August 21Aug 21 Active Members The Last Stand of the Corporate Democrats Their reign is coming to an end Robert Reich Aug 19, 2026 Buckle up for two very long and hopefully thoughtful essays. One from Robert Reich and one from me. I thought Reich's essay hit the nail on the head. He says a lot more about what is at the heart of the Democratic Party's problems today than most news articles. As Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary from 1993 to 1997, Robert Reich is in a position to be both a critic of what went wrong, and blamed for what went wrong, As Reich spells out, Democrat after Democrat after Democrat can be blamed for Democratic policies that hurt the working class. And in particular that destroyed factory cities and factory towns and factory life. Leading eventually to the rise of Donald Trump. Trump of course has done nothing to restore factory jobs, or factory cities. But Democrats deserve some of the blame, along with the W/Romney Republicans, for sucking the life and money out of that part of America. At a minimum, Democrats were complicit while corporate interests that donated heavily to many of them gutted lots of factory-based communities. Here's some facts about factory jobs in America. From Jan 1993 to Jan 1997, when Reich ruled, US factory jobs went up slightly, from 16.8 million to 17.3 million. By Jan. 2001 when Clinton left there were 17.1 million factory jobs. So there was a net increase in factory jobs under Clinton, and especially under Reich in the first four years. But it was far short of the almost 20 million US factory jobs when Jimmy Carter was President. In retrospect, the fact that we lost a few hundred thousand factory jobs in the late 90's as the stock market soared was a preview of what was about to come. As that chart I hyperlinked shows, the freefall of about 6 million factory jobs started with W and the 2001 recession and ended under Obama and the Great Recession. It's fair to say Clinton's free trade policies set the stage, as Reich argues. But it did not happen when Clinton was President. Joe Biden would later argue he was one of many Democrats pushing for "fair trade, not free trade". But, as he correctly notes, for most of the Bush Presidency they just didn't have the votes. Nor do Democrats have the votes now. The US was down to 12.1 million factory jobs in Jan 2021, when Biden took over. That number increased to 12.7 million factory jobs by Jan. 2025. After one and a half years of Trump, we've had a net loss of 60,000 US manufacturing jobs since Trump took power. Make America Great Again! The numbers matter because I think it tells us everything we need to know about "corporate Democrats." First, I think Reich is right that "corporate Democrat" policies aren't really on the side of the working class of America. Second, what Biden's Presidency suggests is that Democrats can at least be a check on corporate policies that are designed by and for corporate oligarchs. What is happening with data centers and AI is a great example of that today. If Sherrod Brown wins in Ohio, it will be because he is for labor unions and against unchecked AI data centers. Even the proponents of AI data centers admit they are better at creating corporate profits than long-term jobs. Quote They’re voting for progressive Democrats not because they want socialism, support the Democratic Socialists of America, or reject candidates called “moderate.” They’re voting for candidates whom they believe will fight to make housing, food, healthcare, and childcare affordable to average working families. And who’ll take on Trump’s billionaire backers, CEOs, and Wall Street titans who are rigging the economy against them. That's the most interesting two paragraphs in Reich's essay to me. Surveys suggest that Reich is correct, and America mostly understands this. The MAGA Minority will demonize guys with weird Muslim names as "communists." But there is no evidence in polls that the name calling is working. Quite the opposite. Republicans have no response to Democratic attacks on data centers. Other than to flip flop and now be against data centers themselves. Add ostensibly "corporate Democrats" like Joel Shapiro and Kathy Hochul to that list. The good news in this to me is that at least progressive Democrats can keep the corporate Democrats in check. I don't think AOC can win the Presidency. But if she takes on Schumer (if he runs in 2028) maybe she could win a US Senate seat in New York. That's amazing in itself. A democratic socialist Mayor of New York in a state with a democratic socialist Senator. And New York is arguably still the financial capital of the world, and of Wall Street. That pretty confirms what Reich is saying about the nature of the movement. It's the affordability, stupid! If California decides to tax billionaires this Fall, it will also be a strong sign of the times. Quote What happens when you combine free trade, shrinking unions, Wall Street bailouts, growing corporate monopoly power, and the abandonment of campaign finance reform? You get an economy favoring the wealthy and a political system favoring the powerful, while workers without college degrees suffer declining real wages and dwindling job security. And that to me is THE challenge of the Democratic Party today. And I'll focus on what Reich does NOT spell out, that makes the challenge almost impossible to solve. What Reich says without saying is that "an economy favoring the wealthy" has also favored college-educated workers, so far. He does state "workers without college degrees suffer declining real wages." No tax on tips, anyone? It's a measure of how weak Democrats have been that Trump, a corrupt billionaire, can throw white working class voters a few crumbs and a few culture war wins and keep their loyalty. At least until now. If anyone needs proof that "an economy favoring the wealthy" has been mostly good for college-educated workers, check out these charts of real inflation-adjusted income increases for residents of "socialist" California and "the free state" of Florida. From a post-Great Recession low of about $60,000 in 2014, median incomes after inflation have risen about 25 % in Florida, to about $75,000. Ron DeSantis can and does claim that's because Florida is like our stupid Murder Dog @Barknaway: good and loyal and true to Trump's free market policies. Bark, dog, bark! Call it a victory for Trumpian capitalism. Meanwhile, in socialist California, real inflation-adjusted incomes bottomed earlier, in 2011. Since then, they rose from $70,000 to $100,000, closer to a 50 % increase. It's not clear that life is actually better in the "free state" of Florida. Personally, I don't care for the humidity. 😉 What is behind those numbers is that times have never been better for college-educated young tech workers in California. Or just college-educated workers in California, period. If you are a homeless drug addict or a low income Black single Mom who waits tables or a struggling actor in California, life sucks maybe. It is definitely unaffordable. But a college degree still means something. List of U.S. states and territories by educational attainment That is a remarkable list. Of the 25 states with the fewest college educated workers, only one - New Mexico - is reliably Democratic. The two states most likely to buck the trend are New Mexico and Nevada, in both cases because they have among the highest percentage of Hispanic workers. ICE raids, anyone? But even Nevada is in play as the Hispanic working class flitters around with Trumpism and MAGA. Meanwhile, the 10 states with the most college-educated workers are all reliably blue. You have to get to #13, Utah, before you get a reliably red state. And that is because they are Mormon and religious conservatives. And therein lies the challenge: why would blue states with the most college-educated workers change something that arguably has been working pretty well for them? That's the question facing "corporate" Democrats today. And the challenge facing democratic socialists. I'm enough of a capitalist to believe that a corporate America without corporations would not be an America I'd look forward to living in. What makes the challenge harder is that college-educated workers bring all kinds of liberal values, which I share, without having actually delivered much on actual economic policy for the working class. Reich mentions some important exceptions: Obamacare, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. And in Trump's case I'd add No Tax On Tips. My constant rant about how Harris might have won in 2024 if she presented herself as the working class warrior who would slice Trump's balls off to defend money in the pockets of working class Hispanic Moms in the form of expanded child tax credits fits right in here. That said, a tax credit for kids is not the same as a factory job. I have no clue what the answer is. Other than that progressive Democrats are going to have to figure it out, if they really want power. And they are definitely going to have to moderate on the liberal social values I embrace and share, but the White working class (or, just the working class in general) simply doesn't. That problem is easy to solve. Either they moderate now, or they lose. The one interesting new factor in the political mix is the growing perception that corporate oligarchs like Elon Musk are now ready, willing, and able to throw white collar college-educated workers under the bus, too. I'm pretty sure that's a big part of why AI data centers are now a toxic idea. Shows us just how loyal to America and workers the oligarchs like Musk are! I don't think we will get rid of "corporate" Democrats, or corporations. I would be happy if we can castrate Elon Musk, politically if not economically. Tax the son of a bitch a lot more. Let him pay to make the US working class great again.
August 26Aug 26 On 8/21/2026 at 1:46 PM, stevenkesslar said: The Last Stand of the Corporate Democrats Their reign is coming to an end Robert Reich Aug 19, 2026 Buckle up for two very long and hopefully thoughtful essays. One from Robert Reich and one from me. I thought Reich's essay hit the nail on the head. He says a lot more about what is at the heart of the Democratic Party's problems today than most news articles. As Bill Clinton's Labor Secretary from 1993 to 1997, Robert Reich is in a position to be both a critic of what went wrong, and blamed for what went wrong, As Reich spells out, Democrat after Democrat after Democrat can be blamed for Democratic policies that hurt the working class. And in particular that destroyed factory cities and factory towns and factory life. Leading eventually to the rise of Donald Trump. Trump of course has done nothing to restore factory jobs, or factory cities. But Democrats deserve some of the blame, along with the W/Romney Republicans, for sucking the life and money out of that part of America. At a minimum, Democrats were complicit while corporate interests that donated heavily to many of them gutted lots of factory-based communities. Here's some facts about factory jobs in America. From Jan 1993 to Jan 1997, when Reich ruled, US factory jobs went up slightly, from 16.8 million to 17.3 million. By Jan. 2001 when Clinton left there were 17.1 million factory jobs. So there was a net increase in factory jobs under Clinton, and especially under Reich in the first four years. But it was far short of the almost 20 million US factory jobs when Jimmy Carter was President. In retrospect, the fact that we lost a few hundred thousand factory jobs in the late 90's as the stock market soared was a preview of what was about to come. As that chart I hyperlinked shows, the freefall of about 6 million factory jobs started with W and the 2001 recession and ended under Obama and the Great Recession. It's fair to say Clinton's free trade policies set the stage, as Reich argues. But it did not happen when Clinton was President. Joe Biden would later argue he was one of many Democrats pushing for "fair trade, not free trade". But, as he correctly notes, for most of the Bush Presidency they just didn't have the votes. Nor do Democrats have the votes now. The US was down to 12.1 million factory jobs in Jan 2021, when Biden took over. That number increased to 12.7 million factory jobs by Jan. 2025. After one and a half years of Trump, we've had a net loss of 60,000 US manufacturing jobs since Trump took power. Make America Great Again! The numbers matter because I think it tells us everything we need to know about "corporate Democrats." First, I think Reich is right that "corporate Democrat" policies aren't really on the side of the working class of America. Second, what Biden's Presidency suggests is that Democrats can at least be a check on corporate policies that are designed by and for corporate oligarchs. What is happening with data centers and AI is a great example of that today. If Sherrod Brown wins in Ohio, it will be because he is for labor unions and against unchecked AI data centers. Even the proponents of AI data centers admit they are better at creating corporate profits than long-term jobs. That's the most interesting two paragraphs in Reich's essay to me. Surveys suggest that Reich is correct, and America mostly understands this. The MAGA Minority will demonize guys with weird Muslim names as "communists." But there is no evidence in polls that the name calling is working. Quite the opposite. Republicans have no response to Democratic attacks on data centers. Other than to flip flop and now be against data centers themselves. Add ostensibly "corporate Democrats" like Joel Shapiro and Kathy Hochul to that list. The good news in this to me is that at least progressive Democrats can keep the corporate Democrats in check. I don't think AOC can win the Presidency. But if she takes on Schumer (if he runs in 2028) maybe she could win a US Senate seat in New York. That's amazing in itself. A democratic socialist Mayor of New York in a state with a democratic socialist Senator. And New York is arguably still the financial capital of the world, and of Wall Street. That pretty confirms what Reich is saying about the nature of the movement. It's the affordability, stupid! If California decides to tax billionaires this Fall, it will also be a strong sign of the times. And that to me is THE challenge of the Democratic Party today. And I'll focus on what Reich does NOT spell out, that makes the challenge almost impossible to solve. What Reich says without saying is that "an economy favoring the wealthy" has also favored college-educated workers, so far. He does state "workers without college degrees suffer declining real wages." No tax on tips, anyone? It's a measure of how weak Democrats have been that Trump, a corrupt billionaire, can throw white working class voters a few crumbs and a few culture war wins and keep their loyalty. At least until now. If anyone needs proof that "an economy favoring the wealthy" has been mostly good for college-educated workers, check out these charts of real inflation-adjusted income increases for residents of "socialist" California and "the free state" of Florida. From a post-Great Recession low of about $60,000 in 2014, median incomes after inflation have risen about 25 % in Florida, to about $75,000. Ron DeSantis can and does claim that's because Florida is like our stupid Murder Dog @Barknaway: good and loyal and true to Trump's free market policies. Bark, dog, bark! Call it a victory for Trumpian capitalism. Meanwhile, in socialist California, real inflation-adjusted incomes bottomed earlier, in 2011. Since then, they rose from $70,000 to $100,000, closer to a 50 % increase. It's not clear that life is actually better in the "free state" of Florida. Personally, I don't care for the humidity. 😉 What is behind those numbers is that times have never been better for college-educated young tech workers in California. Or just college-educated workers in California, period. If you are a homeless drug addict or a low income Black single Mom who waits tables or a struggling actor in California, life sucks maybe. It is definitely unaffordable. But a college degree still means something. List of U.S. states and territories by educational attainment That is a remarkable list. Of the 25 states with the fewest college educated workers, only one - New Mexico - is reliably Democratic. The two states most likely to buck the trend are New Mexico and Nevada, in both cases because they have among the highest percentage of Hispanic workers. ICE raids, anyone? But even Nevada is in play as the Hispanic working class flitters around with Trumpism and MAGA. Meanwhile, the 10 states with the most college-educated workers are all reliably blue. You have to get to #13, Utah, before you get a reliably red state. And that is because they are Mormon and religious conservatives. And therein lies the challenge: why would blue states with the most college-educated workers change something that arguably has been working pretty well for them? That's the question facing "corporate" Democrats today. And the challenge facing democratic socialists. I'm enough of a capitalist to believe that a corporate America without corporations would not be an America I'd look forward to living in. What makes the challenge harder is that college-educated workers bring all kinds of liberal values, which I share, without having actually delivered much on actual economic policy for the working class. Reich mentions some important exceptions: Obamacare, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. And in Trump's case I'd add No Tax On Tips. My constant rant about how Harris might have won in 2024 if she presented herself as the working class warrior who would slice Trump's balls off to defend money in the pockets of working class Hispanic Moms in the form of expanded child tax credits fits right in here. That said, a tax credit for kids is not the same as a factory job. I have no clue what the answer is. Other than that progressive Democrats are going to have to figure it out, if they really want power. And they are definitely going to have to moderate on the liberal social values I embrace and share, but the White working class (or, just the working class in general) simply doesn't. That problem is easy to solve. Either they moderate now, or they lose. The one interesting new factor in the political mix is the growing perception that corporate oligarchs like Elon Musk are now ready, willing, and able to throw white collar college-educated workers under the bus, too. I'm pretty sure that's a big part of why AI data centers are now a toxic idea. Shows us just how loyal to America and workers the oligarchs like Musk are! I don't think we will get rid of "corporate" Democrats, or corporations. I would be happy if we can castrate Elon Musk, politically if not economically. Tax the son of a bitch a lot more. Let him pay to make the US working class great again. Your "essay" has me saying, once again, Hillary would have been a much better president than Bill was - even though Bill was leaps and bounds ahead of warmonger Bush II and The Great Incompetent. Bill governed too much like "Reagan-light" or an alternative framing "Reagan with a brain that worked". The welfare "reform", the three strikes mass incarceration of African-Americans, the lame, stupid, ineffectual, offensive don't ask, don't tell. I won't go on about Clinton. Before any of the basic 21st Century policies are enacted post 2028 (I.E. Liberation Day) such as free community college, medicare for all, no more forever wars, the Supreme Court will have to also be brought into the 21st century. An age limit of 75, term limits of 18 (or so) years and increase the number of Justices for every current Circuit Court (13).
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