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Max Sawicki, King of Pop

By Owen Paine on Thursday November 23, 2006 12:22 PM

Greet my neologism: "prog-pop" (we've had enough of neos). "Populist revival" was rejected because it captures one dimension, but loses the other: populism with out prog think is like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.

Here's an unknowing exemplar from Max "Factor" Sawicky:

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/nov/20/what_is_a_populist

and here's his prog-pop platform :

  • A foreign policy that rejected bloated military spending and routine interference in the affairs of others;
  • Fighting the Federal Reserve and the banking industry for the sake of tight, inflation-risky labor markets that would spur wage growth;
  • A strong system of social insurance to protect workers in retirement, disability, unemployment, injury, and ill health;
  • Rejection of the dogma of free trade.
  • Counteracting the domination of corporate interests by the construction of cooperative institutions in civil society, especially trade unions, and a revitalized, professional, high-quality civil service;
  • The broadest possible tax base, to include capital gains, dividends, stock options, the site value of land, rents from resource extraction, financial transactions, and great wealth; a serious attack on tax evasion.

Comments (4)

J. Alva Scruggs:

Note that the "effectiveness" gambit gets played in the comments. Sure sign of technocratic blindness -- and a little foolish from anyone who has backed anti-populists, tacked to the right and still lost.

TPM is a veritable rat's nest of soft-fingered do-nothing spineless democrat pwoggie-bloggies pretending to be revolutionary thinkers. I suppose it's a necessary illusion for them to maintain so they can stomach servicing their party masters, but it's really pathetic how seriously they take their self-important maunderings. Especially when abso-tootly-ootly no one in the dem party power structure takes them seriously.

js paine:

my godness feed em to" the Smithee "
"servicing their party masters"

its a stretch this blanket you throw over em all
this "they be smurf serfs all "
but... i love it

even ole max clawed and ripped to shreds
you terrible tiger you
god bless you AS .... as is

alva ....always after the groupie think
i agree their chorus reveals the context and the impact
of a max solo
as they tractor beam
his message
into the soft party sink and stink hole

Was I being a bit, well, harsh? Naaaaw. Nobody respects a whore - snd TPM is a veritable democratic party bordello. As long as the pwoggie-bloggies turn out the votes and send in the checks, nobody really cares what they say.

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