1/OK I want to rant about Warren, Bernie, the primary election, and how the topic shifted from stuff I was passionate about to stuff that leaves me cold.
2/Earlier this year Warren came on strong with a series of bold plans for remaking the U.S. corporate system.
I loved that, because the U.S. corporate system badly needs remaking.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
I loved that, because the U.S. corporate system badly needs remaking.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
3/Warren's co-determination plan seemed like it could change the power relations between workers and owners, make companies invest more (and invest in their workers more), and change the way people thought about their employers.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
4/Warren's plan for "economic patriotism" was the smart export-focused industrial policy push I've been asking for.
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
5/Warren's private equity plan had some technical issues, but overall it's very important to reverse the financialization of the U.S. economy.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
6/Warren's labor plan is great too. Sectoral bargaining would revive the U.S. labor movement.
vox.com/identities/201…
vox.com/identities/201…
7/Her green manufacturing plan was also good industrial policy. Picking winners often fails, but climate change means we HAVE to pick this winner, or else.
medium.com/@teamwarren/my…
medium.com/@teamwarren/my…
9/Warren's program seemed to offer the chance to fundamentally change the way U.S. business worked.
It was stuff other people mostly weren't talking about before. It was smart. It was fresh. It had some rough edges, but all plans do. It was what I wanted to see.
It was stuff other people mostly weren't talking about before. It was smart. It was fresh. It had some rough edges, but all plans do. It was what I wanted to see.
10/Then THIS happened. The debate moderators kept pressing Warren on health care - an issue she hadn't emphasized. She got bogged down in the question of whether she'd raise taxes.
washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…
washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/…
11/Warren responded by releasing two plans - one to pay for single-payer without "tax increases", another to phase in single-payer over time.
By doing this, she changed the focus of her campaign to Bernie Lite. Centering health care, rather than reform of our industrial system.
By doing this, she changed the focus of her campaign to Bernie Lite. Centering health care, rather than reform of our industrial system.
12/Obviously this was a POLITICAL miscalculation. It took the wind out of her campaign's sails, pleased absolutely no one, sent leftists toward Bernie and centrists toward (shudder) Buttigieg. Unless she makes a comeback, health care is what sunk Warren.
13/But even worse, her pivot to health care changed the focus of the Democratic primary campaign.
Instead of making the campaign about changing the way business in America is done, Warren allowed it to become all about health care. And that is bad.
Instead of making the campaign about changing the way business in America is done, Warren allowed it to become all about health care. And that is bad.
14/Democrats spent decades of political capital pushing through an ok-but-not-great universal health care system (Obamacare). Now it looks like they might spend more decades of political capital vilifying that same system and pushing for a big replacement. 
15/Now, Bernie has released his own versions of Warren's plans to strengthen labor, promote exports, curb financialization, etc. Sometimes these plans are even bolder than Warren's...on paper.
But that's just "7 minute abs". Bernie's priority is health care.
But that's just "7 minute abs". Bernie's priority is health care.
16/And beyond Bernie, it seems like the entire Democratic electorate AND the Democratic elite want to focus on health care, health care, health care. It's like the ghost of Ted Kennedy is in charge of the party.
17/I don't like copays and deductibles, but are copays and deductibles really what's wrecking this country?
Are we really going to spend the next decade or more fighting like hell just to overturn the Obamacare system so we can get rid of copays and deductibles?
Are we really going to spend the next decade or more fighting like hell just to overturn the Obamacare system so we can get rid of copays and deductibles?
18/We need to change the way work is done in this country.
We need to change the way people are paid in this country.
We need to change the way companies invest in this country.
Warren would have done that.
Bernie will shout about it, but I don't think he'll do it.
We need to change the way people are paid in this country.
We need to change the way companies invest in this country.
Warren would have done that.
Bernie will shout about it, but I don't think he'll do it.
19/Bernie's followers and the DSA people talk a big game about "smashing capitalism", and if you talk to them one on one they'll talk about worker co-ops and stuff. But ultimately Bernie's campaign is just 1980s Ted Kennedy tax-and-spend, but MOAR MOAR MOAR.
20/Which isn't bad, I'm all for more tax-and-spend. We need higher taxes and it would be nice if people didn't have to pay out-of-pocket health costs. But it leaves our system's deeper problems untouched.
21/Warren's ideas for industrial and labor reform are (were?) genuinely new and fresh. They would have made America a trailblazer instead of just catching up with France.
Hopefully President Bernie will actually do some of them, or at least try to.
Hopefully President Bernie will actually do some of them, or at least try to.
22/But the 2020 primary campaign's shift from industrial and labor reform to health care health care health care has made me pessimistic about the Democratic party's willingness and ability to change the things that really need changing in our economy.
Oh well.
(end)
Oh well.
(end)
