NEWARK, NJ — May 19, 2020 — As the country begins a process of reopening, and increasingly more people, especially those deemed non-essential workers, are protesting against the lock-downs, we are seeing more clearly the fault-lines in the economy. On one level, there is a class warfare going on between economic elites who are able to work remotely and ordinary …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
The New Inequality
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
NEWARK, NJ — May 5, 2020 — Inequality and rising income has long been an issue in any number of political campaigns. The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, puts an actual face on it which may have easily been obscured. Too often inequality can appear to be an abstraction as we are looking at Gini coefficients and top-to-bottom …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Managing a Crisis, and Especially Now, Requires Real Leadership
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
NEWARK, NJ — April 21, 2020 — With the advent of public administration during the early part of the Twentieth Century came what is regarded as the administrative state. Critics deride it as the “deep state.” Still, classical public administration rested on a couple of basic principles: separation of politics from administration, and staffing based on merit, which would …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
What Workers Really Need in this Economic Crisis is Liquidity
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
NEWARK, NJ — April 6, 2020 — Any law passed by Congress, even with the noblest intentions is fraught with politics. Every member of Congress attempts to fold his or her pet project into a bill, even if it has nothing to do with it. The CARE Act, i.e. the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill is no different. We have funding …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Coronavirus, Crisis, and Changing the Nature of Work
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Necessity as the mother of invention has long been a driving force for progress. In our political system, the main driver of change has been crisis. The political system is so robust by design that only when there is a true crisis, do we begin to see movement on anything. Obviously, the same must be true for the economy. The …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Serious Economic Policy Should be Predicated on Economic Development
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — February 25, 2020 – As Bernie Sanders appears to be heading towards front-runner status, any number of people are expressing their shock and dismay over electing a socialist. Instead of separating themselves from Sanders ideologically, the rest of the candidates bend over backwards to show how progressive they are too. Now Bloomberg is endorsing unions, which, of …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Reforming Healthcare Requires Severing Insurance from Employment
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — February 10, 2020 – The policy of the day appears to be Medicare for All, which is really nothing different than a single-payer system. We need a single-payer system, the argument goes, because 1) not everybody has adequate coverage and 2) it is immoral that people who get sick should go bankrupt due to high medical …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Purchasing Votes with ‘Free Stuff’ is Really Contempt for Democracy
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — January 28, 2020 – We hear a lot on the campaign trail these days about programs and new investment. We also hear lip service to the meaning of democracy. That is, in a democracy government gives the people what they want, and if the people want new programs, then that is precisely what being responsive to …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
American Democracy is Nothing More than a Market
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Those pushing for Trump’s impeachment argue that it is essential to preserve the integrity of American democracy. By placing his own interests, i.e. ensuring his reelection, over those of the nation — supposedly delivering aid to Ukraine — he has abused his power. And yet, one wonders if American democracy is really a democracy. The reality that nobody speaks about …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
Globalism and Inequality: The Real Threats to Our Democracy
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN
For those on the right, inequality is a nonissue because gaps between the top and the bottom only serve to incentivize those at the bottom to work harder. That is, after all, how market economies work. For those on the left, inequality only illustrates how the wealthy have stolen from the poor, for which the only real answer is punitive …
By OREN M. LEVIN-WALDMAN