MORNING MESSAGE
What’s Killing the American Middle Class?
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.”
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