The guy sucks, but the previous left administration drove the economy into the ground. Poverty rose from around 45% to around 55%, and inflation went from around 25% to 288%.
We on the left need to be economically savvy. That doesn’t mean we can’t be radical. For example: A hundred different means-tested, bureaucratic welfare programs is progressive but inefficient and demeaning. A universal livable basic income is radical, liberating, and economically savvy. Rent control is another example of a popular leftist policy that is economically irrational. The goal of universal affordable housing is admirable, but the method is madness. It’s unfortunate that the left abhors anti-intellectualism everywhere except in economics.
This is not to say that we need to embrace neoliberal corporatist bullshit like charter schools, universal privatization, gutting regulatory agencies, etc, etc. It’s just recognizing that radical goals will not be achieved by ignoring hardwon economic knowledge, but by employing economic principles for the benefit of the poor instead of the wealthy.
The guy sucks, but the previous left administration drove the economy into the ground. Poverty rose from around 45% to around 55%, and inflation went from around 25% to 288%.
We on the left need to be economically savvy. That doesn’t mean we can’t be radical. For example: A hundred different means-tested, bureaucratic welfare programs is progressive but inefficient and demeaning. A universal livable basic income is radical, liberating, and economically savvy. Rent control is another example of a popular leftist policy that is economically irrational. The goal of universal affordable housing is admirable, but the method is madness. It’s unfortunate that the left abhors anti-intellectualism everywhere except in economics.
This is not to say that we need to embrace neoliberal corporatist bullshit like charter schools, universal privatization, gutting regulatory agencies, etc, etc. It’s just recognizing that radical goals will not be achieved by ignoring hardwon economic knowledge, but by employing economic principles for the benefit of the poor instead of the wealthy.
Thank you for your nuanced take.