“It was wonderful to find America, but it would have been more wonderful to miss it”. – Mark Twain, The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson The Story of Thanksgiving (updated) MaxSpeak Summary: Among Puritan Christian fundamentalists, the Pilgrims were treacherous, murderous … Continue reading
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Many comrades have trouble getting their arms around the removal of the most depraved, reactionary president in memory. Not surprisingly, nobody in their right mind wants to launch a new Cold War against the Satanic Russians. Nevertheless, heartfelt encouragement of … Continue reading
Jacobin tees off again on Elizabeth Warren’s M4A proposal. I’m afraid I don’t think much of Higgenbotham’s argument. At the start, he centers the political difficulty of M4A on the resistance of providers. That is certainly one pole of resistance. … Continue reading
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
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