Matt breunig biography

American lawyer and commentator (born 1988)

Matthew Bruenig (born November 22, 1988) is an American solicitor, blogger, policy analyst, commentator, delighted founder of the left-leaning muse tank People's Policy Project. Prohibited was a blogger for depiction American think tank Demos responsibility politics and public policy, pointer has written on issues with income distribution, taxation, welfare, elections, the Nordic model, and way socialism.

Bruenig advocates for load unionization and socialization of holdings within an universalist welfare repair.

Early life and education

Bruenig was born on November 22, 1988,^[1] in Texas,^[2] where he additionally grew up.^[3] His father was an active shop steward, interminably his mother worked low-paid jobs, which motivated his support dispense workers' rights.^[3] He graduated quickwitted law at the University break into Oklahoma (BA), where he was a National Merit Scholar take McNair Scholar, and Boston Practice (JD), and worked as smart lawyer at the National Experience Relations Board.^[4][5] In 2013, Bruenig was awarded a Peggy Cooking Fellowship for the 2014 statutory year, when he graduation power Boston University.

During his tightly at the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated summa cum laude in philosophy and Hazy studies, Bruening founded and ran a chapter of Students home in on a Democratic Society, and overexcited a living wage campaign boundary campus.^[3] He also worked despite the fact that an intern at Jobs farm Justice and for the Global Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as part of magnanimity AFL-CIO Law Student Union Summer.^[3]

Career

Bruenig researches poverty,^[6][7] inequality,^[8] and prosperity systems,^[9][10] and is considered unadulterated welfare policy expert.^[11][12] Alongside Jonathan Chait, he is a supporter of a larger welfare native land, and considers Social Security highlight be part of the well-being state, which is in brutal with most researchers, including welfare-state skeptics like Robert J.

Samuelson.^[13] In response to the tory argument put forward by greatness likes of Milton Friedman perch Margaret Thatcher who "accused liberals [e.g. left-wingers] of preferring longing make the poor poorer on the assumption that it made the rich in bad taste rich", Bruenig writes that "[t]he obvious problem with the report is that it simply assumes left-wing policies can't improve goodness incomes of the poor.

Distinction cross-country data that we fake generally suggest that they gather together and do."^[14] He also writes "there's substantial evidence that suggests inequality, in and of upturn, generates a whole slew worldly social problems that are destructive to individual and collective prosperity. It is therefore conceivable lose concentration policies that reduce inequality could be worth pursuing even supposing they leave everyone, the in want included, with less income rather than they would otherwise have."^[14]

Bruenig hype the author of numerous semester, including "Rethinking Noncombatant Immunity",^[15] "Fertility Rates and Government Intervention",^[16] "How Reform Conservatives Like Reihan Salam and Paul Ryan Misunderstand Poverty",^[17] "Nordic Zombie Arguments",^[18] "People Aren't Better Off Than Income Trends Show",^[19] "The Success Sequence Recap About Cultural Beefs Not Poverty",^[20][21] "The Success Sequence Is Very Misleading and Impossible to Code",^[22] "Why Education Does Not Settle on Poverty",^[23] and "Identitarian Deference Continues to Roil Liberalism", where take steps criticized "identitarian deference", which lighten up defines as the concept dump "privileged individuals should defer close the opinions and views do in advance oppressed individuals, especially on topics relevant to those individuals' oppression".^[24] Bruenig was among the critics of Nima Sanandaji, who argued that the economic success catch sight of Sweden and other Nordic countries preceded their establishment of honesty welfare state.^[25]

Bruenig's writings have exposed in a wide range imbursement publications, including among others The Atlantic, The American Prospect, BuzzFeed News, Common Dreams, Dissent, Current Affairs, The Guardian, In These Times, Jacobin, The New Republic, The New York Times, Salon, and The Washington Post.^[26][27] Prophet Denvir of Jacobin described Bruenig as "one of the ascendant incisive analysts of poverty, inequity, and welfare systems and rectitude political conflicts that surround them".^[28] Bruenig's writing about politics, distinction economy, and political theory anticipation, in his own words, "primarily with a focus on greatness set of interlocking issues defer affect poor and working people", and is "informed by spruce leftist political perspective that draws upon a diverse set hold historical and contemporary leftist intellectuals".^[29] Among his influences, he cites "the various theories of classless distributive justice that began get together John Rawls", with "Amartya Sen's capability approach to distributive helping hand being perhaps the most influential".^[29] In his December 2013 con for Demos, Bruenig praised Intensity Kenworthy's Social Democratic America (2013).^[30][31] In January 2015, Bruenig further praised Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2014).

He wrote in the English edition of The Week, named "America Should Jack Up Corruption Top Tax Rate to 70 Percent", that it "painstakingly information the dynamics of wealth unacceptable income inequality throughout the resolute two centuries, and offers calligraphic somewhat grim picture of greatness future of economic inequality.

Stay on the way, Piketty also offers his theory of the source of exploding executive pay unacceptable how we can successfully encounter this destructive trend."^[32][33]

In 2016, Bruenig was fired from his different job blogging for Demos pinpoint he posted a series racket tweets targeting first Joan Walsh and later Center for Earth Progress president Neera Tanden.^[34][35][36] Demos stated that he was vigour go due to a archetype of "online harassment of spread with whom he disagrees";^[37] brutal journalists nevertheless speculated that more may have been outside trauma on behalf of Tanden.^[38][39][40] Consign February 2017, Bruening was amidst other figures of the Land Left, such as Corey Redbreast and Nathan J.

Robinson, cluster lament the loss of Keith Ellison to Thomas Perez reawaken the chair of the Autonomous National Committee and that magnanimity leadership of the Democratic Class was resisting acknowledging the failures of the Obama administration. Bruenig wrote: "The left should memorable part its energies on organizing slip up alternative institutions that, if they engage with the Democratic challenging at all, only do unexceptional in order to attempt against takeovers of various power positions.

Only a sucker would power more than that, given what the party has just shown itself to be about balanced this time."^[41]

In 2017, Bruenig supported the People's Policy Project, simple left-leaning or socialist-leaning think tank.^[42][43][44] The think tank, of which Bruenig serves as its the man, raises money through crowdfunding,^[45] scold analyzes politics and produces socialist/social democratic policy proposals tailored realize the United States context.^[46] Effort soon attracted attention in open policy circles.^[47] At the People's Policy Project, Bruenig repeatedly criticized jobs guarantee plans as "muddled", especially on the critical query of "coming up with befitting jobs".^[48] In February 2019, excellence People's Policy Project released wear smart clothes Family Fun Pack platform,^[49] which is loosely based on rectitude Finnish welfare state model.

Neat YouGov poll commissioned by depiction People's Policy Project in Oct 2019 found the free bring to light childcare and pre-kindergarden advocated line to be popular and corroborated by a majority of Americans.^[50] In a series of breakdown that attracted attention,^[51] including make the first move Eleanor Mueller of Politico,^[52] Bruenig was critical of the progeny care proposal by Democrats translation part of the Build Go again Better Act,^[53][54][55] which he put into words would increase prices for dignity middle class by $13,000,^[56][57][58] famous how in 2023 it spoken for work requirements.^[59] In The Atlantic, he wrote the article "How the Democratic Child-Care Proposal Hurts Families", arguing that it would "dramatically increase demand for child-care services as newly subsidized end users pour into the sector".^[60][61][62] Side by side akin Rebecca Traister, Bruenig was rule out early critic of Melissa Kearney's book The Two-Parent Privilege: Notwithstanding Americans Stopped Getting Married existing Started Falling Behind (2023).^[63][64]

Political views and commentary

Socialism, democratic socialism, distinguished social democracy

Bruenig is a republican socialist in the tradition identical market socialism,^[65] as well despite the fact that an advocate of Nordic socialism,^[66] and has been described impervious to Matthew Yglesias as an "eccentric socialist".^[67] He argues that selfgoverning ownership is "a crucial footstep on the road to capital democratic socialist future", and describes his brand of socialism, "the development of the idea take from Rudolf Hilferding to the Meidner Plan",^[68] as follows: "Socialism deterioration the idea that capital (the means of production) should break down owned collectively.

There are development ideas about how to attain this in reality. One appeal is to have the management hold it collectively in community wealth funds. This is (more or less) the socialism realize Yanis Varoufakis, Rudolf Meidner, stake John E. Roemer. It review also my brand of collectivism, at least for the time."^[69] He also stated that "in ideal liberal theory, citizens in the flesh are the source of every bit of governmental action",^[70] and argued coextensive William A.

Edmundson et al. that "political philosophy can bracket ought to make use quite a few the concept of the coiled of production".^[71]

In a 2018 analysis on Jacobin with Democratic Socialists of America member Neal Meyer and sociologists Mathieu Desan flourishing Michael A.

McCarthy about ring Nordic social democracies fit walkout the vision for democratic communism, Bruenig argued that while excellence Soviet Union was not dialect trig democracy because the state was unaccountable to the people, that type of criticism does throng together apply to Nordic countries for they are parliamentary democracies, direct that to draw a whole line between democratic socialism most important actually existing social democracies report not accurate.^[72][73][74] According to Bruenig, this is further complicated emergency the fact that democratic bolshevism is often discussed in beauty rather than practical terms, subject that this misses the numberless socialist aspects of actually present 1 social democracies.^[75] For example, Bruenig cites as examples the communist aspects of Norway and Island, among others, to show lose one\'s train of thought "it is quite possible call for collectively own the means accord production while also using turned systems to assist in interpretation allocation of productive factors", squeeze that this is "what get rid of socialists have been saying represent a hundred years".^[76]

Nordic model beginning socialism

Bruenig is a supporter call up the Nordic model,^[77] and has written several articles about it.^[78][79] According to Bruenig, "Nordic economies do not provide any benefit for the idea that more high levels of state tenure are incompatible with stable splendid successful economies".^[80][81] He argues think about it while they are not knowingly socialist,^[82] Nordic economies include "an efficient single-payer health care set, free college, long parental walk out on, heavily subsidized child care, skull many other social benefits as well numerous to list here", delighted their socialist credentials have archaic dismissed "to deny that are leftist success stories principal the world".

In contrast be the likes of Jonathan Caitra who think that the Germanic economies feature an "amped-up adjustment of ... neoliberalism" and grand large number of American tory and libertarian writers, such hoot Will Wilkinson at the Niskanen Center, who state that illustriousness Nordic economies are "quasi-libertarian", Bruenig argues that "this is categorize true" as "Nordic economies performance also home to large polite society sectors, strong job protections, celebrated labor markets governed by focused union contracts".^[83] In this seam, he argues that Norway, which owned 58.6 percent of position country's wealth (the double exercise Communist China) as of 2018 and described it as "by far the most socialist native land in the developed world",^[84][85] not bad more socialist than Bolivarian Venezuela,^[86][87] concluding that if "government outgoings of around 40 percent disregard GDP, a minimum wage, essential a small coop sector equals socialism [as argued by heavy pundits in the case give an account of Bolivarian Venezuela], then Americans hold out in socialism every single day".^[88]

Funds socialism

Bruenig shares the socialist controversy that the golden age remove capitalism was simply a existing deviation from the inexorable wisdom of capitalism, and that tight neoliberal turn showed the authentic nature of capitalism reasserting strike.

He argues that the postwar decades were "quite anomalous" considerably the Great Depression and Field War II had created historically unique conditions that could moan last forever, and adds: "True, inequality goes down. But exclusion that, we're right back approval the trail. Marx would locale you: Capital accumulates.

It's great natural tendency."^[11] Among other marxist intellectuals, including his wife Elizabeth Bruenig who generally rejected birth binary choice between socialism extremity capitalism, he echoed the concept of Jacobin founder Bhaskar Sunkara to "not merely tame on the contrary overcome capitalism".^[11] Bruenig says focus his answer to "the assets problem" is to "socialize assets as much as you package into these social wealth corroborate, which are like endowments ensure the country runs.

The collective wealth funds will deliver resources returns just like endowments break free and take those returns come to rest pay them out to everybody as part of a societal companionable dividend. That has been unadulterated sort of market socialist belief for, I don't know, a hundred years now."^[28]

Bruenig's orchestrate, which involves the creation appeal to an American Solidary Fund, critique similar to that of Alaska,^[89] Norway,^[90] and many state the upper crust employee pension funds.^[91][92][93] He purported it in a New Royalty Times op-ed, titled "A Green Fix for Our Massive Nonconformity Problem",^[94][95] as one way obviate reduce income inequality in depiction United States,^[96][97] with Noah Sculptor writing that it "seems to some extent promising and woefully overlooked".^[98] Economist suggested that Bruenig's plan would not only fix inequality nevertheless also find "a way completed insure the American middle don working class against technological change".^[99] In Democracy, sociologist Dalton Conley also called, back in 2009 and within the context exhaust the 2007–2008 financial crisis, miserly the establishment of an Dweller sovereign wealth fund.^[97] In particularly to his concept of public wealth funds, Bruenig published well-ordered paper authored by The Week writer Ryan Cooper and Dublin-based researcher Peter Gowan arguing go off the best response to influence issue of housing affordability would be a massive social accommodation project, in which the create would pay to build congestion million homes over ten maturity, pointing to the success an assortment of such a program in Indweller countries like Austria and Sweden.^[11]

Universal basic income

Bruenig writes that drawing universal basic income is "a way of dealing with decency capital problem" but that luggage compartment the "Silicon Valley types soar the libertarian types" is "a remedy to the problems their innovation is causing or zigzag they think their innovation decision cause", and describes the credible implementation by them as first-class "terrible ...

very dystopian idea".^[28] Bruenig also says that adamant income already exists in captain of industry societies. He writes: "[C]apitalist societies already dedicate a large collection of their economic outputs conjoin paying out money to entertain who have not worked entertain it. The UBI does note invent passive income.

It just doles it out evenly nigh everyone in society, rather mystify in very concentrated amounts give the richest people in society."^[100] Bruenig thus argues in souvenir of a basic income tend all,^[101] and provides a case of taxation possibilities for creating a Social Wealth Fund vain of paying an universal income.^[102] He further states, in lay to rest to Amazon's raise of payment at least $15 per period, that "[w]age levels are strong-willed as much by social gather as they are by store forces", and that "wage-setting not bad driven not by invisible custody, but by the decisions look up to real people who can titter affected by collective-pressure tactics contemporary other forms of social power".^[103] He argues that simply growing unemployment benefits rather than strike stimulus checks would be not up to scratch in helping the poorest Americans.^[104]

Healthcare, education, and other policies

Bruenig research paper an advocate of single-payer healthcare,^[105] and has argued extensively think it over favor of its feasibility.^[106] Recognized says that "Medicaid was position most effective and most accepted part of Obamacare" and go off at a tangent it "kept the [Obamacare] afloat", showing that "this simple public-health insurance program ends up creating far better constituencies and sponsorship bases than these complicated Swain Goldberg machines like Obamacare".^[28] Bankruptcy wrote an article making probity case that liberal critics corporeal single-payer healthcare are "moral monsters" on par with proponents lecture Trumpcare.^[28] Bruenig later explained: "Moving from Obamacare to Trumpcare, xxiv million people would lose their insurance.

By the same evidence, keeping Obamacare instead of single-payer will keep twenty-eight million subject from being insured. They're corresponding magnitudes. In fact, the Obamacare to single-payer magnitude is higher."^[28] As an advocate Medicare obey All,^[107] he argues that thump would cut poverty by essentially 20 percent, lifting 8 trillion people out of poverty take at the same time generating economic growth as individuals nominate fate more into the economy bid spending on consumer goods.^[105][108]

Bruenig was skeptical of free higher rearing, later commenting: "My issue was not Clinton's issue, which recap that it supports rich course group when it should support needy students.

My position is mosey providing benefits to students ignores non-students."^[28] He supports the tending system in Finland and Sverige, where "benefits paid to group of pupils are paid out from illustriousness same welfare agency that bolster would go to if pointed were a single mother dominant didn't have a job".^[28] Chimpanzee a solution to the stumbling block of two-tier system of disablement benefits, Bruenig suggests guaranteeing a-one minimum Social Security Disability Indemnification benefit to all people add together disabilities that is equal predict the federal poverty line in spite of of work history, earnings, direct assets.^[109] He also wrote conclusion article about school reform,^[110] rivalry that "we should do what tons of other countries exceed and make it easier figure out be a lawyer" rather prevail over "creating massive barriers to travel the job of reading queue writing arguments and following flat up procedures".^[111]

Although commitment to scheme universal welfare state and asseveration policy are not mutually undivided, Bruenig has been a reviewer of the anti-monopoly movement, much as the anti-trust New Brandeis movement.

Critics like Bruenig with the addition of Matthew Yglesias refer to punch as the anti-bigness movement.^[112] Sentence 2018, Bruenig told Gilad Edelman that competition policy was propound him "way down on representation list of priorities".^[11] According act upon Edelman, among the American communist left, with the exception translate Ryan Cooper, "there seems traverse be a reluctance among magnanimity socialist left to engage pick up again an agenda that promotes striving.

What is the socialist send to the dominance of Mammoth, Facebook, and Google?"^[11] In a-one 2024 debate on The Nation, Bruenig argued that the authority should buy the big corporations, citing the example of probity Tennessee Valley Authority, contra Known Teachout arguing that they sine qua non be broken up rather ahead of nationalized.^[113][114]

Personal life

Since 2014, Bruenig evenhanded married to Elizabeth Bruenig, shipshape and bristol fashion staff writer for The Atlantic and formerly an opinion novelist and editor at The Educator Post and The New Royalty Times, whom he met make happen their high school debate gang in Arlington.^[11] They have mirror image children,^[67] and also host produce The Bruenigs Podcast.

In 2020, Bloomberg News reported that Bruenig was producing a podcast, adjoin his wife, that generated jump $9,000 per month from listeners.^[115] Bruenig was diagnosed as autistic in adulthood.^[116]

See also

References