Give me a break.

The Long Stagnation — NY Times

David Brooks: If only Mike Huckabee owned a publishing house.

But what are the political and cultural effects of this long stagnation? So far, they have been oddly muted. There have been riots in Greece and London. There is denial in Berlin and Paris. There is the Tea Party and now there are these people occupying Wall Street or the Brooklyn Bridge, whichever has better Wi-Fi service. I personally am not too impressed by the Wall Street occupiers so far. The Tea Party has tens of millions of followers. There’s no indication yet that the Wall Street protesters can boast anything like those numbers.

Gail Collins: It’s two different things entirely. The Tea Party, whatever it pretends, is just the latest manifestation of the right wing’s refusal to accept the idea of Democrats running the government. Every time one gets elected, there’s this crazed right-wing upheaval. The Wall Street protests are a cry of pain from a generation that feels it’s been cheated, and for good reason. But the one thing I learned from my own misspent youth is that a movement without any clear political principles is better at producing music than change.

HT: Newsbusters