# Does anyone know who wrote a book describing how an economic populist would rise by 2020? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517 "2015-09-16T23:05:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/1 "2015-09-16T23:05:25Z")
I want to say Robert Reich wrote it, that or Paul Krugman. I read a book several years ago which described in the last chapters or so how ignoring the economic needs of the bottom 95% of Americans would cause populist candidates to rise who was an economic populist. Anyway, the argument near the back of the book said that a political candidate would likely rise who played on the economic fears of both parties, and would probably come as a third party candidate. On the left he would support expanding the welfare state, changing/ending trade deals, expanding the minimum wage, etc. On the right he would be harshly anti-immigrant (I forget what all rightward views he said the candidate would have). Seems like Trump and Sanders rather than a singular candidate (although Trump is or has been pro-UHC, said he won’t cut SS or medicare, supported the minimum wage in the past). Anyone know what book it was I’m thinking of? I’m pretty sure it was a book about income inequality and about how if politicians kept catering to the wealthy and powerful the public would find candidates who reflected their economic needs. I’d really like to re-read the book as it seems like it is coming true. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/2 "2015-09-16T23:14:26Z")
Are you thinking of Beyond Outrage by Robert Reich? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/3 "2015-09-17T12:02:28Z")
Considering that Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the vote in 1992, that wouldn’t exactly have been a bold, out-of-left field prediction. The makings of a populist movement have been out there a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/4 "2015-09-18T01:02:53Z")
So it’s a prediction that an economically-ignorant outsider would become president? Perhaps there’s some validity. But Trump is the epitome of a 1%-er. I don’t think people consider him a champion of the underprivileged. Sanders fits the bill much better. He (like all socialists) doesn’t understand jack shit about economics. His platform is freebies and fairyland. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/5 "2015-09-18T01:13:34Z")
**Looking Backward** by Edward Bellamy? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/6 "2015-09-18T02:08:10Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Considering that Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the vote in 1992, that wouldn’t exactly have been a bold, out-of-left field prediction. The makings of a populist movement have been out there a long time. Perot wasn’t really a traditional populist-for example he was a deficit scold among other things and his support was far more middle-class than a traditional populist would have been. > [@Stringbean](#): > > So it’s a prediction that an economically-ignorant outsider would become president? The truly “economically-ignorant” are your typical Very Serious Person hacks blindly accepting neoliberal orthodoxy. > [@](#): > > Perhaps there’s some validity. But Trump is the epitome of a 1%-er. I don’t think people consider him a champion of the underprivileged. Yet his strongest support is among white voters who are not college educated. > [@](#): > > Sanders fits the bill much better. He (like all socialists) doesn’t understand jack shit about economics. His platform is freebies and fairyland. Sanders is a left-wing social democrat, not a socialist and he has a far better grasp of the current situation then most other politicians of other parties. Certainly preferable to the “fairyland” of 4% economic growth, flat taxes, and entitlement “reform”. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/7 "2015-09-18T02:38:54Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The truly “economically-ignorant” are your typical Very Serious Person hacks blindly accepting neoliberal orthodoxy. Provided you openly acknowledge that “neoliberal orthodoxy” is nearly universally accepted by studied, mainstream economists and that those who attack it are typically redistributionist, protectionist liberals who lack support for their views among the general economics community… …then, yes, Very Serious Person is economically-ignorant and Bernie Sanders is the modern Adam Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/8 "2015-09-18T02:57:55Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Provided you openly acknowledge that “neoliberal orthodoxy” is nearly universally accepted by studied, mainstream economists and that those who attack it are typically redistributionist, protectionist liberals who lack support for their views among the general economics community… > > …then, yes, Very Serious Person is economically-ignorant and Bernie Sanders is the modern Adam Smith. “Consensus” or not, the empirical evidence of the last few years have clearly disproven economic orthodoxy which is not surprising since neoclassical economics tends to be an ivory tower parlour game. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical\_school\_of\_economics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_school_of_economics) rests on a far firmer basis. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/9 "2015-09-18T03:20:50Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Provided you openly acknowledge that “neoliberal orthodoxy” is nearly universally accepted by studied, mainstream economists . . . Actually, I believe the currently prevailing school of thought is [Post-Keynesian](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Post-Keynesian_economics). > [@](#): > > Although the Post-Keynesians are a diverse group, many share similar beliefs, some of which may include: > > ``` > The government as a sovereign issuer of money. This is a commonly known fact, but important especially to neo-chartalists as they draw many implications from it. They believe that most people, the government included, act as if the nation still ran on the gold standard. > The government doesn't collect taxes or spend them. Taxes "destroy" currency and spending "creates" currency because fiat currency is only backed by the government's faith. So taxing money out of the economy is the same as destroying it. (The money, not the economy) > Financial transactions always create an offsetting liability. There are always three parties, not two, involved in a transaction: buyer, seller, and bank. This is because all money is credit. Cash ("high-powered money") is a liability of the Fed, credit (like credit cards) is a liability of your bank, and that credit is created by loaning out against the bank's reserve of high-powered money. > Rejection of "crowding out." Government spending does not crowd out monetary resources because spending "creates" more money. > Rejection of the money multiplier. Banks can loan reserves to each other or get money from the Fed's discount window, making the money multiplier a formality without much real meaning. > Rejection of equilibrium. Post-Keynesians believe the market is dynamic and rarely if ever in equilibrium (i.e., the market is never fully efficient). > Rejection of a natural level of unemployment. > Rejection of homo economicus. > Government spending is limited by high levels of inflation, not tax revenue. > Importance of the credit cycle as part of the business cycle. > > ``` > > Which has led many Post-Keynesians to support policies such as: > > ``` > Full employment at all times. Keynesianism on 'roids. Some support a job guarantee, whereby the government hires unemployed workers either directly or indirectly through private contracting. > Stricter financial regulations. > Restructuring credit markets and debt (debt-to-equity swaps). > Low taxes except in cases of increased inflation to "destroy" excess currency. (Liberals that don't like taxes!) > Unbalanced budgets as a counter-cyclical policy. Deficits when unemployment is high, surpluses when inflation is high. (Much like Keynes.) > Limitations on private debt. > > ``` > > The years since 2008 have been labeled the “Keynesian Resurgence” because of the return to Keynes’ work after the dominance of neoclassically oriented schools like New Keynesianism and the Chicago school. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/10 "2015-09-18T03:24:25Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **Looking Backward** by Edward Bellamy? Nah, no elections in that story. No named political actors at all. The backstory is, the trusts expanded to the point where they owned the whole economy, and then, without any revolution, without any fuss or resistance at all that is mentioned, the government simply stepped in and took over the trusts. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/11 "2015-09-18T15:32:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Considering that Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the vote in 1992, that wouldn’t exactly have been a bold, out-of-left field prediction. The makings of a populist movement have been out there a long time. The problem is that [populism](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Populism) is more a style than an ideology: Sanders is a LW populist, Trump is (more or less) a RW populist. Not even [producerism](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Producerism) is a factor common to all forms – LW populists don’t classify the poor as parasites. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/12 "2015-09-18T16:59:17Z")
Ross Perot’s biggest issues included the deficit, but ALSO stopping the influx of illegal aliens and stopping the outflow of manufacturing jobs. To that extent, his supporters WERE much like those now flocking to Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-know-who-wrote-a-book-describing-how-an-economic-populist-would-rise-by-2020/731517/13 "2015-09-18T17:16:46Z")
Was Greg Stillson in Steven King’s \*\*\*The Dead Zone \*\*\*supposed to be a populist?