What do you do or say when the masks come off, when the monster reveals itself? Don't they usually do this because they figure you can't escape? Isn't the premise that you're about to get eaten either way?
That seems to be the thinking of Adam Posen. Posen represents the Peterson Institute which, judging from its website, is one of those think tanks where thinking goes to die. Speaking at a recent CATO Institute gathering, Posen said that the concern a few souls have with keeping manufacturing on American soil is just a “fetish for keeping white males with low education in the powerful positions they are in.”
Now obviously white males aren't the only people engaged in American manufacturing, and at this point may not even make up the majority, but never mind that. Never mind also that the great power that comes with these "powerful positions" boils down to feeding your family and maybe being able to put away something for the future.
No, Posen knew that his words would spread around the globe, accompanied by however much disbelief. And to those listening he wanted to make clear―on behalf of capitalism's brain trust―that he could make his case using all the fashionable woke lingo. It seems rather a missed opportunity that he didn't say anything about incels, but I suppose he has to leave something for the encore.
2 comments:
Your titles are always good but this one takes at least an extra piece of cake. I also have to mention it's a good thing I hadn't taken a big sip of my orange juice before I read "think tanks where thinking goes to die". I might have lost a keyboard otherwise.
It seems as though ever since Hillary made her comment calling nearly half the country 'a basket of deplorables' that many of those in positions of power and authority no longer feel as though they ought to be careful about how they express themselves in public. Since their messages aren't necessarily meant for the hoi polloi they are surprised when they are quoted and questioned. The Cato Institute is another body that makes broad comments about public policy as in: The Myth of American Income Inequality or Unintended Consequences Plague Bill to Bar Congress from Insider Trading both from their current web page. They've likely always talked this way to one another but nowadays we hear it because they like to brag.
I see Posen is himself the President of PIEE. As George Carlin so memorably said, 'It's a club and you ain't in it'. That their arrogant disdain is so monumental, never mind the obligatory 'woke language', might just be an indication of how close they've come to losing their arguments altogether.
What's the protocol there? I mean, cleaning alcohol and Q-Tips could get the orange juice out of your keyboard. I don't know how long after that you'd have to wait to see if it still works. But thank you. The title reflects how I perceive the dynamic here.
Hillary's probably not the worst Democratic pol when it comes to relating to the Great Unwashed, and that really tells you something. Joe Biden is supposed to be better, and maybe at one time he was. Or not. He's entirely out of touch now. And it just doesn't seem to be a priority for the political class. As for the Cato Institute, they're considered a libertarian institution, and I certainly don't have a problem with that in itself. But in practice these Big Libertarian groups tend to support nothing so much as "Them that gots the gold make the rules." If those rules happen to be unfair, overly restrictive, or actively harmful to lower status citizens, well, sucks to be them. They should have made their first million by age 25.
Reading the PIEE's mission statement makes my eyes glaze over, but I sense that something grim and ominous is hiding in there. Carlin was sharp right up through the end, and his bit on the "club" still stands up. They really do love to hear themselves talk.
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