What's Ahead for America?

In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, Band 32, Heft 2, S. 135-149

Abstract

Three articles concerning the direction of leftist US politics & economic policies post-1986 are presented. In A Case for Economic Redistribution, Gus Tyler suggests a redistribution of income to stabilize the economy. President Reagan has momentarily avoided serious economic shortages through a loosening of the money supply & deficit spending; when these stimulants wear off, however, a serious recession is forecast. Future Democratic policies are encouraged to redistribute income in order to create employment, upgrade the minimum wage, & promote environmental protection measures. In If There Is a Recession -- And If Not, Michael Harrington suggests defense cuts, an abolition of tax expenditures that have "no, or a perverse, effect," & the adoption of the thirty-two hour work week to promote long term economic benefits. Such actions would "democratize, decentralize, & humanize the economy." In The End of Ideology? Dennis Wrong declares the landslide victory of the Republican administration in 1984 was predicted by a cyclic alteration in US political tendencies. By the 1990s, however, an "end of ideology" may occur that will undercut the political delineations of "liberal" & "conservative.". R. McCarthy