Top Five Articles of the Recent Past

#1 - (The 1%)

"Of the 1 percenters interviewed for this article, almost all — conservatives and liberals alike — said the wealthy could and should shoulder more of the country’s financial burden, and almost all said they viewed the current system as unfair."

Groups, no matter how we define them, are not homogenous. Here is a very interesting article from NYTimes on who are the real 1% and how do they feel about all the talk and anger directed at them in the recent political conversation. A more nuanced look at the rich, how they got there and how they feel about the rest of us.

#2 - (U.S. Economy)

"For most of U.S. history, most people had a slow and steady wind at their back, a combination of economic forces that didn’t make life easy but gave many of us little pushes forward that allowed us to earn a bit more every year. Over a lifetime, it all added up to a better sort of life than the one we were born into. That wind seems to be dying for a lot of Americans. What the country will be like without it is not quite clear."

From the Atlantic 'Making It in America' a well written fact-based analysis of how the true "middle class" of the U.S. economy has been displaced and what the near and long-term future might look like for those in the declining middle.

#3 - (Obama)

This one is difficult for me. It comes via Newsweek, I seldom like anything in that glossy rag. The piece is written by Andrew Sullivan and I rarely agree with anything he says or thinks. Finally, the article defends Barack Obama and I certainly do not. However . . .

If you are a republican who loathes the president or a democrat who is completely disappointed by him, you need to read this article. Quite simply you must face the half of the article that puts forward the rebuttal of your position. If you can't rewind what Sullivan has to say then you  are simply making noise when you criticize the present administration. Now is not the time for silly slogans and softball positions, there is enough of that in the super PAC presidential olympics running all year on television. If you need some help, here is a conservative response by Joel Pollak, which deserves just as much ridicule as the original article.

This is a really telling test for you to sharpen your critique of the president and if you can't, well then maybe you just ought to vote for him in November. Or stay tuned here for the third side of the debate.

#4 - (Wall Street)
"If there was ever a news story that crystallized the moral dementia of modern Wall Street in one little vignette, this is it."

If you're not reading Matt Taibbi, you should be. He writes for Rolling Stone but his work appears everywhere on the web. This piece is a tale that clearly summarizes just what went wrong on Wall Street and how that brought us all to the brink of a global depression.

#5 - (Bizarro/Terrorism)

The Waffle House Terrorists from Esquire magazine. I swear if you can read this rather longish article and then tell me who the bad guys are or even who the whackos are; then you are a better reader, a better american and a stranger person than I. Who needs fiction when the federal government is involved?