Thomas Ferguson, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Boston, is one of the most astute political observers I know about. He is going to be a regular on the Real News Network. I’m just now catching up with his first broadcast, which was last Friday. Here it is.
Click on Paul Ryan – Insider Trading and Attacks on Medicare for a transcript of the broadcast.
Click on The investment theory of politics for my account of Ferguson’s idea that American political parties represent conflicting business interests rather than the public, and that voters only get a choice on issues that don’t affect corporate profits or on which corporate interests are in conflict. In the post, I review Ferguson’s 1995 book, Golden Rule: the Investment Theory of Political Parties and the Logic of Money-Driven Politics.
Click on Business, not politics, driving nation rightward for my review of Right Turn: the Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics, which Ferguson co-authored with Joel Rogers in 1986.
Unfortunately both books are out of print and a lot of his current writing is in scholarly publications not available on-line, so the Real News Network is doing a good service to the public by giving Ferguson a public platform.
[8/26/12] I had hoped to post a follow-up interview with Thomas Ferguson this weekend, but it didn’t happen.
Tags: Insider Trading, Investment theory of politics, Medicare, Paul Ryan, Real News Network, Thomas Ferguson
August 23, 2012 at 8:06 pm |
It is the University of Massachusetts Boston. Paul says it in the Video. “Thomas Ferguson, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,”-Please correct thank you!
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August 24, 2012 at 5:19 am |
How lucky I am! Every time I make a mistake, there’s always somebody to point it out to me.
==Analects of Confucius
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