The Latest from the Prospect
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌


 

View this email in your browser
<[link removed]>

**AUGUST 4, 2023**

On the Prospect website

* Maureen Tkacik on how drug middlemen raise prices to consumers
<[link removed]>

* Harold Meyerson on when M.D.s go union
<[link removed]>

* Luke Goldstein on the credit card industry's war against bipartisan
swipe fee reform
<[link removed]>

And our August print issue investigating The Business of Health Care
<[link removed]>

Kuttner on TAP

****

****

****

****

****

****

****

**** It's Capitalism, Stupid 

The sly myopia of David Brooks

Some people whom I respect sent me notes suggesting that

**The New York Times**' reliably fatuous columnist David Brooks had
written a rare thoughtful essay whose argument was worth taking
seriously. Brooks fans will know that his formula is to read a book,
write an essay borrowing ideas from the book, but bury the book
reference well down in the column so that it seems merely incidental to
his own original ideas.

This essay, which the

**Times** gave more space than usual, was titled "What If We're the
Bad Guys Here?
<[link removed]>"
Keep in mind that "we."

Brooks begins by wondering why Trump's poll numbers are so good. He
quotes his colleague Tom Edsall making the point that racial and gender
progress was necessary-what African American or LGBT person would want
to go back to 1963?-and that the mainstream is paying the price. "In
this story, we anti-Trumpers are the good guys, the forces of progress
and enlightenment," writes Brooks, and the Trumpers are the
reactionaries.

But what if we are the bad guys, Brooks wonders. The "we" he has in mind
is the meritocracy-the educated professional class-which really
isn't that much of a true meritocracy if we factor in inherited
advantage. It's the children of the already advantaged who are more
likely to attend elite universities, etc.

This part of Brooks's story is at least partly true, and it's a
well-known story. The research of Raj Chetty and colleagues
<[link removed]> (which Brooks doesn't bother to
credit) over more than a decade has documented multiple aspects of the
role of inherited advantage in who gets into the most competitive
colleges, and who thrives financially.

But here's where Brooks's sleight of hand comes in. He writes:
"It's easy to understand why people in less-educated classes would
conclude that they are under economic, political, cultural and moral
assault-and why they've rallied around Trump as their best warrior
against the educated class." So "we," the educated class, are the
culprit. We are the bad guys here.

Pop quiz: Did you notice what Brooks left out? He left out rampant,
predatory, rapacious capitalism! How like a centrist Republican.

Think about it. Who destroyed the factory towns where working-class
white people used to be able to make a decent living? Who decimated the
labor movement? Who used globalization to ship jobs overseas? Who
undermined regulation that once protected working families?

It sure as hell wasn't English professors or lesbian activists. It was
capitalists.

And despite Brooks's effort, either sly or oblivious, to include
Goldman Sachs, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Elon Musk et al. with thee and me
in the same "we," the reality is that billionaires and regular college
grads, even affluent ones, dwell in different universes of power and
money. Indeed, much of the educated middle class is under assault from
the same class warfare from the top.

So, alas, wannabe Brooks fans need to keep waiting for that elusive
thoughtful essay.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe.  <[link removed]>

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter <[link removed]>

[link removed]

When M.D.s Go Union
<[link removed]>
The wave of professionals who are joining unions has now reached the
ranks of physicians. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

Gatekeeper of the Gougers
<[link removed]>
In a newly unsealed deposition, a former Express Scripts executive
(unintentionally) reveals how hard his colleagues were undermining his
'mission' to cut drug prices. BY MAUREEN TKACIK

Wall Street Stokes Culture War to Fight Swipe Fee Reform
<[link removed]>

The credit card industry is attempting to whip up right-wing hysterics
to fight a bipartisan financial reform. BY LUKE GOLDSTEIN

Top Ten Things I'd Give Up for Free Health Care
<[link removed]>

Let's make this trade. BY FRANCESCA FIORENTINI

 

[link removed]

Click to Share this Newsletter

[link removed]


 

[link removed]


 

[link removed]


 

[link removed]


 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM
<[link removed]>

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States
Copyright (c) 2023 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.

To opt out of American Prospect membership messaging, click here
<[link removed]>.

To manage your newsletter preferences, click here
<[link removed]>.

To unsubscribe from all American Prospect emails, including newsletters,
click here
<[link removed]>.