Well, here's a rather stilted definition of Populism, that probably keeps the Wealthy rotating their Tax Havens, at each Quarter's end ...
Populism
Definition: (from BusinessDictionary.com)
In general, ideology or political movement that mobilizes the population (often, but not always, the lower classes) against an institution or government, usually in the defense of the underdog or the wronged. Whether of left, right, or middle political persuasion, it seeks to unite the uncorrupt and the unsophisticated (the 'little man') against the corrupt dominant elites (usually the orthodox politicians) and their camp followers (usually the rich and the intellectuals). It is guided by the belief that political and social goals are best achieved by the direct actions of the masses. Although it comes into being where mainstream political institutions fail to deliver, there is no identifiable economic or social set of conditions that give rise to it, and it is not confined to any particular social class.
Or in more 'Plain English', Populism has a decidedly more 'Economic Justice' slant to it when you drill into the details. Because in our modern-day economic system which "exalts" Income Inequality, it usually turns out, that
some income-takers are 'more equal' than others.
In other words, we see Equal Opportunity (to Profit) mainly for the Lucky Few.
The Economic Populism of Pope Francis
by Jesse Jackson, counterpunch.org -- Dec 03, 2013
[...]
Pope Francis raises a profound moral voice against “trickle-down theories,” which put a “crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power.” We have created “new idols,” he warns, in the worship of money and markets. The result is that “human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded.” We have witnessed “a globalization of indifference,” in which the poor are dehumanized and ignored, he writes.
[...]
In this he addresses directly the plight of today’s America. We suffer mass unemployment while the stock market hits new highs. Profits set records, but working people don’t share in the rewards. The top 5 percent pockets literally all of the rewards of growth, while the remainder struggle to stay afloat.
This extreme inequality, Pope Francis writes, is the direct product of “ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation. … A new tyranny is born” and with it widespread corruption and tax evasion among the most powerful. Money, the pope argues, “must serve, not rule.”
[...]
It's progressive populist
talk like this, that probably keeps Wall Streets Mavens, all up in arms about such
arcane subjects as: no Stock Transactions Tax, continued Carried Interest, and low-low Capital Gains.
Those things are Everything -- that Populism isn't. Those things are what the Wealth-Takers fear losing most. (Quick, someone send Pope Francis a few links.)
Many are advising the Democratic Party to let Populist Topics lie. Something about it being a "politcal loser."
Yet with the 'rising popularity' of Economic Populism -- one has to wonder if the topic of Economic Equality has finally come of age?
Why Progressives Should Embrace Economic Populism
by Ruy Teixeira, Guest Blogger -- Dec 11, 2013
[...]
Start with how Americans feel about inequality today. In a newly released Bloomberg poll, by 64-33 percent they endorsed the idea that the country no longer offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead. In the same poll, by 68-28 percent, they said the income gap between rich and poor is growing. And Americans overwhelmingly believe these trends are bad for the country.
So progressives are on firm ground when they denounce these trends and pledge to address them by overwhelmingly popular measures like raising the minimum wage, creating jobs through infrastructure spending, safeguarding Medicare, and expanding Social Security. Third Way, by contrast, suggests that progressives rally around massively unpopular policies like cutting Social Security and Medicare to address a non-existent fiscal crisis. To say this is bad advice is to considerably understate the case.
Even worse is Third Way’s insistence that progressives should never utter a discouraging word about big banks or the one percent. This is stupefyingly poor advice -- as Judd Legum and Adam Peck have shown here, these policies are extremely popular.
[...]
Who knew that Reagan's
"rising tide lifting all boats," would end up materializing in the form of a "social media," internet-capable of
leveling the economic information 'playing field' for the many, as we keep paddling along?
Well apparently these self-proclaimed "centrist" democratic advisers knew, since they have dismissed this popular awakening (99% vs the 1%), as a "populist political and economic fantasy." ... BUT you only have to check their Resumes to know who's side they are really on ... Wall Streets movers and shakers, or the legions of lowly wage Earners -- who can't ever catch a wealth-gathering break ?
Why Economic Populism Is a Winning Strategy for Obama
by Ari Berman, TheNation.com -- April 11, 2012
[...]
It’s hard to know who is more out of touch -- Third Way or the “Swing Independents” they claim to speak for. At the very moment that prominent Republicans are admitting that Obama’s focus on income inequality has put the GOP on the defensive, Third Way wants the president and Democratic candidates to drop the issue. That would be political suicide, not to mention terrible public policy.
This week a new ABC News/Washington Post poll asked voters: “what do you think is the bigger problem in this country -- unfairness in the economic system that favors the wealthy, or over-regulation of the free market that interferes with growth and prosperity?” Fifty-two percent answered “unfairness,” while only “37 percent” mentioned “over-regulation.” A December 2011 Pew poll found that 61 percent of Americans believe the US economic system “favors the wealthy,” with 36 percent saying it was “generally fair.” In a November 2011 ABC News/Washington Post poll, 61 percent of the public said the federal government should “pursue policies that try to reduce the gap between wealthy and less-well-off Americans,” with 35 percent saying it should not. So much for the canard that income inequality is an issue the public doesn’t care about.
[...]
If the majority of the People want to get a more Equitable Wage;
If the majority of the People want more Equal Opportunity, in order to get ahead;
If the majority of the People want MORE taxes on Wall Street, not less;
THEN the only thing "wrong" with these "Popular" worldviews is -- that the Third Way promoters will soon find themselves without a following. And hopefully, soon after that, out of the "very serious business" of keeping the Wall Street Investment Bankers casino advantage, unfettered.
Not a bad outcome, IF you think an Economically Fair system should provide Opportunity and an a Livable Wage to all -- WHO are NOT in the business of "worshiping money and markets."
You know the vast majority of us who just want Government to work, and a Congress that understands its responsibility of insuring the domestic tranquility, Where we ALL get a fair break. ... And Economic Justice exists for the Not-So-Wealthy Many -- and NOT just the Wealthy Few.
Now wouldn't that be popular idea -- who's time has come? You might even see worldviews like these, actually "mobilize the population."