Defenders of the "Investor Class"

Getting out the message is an area where Republicans have been more successful than Democrats. (See yesterday's post on the differences between the parties.) Scandles in the mutual fund industry is an issue which some Democrats such as John Kerry and Elliot Spitzer have used, but which the Democrats have not used to its full potential.

This is a good, concrete example of where Democrats can position themselves on economic issues and hopefully break free from the sterotype of being the anti-capitalism, anti-investor party which the right wing noise machine uses to deceive the voters.

Irregularities in mutual funds is something which harms the smaller invester, often with the bigger guys profiting at their expense. Already around 95 million Americans invest in mutual funds--not a group which can be taken for granted. If George Bush wants us to put even more of our retirement money into mutual funds, it is even more important that small investers be treated fairly.

The Democrats need to better position themselves as the party which is going after those who abuse the capitalist sytem, not the party which opposes the system. Before the election. Zogby used the positions of those who define themselves as the investor class as one indicator to predict the election. The Democrats must attract what is now being called the investor class by being the party which champions its needs.

(Related Post at Light Up the Darkness)