James Pethokoukis writes:
There is supposed to be a battle brewing in the Democratic Party–particularly ove trade–between pro-growth centrists who want a return to Clintonomics (300 free-trade agreements, 23 million new jobs, a $6,200 increase in real median income and spread-the-wealth neopopulists who argue that government needs to focus of stemming rising income inequality through higher taxes and nationalize healthcare.
But it hasn’t been much of a fight so far. Democratic presidential candidates have mostly talked about the so-called middle-class squeeze and blamed the policies of President Bush for it. (Of course, it’s hard to even think about embracing President Clinton’s policies of cutting capital-gains taxes and signing free-trade agreement when you’re bashing Bush for doing the very same thing.) There has been very little about promoting economic growth or the use of market forces to create better economic outcomes.
But Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank backed by Wall Street money, is trying to create a pro-growth, pro-free-market economic agenda…
Anything that gets the Democrats away from the populism they are currently espousing would be alright with me.
