This post isn’t very cheerful or Christmasy, but we’re living in fascinating times. How will people vote in response to the new tax bill?
A year ago, in the wake of Trump’s stunning election victory, it was in vogue to talk about the “populist” moment upending the West. Elections on both sides of the Atlantic demonstrated how a wide segment of the electorate was fed up with the status quo, skeptical of elites ensconced in their country’s financial and political capitals, and eager to throw up walls around their nations in the face of the forces of globalization. Looking back at this year’s events, it is clear that their anxieties were more cultural than economic.
The politics of many Trump voters, and their counterparts overseas, were less truly “populist” — anchored in some moral vision of a united people — than “nativist,” animated by divisive, ethnic tribalism.
It may thus be unsurprising that Trump’s first legislative victory of his presidency is a deeply unpopular tax overhaul. In the long run, the reforms will likely provide the greatest benefits to corporations and the mega-rich, possibly to the detriment of virtually everyone else. “Trump has governed like a plutocrat in populist clothes,” wrote Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University. “He is betting that social conservatives and white blue-collar supporters in rural areas will vote on the basis of nationalist and religious sentiment and antipathy toward secular coastal elites, rather than for their own financial interests.”
—The Washington Post
I’m guessing Roubini is correct about many of Trump’s supporters — I think people evolved to be tribal and that is a force to be reckoned with. The 2018 elections should be a good test.
completely over my head, your country’s rules and regulations…as is the same here in mine 🙂
Are you aware of any backlash against immigrants? How much immigration do you have? When we were there we had the impression that it was hard to be let in. As I recall we had to show we had a ticket to leave before we could come. This isn’t about laws so much, it’s about some people losing social status, the culture of the country becoming different from what they believe and them protesting.
migrants with proper status i.e. PR Permanent Residents would have to abide by all our regulations.
there has been tightening up, I know that because my ex-hubby came here under vastly different ways in the mid 1970s – once or twice since, he had to go through some hoops as he has never become a citizen of NZ…
i know a contact of mine was thinking of coming here from Argentina – I didn’t know how/why/where so I got another friend to help…he said at the time “best if you apply for small town NZ…not go after a main stream city” our mutual friend didn’t come in end due to “it would be hard to be out of a city, in his profession”
I don’t really know much about that arena at all…probably because it hasn’t ever effected me, personally.
But we have a melting pot of immigrants…some came in various decades for vastly different reasons…I can’t see a breakdown right at this minute. At times there is strife of one kind or another, sometimes very bad but often it is within a community. Then news reports puts out there, and we the general other get upset etc…either for or against the strife.
I suspect if I wasn’t home alone, or had closer relatives, i.e. if I had been blessed with children I might come in contact with that…but the closest I get are my Filipino neighbours here, they certainly have shown me differences!
Thank you!
I have always maintained that Democracy is a sham. It is plutocracy all the way everywhere.
It’s hard to disagree with that.
I think I agree with rummy.
from the get-go ours seems to have been formed and continuously situated mainly for those with money and power. and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
it’s the elites who see that their fellow elites coming up are educated in the ways of ‘leadership’ and profit. I don’t mean to sound cynical. I suppose their philanthropy is good too. but their vision is never really for the little or middle man. well… except for good old Bernie! 🙂
(Human) nature in action, I’m afraid. 🙁
It’s a puzzle to many to watch Americans apparently self-destruct economically, allowing this new government to impose measures that favor only the rich and privileged. We ‘tut-tut’ about it, and can’t believe his base is so easily deceived. The idea that Trump has hit a nerve, and exploited the sentiment of tribalism is beginning to make sense and helps us understand the underlying actions of his ‘true believers’. Bannon, of course, is behind this, since Trump isn’t smart enough to foresee the power of appealing to the masses by threatening their most negative, deepest, protectionist beliefs. It’s frightening to watch, since those beliefs are embedded in people, and can’t be easily understood or displaced even by those who experience them. I appreciate your thesis, Jean. Lots of truths here.
The 2018 elections will tell us a lot. A lot of politics is just marketing, so we will have to see how they successfully they sell what they are doing.