central bank and return on investments

Doesn't the central bank control the rate of return within limits? For instance Keynes wanted to euthanize the rentiers with zero percent returns. The CB could adjust the rate of return for UBI check investments so it was livable without runaway inflation.

Bruenig on 5% rate of return.

Richard Branson comes out for UBI; Sandwichman on Three-day workweek

Three-day Workweeks and Four-day Weekends by Sandwichman

Dred Scot

On July 4, a consideration of Dred Scot by New Deal Democrat

Noah Smith on Ocasio-Cortez and socialism

Worried about socialism coming to America? by Noah Smith

Krugman on the "radical left" then & now

Radical Democrats are Pretty Reasonable by Krugman (July 3, 2018)

Sanders Over the Edge by Krugman (April 8, 2016)

Kevin Drum: we're all social democrats now

I really don't like Drum.

We Are All Social Democrats Now by Kevin Drum

"It's like Republicans promise economic growth and job creation and so do Democrats. What's the difference? They both promise to be fiscally responsible and pro-business. What's the difference, really, when you think about it?"

Socialism, quesque ç'est?

This is a response to Mike The Mad Biologist on the nature of socialism and the Democratic Party. I pretty much agree with Matt Bruenig on socialism.

Mike:

But on a more serious note, I’m geniunely puzzled as to how this is any different from what used to be called liberal Democrats (before and during the 1990s–and who were mostly purged from power by the Clinton era New Democrats) would propose... So it’s really hard to see how what is currently referred to as socialism would differ from Hubert Humphrey’s economic proposals.

It would be nice to discuss this with a historian of post-war liberalism.

Kennedy did an income tax cut. What else? LBJ did the war on poverty but it was incomplete. They made improvements on Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid. Minimum wage increases. Incrementalism until the 1970s and Reagan. LBJ privatized Fannie and Freddie. FDR had the Second Bill of Rights but it was only minor incrementalism after he was gone. Taxes on the rich came down, yes Medicare and Medicaid were good but socialists were demanded single-payer Medicare-for-All. Better anti-poverty programs. Better housing programs. Better labor laws.

How did liberal Democrats collapse so easily into neoliberalism? From equal outcomes where everyone has a minimum level of dignity (see FDR's second bill of rights) to equal opportunity and education.

Socialism focuses on the necessity of government involvement in the economy and the centrality of the labor movement. It recognizes the hostility of corporations and the rich to economic democracy. Socialists push free public college.

What did Jimmy Carter do? Beef up the EPA? There wasn't a sense of fighting for working people after LBJ.

Bruenig on Medicare for All:

Medicare for All nationalizes the US health insurance industry, bringing it under social ownership and control. It also combines this nationalization with a universal public benefit program that should be very popular and appealing to socialists and non-socialists alike. Thus it is a fairly straightforward democratic socialist strategy as it moves the ball on social ownership through incremental reforms that could win popular democratic support.

Ocasio-Cortez sounds a lot like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders.

TEH SOCIALISMZ!!! AAAIIIEEE!!!! by Mike the Mad Biologist

TEH SOCIALISMZ!!! AAAIIIEEE!!!! by Mike the Mad Biologist

Ocasio-Cortez and dignity

How Will Alexandria Ocasio's Big Win Manifest Itself Inside And Outside The Democratic Party? by DownWithTyranny

America has long-championed individualism as the foundation of our democracy and the free market economy. Such values form not only the bedrock of conservativism, but also the pillars of the post-World War II global order, which is under assault from a backlash against globalization and the rise of populist nationalism, both here and abroad. 

By highlighting individual dignity and the dignity of our neighbors, Ocasio-Cortez is advancing a new social value-- one which sees the individual as both a solitary being with certain inalienable rights and as a citizen and member of society. This duality could de-polarize American politics by introducing 21st century social values into today’s political discourse while upholding long-held individualist values. 

The tension between individualist and communitarian values has fostered binary choices between American conservatives and liberals, the market and the state, right versus left, red versus blue, and “us” versus “them.” This dichotomy assumes a left to right continuum in which compromise in the middle is the modality for public choice. The idea of binary choices on the spectrum from left to right is threatening our democracy. 

...What is at issue and more starkly evident in the 21st century is that the individual is vividly embedded in the social fabric and is connected with neighbors, near and far. This web of engagements and entanglements in our globalized era invites a new outlook, one that embraces complexity, contradiction, and conflicting viewpoints. Those with such open mindsets can adopt blended mixes of contrarian perspectives to reach inclusive agreements about the way forward rather than simplistic middle ground compromises. 

The key is that Ocasio-Cortez founds her formulation on both the idea of the individual and social responsibility. 

The truth is that individualist values of liberty, property rights, freedom and sovereignty worked well in the 20th century as the foundations of competition, free markets, democracy and the nation-state. Yet today, well into the 21st century, globalization in the broadest sense has penetrated and transformed our individual lives in ways that make clear our inter-connectedness. 

Today, we need to add to these bedrock American principles new values that embody and honor this connectivity, including by upholding respect for others, fairness for all, trust in one another and a sense of personal (and mutual) responsibility. Adding these social values to the American political discourse would help prioritize actions that could achieve greater social mobility, public access, economic security, and systemic sustainability. 

These actions, which would seek blended, mixed economy, pluralistic approaches, could lead to better social outcomes from the market economy, greater social cohesion, more inclusive markets, less polarization, and greater effectiveness of policies, politics, and governance. These would restore confidence in markets, faith in institutions, and trust in government. 

Thank you, Ocasio-Cortez for bringing America face-to-face with the new understanding we need and the new narrative required to transform American politics for the 21st century.

Cortez the Killer