If Nicholas Kristof, premiere neoliberal, is writing stuff like this, maybe things are changing a bit.
Witnessing the torment of people I grew up with, like Mike, has led me to conclude that I was wrong in many of my own views. Like many liberals with a university education and a reliable paycheck, I was too scornful of labor unions, too unreservedly enthusiastic about international trade, too glib about โcreative destruction,โ too heartless about its toll.
Huh, you think? I guess we should take what we can get — though I still am and always will be irritable about being called “racist” for not wanting my fellow Americans to be thrown out of work and into the streets.
Kristof’s proposals aren’t bad, but they are hardly even a start. He can still barely manage half-measures in a time where so much more is called for. But this is the first instance I’ve seen someone like him admit any hint of being wrong or understanding the bad things that throwing millions of people in the garbage does to a nation.