MORNING MESSAGE
A
new study by the Pew Research Center spurred a rash of headlines last week about
“the dying middle class.” But the word “dying” might be more appropriate if we
were watching the regrettable but inevitable effects of natural forces at work.
We’re not. We’re seeing the fruits of deliberate action – and sometimes of
deliberate inaction – at the highest levels of power.
Trump Takes Low Road
Trump
plans scorched-earth campaign. NYT: “Mr. Trump will try to hold her
accountable for security lapses at the American consulate in Benghazi … And he
intends to portray Mrs. Clinton as fundamentally corrupt, invoking everything
from her cattle futures trades in the late 1970s to the federal investigation
into her email practices as secretary of state … ‘Just getting nasty with
Hillary won’t work,’ Mr. Trump said. ‘You really have to get people to look hard
at her character…'”
While
running to her left. AP: “Trump is a classic Republican in many ways. He
rails against environmental and corporate regulations, proposes dramatically
lower tax rates and holds firm on opposing abortion rights … Perhaps Trump’s
clearest break with Republican orthodoxy is on trade …”
Clinton
tries to shore up weaknesses. W. Post: “…Clinton is relying primarily on the
prospect that her likely Republican opponent’s weaknesses are even greater. But
advisers also are working to soften her stiff public image by highlighting her
compassion and to combat perceptions about trustworthiness and authenticity by
playing up her problem-solving abilities.”
Clinton
could win KY tomorrow. WSJ: “While Mrs. Clinton may face resistance in coal
country, she benefits from several other factors … Mrs. Clinton is close to
[state] Democratic establishment figures … Mrs. Clinton could also benefit from
Kentucky’s closed primary system…”
Hillary
talks up role for Bill. W. Post: “‘My husband … I’m going to put in charge
of revitalizing the economy because you know, he knows how to do it,’ Clinton
told supporters in Northern Kentucky. ‘And especially in places like coal
country and inner cities and other parts of our country that have been really
left out.'”
HUD
Secretary Julian Castro tries to quell criticism on the left. Politico:
“…Castro is set this week to announce changes to a hot-button Housing and Urban
Development program to sell bad mortgages on its books … Castro’s actions could
potentially defuse an issue that activists have been using to question his
progressive credentials — and he’ll be doing it at the moment the running mate
search has begun to get serious…”
Trump’s
super PAC network is a mess. W. Post: “Two rival super PACs are in the mix,
but both are newly formed and are viewed with skepticism by major donors … the
most influential outside groups on the right are still on the sidelines of the
presidential race. That includes the Koch political network … Some of the
biggest givers may set up their own operations…”
"POPULIST EARTHQUAKE"
Hedrick
Smith explores the “The Populist Earthquake of 2016”: “…this campaign has
identified the fault-line in America today as wedge economics – the wedge
between the nation’s economic growth and the middle class standard of living.
That wedge emerged in the late 1970s and has widened ever since…”
Better
jobs would dampen the populist anger, says W. Post’s Jared Bernstein:
“…people aren’t angry about Social Security, Medicare and the earned-income tax
credit; it’s job quantity and quality, along with wage trends … There’s nothing
wrong with America that a lot more, good jobs couldn’t at least partially
solve.”
Trade
debate blurring party lines, reports Kansas City Star: “…Free-trade
Republicans are becoming protectionist, while some Democrats are moving the
opposite direction … In a recent Pew Foundation poll, only 38 percent of
Republicans said free trade is good for America. Fifty-six percent of Democrats,
on the other hand, support free-trade agreements.”
Infrastructure Crisis Looms
The
Hill conducts a deep dive into our infrastructure crisis: “By 2025, the
country’s total infrastructure investment needs will total $3.3 trillion, but
planned investments are only $1.8 trillion, leaving a $1.4 trillion gap …
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were generally eager to avoid a vote on
increasing the gasoline tax … [But] over a dozen states — including Republican
strongholds like Georgia, Idaho and Nebraska — have passed or considered
legislation to boost the gas tax.”
The
Hill lists “Five big infrastructure emergencies”: “… the Brent Spence Bridge
… was only designed to carry 80,000 vehicles per day. But the bridge carried
150,000 vehicles per day in 2006, causing serious delays … The transit system of
the nation’s capital … has become a symbol of Washington dysfunction … A set of
structurally-deficient bridges over the San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto,
Calif., have caused a series of floods due to their low creek flow
capacity.”
Progressive
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