Inflation, Elections, and Working Stiffs
A cornucopia of recent journalism, mostly by me.
What have I been writing lately? I’m so glad you asked!
On Monday, I observed that you can say the midterm elections are rigged or you can prepare to win them (in the House probably and possibly the Senate), but it’s awkward to do both. Two days after the election I see no evidence that among the election deniers who ran for the House, the Senate, or statewide office and actually won (171 out of 370 at last count), none appears so skeptical of ballot integrity as to demand a recount. I find that terribly disappointing.
On Wednesday, anticipating a Republican majority in the House that’s still expected but not yet arrived, I examined the Republicans’ plan to rake “woke capitalists” over the coals, and explained this will be an elaborate pantomime because the GOP’s wish to beat up big business is about as phony as big business’s claim to be saving the world through capitalism.
Also on Wednesday, I begged White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain not to leave because he’s Biden’s indispensable man. This was a contribution to The Ticker, TNR’s new breaking-news feature.
Today I reported on the working-class vote in the midterms. The news is not great; nonwhite working class voters (mainly Latinos) are continuing to defect to the GOP.
Also today I wrote an I-told-you-so piece about today’s news that inflation is receding.
Speaking of woke capital, here's something piquant on that subject by the peerless corporate governance expert Nell Minow.
Also, if you subscribe to Liberties journal, which you should, don’t miss this (alas, paywalled) fine piece by Jonathan Zimmerman, titled “Memoirs of A White Savior.”
Also, read Thomas Ricks’s new military history of the civil rights movement. It’s a fascinating narrative that emphasizes how they did it—strategy, tactics, discipline—and documents the price many of its veterans paid in injuries, deaths, and psychological breakdowns. It really was a war, and, as in any war, victory was not free. That said, Ricks’s book is also a guide to how to campaign for meaningful social change against long odds. It isn’t easy, but you can succeed. “But today we have no Martin Luther King,” you protest. True. But you never know who the potential heroes and leaders are in our midst until they put themselves to the test.
Also, in anticipation of Twitter imploding or of my losing patience with its obnoxious new owner, I am now on Mastodon (though at the moment it’s so swamped that I can’t log on). My handle there is @timothynoah@mas.to. Please think of joining me there.