Thread by @Noahpinion

Two things that America is almost certainly going to get if we're going to continue as a functional, first-rate economy:

1. Government health care

2. Higher taxes on the rich

I don't know exactly *how* these will be implemented, but in some form I think they will be.

Two things that America also really needs but might *not* end up getting:

1. A system for increasing labor's share of income relative to profits

2. A program for housing affordability and redistribution of land rents

The reason I think we might not get a system for increasing labor's share of income relative to profits is that American workers have gone a long time without unions, and so might not understand the potential of collective bargaining, co-determination, etc.

And the reason I think we might not get a program for affordable housing and the redistribution of land rents is the massive political power of homeowners and landowners, as well as middle-class people's desire to exclude poor people from their communities.

The reason Elizabeth Warren is my favorite of the current presidential candidates is that, while they all want government health insurance and higher taxes on the rich, Warren also has plans for the important things we might not otherwise get - wages and housing.

Warren's plan for wages is co-determination: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

And Warren's plan for housing includes a bunch of good stuff: theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

If the current leftward shift in American politics ends only with government health insurance and higher taxes, it will be an incomplete victory. But in order for wages and housing not to get left behind, we'll need people who remember the importance of those things.

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