multiverse and Hope Punk / sci-fi

Jamie Peck tweets:

Books I recommended today: The Dispossessed by Ursula le Guin and the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. At its best, sci-fi helps us envision what revolution and post-capitalist society might actually look like. Plus: more fun than Marx!

How the “golden straitjacket” led to “yellow vests”:

The French Protests Do Not Fit a Tidy Narrative by Matt Taibbi

Yemen, farm bill, Planned Parenthood

Bad news about Yemen, but surprisingly good news about the Farm bill and Planned Parenthood. Senate Democrats kept Republicans from cutting SNAP from the Farm bill and prevented them from attaching work requirements. The Supreme Court (really Roberts and Kavanaugh) decided to let a lower court ruling stand that would allow Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funds.

"Lawmakers in Louisiana and Kansas had sought to defund the group. Planned Parenthood then brought suit to overturn state laws in an effort to preserve its Medicaid services."

multiverse a third time

Another post about the multiverse. I found a new podcast (for me) by Chalie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz - both writers whose writing I've enjoyed before - called Our Opinions are Correct.

Here's an episode titled "We're in the wrong timeline."

non-evangelical white working class

The foundation of Trump's coalition is cracking 

by Ronald Brownstein, CNN

(CNN) -- Cracks have emerged in Donald Trump's hold on his core constituency of white working class voters, new data from the 2018 election reveal. 

Though Republican candidates almost everywhere registered large margins among white voters without a college degree, Democrats ran much more competitively among the roughly half of that group who are not evangelical Christians, according to previously unpublished results from the 2018 exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, a consortium of media organizations including CNN. 

Democrats, the analysis found, ran particularly well this year among white working-class women who are not evangelicals, a group that also displayed substantial disenchantment in the exit poll with Trump's performance. Those women could be a key constituency for Democrats in 2020 in pivotal Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where relatively fewer blue-collar whites are also evangelical Christians. 

Nationwide, nearly three-fifths of blue-collar white women who are not evangelicals voted Democratic in last month's House races, while an equal number said they disapproved of Trump's performance in office, the analysis of exit poll results found. That was well over double the Democratic share of the vote among non-college white women who are evangelical Christians. And while Republicans last month still carried a majority among working-class white men who are not evangelicals, Democrats attracted about twice as much support from them as they did among the equivalent men who are evangelicals. 

"It's another overlay to the conclusion that there are some parts of the white non-college population that are open to Democrats and can be moved a few points in your direction," says Ruy Teixeira, a long-time Democratic analyst of voting trends who now serves as a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress. 

Though these distinctions sound like fodder for a cocktail hour argument at a political science faculty lounge, they actually inform a backstage debate simmering among Democratic strategists about 2020. This debate has clear implications for the message the party develops over the next two years and the kind of nominee it chooses against Trump in the next presidential election. 

...

The Irish backstop

The Irish backstop

multiverse again

In October I had a post about the Multiverse and it's growing use in popular culture.

Counterpart is beginning its second season on Starz tonight and it's another show in which there is more than one universe. On Counterpart, there are two parallel universes which are in a state of Cold War and have diplomatic relations. The second Earth is different in various ways, but similar in many.

Now that the midterm elections are over and the Law is closing in on our President - Federal prosecutors allege that he committed a number of felonies - people of a more liberal or progressive temperament may feel that the universe is righting itself again.

Macron raised taxes on fuel and sparked the yellow vest movement which rioted and burned cars. Macron backed down.

Leftist AMLO is now President of Mexico. 

Still, scientists and most on the Left are very worried about impending climate disaster. Only a Green New Deal can save us. So politics has become very serious and very depressing.

One good way in which we seemed to have slipped into a different universe is the way socialists are mainstreaming. After I graduated college in the early nineties, I identified as and became a socialist or leftist as I believe the Democrats and Bill Clinton were too rightwing. I wanted America to be more like Europe and the Scandinavian countries. I agreed with prominent leftists of the time like Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Christopher Hitchens, Alexander Cockburn, Noam Chomsky, etc. (many of whom are still around.)

So it's weird to see democratic socialists being elected to Congress and to state legislatures and funny to watch the corporate media report on it. With Trump's victory, it's apparent things aren't working. Then there's Brexit, etc. Here's NBC reporting from the above link:

"We're working under the ideology of what’s best for the working class. What’s the most human. We organize for social democratic reform," she continued. "We're organizing for reform — we want to transform the status quo, because what we know of the status quo isn't working." 

Members, who self-identify as everything from communists to liberals to Marxists to socialists, vote on a platform during the organization's biennial national convention. At the most recent convention in Houston in 2016, members pushed for a focus on Medicare For All and strengthening unions — and also emphasized gaining more elected representation.

The DSA saw membership surge after Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., beat longtime incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in June, Cohn said. It was 44,000 members strong prior to her victory, and 4,000 more people joined within a week of her win. Now, the organization has 55,000 members, Cohn said.

Back to the Multiverse. The CW's DC world uses it a lot. Flash, Supergirl, Green Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow. (Guilty pleasures.) Tonight three of them have a crossover event in which they travel to another different universe.

It would be nice to see more alternate universes where things are a little better. I guess that's what many TV shows actually present in order to entertain and distract. They hide the really bad stuff. The unsaid painful truths.

Still, seems like many shows are set in worse universes. The Handmaid's Tail. In SyFy's Nightflyers, Earth's civilization is headed for collapse and our only hope is a Hail Mary-pass space mission to try to catch the attention of a passing alien ship which has so far ignored all communications.

The National Geographic channel has a dramatization of the colonization and exploration of Mars. It's pretty realistic as there are competing corporate-commercial and scientific interests.

Ready Player One was on cable and set its story in a dystopian future where people spend most of their time in a virtual reality. The plot involves a corporation's attempt to gain control of it.

As Theresa May's government falls apart in the UK over Brexit, there's a good chance a real socialist - Jeremy Corbyn - may come to power in an advanced nation for the first time in the Neoliberal Age. And it looks like Bernie may run again in 2020.

If either or both win, it would be very weird, like we were in a different universe. Of course many of us glum leftists expect Capital won't sit back gracefully - like we saw with Syriza in Greece. Still it would be a glorious victory a Corbyn win could embolden America's Left even more.

I wonder if the growing interest in the multiverse and alternate realities is - along with the need for more storylines for TV - a result with the growing acknowledgement that luck has a lot to do with where people end up in life. Our elite and conservatives, as Chris Dillow points out, seem blissfully unaware of this fact.

Better or worse luck may change things enormously for someone.

Hope Punk on NPR

While Trump's use of the ancient forces of fear and greed to win the Republican primary and beat Hillary was scary and blew a lot of minds, the reaction in the midterms was good to see as well. People got politically active and supposedly it was the largest turnout since World War I. Also the way the way the alt right has been deplatformed and pushed back by antifa, etc has been good to see. Although we should work to prevent the condition conducive to the rise of the populist right from occurring in the first place.

immigration

Mass Immigration Creates Problems For the Left. Tighter Borders Can’t Be the Solution. by Eric Levitz

(h/t Interfluidity)

Child allowance

Just Write Families Checks by Bryce Covert

Hungary and Poland go rightwing after austerity

When left-leaning parties support austerity, their voters start to embrace the far right

recession calls

Bruce Bartlett

Third, it is beginning to look almost certain that there will be a recession before 2020. 

Shirley Collins & The Albion Band - Murder of Maria Marten

The Clash - Armagideon Time

Green New Deal

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal shows the radical choice facing the Democrats by Grace Blakeley

This week Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly-elected socialist congresswoman for New York, joined the Justice Democrats and the Sunrise movement at a sit-in at the office of Nancy Pelosi. The 29-year-old - the youngest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives - did so to demand that the Democrats immediately develop a Green New Deal for the US economy. This programme – a huge, co-ordinated programme of public investment aimed at decarbonising growth – would be the most radical and transformative economic proposal put forward by any US party since Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency. 

The rationale for targeting Pelosi – the incumbent House Minority Leader and aspirant Speaker - was clear. As soon as the Democrats reclaimed the lower chamber, Pelosi used her platform to suggest that the party “work together” with Donald Trump to promote a bipartisan agenda in the interests of all Americans.

As with Barack Obama’s emphasis on bipartisanship, this sounds appealing. But it neglects the conflict that exists at the heart of US society: the division between those who live off work and those who live off wealth. 

Trump seeks to mask this economic divide by scapegoating alternative adversaries – the US’s immigrant and Muslim populations - while pursuing policies that serve the interests of his true constituency: the wealthy elite. Tax cuts, deregulation and the erosion of the social safety net have all served to redistribute the wealth produced by the working people of America to corrupt and unaccountable elites. 

That Pelosi would even consider compromising with such a man - and such a programme - is revealing of the priorities of the Democratic establishment. Because the old Democrats, who receive billions of dollars from Silicon Valley and Wall Street, have as little interest in exposing the wealth/work divide that shapes the US economy as Trump himself.

 ...

Panera Democrats

Dave Weigel in Feb 2017

Honestly the funniest 2018 result would be: Dems win the majority based on suburbs after reporters spend two years canvassing rural diners

The resistance is organized and ready in district where Trump is visiting by Garance Franke-Ruta

Democrats Say Their First Bill Will Focus On Strengthening Democracy At Home

51 Percent Losers by Matt Karp

A Defeat for White Identity by Ross Douthat

Podcasts

Saturday Night Live did a skit about a hypothetical podcast award show where they had impersonations of Pod Save America - "Bros Save America" - and Marc Maron.

Here is a good blogpost on Chapo and podcasts.

They're popular b/c we can listen to them while exercising, driving, cooking, doing chores, etc. Plus they can be very entertaining and informative. I listen to Chapo Trap House, The Bruenigs, Doug Henwood's Behind the News (which was first and still is a radio show), and Ryan Avent's Left Anchor. Sometimes I will listen to other podcasts like Current Events's or Harmontown, but those are my regulars.

Avent had a good podcast about the mid-terms. He has the opinion, not that common on the Left, that a candidate's talent matters more than ideology, which kind of makes sense. Still a lot of lefty ballot initiatives won: ex-felons voting, minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, legalizing marijuana, fair districting/anti-gerrymandering, etc. And Republicans running ads about their opponents supporting M4A didn't seem to matter.

Provisional

An epiphany of sorts. On Bill Maher's show, Sarah Silverman - when asked about the red state people she meets on her show - said there's a difference between the liars and those being lied to. The "lied to" are often good, nice people, but they're like cult members. They believe what they believe.

Maybe this is also how parents treat kids. They believe the kids don't know what's best but try to treat them as good people. But kids can detect insincerity and patronizing adults. So you either have to be a good actor our authentically believe they're good kids for you to get past their bullshit detectors.

I think the approach by @interfludity or @briebriejoy is the best, one where you are open to people who believe differently than you. It is the best long-term strategy even if at the moment the instinct is to close ranks with your tribe and just best the other side.

The wealthy liars and the white supremacists - like Tucker Carlson - are beyond the pale, though, in my opinion. I don't care if people protest outside their homes. The liberal elite don't really care if a stagnating economy is driving the working class into the fascists' arms. We shouldn't over do it when comes to the liberals' worries about the discourse and about being civil.

Hence the appeal of the dirtbag and irony left. Feels good to give the establishment the finger, just ask a Trump voter.

Proud Boys and danger of fascism

Brazil electing a fascist, among other things, has people on edge. Some people I follow on Twitter, Dan O'Sullivan and journalist Jason Wilson* were critical of what Amber Frost said on her bonus Chapo podcast about Brazil (which figured a photo and music from the movie Brazil.)

Frost basically downplayed the danger of the Proud Boys in the US saying their like "MS13 to Rose Emoji" and Sullivan and Wilson took offence.

I agree with both sides. On Wilson's side, I agree that alt right groups are a danger and should be fought by Antifa (although I have qualms about doxxing.) I've read that the Antifa strategy has worked and that the alt right groups are in disarray after Charlottesville. Trump's election gave them a boost and they came out of hiding, but basically they've been beaten back down. Internet companies are shutting down their access to various infrastructure also so they can't recruit or communicate. Still there were recent incidents in Portland and New York City as reported on Ryan Avent's podcast and elsewhere. It's being reported that Republicans are "adopting" the Proud Boys. Still I think Frost is sort of right, but I wouldn't give Wilson a hard time about his alt right beat if that is what she has done in the past, which is what he suggests. We should take the alt right seriously even if they are laughable. These people should be on the left.

Yes the Brownshirts were underestimated, but I don't think the Proud Boys are. Yes they should be confronted but I don' think we're in danger of a fascist takeover with Proud Boys leading the way. Still it's unnerving to be contemplating the idea, and one hopes the stewards of the economy have learned their lessons.

Maybe Nov. 6 will mellow people out some.

*about whom I don't know that much, but they seem standard liberal left. 

Pelosi and Krugman: mainstream liberalism

Pelosi and Krugman

Ryan Cooper on Economic Anxiety; new podcast (and fiancee)

Why aggressive economic policy is critical to defeating Trump by Ryan Cooper

New Podcast: Left Anchor

Emma Steiner's Fellow Traveler Blog

UBI in WSJ

"Bad ideas just won’t die. Ronald Reagan’s goal was to “leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history.” But they keep coming back, albeit in different forms. Of today’s bad ideas—from net neutrality to open curriculum and living wages—the most dangerous is the universal basic income."

A Universally Bad Idea by Andy Kessler

Response to Andy Kessler on the Social Wealth Fund by Matt Bruenig

Multiverse

The Multiverse with multiple timelines seems to have become more popular or salient in popular culture. Rick and Morty. Berlanti-verse's The Flash.

When Trump was elected, many people felt as if we somehow slipped into a crazy timeline.

Does it mean anything? The importance of choices; the focus on the individual and philosophical voluntarism in late capitalism and neoliberalism. The focus on the individual will. Do people try hard enough. The end of history. (Blaming the victim.)

Personally I don't believe any of this stuff has to be true. Maybe we live in Hellworld. Maybe things can get better. Some positive things: the election of socialist Ocasio-Cortez (who can be seen on Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel) the fact that Missouri voters voted down a right-to-work law in a referendum.

The direction the November 6th Midterm elections go could make some people believe we live in Hellworld or that things are getting "back to normal." I always thought things were heading in a bad direction after Bill Clinton's welfare reform (and everything surrounding it even though liberals thought they had it good with West Wing and then Obama.)

That's why it's refreshing to see Bennet-Brown's American Family Act in 2017 which doesn't help non-parents but does expand the welfare state for parents - even those without income.

Kamala Harris's LIFT act has the trapezoid problem which focuses on "rewarding work" but given the option to receive monthly checks based on last years income, it is almost a UBI (except it doesn't cover those without earned income and those earning more than 100k, so no not universal. But it does give monthly checks to most of those who could use it without strings attached.)

Still it's good to see. Things may be turning for the better despite the many bad things like Climate Change and a feckless liberal elite. Another sign things might change for the better: the Republican base no longer believes Republican economic orthodoxy.

The fact that different governments continue to legalize marijuana (Canada last Wednesday, on the ballot in North Dakota and Michigan) always made it seem to me like the Flash had kicked us over to another timeline (despite strong opposition from conservative racists like Jeff Sessions). The Drug War was always a racist endeavor. Nixon used it as a dog whistle (as the FX show Snowfall pointed out via a CIA drug runner.) Gay marriage. America electing a black man. Pleasantly surprised to see those things happen in my life time.

My personal life hasn't had as many lucky breaks, but I prefer to focus on the larger state of the world. No doubt my conservative, bootlicker friends consider me to be lazy, whereas I see their insult to mean that I don't kiss enough ass. Gotta brownose to move up in the world. That's what I would tell the kids. Ingratiate yourself. Socialize. Find a mentor to suck up to.

Still no matter one's personal problems, when Chapo Trap House's new book hits the New York Times best seller list and the New York Times Style Section tweets @ Taylor Swift to "go on Chapo," one get the vertiginous feeling that perhaps you're in the wrong timeline.

It's not just Trump who makes liberals feel like they have been moved around in the multiverse. Kavanaugh's recent nomination to the Supreme Court, making it safely Republican, has thrown many of them also even though it's a logical extension of Trump's election victory.

Listening to Doug Henwood's radio show/podcast on the Supreme Court, I was reminded of the many ways it's an anti-democratic institution and how even though the Republicans have a lock now on the court, gay marriage and marijuana legalization are moving forward.

Maybe it's social media that is making things weird?

The Wall Street Journ op-ed pages are attacking UBI and Matt Bruenig's SWF-UBD. The White House just put out a paper on why socialism doesn't work. As Jeff Stein tweets: "White House report on socialism cites @ryanlcooper, Piketty, and Jacobin's Meagan Day..."

Part of it is what Corey Robin talks about when he says the conservatives have won (with Macron, Clinton, Blair, Schroeder) and so they are sort of flailing around and hooked on griping about the culture war (which they are losing).

In some ways we've moved to a state of political economy reminiscent of the 1850s pre-Civil War period. A minority, property elite is gaining a lock on political institutions and power and using it to thwart the popular will. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision did not legalize slavery for all time. It led to the Civil War and the end of slavery.

Bennet-Brown from 2017: a return to pre-welfare reform welfare

per the discussion on the Bruenig podcast

Senate Democrats have a plan that would cut child poverty nearly in half by Dylan Matthews

The American Family Act of 2017

Avoid the Trap(azoid)

More on LIFT Act: Bruenig and Matthews

Do We Really Need a Second Earned Income Tax Credit? by Matt Bruenig

Kamala Harris’s new basic income-style bill is so frustratingly close to being great Harris almost endorses a real basic income, then doesn’t. by Dylan Matthews

Welfare for Everyone: interview with Matt Bruenig

Welfare for Everyone - an interview with Matt Bruenig (Jacobin)

She's running, Kamala Harris edition

"The lift the Middle Class Act would provide monthly cash payments of up to $500 to lower-income families, on top of the tax credits and public benefits they already receive."

Sort of a misnomer.

Kamala Harris’s Trump-Size Tax Plan by Annie Lowrey (via Neera Tanden)

Harris is offering as much as $3,000 a year for a single person or $6,000 a year for a married couple, on top of existing tax and transfer programs, disbursed either as a lump-sum tax refund or as a monthly payment. Working families making less than $100,000 a year would qualify, including those making close to nothing. As many as 80 million Americans would benefit, Harris’s office has estimated, with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calculating that the proposal would lift 9 million people out of poverty, including nearly 3 million kids.

...

Her proposal joins a growing number of aggressive plans coming from Democrats concerned with economic stagnation, competing to win over younger and more progressive voters, and emboldened by the success of President Donald Trump. They differ in their mechanisms, costs, and effects, but all point to the same Robin Hood goal: not just raising taxes on the rich, but shunting vastly more money to the working classes and the poor. In Harris’s case, that means something like $200 billion a year more.

Senator Harris Seeks To Raise Incomes Using A New Tax Credit by Elaine Maag (TPC)

via Josh Mound:

On one hand, Harris’s LIFT proposal is probably the best Dem tax proposal put forward in while. On the other hand, it’s still EITC-like (predicated earned income) and therefore excludes the very poorest. The front yellow line should be vertical IMO.

As Matt notes, Dems need to get out of the trapezoid trap. Just make it a UBI or make it a backdoor UBI by letting people declare a trivial amount of earned income. LIFT is better than EITC, but it still shares its work-centric problems.

Amazon raises wages

Democrats, take note: If you want to raise wages, put pressure on employees by Matt Bruenig

Amazon’s $15 an Hour Minimum Wage and the Federal Reserve Board by Dean Baker

Tyler Cowen on zero marginal product workers

Zero marginal product workers by Tyler Cowen

Welcome to Hellworld.

the color of economic anxiety

THE COLOR OF ECONOMIC ANXIETY by MALAIKA JABALI

UBI (and SWF-UBD)

The Case for Giving Every American a Share of a Public Wealth Fund by Jim Pugh

Common Wealth: workers' ownership in the history of socialism by Matt Bruenig

Will Your Universal Basic Income Check Soon Be in the Mail?: A Future Tense event recap. by ANTHONY NGUYEN

A radical idea for reducing inequality deserves more attention by Ryan Avent

UBI, the Unknown Ideal by Max Sawicky

Job Guarantee Programs: Careful What You Wish For by Thomas Palley

SWF+UBD by Steve Randy Waldman

Tackling Inequality Through the Social Ownership of Capital by Matt Bruenig

Opinion: All Americans would get an income boost under this new plan to share the country’s riches by Peter Barnes

The case for an American social wealth fund by Ryan Cooper

A Simple Fix for Our Massive Inequality Problem by Matt Bruenig

Robot Takeover Matters Less If We're All Shareholders by Noah Smith

A Response to Mike Konczal on the Social Wealth Fund by Matt Bruenig

Alaska Gives Cash To Its Citizens Every Year. The Rest Of The U.S. Could Too. by David Dayen

The big idea that could make democratic socialism a reality by Matt Yglesias

Why We Need a Social Wealth Fund by Peter Gowan

I Do Not Understand Why the Left Should Want a Sovereign Wealth Fund by Mike Konczal

A “SOCIAL WEALTH FUND” COULD BE THE NEXT BIG IDEA by Rachel M. Cohen

Stockton’s Awesome Public Experiment by Jeff Spross

Why reform conservatives should embrace a universal basic income by Jeff Spross

'I feel very betrayed': Basic-income recipients react to one of the world's largest experiments suddenly being canceled (BusinessInsider)

Could a Universal Basic Income Become a Political Reality? by Clio Chang

Why the world should adopt a basic income by Guy Standing

Labour set to include pilot of radical basic income policy in next manifesto, John McDonnell says

Universal basic income vs jobs guarantees: which one will make us happier? by Cory Doctorow

Universal Basic Income Is Not the Solution to Poverty by Felix Salmon

What if the Government Gave Everyone a Paycheck? by Robert Reich

Here’s the one book every millennial and Gen Z new graduate should read (and it’s not Dr. Seuss) by Erin Kaine (on David Graeber)

"My forthcoming book will be called "The Case For People's QE" and will be published by Polity, probably in Spring 2019." - Frances Coppola

Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Basic Income? By Nathan Heller

Do We Need a Universal Basic Income? A Debate. BY MATT BRUENIG REBUTTAL BY ROHAN GREY & RAÚL CARRILLO

excellent podcast on JG-UBI by Current Affairs

BASIC INCOME, NOT BASIC JOBS: AGAINST HIJACKING UTOPIA by Scott Anderson

JOB GUARANTEE: MARXIST OR KEYNESIAN? by Chris Dillow

The Job Guarantee Is Not a Human Capital Program by Max Sawicky

Posts in Three Lines (see comments too) by J.W. Mason

My impression of job guarantee advocates, which I am afraid you are not doing much to dispel, is that they are not willing to admit that their preferred approach ahas any drawbacks, or that any alternatives have any merits.

A Promise So Big, Democrats Aren’t Sure How to Keep It: Progressives are lining up behind a jobs guarantee—but leaving the details for later. by Anne Lowrey

Smile by Steve Randy Waldman

A Plan To Win The Socialism Sweden Nearly Achieved by Peter Gowan

Only 1 in 3 Americans Work Full Time by Matt Bruenig

The whole world was watching – we could have done something special': What Finnish experts say about the country's controversial basic-income experiment by Karin Olli-Nilsson

basic income and public job offer: complimentary policies by Fitzroy and Jin

To fix the economy, let's print money and mail it to everyone by Dylan Matthews

FREE MONEY: THE SURPRISING EFFECTS OF A BASIC INCOME SUPPLIED BY GOVERNMENT (Wired, 2017)

The political economy of a universal basic income. by Steve Randy Waldman (2014)

A Universal Basic Income and Work Incentives. Part 1: Theory by Ed Dolan

Strengthening Unemployment Protections in America (Center for American Progress)

Guest Post: Max Sawicky on the Liberal Case Against a Universal Basic Income by Max Sawicky

Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen, by Guy Standing

Finland’s Basic Income Test Wasn’t Ambitious Enough By Leonid Bershidsky

GMI + JG = paid work as a choice for all by John Quiggin

IPPR report

Prosperity and justice: A plan for the new economy - The final report of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice

Chris Dillow

Simon Wren Lewis

thoughts on SWF + UBD

SWF + UBD by Steve Randy Waldman

"new contributions would be made from a variety of dedicated tax streams and from the compounding of undistributed earnings. Initially the dividend would be quite small, but over time, it would grow."

Bruenig noted on twitter that other commentators failed to note the compounding of undistriubted earnings.

"Bruenig proposes paying out roughly 4% of fund value annually, assuming total returns would generally be higher than that. To generate a $12K per year UBI for US adults in 2018 dollars, the fund would need to grow to about $75T."

[is this Bruenig also or just Waldman?]

"Basically, on these numbers, the fund would have to grow to hold something like 64% of all assets, or 80% of US “net worth”, to finance a “full” UBI at a 4% per annum payout rate."

"It takes the miracle of compound growth that capitalists are always on about and turns it into a miracle of compound taxation, effectively taxing wealthier cohorts (those who would otherwise own the SWF assets) an ever increasing share of income year after year without requiring any new legislation, and with minimal distortion of investment behavior."

Warren vs. Sanders

Thoughts on Bernie Sanders’s Democratic Socialism and the Primary by Mike Konczal

Warren emphasizing women candidates in taking back Congress.

Stop Bezos Act

Bernie Sanders is picking the wrong fight with Amazon by Ryan Cooper

The controversy over Bernie Sanders’s proposed Stop BEZOS Act, explained by Matt Yglesias

Jared Bernstein

CBPP report

Ben Spielberg

Bruenig blog from past

Josh Mound

Jonathan Chait

job guarantee and MMT links

Job Guarantee Programs: Careful What You Wish For by Thomas Palley

SWF+UBD by Steve Randy Waldman

What if you could sue the government for a job? by Jeff Spross

Universal basic income vs jobs guarantees: which one will make us happier? by Cory Doctorow

Should Democrats play it safe with a job guarantee? by Jeff Spross

Reorienting Fiscal Policy: A Critical Assessment of Fiscal Fine-Tuning by Tcherneva

What if the Government Gave Everyone a Paycheck? by Robert Reich

Here’s the one book every millennial and Gen Z new graduate should read (and it’s not Dr. Seuss) by Erin Kaine (on David Graeber)

Do We Need a Federal Jobs Guarantee? A Debate. BY ROHAN GREY & RAÚL CARRILLO REBUTTAL BY MATT BRUENIG

Yes, a Jobs Guarantee Could Create “Boondoggles.” It Also Might Save the Planet. by Kate Aronoff

10 Principles for a Federal Job Guarantee By Angela Glover Blackwell, Sarah Treuhaft, Darrick Hamilton, and William Darity, Jr.

excellent podcast on JG-UBI by Current Affairs

Robert Reich video on JG

Democrats’ Next Big Thing: Government-Guaranteed Jobs by Jim Tankersley

Three Ways to Design a Democratic Job Guarantee by Alexander Kolokotronis

Stephanie Kelton Has The Biggest Idea In Washington by Zach Carter

PUBLIC SERVICE: EMPLOYMENT:A PATH TO FULLEMPLOYMENT by L. Randall Wray, Flavia Dantas, Scott Fullwiler, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and Stephanie A. Kelton  (April 2018)

The Job Guarantee:Design, Jobs, and Implementation by Tcherneva (April 2018)

Why We Need a Federal Job Guarantee by Mark Paul, William Darity Jr and Darrick Hamilton

The Job Guarantee Controversy by Timothy Taylor

Baby bonds

JOB GUARANTEE: MARXIST OR KEYNESIAN? by Chris Dillow

Some thoughts about the Job Guarantee by Simon Wren-Lewis (2017)

The Long, Tortured History of the Job Guarantee By PETER-CHRISTIAN AIGNER and MICHAEL BRENES

Hyman Minsky’s Views on the “Welfare Mess” by Matt Bruenig

Workfare Means New Mass Peonage by Frances Fox Piven and Barbara Ehrenreich (1987)

The Job Guarantee Is Not a Human Capital Program by Max Sawicky

Posts in Three Lines (see comments too) by J.W. Mason

My impression of job guarantee advocates, which I am afraid you are not doing much to dispel, is that they are not willing to admit that their preferred approach ahas any drawbacks, or that any alternatives have any merits.

A Promise So Big, Democrats Aren’t Sure How to Keep It: Progressives are lining up behind a jobs guarantee—but leaving the details for later. by Anne Lowrey

Everyone Can Have Their Own Job Guarantee by Matt Bruenig

Bernie Gets Socialistic by Max Sawicky

The Job Guarantee and the Wilted Liberal Imagination by Jack Meserve

Job Guarantees, Collective Bargaining and the Right to Strike by Sandwichman

Smile by Steve Randy Waldman

We Work by James K. Galbraith

Dems’ Job Guarantee Isn’t Nearly as Easy as It Sounds by Dean Baker

Larry Mishel disputes costs. 

How the Democrats' big jobs idea could upend the Fed by Jeff Spross

Only 1 in 3 Americans Work Full Time by Matt Bruenig

The whole world was watching – we could have done something special': What Finnish experts say about the country's controversial basic-income experiment by Karin Olli-Nilsson

How much would a job guarantee actually cost? by Jeff Spross

WHETHER AMERICA CAN AFFORD A JOB GUARANTEE PROGRAM IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE by David Dayen

basic income and public job offer: complimentary policies by Fitzroy and Jin

Debate: Is This the Time for a Federal Jobs Program? by Conor Sen and Noah Smith

Need Work? Maybe That's a Job for Government by Noah Smith

The Case for a Federal Jobs Guarantee by Erik Loomis

also see

Economists Don't Say That Automation Will Drive Unemployment Higher by Dean Baker

Two Big Questions About the Job Guarantee: God, Devil, and the Details by Steve Roth

4 big questions about job guarantees by Dylan Matthews

Why politicians should promise every American a job by Matt Yglesias

World Bank on Jefes de Hogar (Heads of Household)

Strengthening Unemployment Protections in America (Center for American Progress)

The jobs guarantee and human-capital “nationalisation” by Alexandra Scaggs

GMI + JG = paid work as a choice for all by John Quiggin

The Call for Jobs for All by Matthew Klein

How do our job creation recommendations stack up against a job guarantee? by Josh Bivens

Why the Cause of Full Employment Is Back from the Dead by Harold Meyerson

Bernie Sanders to unveil plan to guarantee every American a job by Jeff Stein

Cory Booker’s new big idea: guaranteeing jobs for everyone who wants one by Dylan Matthews

Historicizing GovernmentWork Programs: A Spectrumfrom Workfare to Fair Work by Nancy E. Rose (2000)

Why Democrats Should Embrace a Federal Jobs Guarantee by Sean McElwee

A GUARANTEED “JOBS FOR ALL” PROGRAM IS GAINING TRACTION AMONG 2020 DEMOCRATIC HOPEFULS by Kate Aronoff

Need a Job? Just Call Bernie. by Kevin Drum

Yes, The Jobs Guarantee Is Absurd by Adam Ozimek

Democrats Are Rushing Into a Job Guarantee. It Could Be a Huge Mistake. by Jonahthan Chait

Prior Models for Workable Workfare Work by Matt Bruenig

Why is MMT so popular? by Simon Wren-Lewis

A Response to Tom Palley by J.W. Mason

Modern Money Theory (MMT) vs. Structural Keynesianism by Thomas Palley

Israel Nash

Gillum and Mound

Andrew Gillum Pulled Off the Upset of a Lifetime. Now Comes the Hard Part.

(NYTimes no mention of Bernie Sanders even though he backed Gillum)

Andrew Gillum makes history in Florida (CNN)

Resolving the Democrats’ False Choice by Josh Mound

What Democrats Must Do by Josh Mound

SWF free-for-all

Team Bruenig:

Peter Gowan, Carl Beijer, Ryan Cooper, (Steve Randy Waldman) David Dayen?, Mathew Lawrence, Josh Mound(retweeted)? Ben Spielberg

Team Konczal:

J.W. Mason, Henwood, Max Sawicky, Candian Mike Rozworski, (team MMT Raul, etc.)  Matt Stoller, Matthew Klein, Marshall Steinbaum retweeted?, Matt Yglesias

Sandbu on Nordic economies

What the Nordic mixed economy can teach today’s new left

Much of Scandinavia’s success is not rooted in direct state intervention

by Martin Sandbu 

8.28.18

The most predictable phenomena can also be the most surprising. Just look at the revival of “socialism” as a politically viable idea in the US and UK. 

Ten years ago, the global crisis laid bare the failures of financial capitalism. This gave the political left an opportunity to win support for its agenda. Yet almost every established centre-left party in the developed world bungled this shot at political dominance. 

Instead of a comeback, we seem to be getting a throwback. The only leftwing politicians to prosper have been those who reject the “third way” centre-leftism of the 1990s. In the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has taken over the Labour party with the support of a hugely expanded membership. In the US, Bernie Sanders’ socialist primary campaign gave Hillary Clinton a run for her donor class money in 2016. In recent local results, like-minded politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have won safe-seat Democratic party nominations to Congress. Polls show that about half of young Americans now favour “socialism” over “capitalism”. 

This has triggered a debate about what the new socialists mean by “socialism”. On one reading, it is just an aspirational label for Scandinavian social democracy, with policies such as universal healthcare or better conditions for workers. 

But some of its most thoughtful proponents argue in favour of socialism because it is opposed to capitalism. The political theorist Corey Robin, for example, advocates “socialism” because it makes workers free, while capitalism leaves them unfree. Such claims see socialism and capitalism as rival and incompatible systems. 

 This semantic difference matters politically. The either/or view may have made sense during the cold war. But even when the dichotomy was real, the Nordic countries were clearly arrayed on the capitalist side of the dividing line. To oppose “socialism” against “capitalism” is to refuse to learn from the experience of the societies that have probably come closest to the new socialists’ own ideals.

The Nordic countries have been called “mixed economies” precisely because they combine elements of socialism and capitalism: state and private ownership of the means of production; public regulation and market competition; redistributive taxes and wages determined by employers and employees. 

If the socialists of today ignore capitalism’s role in that mix, they fail to follow their own leading lights. Here are three lessons they should heed from the Nordic model, whether or not they call it “socialist”. 

First, it embraces globalisation. It was no coincidence that the Nordic mixed model emerged in countries with high exposure to international trade. Public understanding that trade brings prosperity, but that global fluctuations hit hard and unpredictably, increased support for the insurance elements of the Nordic welfare states. 

So if “socialism” it is going to be, it should be a socialism confident about economic openness. The US left’s opposition to trade deals weakens any affiliation it may try to claim with the Nordic model. So does British socialists’ seduction by “ Lexit” — the alleged leftwing case for escaping the rules that smooth trade between European countries. 

Second, while the Nordics’ economic egalitarianism is well known in broad terms, the detail is not. But the detail matters. The achievement of the Nordic model is something very specific: a highly compressed distribution of market wages (before taxes and transfers). In comparison, the distribution of wealth and capital income, and the degree of income equalisation through policy, is unexceptional. The Nordics succeeded not through maximal redistribution but by engineering an economy that did not need to overburden the state’s redistributive power. 

This leads to the third lesson. Much of the Nordic model’s success is rooted not in direct state intervention but in the finely balanced interplay between social organisations, especially in the labour market. Admirers appreciate the role of unions in the Nordic economies; they are less aware of the equal importance of coherent employers’ associations. 

A blinkered workers-against-bosses view of the world suggests anything that makes capital owners better organised must harm the interests of workers. The Nordic experience shows the opposite is true. Coherent organisation encourages employers to recognise how what may seem like a burden on an individual company benefits business as a whole. 

In Scandinavia, a compressed wage structure has been good for productivity. If it is expensive to use labour unproductively, and if high-skilled labour is relatively cheap, companies accelerate investment and quickly adopt new technology. Similarly, an organised employer sector helps workers, businesses and the government to adjust in the face of technological disruptions. If this is socialism, it is one that makes for a more flexible capitalism. 

The Nordics, then, give vindication to the insight of great liberal centrists of the interwar years: that wise government intervention is good for capitalism, and makes capitalism good for workers. Progressive centrism may have earned itself a bad name in the run-up to the crisis and its aftermath. But if socialists reject it out of purism, they will find their own goals frustrated as well.

DeLong and Anderson vs. socialism & Krugman on neolibralism

The New Socialists by Corey Robins

STEERING BY THE SOCIALIST IDOLS IN THE HEAVENS LEADS US TO SAIL NOT TOWARDS BUT AWAY FROM THE SHORES OF UTOPIA: (EARLY) MONDAY COREY ROBIN SMACKDOWN by Brad DeLong

Kurt Andersen

A tenured six-figure government job must be sweet, professor, but this is utopian silliness: “Under capitalism, we’re forced to submit to the boss. Socialists want to establish freedom from rule by the boss, from the need to smile for the sake of a sale.”

Capitalism, Socialism, and Unfreedom by Krugman

There is no alternative. The Democratic Party platform is as good as things can get.

Factcheckergate

Fact checkers have a Medicare-for-all problem by Ryan Cooper

The revealing Medicare-for-all fact-check debate roiling the internet, explained by Dylan Scott

Krugman tweetstorm

Bernie’s “Medicare For All” Plan Would Cut Physician Payments About 10 Percent by Kevin Drum

Jake Tapper’s Faulty Medicare for All Fact-Check by Matt Bruenig

Rashida Tlaib

For Rashida Tlaib, Palestinian Heritage Infuses a Detroit Sense of Community

Annie Lowrey on JG and late capitalism

A Promise So Big, Democrats Aren’t Sure How to Keep It by Annie Lowrey

Why the Phrase 'Late Capitalism' Is Suddenly Everywhere by Annie Lowrey

fiscally conservative but supports single payer

Cory Booker

The Economy During Wartime by J.W. Mason

The Economy During Wartime by J.W. Mason

Mason, Hanauer & Levison. what to do and macro lessons

Democrats Must Reclaim the Center … by Moving Hard Left by Nick Hanauer

What Democrats Still Don’t Get About Winning Back the White Working Class by Andrew Levison

Macroeconomic Lessons from the Past Decade by J.W. Mason

Economics

One of the biggest falsehoods that the economics profession foists upon us is how supply meets demand or Say's Law which Keynes went after. You can have long periods of insufficient aggregate demand or high unemployment.

The government sets the amount of demand via interest rates and the cost of credit. If it's too high, people won't borrow and invest and demand won't be enough.

But if the government does this for too long you'll get deflation. The question is why don't we get deflation sooner.

Instead of deflation advanced economies seem to get stuck in a Japanese rut where they can't make inflation, especially when they don't try very hard.

If the government provides enough stimulus or adjusts rates so there's enough aggregate demand, then labor markets will tighten and workers will see wage increases.

Today though we have oligopolies and monopsony and a taboo about raising wages despite low unemployment.

Take the Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven

Punk Rock Girl - The Dead Milkmen

Tom Petty - Refugee - Sharp Objects

Nordic socialism

Are State Officials in Nordic Countries Unaccountable? by Matt Bruenig

Nordic State Ownership of Enterprise Is a Real Thing by Matt Bruenig

What’s So Special About Finland? The American Dream is alive and well—in Northern Europe. by Uri Friedman

JG-UBI

need to separate out JG and SWF/UBI

A “SOCIAL WEALTH FUND” COULD BE THE NEXT BIG IDEA by Rachel M. Cohen

Stockton’s Awesome Public Experiment by Jeff Spross

Why reform conservatives should embrace a universal basic income by Jeff Spross

'I feel very betrayed': Basic-income recipients react to one of the world's largest experiments suddenly being canceled (BusinessInsider)
Could a Universal Basic Income Become a Political Reality? by Clio Chang

Why the world should adopt a basic income by Guy Standing

Labour set to include pilot of radical basic income policy in next manifesto, John McDonnell says

What if you could sue the government for a job? by Jeff Spross

Universal basic income vs jobs guarantees: which one will make us happier? by Cory Doctorow

Should Democrats play it safe with a job guarantee? by Jeff Spross

Reorienting Fiscal Policy: A Critical Assessment of Fiscal Fine-Tuning by Tcherneva

Universal Basic Income Is Not the Solution to Poverty by Felix Salmon

What if the Government Gave Everyone a Paycheck? by Robert Reich

Here’s the one book every millennial and Gen Z new graduate should read (and it’s not Dr. Seuss) by Erin Kaine (on David Graeber)

"My forthcoming book will be called "The Case For People's QE" and will be published by Polity, probably in Spring 2019." - Frances Coppola

Who Really Stands to Win from Universal Basic Income? By Nathan Heller

Do We Need a Universal Basic Income? A Debate. BY MATT BRUENIG REBUTTAL BY ROHAN GREY & RAÚL CARRILLO

Do We Need a Federal Jobs Guarantee? A Debate. BY ROHAN GREY & RAÚL CARRILLO REBUTTAL BY MATT BRUENIG

Yes, a Jobs Guarantee Could Create “Boondoggles.” It Also Might Save the Planet. by Kate Aronoff

10 Principles for a Federal Job Guarantee By Angela Glover Blackwell, Sarah Treuhaft, Darrick Hamilton, and William Darity, Jr.

excellent podcast on JG-UBI by Current Affairs

Robert Reich video on JG

Democrats’ Next Big Thing: Government-Guaranteed Jobs by Jim Tankersley

Three Ways to Design a Democratic Job Guarantee by Alexander Kolokotronis

Stephanie Kelton Has The Biggest Idea In Washington by Zach Carter

PUBLIC SERVICE: EMPLOYMENT:A PATH TO FULLEMPLOYMENT by L. Randall Wray, Flavia Dantas, Scott Fullwiler, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and Stephanie A. Kelton  (April 2018)

The Job Guarantee:Design, Jobs, and Implementation by Tcherneva (April 2018)

Why We Need a Federal Job Guarantee by Mark Paul, William Darity Jr and Darrick Hamilton

BASIC INCOME, NOT BASIC JOBS: AGAINST HIJACKING UTOPIA by Scott Anderson

The Job Guarantee Controversy by Timothy Taylor

Baby bonds

JOB GUARANTEE: MARXIST OR KEYNESIAN? by Chris Dillow

Some thoughts about the Job Guarantee by Simon Wren-Lewis (2017)

The Long, Tortured History of the Job Guarantee By PETER-CHRISTIAN AIGNER and MICHAEL BRENES

Hyman Minsky’s Views on the “Welfare Mess” by Matt Bruenig

Workfare Means New Mass Peonage by Frances Fox Piven and Barbara Ehrenreich (1987)

The Job Guarantee Is Not a Human Capital Program by Max Sawicky

Posts in Three Lines (see comments too) by J.W. Mason

My impression of job guarantee advocates, which I am afraid you are not doing much to dispel, is that they are not willing to admit that their preferred approach ahas any drawbacks, or that any alternatives have any merits.

A Promise So Big, Democrats Aren’t Sure How to Keep It: Progressives are lining up behind a jobs guarantee—but leaving the details for later. by Anne Lowrey

Everyone Can Have Their Own Job Guarantee by Matt Bruenig

Bernie Gets Socialistic by Max Sawicky

The Job Guarantee and the Wilted Liberal Imagination by Jack Meserve

Job Guarantees, Collective Bargaining and the Right to Strike by Sandwichman

Smile by Steve Randy Waldman

A Plan To Win The Socialism Sweden Nearly Achieved by Peter Gowan

We Work by James K. Galbraith

Dems’ Job Guarantee Isn’t Nearly as Easy as It Sounds by Dean Baker

Larry Mishel disputes costs. 

Commenter says will get rid of welfare costs

How the Democrats' big jobs idea could upend the Fed by Jeff Spross

Only 1 in 3 Americans Work Full Time by Matt Bruenig

The whole world was watching – we could have done something special': What Finnish experts say about the country's controversial basic-income experiment by Karin Olli-Nilsson

How much would a job guarantee actually cost? by Jeff Spross

WHETHER AMERICA CAN AFFORD A JOB GUARANTEE PROGRAM IS NOT UP FOR DEBATE by David Dayen

basic income and public job offer: complimentary policies by Fitzroy and Jin

Debate: Is This the Time for a Federal Jobs Program? by Conor Sen and Noah Smith

Need Work? Maybe That's a Job for Government by Noah Smith

The Case for a Federal Jobs Guarantee by Erik Loomis

also see

Economists Don't Say That Automation Will Drive Unemployment Higher by Dean Baker

Two Big Questions About the Job Guarantee: God, Devil, and the Details by Steve Roth

To fix the economy, let's print money and mail it to everyone by Dylan Matthews

4 big questions about job guarantees by Dylan Matthews

Why politicians should promise every American a job by Matt Yglesias

World Bank on Jefes de Hogar (Heads of Household)

FREE MONEY: THE SURPRISING EFFECTS OF A BASIC INCOME SUPPLIED BY GOVERNMENT (Wired, 2017)

The political economy of a universal basic income. by Steve Randy Waldman (2014)

A Universal Basic Income and Work Incentives. Part 1: Theory by Ed Dolan

Strengthening Unemployment Protections in America (Center for American Progress)

Guest Post: Max Sawicky on the Liberal Case Against a Universal Basic Income by Max Sawicky

Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen, by Guy Standing

The jobs guarantee and human-capital “nationalisation” by Alexandra Scaggs

Finland’s Basic Income Test Wasn’t Ambitious Enough By Leonid Bershidsky

GMI + JG = paid work as a choice for all by John Quiggin

The Call for Jobs for All by Matthew Klein

How do our job creation recommendations stack up against a job guarantee? by Josh Bivens

Why the Cause of Full Employment Is Back from the Dead by Harold Meyerson

Bernie Sanders to unveil plan to guarantee every American a job by Jeff Stein

Cory Booker’s new big idea: guaranteeing jobs for everyone who wants one by Dylan Matthews

Historicizing GovernmentWork Programs: A Spectrumfrom Workfare to Fair Work by Nancy E. Rose (2000)

Why Democrats Should Embrace a Federal Jobs Guarantee by Sean McElwee

A GUARANTEED “JOBS FOR ALL” PROGRAM IS GAINING TRACTION AMONG 2020 DEMOCRATIC HOPEFULS by Kate Aronoff

Need a Job? Just Call Bernie. by Kevin Drum

Yes, The Jobs Guarantee Is Absurd by Adam Ozimek

Democrats Are Rushing Into a Job Guarantee. It Could Be a Huge Mistake. by Jonahthan Chait

Prior Models for Workable Workfare Work by Matt Bruenig

Why is MMT so popular? by Simon Wren-Lewis

A Response to Tom Palley by J.W. Mason

Modern Money Theory (MMT) vs. Structural Keynesianism by Thomas Palley