Just read this blast from Brother Matt, lambasting Warren’s M4A financing plan as “a disaster.” Wrong on several counts. Every count, actually. Matt castigates Warren’s employer tax as a “Medicare head tax,” contrasting it unfavorably with a straight payroll tax. … Continue reading
MaxSpeak
Here’s the draft of a work in progress, shared with the permission of the author. All of the Above: How to Tax the Wealthy by Victor Thuronyi Executive Summary Substantially raising taxes on the wealthy not only raises technical issues … Continue reading
“Politics is not arithmetic.” – Álvaro Cunhal, former Secretary-General, Partido Comunista Português My friend, the semi-notorious Matt Bruenig, responded to my bit in Jacobin on Andrew Yang and Universal Basic Income (UBI) on his Peoples Policy Institute website, so here … Continue reading
Every sane American will be greatly relieved if any Democrat displaces the current occupant of the White House in 2020. However, we should be positively thrilled if that person is either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. They have contrasting strengths … Continue reading
Nobody seems impressed by my point that the prospective incidence of benefits from Sanders’ plan for ‘free college’ will be different — and less regressive — than the retrospective distribution. So I will hit it again. But there is a … Continue reading
I saw Spike Lee’s latest movie, BlacKkKlansman, last night, and I have thoughts. (Spoilers ahead! Do not read if you haven’t seen the film, and if you haven’t seen it, do Netflix and chill with it.) My interest is not … Continue reading
“Men plan, and God laughs.” – Yiddish proverb, origin unknown More and more people are talking about socialism, but nobody’s doing anything about it. If we’re talking about “nationalizing the means of production,” Bernie Sanders’ avowedly democratic socialist political revolution … Continue reading
A great event can throw into sharp relief the virtues and flaws of political tendencies. Regarding the anti-climactic report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the greatness lies in the loudness of the dog that didn’t bark. Evidently there are no … Continue reading
In this era of progressive upsurge, we’re at a point where we should start translating aspirational demands, in other words, stuff that just isn’t going to happen right away, into practical terms, which includes consideration of potential difficulties. One such … Continue reading
Another interesting policy proposal from Matt Bruenig inspires some comments here. The proposal’s framework has more potential than might be evident. In particular, with regard to problems with the availability of child care services, since school districts (which are everywhere) … Continue reading