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**OCTOBER 26, 2022**
Kuttner on TAP
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**** Europe: Great Public Systems and Eroding
Public Confidence
The nations of the EU are fast depleting the legacy of a decent social
compact.
PARIS - In most of Europe, public systems still work a lot better than
in the U.S. This should reinforce the credibility of the democratic
affirmative state. But as the living standards of ordinary people keep
deteriorating and the rich gain more and more of the total economic
product, well-functioning public systems are not sufficient to retain
the loyalty of ordinary people.
In Paris, to take just one example, the Metro is superb. A train comes
every two or three minutes, the cars are modern and quiet, the signage
is clear and consistent throughout the system, and you are never more
than a 10- or 15-minute walk from a Metro station. If you buy a pack of
ten tickets, it costs about $1.50 to go anywhere in Paris, which is a
tacit subsidy to those who live in the less affluent outer parts of the
city.
The French government, whether of the left or the right, has never
stopped investing in regular upgrades. The German public-transit system
is even more of a marvel. The main railway terminal in Berlin looks like
something out of the 22nd century (or maybe it's that U.S. transit
systems are stuck in the 19th).
And these are countries whose public systems were badly damaged in World
War II. But they took that wreckage as an invitation to modernize and
rebuild. The last time the U.S. government put serious money into urban
public transit was half a century ago under Lyndon Johnson. Metro
systems like that of Washington, D.C., which was state-of-the-art when
built, are now literally crumbling for lack of ongoing maintenance.
Yesterday, Paul Krugman
<[link removed]> wrote an
ode to the New York subway system. As a good economist, he ticked off
the multiple benefits of mass transit in theory, but acknowledged only
in passing what a catastrophe the actual subway is in practice. As that
great empiricist Groucho Marx put it, "Who are you going to believe, me
or your lying eyes?"
According to my lying eyes, especially after regularly riding the Paris
Metro, the New York subway system is a travesty, with incoherent
signage, inconsistent service, and enough ad hoc changes of which train
is on what track to make a commuter weep. It is a miracle that it
functions at all. And Boston's is even more archaic.
Europe shines by comparison. But European public systems of all kinds
are living off the legacy of the postwar social democratic era, which
was one of massive social investment as well as broadly rising living
standards for ordinary people. As a result, they have a longer political
half-life than ours.
However, the second half of that social bargain has been rescinded.
France has been losing jobs at an accelerating rate. Its income
inequality is on a trajectory to reach that of the United States.
It doesn't take long for ordinary people to realize that they are
getting screwed. In the next French presidential election, in 2027,
Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate, is expected to place first in
the preliminary round. And with the left and the center-right both
fragmented, it's not at all clear who else will make it into the
final. Le Pen could be the next president of France.
The patterns of citizen disaffection are similar throughout the West.
Their common source should be no mystery-hyper-capitalism supercharged
by globalism displacing everything that makes for a decent society.
~ ROBERT KUTTNER
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The Crises That Overturned Our Politics
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Democrats embracing the battle is the first step to voters trusting
Democrats to lead the nation. BY STANLEY B. GREENBERG
Poll: Focus on Cost of Living Imperative in Midterm's Final Days
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Democrats can regain a lead on the generic ballot with an aggressive
cost-of-living message, reports the survey. BY DAVID DAYEN
A Bite-Sized Policy Discussion in Pennsylvania
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What has been a shallow, meandering campaign between Mehmet Oz and John
Fetterman produced a similar kind of debate. BY TOBY JAFFE
Facing Child Labor Scandal, Hyundai Asks Biden for Subsidies
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The United Auto Workers say dropping two implicated suppliers won't
solve problems with temp staffing agencies and exploitative contractors.
BY LEE HARRIS
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