It’s been a minute since I posted. Instead of policy or a long post though, I figured I would briefly delve into reasons why I hold the beliefs I do which lead me to being an egalitarian socialist: Universalism over naturalizationWe all universally possess individual autonomy and a capacity to reason. Yet, humans are alsoContinue reading “Political philosophy”
Tag Archives: Welfare
What poverty really is – an addendum
I previously wrote about how the media treats poverty, which is usually scatterbrained in regards to its causes because there isn’t a thorough analysis of what kind of people are in poverty. And to reiterate, half the population does not work either because they shouldn’t or cannot yet the economy that we live in givesContinue reading “What poverty really is – an addendum”
What poverty really is
Poverty is not complicated. Policy-wise, it only requires a simple solution. The real challenge is the political effort and capital needed. I say this in response to Matthew Desmond’s new book “Poverty, by America” and the reviews he & the New Yorker gave. As far as its stated goals, I applaud the “poverty abolitionist” attitude.Continue reading “What poverty really is”
Revisiting military spending
I ranted many posts ago about the misconceptions of military spending as it relates to other budgetary items. In light of the recent Omnibus spending bill that recently passed, I figured I’d briefly comment about how much it is relative to the federal budget. Below is the historical and current projection based on the bill:Continue reading “Revisiting military spending”
The welfare matrix
I previously touched on how the welfare state is orthogonal to who owns production – capitalism vs socialism. The reason is that the latter is only a matter of who manages production, nothing else, while the former is purely on whether you give transfer (i.e. welfare) income to those who do not and/or cannot workContinue reading “The welfare matrix”
Pricing out US social democracy
Teasing out how to build a social democratic welfare state is no easy task, but we can easily sketch out general expenditures. By comparing GDP between the US and Nordic nations, you can create rough back-of-the-envelope calculations. The above is percent of GDP spent on top items – except for US healthcare, much of thisContinue reading “Pricing out US social democracy”
No Ponzi for Social Security
Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme! No matter what, I will defend this until my last breath. There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the program and many “smart” people regurgitate false talking points about how the program operates. Like the PBS article, many argue this because they think the program really is a personal savingsContinue reading “No Ponzi for Social Security”
Tax
Most will think I’m crazy saying it, but I don’t mind taxes. I like them. I embrace them. I enjoy paying them. Indeed, I would love to pay even higher taxes in exchange for simply universal programs replacing old private plans, freeing myself from worrying about various accounts. They’re our contributions to society so itContinue reading “Tax”
Egalitarian Nation
In keeping with recent posts about egalitarianism, I wanted to revive an old Demos article Matt Bruenig wrote years ago. While all his work from that site has unfortunately been long removed, I dug through the Wayback Machine and painstakingly yet fortunately found the exact article. I love me some welfare and never bore talkingContinue reading “Egalitarian Nation”
Distractions
I won’t reiterate the million takes on student debt. I have debt myself that I was paying off well ahead of time. This was mostly thanks to luck moving up quickly in my current job and being able to live in a stable household sharing expenses for nearly a decade now. The remainder will beContinue reading “Distractions”
The Market Socialist 