WEALTHY’S SHARE HAS DOUBLED

“The fundamental truth about American economic growth today is that while the work is done by many, the real rewards largely go to the few. The numbers are, at this point, woefully familiar: the top one percent of earners take home more than 20 percent of the income, and their share has more than doubled in the last thirty-five years. The gains for people in the top 0.1 percent, meanwhile, have been even greater. Yet over that same period, average wages and household incomes in the US have risen only slightly, and a number of demographic groups (like men with only a high school education) have actually seen their average wages decline.”

James Surowiecki, “Why the Rich Are So Much Richer,” in the New York Review, September 24, 2015, pp: 32-36..

POPULISM IS A STANCE AND A RHETORIC

“Populism is a stance and a rhetoric more than an ideology or a
set of positions. It speaks of a battle of good against evil, demanding
simple answers to difficult problems. ([Donald] Trump: ‘Trade? We're gonna fix it.
Health care? We're gonna fix it’") It's suspicious of the normal bargaining
and compromise that constitute democratic governance. (On the stump,

[Bernie] Sanders seldom touts his bipartisan successes as chairman of the Senate
Veterans' Affairs Committee.) Populism can have a cospiratorial and
apocalyptic bent - the belief that the country, or at least its decent majority,
is facing imminent ruin at the hands of a particular group of malefactors
(Mexicans, billionaires, Jews, politicians).”

Packer, George, “The Populists,” pp: 23 and 24, a Talk of the Town essay in The New Yorker, September 7, 2015.

hite'>uys that shift paper
around and they get lucky.’"

Packer, George, “The Populists,” pp: 23 and 24, a Talk of the Town essay in The New Yorker, September 7, 2015.

Trump and sanders have superficial resemblance

“Responding to the same political
moment, the phenomena of [Donald] Trump and
[Bernie] Sanders bear a superficial resemblance.
Both men have no history of party loyalty,
which only enhances their street
cred - their authority comes from a direct bond
with their supporters, free of institutional interference.
They both rail against foreign-trade deals, decry the
unofficial jobless rate, and express disdain for the
political class and the dirty money it raises to stay in office.
Last week, Trump even denounced the carried-interest tax
loophole for investment managers (a favorite target of the

left). ‘These hedge-fund guys are getting away with murder,’
he [Trump] told CBS News. ‘These are guys that shift paper
around and they get lucky.’"

Packer, George, “The Populists,” pp: 23 and 24, a Talk of the Town essay in The New Yorker, September 7, 2015.