John Menadue

What so many people don't get about the US working class.

In this article in the Harvard Business Review, Joan C Williams says:

If you want to connect with white working class voters, place economics at the centre. … Trade deals are far more expensive than we have treated them because job development and training programs need to be counted as part of their cost. … At a deeper level, both parties need an economic program that can deliver middle class jobs. Republicans have one. Unleash American business. Democrats? They remain obsessed with cultural issues. … Back when the blue collar voters used to be solidly democratic, good jobs were at the core of the progressive agenda. … The biggest today for me and other Americans is continued class cluelessness. If we don’t take steps to bridge the class culture gap, when Trump proves unable to bring steel back to Youngstown, Ohio, the consequences could turn dangerous.”

Joan C Williams is a Distinguished Professor Law and Founding Director of the Center of WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.

John Menadue

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