I always knew David Brooks was an asshole ....

and talk shop about princeton vs. yale undergrads

I have stopped caring about this guy. feels like constantly getting outraged about him just encourages him/drives up his profile etc. he deserves anonymity.

the thing that still shocks me every time I read his columns is what a terrible WRITER he is. The last generation of conservative ideologues were at least mostly good prose stylists.

This is actually my favorite part of the whole thing:

Democrats often see low wages as both a human capital problem and a problem caused by unequal economic power. Republicans are more likely to see them just as a human capital problem. If we’re going to pass bipartisan legislation, we’re going to have to start with the human capital piece, where there is some agreement, not the class conflict piece, where there is none.

See, democrats and republicans agree on the republican agenda.

"human capital" is such a gross phrase

let's all agree that capital gains should be taxed no higher than 15%, and that the estate tax is theft, and the jobs will flow!

I feel like he's not the kind of writer that actually shapes policy; his role is more to attempt confuse democrats away from feeling too left about things.

yeah, i mean what has the middle class ever done for america anyways? rich people are the best

his role is more to attempt confuse democrats away from feeling too left about things.

no wonder Obama listens to him

"human capital" is such a gross phrase

12 Years as Human Capital

i mostly feel bad for people who are having things explained to them for the first time by david brooks

i.e. NPR listeners?

no one really likes david brooks hes a token

i mean

i wish that was true

i have conservative friends who call him a voice of reason on the left

lolllll

that's hilarious

lol but exactly and liberals call him the voice of reason on the right but he doesnt really have any influence

liberals call him the voice of reason on the right

I don't believe this.

thats his whole role at the times, the reasonable conservative

its what hes for

I think that's what conservatives put him forward as, but I don't know of any liberals who buy it.

i don't know any either but i'm sure they're out there, lotta dumb ppl across the spectrum

its what the new york (mfn) times puts him forward as

but i mean hes the voice as reason in that he behaves like a nice reasonable young man, no one listens to what he says was my original point

hes a placeholder

i mostly feel bad for people who are having things explained to them for the first time by david brooks

imagine his son

Kid probably just packs another bowl.

kid is doomed what with divorced parents decaying moral fabric etc

Sure he'll get a nice inheritance though unless dad blows all the money on hookers/blow or leaves it to child from new marriage to twenty something model type.

thats what i wld do

Sure he'll get a nice inheritance though

how wealthy is a david brooks???

expert guess his estate is somewhere in the eight figures

multiple best sellers, paid speaking gigs etc

http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/IS/esq-david-brooks-new-york-times-102910-xlg.jpg

"son, homeless people taste best barbecued, not fried"

"how wealthy is a david brooks???"

Uh I'm guessing insanely wealthy.

he chills w the koch bros at conservative functions and thinks "i am not rich"

I mean not CEO of Fortune 500 company wealthy, but lagoon's estimates seem right to me.

I think that's what conservatives put him forward as, but I don't know of any liberals who buy it.

I know at least one self-described liberal who does. o_O

some middle aged whites listen to him on npr and think "hmm, he's not shouting or firing a pistol in the air...let's give him a chance."

exactly

"how wealthy is a david brooks???"

Top 5% of workers.

ha

krugsy bogues isn't letting this one go

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/the-myth-of-the-deserving-rich/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Opinion&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body&_r=0

man god bless krugman going over the same exact arguments over & over again for 5 years now

i am pretty sure i have read that exact krugman post maybe 20 times at this point. it's still otm and it's still important and needs to be said. but i don't know how he has the patience. not just the column but on his blog, too.

Have you seen him on Sunday talk shows? Each time he edges closer to the point at which he wraps his expensive scarf around Mary Matalin's throat every time she condescends to call him 'professor.'

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/02/way-we-live-now-by-david-brooks.html

utter destruction