A New Story: Politics for the 21st Century

The Washington Post is a fantastic newspaper but they have a real issue in how they write about direct cash payments specifically and Universal Basic Income in general.  Their latest editorial got a bit right, but so much wrong.  Here is my comment: I absolutely agree that state and local aid is critical; and its lack is likely the reason that the 2008 recession lingered so long.  That needs to be next.  And I agree that that the "targeting" to under 150k a year is also foolish - but I agree because these payments should be universal, and recurring. But to oppose $2,000 stimulus checks is to show that the editorial board of the Washington Post is woefully uneducated about the large and growing body of evidence in support of direct cash payments, still believes that it is possible for the government to quickly and effectively "target aid", still believes that UI benefits do not have a negative drag on unemployment, and finally, and cruelly, that a certain

Here are my thoughts, and response the this piece in WaPo today. Yes, in terms of what can be done without the do-nothing/obstructionist Republicans in the Senate.  But at the same time, pick a battle in the Congress that you can win to make 2022 a more realistic chance to GAIN seats.  This is the battle for direct cash payments to combat the pandemic and its economic fallout.  82% of voters approve of more rounds of stimulus checks.  Sending three months at $1,000 /month would be the same as the $900 billion proposed.  Do not combine it with anything else.  Make them vote on sending help to people who need it, or not. As much as I am in favor of helping states deal with their budgetary issues, make that a separate fight. Make it universal and therefore fair.  Sell it as essential for small business and families.  Do not take the bait of talking about how to afford it.  Means-test the tax next year, not the benefit this year. This is the issue that can truly change people

Here is my reply to this article about the lessons of the 202 election   "I was just discussing this with my 18 year old son. The GOP has better "glue" to generally hold it together. While all Anti (Roe, government, taxes) it serves the purpose of a unifying message, albeit a destructive and angry one.  The Democratic party is a coalition of many interest groups who value their own silo more then winning (at times), and who can get lost in their own ideology. At times the Dems can be dogmatic. At the core, there is little "glue" that holds this coalition together. It is diverse. It is broad. It is also divided.  However, I don't think it is divided on "eventual" priorities; as labor rights, civil rights, social justice, climate change, voting rights seem to be favored by the vast majority of Biden voters. What is divided is the messaging AND a first priority.  A casual glance at the campaigns of the GOP since the time of Nixon

David Brooks Op-Ed in the Times today will certainly draw a lot of the kind of comments that I read just now.  While I have no faith in the Republican party to do anything except be obstructionist, it is really important to pick the first battles wisely.  Here is my response. "There are real differences between rejoining the Paris Accord, and ruling by "diktak" as you say. But the point is still essentially valid.  As much as I love Obama, and like the ACA, in hindsight, the central focus should have been on creating more economic equality and opportunity for ALL Americans through extremely popular measure like a $15 minimum wage (which Florida voted for in 2020 61% despite also voting for Trump). However, given that the first priority will certainly be COVID-19 response, policies like the $15 min wage won't help much. And the generous unemployment benefits not only don't reach those that need it, but also have a downward drag on employment.  It is t

As someone who cares deeply about my country, and democracy as an idea, I certainly feel that we were on the precipice of allowing a minority party, losers of 7/8 popular votes for president, to create an autocratic state.  This new "Republican" party, which does not even have a platform, is following the authoritarian playbook laid out by other authoritarian regimes of the last century.  In addition to denying basic facts, and promoting a non-thing "alternate facts", one of the biggest propaganda tools in the authoritarian playbook is to accuse your opponent of exactly the misdeed you intend to do.   Republicans have been trying to “steal” elections for years through systematic efforts to suppress the African-American vote in particular, and have frankly, been successful in doing so.  This essay will look at one of the right wing propaganda sites, posing as a news site: redstate. There was no fraud in the election of 2020 .  Repeat, no fraud. 

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be the President and Vice President on January 20th, 2021.  This is no small accomplishment.  The United States was on the verge of authoritarianism.  Most evidence shows that countries that are this close often succumb. It IS worth celebrating.    However, the path forward when closely looking at the election results is much more murky.   When all the counting is done, the Biden/Harris ticket will have won north of 77 million votes, over 300 electoral college votes, and carried the national popular vote by 5-6%.  This is a pretty decisive win in this era of extreme partisanship.  Biden/Harris owe their win to voters of color turning out in huge numbers (especially women), new young voters turning out and voting 66% for the ticket, some white blue-collar 2016 Trump supporters flipping, and no small number of more well educated Republicans who voted for Biden/Harris and then Republicans down the ballot.  In short, this was a r

The Kaiser Family Foundation released its annual report on health care costs in the US.  The results are striking.  The average family premium for health care rose above $20,000 per year for the first time.  Single premiums rose to over $7000.  The average out of pocket cost rose above $10,000 per year - this is for people who have insurance.  Employers paid 71% of the cost of these plans, and, obviously, employees paid the rest.  Costs have been going up by an average of 5+% a year.  Despite the fact that fewer claims were filed last year, prices went up 17%.  The current health care system isn’t broken, it’s lying smashed on the rocks at the bottom of a cliff.   One note: I will use the term taxes to mean “money out” of my paycheck.  Thus, the amount I pay in premiums (and that my employer does) are “taxes” in my mind.  An enormous one.  In fact, this “tax” is one of the worst, most regressive taxes out there.  A topic for a different essay.   You may alre

While watching the January Democratic Presidential debate, one of the moderators at 538.com, Nathaniel Rakich, said this: “Twenty years later, and George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld’s arguments for going to war in Iraq are leading off a presidential debate. It just speaks to how consequential that era in American history turned (out to be).” I couldn’t agree more, except that this does not go nearly far enough.  The decision to invade Iraq in 2003 will go down as one of the worst political decisions ever made.  The long term ramifications are certainly being felt now, but will be felt for generations. Let’s review where we were in 2003: The United States had “won” the Cold War, had established itself as the guarantor of safety for sovereign nations during the Gulf War, had refrained from invading Iraq in 1991, had a growing economy, low inflation, low interest rates, low unemployment, a budget surplus, and incredible world-wide good will after the

Twenty-five years of teaching has provided me with a long view into the lives of adolescents.  Social Media, in my case LinkedIn, has allowed me to see what becomes of many of my former students.  No longer are we casting out to the universe and hoping that our teaching inspires - we can now see what actually happens.   There is a pattern.  As with any pattern, there are outliers, but the vast majority do fit into it.  My best students, both in terms of academic success but more so in terms of actually being open enough to learn, take their idealism, and strive to somehow make the world a better place with their lives.  They do this by engaging in the noble but thankless professions of environmental study, social justice work,working for non-profits, and teaching, just to name a few.  In these places they (we) do our best to chip away at the basic social injustice of the world.    At the same time, my most selfish students, with or without much academic promi

  Thinking about "Taxes" in a different way to understand a universal health care system. We make $130,000 a year.  Our tax burden is disproportionally high.  I want to have my taxes raised to fund Universal Health Care.     Our tax burden is 30%, not the 9% my tax return states.  This year my wife and I will earn more than $130,000.  This puts us in the top 10% of wage earning families in the United States.  It seems like a lot, and it is; over double what the average American family earns per year.  We are quite lucky.   However, our disposable income, after everything is taken out of our paychecks, is $90,000.  Still a lot.  But also a lot of “Taxes”.   Let me explain why our tax burden is so high.  First, I consider “Taxes” to be everything I pay out of my paycheck, not just Federal, State and local taxes.  I would not feel economically secure without health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, and retirement - would you?  Therefor

A Single Chart that Everyone Needs to See Trip Powers How is this chart not a part of every Democratic candidates campaign? I found this video on YouTube years ago and it still shocks me every time I see it. Entitled simply, Wealth Inequality in America , it provides such a clear answer to the root causes of our problems. Yet, I am convinced that the vast majority of Americans are ignorant to the dramatic extent of inequality in our country. As this video shows, what we believe is the actual distribution of wealth is far removed from reality. Screenshot from Wealth Inequality in America video on YouTube. Reuse allowed. This truth i s also shown in a Princeton Study that warns that America is no longer a democracy, but is now an oligarchy. In short, this study finds that the wealthy always win, and the people only sometimes win in the political process. However, making people aware of the depth of the problem is just the first step. Public opinion polling finds that people are

January, 2017 I have been, like many, reading the post mortems on this campaign, and it has been very frustrating. I see intellectual arrogance and naive realism (tendency to think that everyone views the world in the same way) aplenty. And I know of what I speak as I have been intellectually arrogant and suffer from naive realism myself. As I tend to always look internally when I am wrong, I have been doing much soul searching. I worked on the Clinton campaign in 1992, at the DNC and several other gubernatorial campaigns before becoming a History, Anthropology, and Economics teacher. I thought I had a good grasp on politics. Apparently, I don’t. But some clarity has arisen for me. In the back of my mind, I always had these nagging questions. How could blue collar democrats vote for Reaganonomics, which was so obviously skewed to help the wealthy, in 1980? How did Dukakis have a 17 point lead in the summer of 1988 when statistically the country was doing well and th