Galston Scratches His Deep, Pondering, Earnest Brow in Wonder Why There Aren't More Jobs

It's been several months now since William Galston has taken the reins as The Wednesday Token Liberal Columnist at the WSJ (the seat previously occupied by Al Hunt, before he went on to turn Bloomberg News into a Journolist Hackfest, and Thomas Frank before he faded into obscurity).

Galston started off innocuously before getting the confidence to really let fly some lefty intellectual bile.  Here is it worth noting that Galston went after economist Tyler Cowen (inexplicably and unfairly, IMO) and Cowen was recently attacked in his classroom with pepper spray...all I have to say is "Stop Inciting the Hate, Mr. Galston!"

After that parlay, Galston has mostly gone back to anodyne mush, but it is time for another deeper look into how it is going, and yesterday's column is a good opportunity because it is typical of his approach.  The quick and dirty summary is this - corporations are making great profits but not hiring people, which seems dreadful to Galston.  Galston tosses out the stats, laments it all, and (in predictable lefty formulaic order) calls for a "conversation."  (I know what you are thinking, 'Awesome, another one of those productive, open, wide-ranging, tolerant and good faith conversations with lefties!!')

That's it.  There is truly nothing remarkable in this column, but it does showcase a classic Galston aspect - it goes the whole length without mentioning the single most relevant factor to his topic.  As I was reading through, I kept asking myself, 'When is he gonna mention Obamacare?'  Alas, he mentions it once, at the end, only to say that it is a preoccupation of Republicans' tactical approach.  Republicans have been saying that ObamaCare is a job killer for ages now.  The jobs situation is terrible, Galston's very lament.  Wouldn't that be a reasonable tidbit to include in his column, and/or  subject matter for this earnest 'conversation' he yearns for?  If I told you X is going to happen because of Y, and it then X happens and you really don't like X, shouldn't we discuss Y?

For Galston and his ilk, the answer is "Nope."  At least with Galston, it's "Nope, not right now, I am too busy thinking REALLY hard."  With others on the left, it's more like "Nope, the debate is over."

UPDATE:  Oh, I totally forgot to mention that I predicted and explained (many times) exactly the situation Galston decries a loooonnngggggggggg time ago.  But keep scratching that brow Bill...