I think that figuring out how to implement a functioning socialist system is an indispensable part of advocating for such a system for two reasons. First, it is hard to know whether you actually want a system if you can’t even understand what that system will actually look like. Additionally, the maxim that “ought implies… Continue reading Implementing socialism
Author: Matt Bruenig
Policy Shop: New Evidence of How Declining Union Power Has Hurt Worker Wages
New post at policy shop. Excerpt: A compelling new study out in the American Sociological Review pins the cause quite convincingly on the erosion of union power in the face of computerization. Tali Kristal, the author of the study, looks beyond the overall declining share of labor income and into specific sectors of the economy… Continue reading Policy Shop: New Evidence of How Declining Union Power Has Hurt Worker Wages
Policy Shop: Free Higher Education and the Zero Illusion
New post at Policy Shop. Excerpt: The debates about free higher education are fertile ground for the operation of the zero illusion. Mike Konczal, for instance, has long been pushing the idea that free public higher education is a goal worth striving for because a free public option would drive down tuition in other institutions… Continue reading Policy Shop: Free Higher Education and the Zero Illusion
Policy Shop: Why So-Called Consumption Inequality Misses the Point
New post at policy shop. Excerpt: So the consumption metric is a ridiculous distraction. Not only does it turn out that consumption inequality has mirrored income inequality over the last few decades, but the focus also misses so many of the things that income is about. Of course, the conservatives who bring it up do… Continue reading Policy Shop: Why So-Called Consumption Inequality Misses the Point
Policy Shop: Ramping Up the War on the Poor
New post at policy shop. Excerpt: The coming indignities do not stop at cutting food assistance. As the New York Times explained on Friday, the refusal of many GOP governors to expand Medicaid as part of Obamacare is scheduled to generate absurd and unsettling scenarios for the poor. As Obamacare comes on line, a gap… Continue reading Policy Shop: Ramping Up the War on the Poor