Economic Populism, Secular Stagnation, Fossil Fuels and Emergency Managers

I. Economic Populism
"Trump and Sanders are popular not just because they're expressing people's anger," [or] "because they offer timely critiques of American capitalism." Although they both "downplay the enormous economic benefits of globalization for American consumers,"  [their] "words resonate with many voters, because they articulate an important truth: free trade has created major winners and losers in the U.S. economy, and the losers -- mostly blue-collar workers -- have received little or no help."

"Trade isn't the only reason that blue-collar workers' standard of living has declined; automation and weaker unions have also played a part. By focusing on trade, though, both candidates [-- Sanders a former one --] are acknowledging something important: what has happened to U.S. labor was not a natural disaster but, in part, the product of government policies designed to accelerate globalization and expose American workers to foreign competition." [1]

II. Era of Secular Stagnation
""Though persistent inflation is an accepted fact of life today, in the middle of the 20th century it was still a novel phenomenon to Americans." "Under [Paul] Volcker in the 1980s, interest rates soared while inflation tumbled and unemployment spiked above 10 percent." Hamstrung by deficits that exploded under Ronald Reagan, Congress and the White House focused on stemming the tide of red ink, responsibility for governing the economy's fluctuations was, in effect, handed down to central bankers." "Between 1950 and 2007, the ratio of household debt to income rose more than 400 percent in the United States, with total debt doubling between 2000 and 2007 alone. Much of it was used to buy homes, the biggest investment most Americans make."

"Looking beyond the fluctuations of the business cycle, a growing number of economists are concluding that we have entered an era of secular stagnation defined by low interest rates and the persistent threat of deflation." [2]

III. Leaving Fossil Fuels in the Ground
"The idea of calling a halt to fossil fuel extraction received scientific backup from a 2015 study in the journal Nature, which found that in order to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, 80 percent of the planet's coal reserves, half of its natural gas reserves, and one-third of its oil reserves must remain unexploited."

"The vast majority of federally leased coal comes from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana. [The Basin] is the nation's single largest source of carbon pollution and the seventh largest on the planet." "Looking for oil and natural gas on federal lands and waterways continues unabated; 34 million acres of public lands are already leased for those purposes." [3]

"The federal government's health standard for ground-level ozone is 70 parts per billion. The American Lung Association recommends an even stricter limit, 60 to 65 parts per billion, to protect both adults and children." [4]

IV. Corporate Privatization Through Emergency Managers
"The EM (Emergency Manager) law soon came to be seen as a vehicle for corporate privatization, with a 2011 New York Times investigation revealing that EM training sessions were 'run primarily by representatives from companies who stand to benefit financially." "The Michigan Department of Treasury's own internal analysis highlighted the law's overreach, concluding: 'This bill allows emergency managers too much power and control over local units of government. Emergency managers can't be rusted to act in the interests of the local units and will use the enhanced powers granted under this bill for their own gain.' "

"Benton Harbor, which has been operating under an EM since 2010, saw its voter-participation rate decline by more than half. " [5]

The state of Michigan has become the experimental laboratory for the use of emergency managers. It was an emergency manager who switched Flint's water supply to the Flint River, thereby creating a serious lead problem.

Footnotes
[1] James Surwiecki, "Economic Populism at the Primaries," The New Yorker, February 22, 2016.

[2] Timothy Shenk, "The Only Game in Town?" The Nation, March 7, 2016.

[3] Dashka Slater, "Keep It in the Ground," Sierra, March/April 2016.

[4] Judith Lewis Merrit, Redrock Deadlock," Sierra, March/April 2016.

[5] Congressman John Conyers Jr., "The Long, Dangerous History of Emergency Management," The Nation, March 7, 2016.