps coarseness and sheer grifting distasteful were nonetheless willing to be part of his governing coalition; and why working-class Americans, who sort of knew that Trump was really a corporate shill, were willing to put that knowledge aside because he was so satisfyingly blunt at articulating their grievances against Blacks or feminists or enviros or PC liberals in general.

With half the Democratic Party in bed with Wall Street, there was no progressive economic populism to offset the right-wing cultural populism. Much the same thing happened in Europe, where right-wing populist nationalists gained ground as the EU became ever more neoliberal and living standards for ordinary people stagnated. As hated outsiders, immigrants played a key role in this inversion.

Now, thanks to Trump himself, the Republican Party is deconstructing the contradictory elements of the Trump package. It worked just well enough to win the 2016 election when all of the parts were combined with the persona of a charismatically outrageous entertainer. But what happens when one element of the Trump appeal is personified by Mehmet Oz, a second by David McCormick, and a third by Kathy Barnette?

Only one of these can win the Pennsylvania GOP primary. Will angry supporters of the also-rans vote for that nominee? Will Trump urge them to? Same story with Ohio, and the other states where Trump is widening the fissures in his party with his narcissistic meddling in primaries.

Conversely, left populism has been eclipsed since FDRs era. And the blue-collar white working class is a lot smaller now than in the heyday of FDR and Truman, though there are far more downwardly mobile Americans today than in the glory era of the New Deal coalition. Will voters once gulled by Trump give the Fettermans and the Ryans a hearing?

On these questions, the future of democracy turns.

See the article here:

Fake Populism vs. Real Populism - The American Prospect

And Caledonian MacBrayne, which needs the ferries to service island communities, is not Ferguson Marines only unhappy customer. Richard Keisner, of CMI Offshore, recently accused the shipyard of extremely low productivity and quality control. A barge his company had ordered will now be completed elsewhere.

Yet despite the huge amounts of taxpayers money at stake in Ferguson Marine, Scotlands opposition politicians have done little more than raise a concerned eyebrow. They cant afford to get a reputation for poor work, opined Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson.

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No-one dares to ask the obvious question: should the Scottish Government be propping up a failing shipbuilder at all?

Margaret Thatchers ghost haunts any discussion of Scottish shipbuildings future. The story goes that Scotland was a great shipbuilding nation until Thatcher came along and heartlessly ruined everything. A whole generation of nationalist politicians, including Nicola Sturgeon, were drawn into politics by this foundational belief.

Yet Scottish shipbuilding had struggled since the 1960s. Despite Scotlands shipbuilding heritage, other countries could build modern ships for lower prices. Orders for Scottish ships fell. Fewer orders meant reduced economies of scale, further damaging efficiency and competitiveness.

With shipyards already running at a loss, there was no money to invest in new technologies or otherwise improve efficiency. Scottish shipbuilding has been caught in this downward spiral for at least half a century.

Thatchers biggest mistake was relying on the creative destruction of the free market. There was no creativity, just destruction.

Could things have been different with a proper plan to support the transition from traditional industries to future ones? We will never know. There was no plan, and 40 years later we are still dealing with the social and political consequences.

That is why no-one wants to be the first to admit that Ferguson Marine is probably beyond saving, especially not the Tories.

But it is time for a cold, hard assessment of the facts. The best-case scenario is that the Scottish Government pays Ferguson Marine 240 million for two ferries and Ferguson Marine miraculously transforms itself into a viable business. The Scottish Government will have paid 160 million to save just over 300 jobs. By a crude calculation, that works out at over 500,000 per job.

Even if this works, the opportunity cost must not be underestimated. That money could have gone a long way invested in other pressing priorities like (re)training, education, research and development, seed capital for innovative businesses, and infrastructure. All of these are badly needed if Scotland is to have a future as a dynamic and internationally competitive economy.

And the harsh reality is that Ferguson Marines future prospects look poor. Are we prepared to let it become a sink without a plug for taxpayers money? It is time for an honest, robust debate about that.

We associate economic populism with far-flung countries in Latin America, but Scotland risks falling into the same trap.

Economic populism has three main hallmarks. First, money is spent on immediate political and social priorities, while investment in long-term economic priorities (education, training and infrastructure) that increase overall prosperity is neglected.

Second, there is a lack of accountability, along with the dismantling of economic and political restraints on government. Third, international trade is seen as a threat rather than an opportunity.

All three are clearly visible in the Ferguson Marine case, and that should be a cause for alarm.

There must be a full public inquiry into the Scottish Governments handling of the case. It is shocking for documents to conveniently go missing from the Scottish Governments files. Accountability matters.

On the bigger questions of Scotlands economic strategy, opposition parties must dare to draw on another heritage: Scotlands leading role in the economic Enlightenment.

Scotland is a small, high-income country in one of the worlds richest regions. Large, middle-income countries like Turkey, with much lower wages and economies of scale, will continue to outcompete Scotland in shipbuilding. Instead of throwing good money after bad, Scotland can better play to its modern strengths.

Historically, Scotland had an excellent education system, but results have fallen behind the OECD average. Fixing this should be the Scottish Governments top priority. Pushing up educational standards will not be easy: it will require sustained commitment and investment over decades. However, this is key to tackling Scotlands pervasive inequality and preparing the Scottish economy for the future.

Scotland still has world-class universities. In theory, these should be pillars of prosperity for a small, high-income country with wealthy neighbours. For any country in this position, the most promising economic strategy is to create innovative, niche products and export them. By this logic, Scotland should be looking for gaps in the market to fill, rather than attempting to compete in traditional heavy industries dominated by middle-income countries.

If the Scottish Government has 160 million to spend creating jobs, this is where the focus should be.

An open-eyed assessment of Scotlands infrastructure, and whether it supports its economic goals, is also needed. Scotland has fallen shamefully behind in digital connectivity, especially in rural areas. Crude demands of the private sector for example, that international companies supplying offshore windmills deliver community benefits may also fail for a lack of suitable infrastructure.

Scotland does not currently have a harbour deep enough to accommodate modern floating windmills, which is why they are assembled in Rotterdam and towed into place.

These are complex challenges to which economic populism has no answers. As Adam Smith, the father of modern economics and a native son of Kirkcaldy, said: The facts must be real, otherwise they will not assist us in our future conduct, by pointing out the means to avoid or produce an event.

These words should serve as a lodestar for those hoping to guide Scotland to a prosperous future.

Dr Alison Smith is an author and political analyst at Political Developments

See the original post here:

Scotland should remember the words of Adam Smith and beware the dead hand of economic populism Dr Alison Smith - The Scotsman

Arts and entertainment

May 12, 2022

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week!

Christina Fiig: Gender Policies in a Context of (Quasi) Permanent Crisis

May 17, 12:00 PM | Online

Join the Center for West European Studies and the Jean Monnet EU Center to continue the Talking Gender in the EU Lecture Series, with Christina Fiig on EU Gender Policies in a Context of (Quasi) Permanent Crisis,

Christina Fiigis an Associate Professor at the School of Culture and Society, Section for Global Studies (European Studies), Aarhus University, Denmark,has authored the paper Gender Equality Policies and European Union Policies(Oxford University Press 2020) and co-authored the chapter The Populist Challenge to GenderEquality with Birte Sim (Routledge 2021).

Since 2008, the EU has been struggling with the interrelatedness of the Euro, refugee and Brexit crisis (Caporaso, 2018), with the rise of populism (Erman & Verdun, 2018), and most recently with the Covid-19 pandemic. There are good reasons to assume that these multiple crises may be here to stay (Dinan, Nugent, & Paterson, 2017), as they are the result of many factors that are at once local, domestic, European, and global (Erman & Verdun, 2018). In this lecture, Dr. Fiig will establish a context of (quasi) permanent crisis as a framework for understanding the contemporary developments in EU gender policies and the rise of rightwing populist parties and voices in the European Parliament.

Free | RSVP & more info

MFA Dance Concert

May 18 May 22 | Meany Hall

Treat yourself to a live in-person performance with original choreography created by our world-class MFA in dance candidates and performed by our undergraduate students! The Department of Dance graduate students, all of whom have had no less than eight years of professional dance experience, work with selected undergraduate students to compose six conceptually and aesthetically diverse works. This years MFA candidates include artists who have worked with some of the worlds most distinguished dance groups, touring nationally and internationally, including but not limited to BANDALOOP, Dance Art Group (DAG), The Lmon Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Trust, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater, and 10 Hairy Legs.

$10 | Buy tickets & more info

Online Symposium Dismantling the Body

May 18-19 | Online

The Graduate Students of Art History (GSAH) are pleased to invite you to the two-day virtual symposium Dismantling the Body: Possibilities and Limitations in Art Making on May 1819, 2022.

Throughout arts history, the human body has been a site of tensions, subject to regulations, overcoming or submitting to physical challenges, but also offering far-reaching opportunities for self-expression. This symposium will bring together scholars and artists to explore the interactions between body and place, the production of bodily knowledge, the regulation of the body, and its agency.

Free | Register & more info

Monica De La Torres, Feminista Frequencies, Book Talk & Celebration

May 18, 3:30 PM | Communications 202

Please join us for this book launch, celebration, and discussion with author Monica De La Torre, GWSS Alum (PhD 2016) and Assistant Professor in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University. The road to the 2022 publication of her book Feminista Frequencies: Community Building through Radio in the Yakima Valley (UW Press) began with Dr. De La Torres doctoral research in the UW Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies. In this event, she will give a presentation on the research behind the book, delving into community-based radio as feminist praxis, public scholarship, and the process of turning a dissertation into a book, and then opening into a discussion with the audience. A reception will follow the event from 5-6pm.

Resistance through Resilience:CCDE 7thAnnual Conference

May 18-19 | Online

Consisting of a two-part listening session and a panel discussion, theCCDE/UWRLResistance through Resilience conferencewill showcasedialogues fromprogram participants alongsideelements ofthe Resistance through Resilience curriculum.

Free | Register & more info

DXARTS Spring Concert:Life Studies

May 18, 7:30 PM | Meany Hall

The Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) is pleased to present a program of classic virtuoso works of aural cinema and acousmatic music from DXARTS artist researchers.

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Passage

May 19 21 | Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse

Obie Award-winner Christopher Chens provocative fantasia,Passage, gently lifts us from our own reality and sets us down in a new place: Country X. Country X has been occupied by Country Y. Country X is allowed its own laws and leaders, but Country Y controls both and has been unfairly abusing its power to mistreat native-born citizens. Chen deftly deploys theatres primal evocative powers to raise questions that make the audience profoundly uncomfortable, but simultaneously creates a welcoming space to which everyone is invited. (Time Out New York). New Drama faculty member Adrienne Mackey, Artistic Director of Philadelphias Swim Pony, makes her UW Drama directorial debut.

$5 20 | Buy tickets & more info

Roe v Wade: Impact, Solution, and Empowerment

May 21, 10:00 AM| Online

This event is aStudent-ledinitiative, open to all community members who are passionate about reproductive justice. This event is an opportunity for activists, organizations, and the greater community to come together and discuss what is at stake for Roe v Wade, and its place within the Reproductive justice movement.This event is sponsored by the UW Alene Moris Womens Center, as well as the Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology at the University of Washington.

We are excited to introduce our guest Keynote speaker, Dbora Oliveira-Couch, from Surge Reproductive Justice.

Please join this event, to attend workshops from organizations and speakers from a variety of organizations:

More information about the workshops and speakers will be updated shortly.

Free | Register & more info

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ArtSci Roundup: MFA Dance Concert, Passage, and More - University of Washington