The Thing Now Is To

Under The Administration Of George W. Bush, You Will Recall, Federal Spending Grew Pretty Significantly. At The Same Time, The Number Of People Directly Employed By The Federal Government Shrank. One Of The Factors That Explained The Difference Was Contracting.

What Becomes Fascinating Is The Way The Culture Industry Doesn't Deny It And Doesn't Try To Mitigate It, But Tries To Sell Its Products As A Way Of Liberating Oneself.

Americans Have Known About Mounting Inequality And King-sized Wall Street Bonuses For Years. But We Also Had An Entire Genre Of Journalism Dedicated To Brushing The Problem Off.

Above All Else Stands The Burning Question Of Bipartisanship. Whatever Else The Politicians Might Say They're About, Our News Analysts Know That This Is The True Object Of The Nation's Desire, The Topic To Which Those Slippery Presidential Spokesmen Need Always To Be Dragged Back.

Massive Inequality, We Have Learned, Isn't The Best Way To Run An Economy After All. And When You Think About It, It's Also Profoundly Ugly.