Mike Konczal
@RooseveltInst / @RooseveltFwd fellow. @TheNation @Dissentmag contributor. Finishing book on decommodification as freedom @thenewpress. šš¹ On paternity leave.
Last synced from Twitter 452d ago
I Was Once a Socialist. Then I Saw How It Worked.
Two cheers for capitalism, now and forever.
1
Mike Konczal
Brooks out here in 2019 with the Whig Party as the solution to our crisis...
as if that party wasn't torn to shreds by its complete inability to answer assertive white supremacy, anti-immigration sentiments, and the increasing brutality of waged-labor.
3d
Why One City Has Made Preschool Free for Those Who Can Pay
Inside the fight for universal pre-k
6
Mike Konczal
There was an excellent 2016 @DanaGoldstein piece on De Blasio's pre-K program which consciously benefitted everyone, even the 1%.
2 things stood out: (1) universality made it successful and (2) policy gatekeepers *hated* it because it benefitted everyone. theatlantic.com/education/archā¦ pic.twitter.com/1opqjSFekc
10d
Only 1.4% of Free College Spending Would Go to Children of Millionaires and Billionaires
Hereās an argument you hear often in the free college space.
1
Mike Konczal
re: Klobuchar's college comment, only 1.4% of free public college would benefit rich kids. The remaining 98.6% would go to everyone else.
18d
The End of Babies
From Scandinavia to East Asia, fertility rates are falling and families are shrinking. Has modern life become hostile to reproduction?
1
Mike Konczal
Moving, deeply reported piece by @annalouiesuss on declining fertility in the US, Denmark, and China, focusing on workism, late-capitalism anxieties, and reproductive justice. A humanizing way of approaching an often fraught and difficult topic.
23d
The progressive vision for economic growth, explained
Progressives have a plan to make the economy more fair. But do they have a plan to make it grow?
1
Mike Konczal
Great piece by @EmilyStewartM on how the broader left-liberal infrastructure is thinking much more aggressively about growth, and how it is limited by measurement, inequality, market power, weak public programs, and more.
33d
Warrenās Medicare for All Plan Jumpstarts a Stalled Debated, Finds a Way to Circumvent the Power of Employers
Thereās been a wave of education and political mobilization around Medicare for All (M4A) since Bernie Sanders centered the demand in theā¦
1
Mike Konczal
Sleep-deprived, but a post on Warren's Medicare for All plan, with why I think a plan is necessary tactically.
I haven't seen people note her Employer Contribution smartly fights monopsony, keeping bosses and owners from eating all the surplus post-M4A.
34d
1
Mike Konczal
The more I see how people think opaque, nonsalient employer health care spending will end up with workers, the more I worry they aren't taking monopsony seriously.
Why not just soak employers upfront, rather than leaving workers to fight on bad terrain? medium.com/@rortybomb/warā¦ pic.twitter.com/YeB45wU8pj
33d
Capitalism to Egalitarians: You're Welcome!
Iāve posted on this paper once already, but it really, really, really deserves more attention. And people pay attention to Steven Levitt, so listen to him: According to two of my University oā¦
2
Mike Konczal
This argument about the poor facing a lower inflation rate (i.e. "consumption inequality") was started ~2008 by Christian Broda and promoted by a big network of those arguing against inequality worries (see link for an example).
Then Broda....disappeared.
34d
The Inflation Gap
A new analysis indicates that rising prices have been quietly taxing low-income families more heavily than rich ones.
2
Mike Konczal
An obscure but influential argument made for not worrying about inequality is that the poor face a lower inflation rate than the rich. These arguments were everywhere ~2009 and still remain.
Turns out new, actual research on the topic finds the opposite.
34d
What John Rawls Missed
Are his principles for a just society enough today?
1
Mike Konczal
"Conflict lies at the bottom of politics and political thought, and was merely kept out of sight for some decades."
Great review essay by @JedediahSPurdy of @katforrester's book, on how our debates over justice were created in a no-longer-existing world.
41d
Chileās People Have Had Enough of Neoliberalism
The week has felt like a very risky test to see if Chile can avoid repeating a history itās sick ofāa drastic, paradigm-shifting display of state violence.
1
Mike Konczal
This is a really useful overview of the protests that are happening in Chile by @Millicentsomer.
44d
Behind the Numbers: The CBO Just Handed Us $2 Trillion
Anyone who follows the DC budget game knows that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) serves as its referee; any proposal that involves new spending or revenue is scored by the CBO for its impact on the federal debt over the next 10 years. That...
1
Mike Konczal
Long-term government debt trajectory just collapsed by a third. Federal government now has an extra $2.2 trillion dollars to work with over the next decade. This is pretty extraordinary, but you won't see headlines explaining this. Luckily @JWMason1 will.
45d
Against the Anti-Market Consensus
Right and left are converging on a misreading of capitalismView Post
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Mike Konczal
I'm not sure what part of the conservative brain forces a piece that could just say "markets played an underappreciated role in reducing global poverty" into "China is a free-market country that rejects Keynesian demand management, AOC echos communism."
53d
This One Weird Trick Makes Economies More Fair!
A wealth tax is one of the most progressive government levies, falling entirely on the extremely wealthy.
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Mike Konczal
Warren's correct, you can fund day care, free public college, paid family leave, and a child allowance with the money you would raise from a wealth tax.
55d
Professional-Managerial Chasm
In the early years of the 20th century, the professions emerged in their modern forms, establishing uniform standards of practice and conduct in all these fields. The new professionals were in general politically progressive, seeing their purpose as...
1
Mike Konczal
Independent of the Warren/Sanders stuff that prompts it, this by @gabrielwinant is one of the better essays in years about broader political changes since (at least) the Great Recession. Anyone thinking of professionals, policy and politics should read it.
60d
The Culmination of Republican Decay
Much of the wreckage Trump has caused is simply the expression of his willingness to pursue long-standing Republican policies while coarsening the polarizing politics practiced by the George W. Bush White House.
1
Mike Konczal
This is a good piece by @seanwilentz reviewing American Carnage, discussing the Trump administration as in continuity with the W. one, something that makes sense but is never discussed.
64d
The āNever Trumpā Coalition That Decided Eh, Nevermind, Heās Fine
They signed open letters, dedicated a special magazine issue to criticism of him and swore he would tear at the fabric of this nation. Now they have become the presidentās strongest defenders.
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Mike Konczal
Bozell: āThese are the people who supported George W. Bush when he did nothing for conservatives"
Never Trump until election aside, do many professional, movement conservatives believe W. did nothing for conservatives? That strikes me as insane.
64d
The Student Debt Problem Is a Family Crisis
More and more parents are ending up trapped between what they feel is a moral obligation toward higher education and their financial reality.
3
Mike Konczal
The evidence is in that student debt reworks the lives of young adults in pernicious ways. But there's new work being done on how it reworks the lives of parents and families, in ways that exacerbate inequality. Me discussing @caitlinzaloom's new book.
80d
Why Pelosi Opposes Impeachment
If she were not in the House--and not Speaker of the House--Nancy Pelosi says she "would probably advocate" impeaching President Bush.
But given her current role as party leader, at a breakfast with progressive journalists today (named after our...
1
Mike Konczal
"The question of impeachment is something that would divide the country," [Speaker] Pelosi said... Her top priorities are...expanding health care, creating jobs and preserving the environment. - July 31, 2007
81d
Page Cannot be Found
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Mike Konczal
@jonathanchait M4A is a complicated tax question, and I'd like to have seen more progress on that question this year, alas. But we can have a massive expansion of social insurance via just the rich.
(Second chart from this blockbuster paper on taxing the rich.)
82d
The effects of debt relief on the student loan market
Rising student debt is considered one of the creeping threats of our time. This column examines the effect of student-debt relief on individual credit and labour market outcomes. Following debt
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Mike Konczal
Amazing study following a randomized group of people who got their student loans discharged. Consistent with the idea of serious liquidity and debt overhang, their overall defaults go down, they are more likely to move and change jobs. /1 (h/t @JWMason1) voxeu.org/article/effectā¦ pic.twitter.com/DTgwK6Kp3w
88d