Enlight21

In case people think the 2016 dispute over superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention has been resolved, think again.

Criticized by her fellow Democrats for not talking about how she plans to pay for a single-payer Medicare for all program and for insisting that under her plan, the middle class will not see higher taxes, Warren has responded by unveiling details about where the money for her Medicare for all  plan would  come from.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders seem to agree on a lot of issues—Medicare for All,  Free College,  Taxing the Rich,  Forgiving College Loan Debt and more.  The two are in complete agreement that the system is currently rigged in favor of the rich and corporations. .  So, what are the differences between the two?

Universal Basic Income, or UBI, is an idea that has been promoted by “progressive” capitalists who are not interested in fundamental structural changes.  Instead, they advocate glitzy band aids slapped on gushing wounds, believing that such measures would alleviate serious problems like the extreme income inequality that plagues many developed countries.

While media commentators have focused on the energy generated by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and its leading campaign issue—Medicare-for-All—this could be deceptive.  In this article, the author shows that for the 2018 mid0term elections, significantly more moderate Democrats were able to flip seats than progressives supported by Bernie Sanders’ grassroots organization, Our Revolution.

Most analysts agree that the Democrats’ chances of carrying out their agenda after 2020 (regardless of which party is in the White House) will depend on whether they can become the majority party in the Senate.  If the Republicans are still the majority party in the Senate, Mitch McConnell will continue to block bills.  

Professor Rachel Bitecofer, the assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Virginia’s Christopher Newport University, accurately predicted that Democrats would gain 42 sits in 2018 (Dems gained 40). 

The conventional wisdom is that in the primaries, candidates tend to be more extreme—for Dems, this means tilting left--as they try to stand out among the field of candidates, but after a nominee has been chosen, he/she will run to the middle, hoping to appeal to independents and moderates.

The for-profit private healthcare insurance companies,  hospitals,  and big pharmaceutical will fight Medicare-for-All to the bitter end.  They have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

First, a few key historical facts about Immigration in the U.S. Until 1965, American immigration law has always been racist, starting with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act

The idea of a “Green New Deal” has been germinating for a little over 20 years  in the U.S. and U.K.  The name is inspired by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s when his administration  created a whole host of new programs and social safety legislation to lift America out of the Depression. 

Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else.

The way Amazon competes and the power of its monopoly are seldom highlighted in the media. Elizabeth Warren mentions it frequently as the reason why breaking up big tech is important, because the “winner take all” !

It's no secret that America's middle class is in decline. But while we focus on how that decline started (and who is to blame), we often forget to consider what happens if our middle class is wiped out entirely.

Despite gains in national income over the past half-century, American households in the middle of the distribution have experienced very little income growth in recent decades.

In an opinion piece, Princeton economist Paul Krugman states that while many people assume that automation is the main reason for job loss and low wages, this is just not the case.

The rise of demagogues with autocratic tendencies--men who can rally certain segments of society using nativist, racist, and fake populist appeals--is an emerging trend today.

This piece by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is based on studies comparing countries’ levels of automation and job loss. It concludes that while there is a relationship, it is definitely not the only reason. Why?

The economic theory championed by conservatives that emerged during the Reagan era—that by cutting the tax rates of the rich/corporations would “trickle down” to everyone else through economic growth and job creation—has been proven to be INVALID.

I have been thinking about the problem of how to incentivize people to behave in an environmentally-friendly way.

As our planet heats up, fish are migrating north, spurring conflict among nations.

Actions to combat climate change need to focus much more on local actions.

Toyota, GM, Subaru, Chrysler , Nissan, Hyundai, Mazda, and Kia have sided with the Trump administration in its attack on California’s much stricter carbon emissions standards.