Third Way Dispatch

America’s economy is, without dispute, the largest and strongest in the world.

Yet in talking about issues related to America’s ability to compete in the global economy, too many progressives resort to a pessimistic message that implies we are on the brink of decline. We’re falling behind in math and science. We don’t produce enough engineers. South Korea has better cell phone coverage, and fill-in-the-blank-developing-country spends more than we do on research.

It has recently become fashionable among progressives to claim the resurgence of economic populism.

The principal evidence cited by neo-populist progressives (aside from Lou Dobbs’ rising ratings) is the anti-trade, anti-corporate platform that some winning Senate and House candidates included in their campaigns. These populist stances, neo-populists argue, were what propelled these particular candidates to victory, along with growing public unease about the economy.

Economist Jeff Madrick takes us on in a recent article published in The Nation, and in a follow-up piece on The Huffington Post. Sadly, we haven’t been offered space in either venue to respond, so we post our answer to Jeff below:

We’ve said before in this space that conservatives believe deficits don’t matter. And now here is further proof—conservatives are so indifferent to the federal deficit that they aren’t even sure how big it is.

If you get a chance, take a look at a couple of articles and online discussions that Third Way folks have authored in recent days. The first, by our senior economist Stephen Rose is posted on The American Prospect website. It’s entitled What’s (not) wrong with the middle class? and it is one of the most insightful and counterintuitive economic pieces I have seen in a long time. The Rose piece was featured in David Brooks’ NYTimes op-ed today.

The second piece is by Adam Solomon, Anne Kim and myself entitled Why a message of misery fails with the middle class. It was posted last week on an exciting new website called The Democratic Strategist, which is the brainchild of some wicked smart people—Bill Galston, Ruy Teixera, Scott Winship, and others. Our article gets a starring role in Rich Lowry’s column in The National Review. Take a look at our piece and follow the discussion at www.thedemocraticstrategist.com. It’s great to be in The National Review, but we’d like some progressives to read this as well.

Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly once said that “deficits don’t matter.”

Cheney now disputes having used these very words, but there’s no dispute about his boss’s record or conservatives’ careless attitude toward spending in the red. By 2011, President Bush and the Republican Congress will have racked up more than $1 trillion in deficits.