People getting their fundamental interests wrong is what American political life is all about. Thomas Frank More Quotes by Thomas Frank More Quotes From Thomas Frank Joe Klein is the flower of American political journalism, a sharp raconteur who shows traces of the gonzo style that was in vogue when he was honing his craft at Rolling Stone back in the day. Thomas Frank stylepoliticalflower It is always a disappointment to turn from forthright consideration of some subject - whether from the Left or the Right, a poet or a plumber - to the Beltway version, in which the only aspects of the issue that matter are the effects it will have on the fortunes of the two parties and the various men in power. Thomas Frank partydisappointmenttwo In the subprime mortgage industry, bankers handed out iffy loans like candy at a parade because such loans meant revenue and, hence, bonuses for executives in the here-and-now. Thomas Frank mortgagebonusbankers These days, of course, the focus of talk about popular liberation through products is mostly associated with the Internet. I've been collecting computer ads and ads dealing with Internet industries. Thomas Frank internetcomputerfocus Thanks to a deal finalized in 2008, Chicago’s parking meters will be operated for the next 75 years by a group of investors put together by Morgan Stanley, including the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. Thomas Frank parking-meterstogetheryears The only truly individualistic health-care choice - where you receive care that is unpolluted by anyone else’s funds - is to forgo insurance altogether, paying out-of-pocket for health services as you need them. Thomas Frank pocketschoicesneeds In America, we no longer have an institutionalized, organized way of calling business to task - of taking them to account for what they've done - and this is especially true in the cultural realm. Thomas Frank taskscallingamerica The thing now is to seem concerned in a vaguely social-democratic way. Thomas Frank democraticsocialway A lot of populists after populism died just became socialists. At the beginning of the 20th century, socialism looked like it was going to take off. It didn't, of course, but a lot of people thought it was going to. Thomas Frank socialismcenturypeople During the financial crisis and bailouts of 2008, it probably occurred to very few average people that we were entering a period of hardship for billionaires. Thomas Frank enteringaveragepeople 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. Thomas Frank differencesgovernmentnumbers There is something uniquely depressing about the fact that the National Portrait Gallery’s version of the Barack Obama “Hope” poster previously belonged to a pair of lobbyists. Depressing because Mr. Obama’s Washington was not supposed to be the lobbyists’ Washington, the place we learned to despise during the last administration. Thomas Frank lobbyistsportraitsdepressing People are born in a certain place, and in a certain society. I don't mean to sound like a determinist, but to think we're entirely free to do whatever we want betrays a certain class perspective. For most people who have to work for a living, and work at jobs under conditions they may not like, it's just not simple when it comes to freedom. Thomas Frank betrayaljobsmean There are few things in politics more annoying than the Right's utter conviction that it owns the patent on the word 'freedom' that when its leaders stand up for the rights of banks to be unregulated or capital gains to be untaxed, that it is actually and obviously standing up for human liberty, the noblest cause of them all. Thomas Frank libertyleaderrights The revival of the Right is as extraordinary as it would be if the public had demanded dozens of new nuclear plants in the days after the Three Mile Island disaster; if we had reacted to Watergate by making Richard Nixon a national hero. Thomas Frank herowould-beislands The pursuit of the vibrant seems to be the universal job description of the nation's city planners nowadays. It is also part of the Obama administration's economic recovery strategy for the nation. Thomas Frank recoverycitiesjobs In the last James Bond movie, the villain was a culture captain, a tycoon of culture, a Murdoch figure. It's not as if people don't know what is going on. Thomas Frank tycoonsculturepeople There is no higher claim to journalistic integrity than going to jail to protect a source. Thomas Frank jailsourceintegrity Media bias has been a favorite theme of the Right for decades, of course. Thomas Frank biasthememedia Journalism has a special, hallowed place for stories of its practitioners' persecution. Thomas Frank journalismspecialstories
