August 21, 2026
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Michael's Daily Notes
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Yesterday I welcomed James B. Steele into my radio studio. If the name doesn't register, maybe the title will: "America: What Went Wrong?"
Thirty-five years ago this fall, Steele and his partner Donald Barlett published a nine-part series in the Philadelphia Inquirer — 73,000 words arguing that the American middle class wasn't collapsing by accident. It was being hollowed out by Wall Street greed and Washington acquiescence.
The response was seismic. Readers lined up on Broad Street for reprints. The paper logged more than 20,000 letters and calls. The book hit No. 1. Bill Clinton waved it at rallies and said he'd been "profoundly influenced." Ross Perot praised it too.
And then we did nothing.
He and Barlett issued an updated edition a few years back. If he sat down to revise it again today, he said, he wouldn't change the argument. All of it holds. Just add a few zeroes.
Sit with that. The nicest thing you can say about a piece of journalism is that it aged well. The worst thing you can say about a country is that a 35-year-old diagnosis needs no correction.
Reread the chapter titles: "Shifting Taxes — From Them to You." "The Disappearing Pensions." "Playing Russian Roulette with Health Insurance." Corporate income tax has slid from roughly 17 percent of federal revenue to about 6.5. The top 1 percent now holds more wealth than the bottom 90 combined.
Barlett died in 2024. Steele is 83. He hasn’t lost a beat.
We had the warning. We just didn't want it.
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DAILY POLL
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Would you accept both higher taxes on yourself and reduced Social Security and Medicare benefits in order to reduce the $40 trillion national debt?
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TOP STORY
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Tehran threatened a crushing military response after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged the toughest sanctions in history to topple Iran's leadership, as a reimposed U.S. naval blockade cuts oil shipments and President Trump faces domestic pressure over high fuel prices.
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TODAY'S YOUTUBE
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SPONSORED BY PARX CASINO
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IN OTHER NEWS
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An Emerson College national poll finds 40% of likely voters approve of President Trump's job performance, Democrats lead the generic ballot 51%-43%, and 23% of voters — including 46% of Democrats — consider themselves supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America.
As U.S. national debt crosses $40 trillion months ahead of forecasts, an analysis traces roughly equal blame to Bush- and Trump-era tax cuts, bipartisan spending increases including Medicare expansions, and emergency responses to the Great Recession and Covid-19.
President Trump continues to champion data centers as a driver of AI and economic growth, even as rising concerns over their impact on energy, water and communities make them a political liability for candidates heading into the midterms.
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A MESSAGE FROM COMCAST
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Democrats are stepping aside in Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota to boost independent Senate candidates in 2026, a strategy that has held Republicans to unusually weak margins in past races but has yet to actually flip a seat.
Just 54% of U.S. adults say they drink alcohol for the second year in a row, the lowest share in Gallup's trend since 1939, as 51% now view daily moderate drinking as bad for one's health and 17% report substituting nonalcoholic beer, wine or spirits in the past year.
A $1,000 Montblanc pen Ken Paxton pocketed at a Texas courthouse more than a decade ago has resurfaced as an unlikely weapon in the Republican Senate candidate’s latest campaign battle.
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CARTOONS
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by Eric Allie
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MORE NEWS
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Walmart said it received nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds and used some of the windfall to cut prices, but shares plunged 9% Thursday after U.S. same-store sales grew just 2.6%, the retailer's weakest showing in years amid rising fuel costs and inflation tied to the Iran war.
Closing arguments in Lindsay Clancy's first-degree murder trial are expected Monday or Tuesday, as her defense prepares to call postpartum psychosis expert Dr. Phillip Resnick as its final witness in the case over the 2023 killings of her three young children in Duxbury, MA.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former attorney and longtime confidant, explains that after years of public betrayal and bitter estrangement, he and the president are attempting an unlikely reconciliation, testing whether forgiveness can revive a friendship many thought was beyond repair.
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For the Left
President Donald Trump’s legislative affairs director James Braid is departing in September, leaving the administration without a replacement as Congress heads into a crucial session and Republicans face a challenging midterm election landscape.
For the Right
Hungary’s worsening drought is exposing the long-term consequences of draining wetlands and diverting water, prompting the government to prioritize water retention as extreme dryness threatens agriculture, ecosystems and even the Paks nuclear plant.
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