Posted on 11/07/2008 9:54:42 AM PST by Lorianne
Barack Obama rode to his resounding victory on the enthusiasm of two constituencies, the young and African Americans, whose support has driven his candidacy since the spring. Yet arguably the biggest winners of the Nov. 4 vote are located at the highest levels of the nation's ascendant post-industrial business community.
Obama's triumph reflects a decisive shift in the economic center of gravity away from military contractors, manufacturers, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, suburban real estate developers, energy companies, old-line remnants on Wall Street and other traditional backers of the GOP. In their place, we can see the rise of a different set of players, predominately drawn from the so-called "creative class" of Silicon Valley, Hollywood and the younger, go-go set in the financial world.
These latter business interests provided much of the consistent and massive financial advantage that the Illinois senator has accrued since early spring. The term "creative class" was popularized by former George Mason professor Richard Florida, who used it to describe those with both brainy business acumen and a very liberal cultural agenda borrowed from the bohemians of the '60s.
Florida, whose views have affected urban policymakers over the last several years, has attributed these characteristics to upward of 30% of the workforce, basing his figures largely on education. On close examination, suggests Brookings Institution demographer Bill Frey, the "cultural creatives" at the core of Florida's formulation represent likely no more than 5% of the population. After all, most college-educated workers live in suburbs, have children and even attend conservative churches.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The triumph of those who are manipulative over those who are easily manipulated.
You forgot the Barf Alert.
And this is a productive sector of our economy how?
The very people now begging for taxpayer handouts are Democrat supporters? Who would have guessed?
And these people are going to save the economy bye sucking the taxpayers dry? How does this work? Someone help me out here, I'm just a dumb taxpayer, too dumb to understand.
This is too big for a Barf alert, this requires a Galactic Barf Alert.
This is baloney until somebody actually looks closely at who voted, who didn’t and what the base of support was. From my understanding, as opposed to the so-called creative class, Obama took a vast majority of the parasite class that voted in overwhelming numbers to support him. It also appears that the productive class (people who though not necessarily college educated but are nonetheless capable of doing something in the private sector) may have not turned out as highly as in 2004, thus hurting the weaker candidate. I’ll wait for the Pew (or whatever) study.
You can’t. And that’s what these poseurs and man-purse-carrying “visionaries” forget.
Here’s the ultimate test of who is running the show.
Have all the arty-farty types go on strike. No more columns in the NYT, no more plays on Broadway, no more TV shows, no more poetry (such as the crap foisted off as poetry is now), and let’s see what happens.
After a year (or more) of living without their input to the economy, let’s run another test: let’s have farmers kick back and not plant. Just kick back in their rocking chair, with their dog by their side, and smell the roses.
And then let’s have truckers sit on their asses. And train engineers. And coal miners. Oh, and roughnecks in the oilfields. Miners of every strip for metals, from gold to zinc&moly, copper and iron. Let’s have the guys in steel plants knock off work and have a cool soda-pop.
And let’s see what happens.
“I still don’t see how you can run an entire economy on “the arts” and “culture industries”.”
The same way you run an economy on paper finance and credit expansion. The US was supposed to be the financial center of the world, dontchaknow.
We see how well that worked.
My boss of sainted memory (actually he was a holy terror who gave me esophagitis from heartburn) died a couple of years ago, too early to see the culmination of his dream.
This Yale alum in the 70’s explained that there was to be no manufacturing, only retail and finance in the US. The epicenter of the world!
They planned this long ago.
He left out the media, who ably stood in for Dr. Goebbels.
Bump for later reading.
“Creative Class” is just another name for the Elites (which now has a bad connotation.) The Elites are so much better than the unwashed masses, they are the only ones who should be in leadership positions.
Excuse me, I need to go roll in the mud.
—bflr—
Let's see our future Steven Spielberg's produce their shows in the modern equivalents of the Globe Theater. (Torch light can be so romantic.)
Of course, those on the left who hated it when Bob Dylan went electric, may see their revenge when the Hootenanny replaces VH1. And the Hip Hoppers better dust off their Do-Whop!
“Obama’s triumph reflects a decisive shift in the economic center of gravity away from military contractors, manufacturers, agribusiness, pharmaceuticals, suburban real estate developers, energy companies, old-line remnants on Wall Street and other traditional backers of the GOP”
Who says these people aren’t “creative”?
I work in the “creative” business.
I just had a discussion with my young Internet Services manager about the election. Although he calls himself a “moderate Republican,” he voted for Obama.
I warned him (in more ways than one) that all businesses are cyclical and that he could be challenged/replaced by younger workers with more knowledge/ability.
Besides, the members of the “creative class” mostly serve the interests of “old business.” Without clients/customers, they will lose their jobs just like everyone else.
“’Creative Class’ is just another name for the Elites”
Oh, so it’s like John Kerry’s New Diplomacy; Obama’s economy will be ever so “nuanced.”
My impression was that when Florida traveled around the country lecturing city leaders on the benefits of attracting the "creative class", he was just encouraging the cities to be more "gay friendly", and that in fact "creative class" was just a euphemism for gays. Am I wrong?
Considering that the majority of Hollywood actors barely make it through high school, I guess that keeps them out of the “creative class.”
—bflr—
You can’t.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.