Articles Planned for the Future

Sidenote: The article formerly titled "Coming Soon"

Sep 15, 2021

This Sidenote contains summaries of articles I plan to publish in the future. It will periodically be updated to include new topics and remove sections as articles get published.

Feel free to make suggestions here for future articles you’d like to see, and check back occasionally to see what’s in the works.

Intermittent Articles—2023 and the Foreseeable Future

Beginning in 2023, I will no longer be posting articles regularly. However, I plan to follow up on some of the topics previous articles discussed and certain topics that I did not get a chance to cover yet. Many of these topics have drafts in the works, but will require more research and refining before they are ready to be published.

In the meantime, I’m open to suggestions if there is a topic you’d like me to cover in the future, and—as always—feel free to read my previous articles from 2020 through 2022.

2022 Monthly Articles

Many articles from the Economic Justice and Progress Newsletter throughout 2022 have included brief updates on several topics, especially compared to 2021’s more in-depth essays. I also plan to include quarterly jobs reports updates once the BLS releases three months of Employment Situation Summaries.

My recent article on inflation was an exception, as it extensively examined a particular topic, but I plan to include articles like this a few times every year in addition to more general updates. When I do more in-depth articles, they will likely cover topics like the ones outlined below.

Whether you would like me to briefly mention a topic in a more general newsletter, or cover a subject extensively in an essay, please feel free to let me know what else you would like to read in future articles.

Other Articles in the Works

These are the more extensive articles I plan to publish in the future, often due to their relevance in current political discourse. If you would like me to prioritize other topics, feel free to reach out and let me know!

Ethics Reform and the Obstructionists Preventing Progress

The next entry in the For the People Act series will pick up where the campaign finance article left off by discussing similar provisions aimed at curbing corruption in our political system, but I also want to cover the obstructionists preventing such reform.

The central tool in the obstructionists’ toolkit is abusing the unconstitutional filibuster to prevent even debating certain legislation. I will discuss how the filibuster blocked the For the People Act, other parts of the Biden administration’s agenda, and how the filibuster could be reformed or abolished.

Corporate Media vs. Independent Journalism

The narratives spun by media outlets covering the infrastructure negotiations show clear ideological divides. In this writer’s humble opinion, that divide can be explained in the context of the root of many problems: money. More specifically, corporate money.

I plan to write a more extensive article detailing specific examples, comparing coverage of the same events by different sources, but I wanted to briefly mention patterns I’ve seen lately. Independent journalists who do not rely on corporate funding—such as the Economic Justice and Progress Newsletter, for instance—reported on the details of the two infrastructure bills, countered nonsensical objections to the reconciliation package, and pointed out the conflicts of interest common amongst obstructionists.

Corporate media, on the other hand, frequently attacked progressive members of Congress as being “divisive” despite their alignment with President Biden’s agenda. The White House and the majority of Congress—including House and Senate leadership—agree that both bills need to pass, yet somehow a handful of corporate Democrats who want to obstruct that agenda are not the ones being “divisive”?

These negotiations have been such a great case study showing the disingenuousness of corporate media that I plan to dedicate an article to this topic, and I hope you look forward to receiving it in your inbox.

The Freedom to Vote Act and Unnecessary Compromise

On September 14, 2021, Senate Democrats announced a gutted version of the For the People Act called the Freedom to Vote Act. This bill still includes important provisions, but unnecessarily removes important sections from the original For the People Act.

While protecting voting rights would still be an impactful step forward, it is necessary to understand what—if anything—is being gained from compromises. Otherwise, if nothing is gained, Democrats are gutting their own legislation for the sake of undermining their own apparent agenda, which raises questions about their true motives and stated goals.

I will examine differences between this bill and the For the People Act, explore what could possibly be gained from compromise, and discuss the path to pass either bill.

Update on Coronavirus Relief and Economic Stimulus

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a report on income and poverty throughout 2020, a year in which the pandemic devastated the economy. This report provides insight into just how impactful our coronavirus relief bills, such as the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan, were. I want to share these findings with you and emphasize how impactful it can be when our politicians decide to spend public funds on the people rather than bailing out corporations or enriching themselves.

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Upcoming Design Updates

Now that I have several articles published, I’m in the process of making them easier to navigate and understand at a glance. To that end, I’m working on Collections of articles in which I summarize and link articles in a series. This should help not only long-time readers keep track of overarching subjects throughout multiple articles, but also aid new readers in finding a spot to dive into further details.

In addition to Collections I’ve already published, I also plan to make a Collection for the following series of articles:

Economic Theory
Economic Misconceptions
Legislatitive Priorities
Public Service Announcements
Sidenotes

I recently abandoned an attempt to find a dark-colored background with white text for my website, instead opting for a white background with black text, and will subsequently be updating certain elements. If I only had text in my newsletters, I would probably try sticking to the dark theme since it’s easier on the eyes, but I find that images embed more smoothly with a white background. Anyways, I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on these changes as well.

Topics for Future Articles

These are topics that I want to discuss in future articles, but I am not actively drafting articles on these topics yet. Unless important news develops, I will draw from this list after completing my Articles in the Works. If you don’t see a topic you’d like me to cover, feel free to contact me and I will consider adding it!

Antitrust – I eventually want to cover past, present, and future efforts to break up companies that are too large to exist in a truly “free” market. In other words, I will cover “antitrust” legislation. Given recent antitrust investigations into the big tech companies, like Apple, Amazon and Google, I will also cover certain aspects surrounding the lack of antitrust legislation in recent history.
Bailouts and the Global Financial Crisis – On the subject of antitrust, I also want to examine one of history’s best cautionary tales of why certain companies should be broken up before they become “too big to fail” like they did before the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and 2008. Although we have made some progress in preventing similar crises in the future, there is more work to be done, and there are many lessons to be learned from events surrounding this pivotal period in our history.
Medicare for All – Just as receiving vaccines has been free for everyone across the country, we could save a great deal of money and countless lives with a system like Medicare for All. Throughout the 2020 primary election cycle, far too many candidates and journalists would repeat misleading questions and statements in an effort to obscure its benefits. Regardless of how much it costs, which is difficult to estimate in the abstract, several studies show that Medicare for All costs far less than our current “free” market system.
Environmental Justice and the Green New Deal – Especially with the recent heat waves, the extreme storms during the winter, and our infrastructure crumbling under the pressure, now is the time to address the underlying problems. We can modernize our infrastructure, reduce pollution, alleviate unnecessary suffering that is particularly prominent in marginalized communities, and create millions of good, middle-class, union jobs in the process. I want to write in depth about the numbers and logistics of implementing such a plan, show that it is achievable in our lifetimes, and that the benefits of doing so far outweigh any potential costs.
California’s Proposition 22 and the “Gig” Economy – Another unfortunate result of the 2020 election cycle was the passage of Prop. 22 in California, which exempts drivers from apps like Uber and Lyft from employee protections, such as minimum wage requirements and certain benefits. Evidence abounds showing that deceptive techniques were used on voters and drivers alike, and the law is already negatively impacting California. I want to cover this law and the broader “gig” economy in future articles, including my own experiences.
Economic Theory – I want to cover several fundamental concepts related to economic theory, both so readers can learn more about economics, but also so that future articles can cover more complicated subjects without leaving any readers behind. While some topics might be more abstract, like theoretical differences between socialism and communism, other articles might cover research or analytical techniques which have practical applications.
Personal Finance – I would like to cover certain topics broadly relating to personal finance, including many which I wish American public education would cover. Far too many people must learn these important skills and concepts on their own, often when they’re in the middle of making big decisions, so hopefully articles of this nature will help demystify such essential topics. All articles of this nature will come with the disclaimer that I am not a financial advisor and am not offering financial advice, and that I am only trying to help educate people learning the basics of making their own informed decisions.
Retirement plans - I’ve had my share of accounting courses which dealt with pension accounting—and even got a crash course in actuarial science in the process—and I’ve also studied the tax law surrounding different plans, but I still have a lot to learn about how and why our current retirement plans came to be. Perhaps after reading The Labor Guide to Retirement Plans: For Union Organizers and Employees by social policy analyst James W. Russell, I’ll learn something about how other countries handle their pensions and get a better understanding of what we could improve here in the U.S.
“Full employment” and inflation - I want to discuss the history surrounding a hypothesized connection between inflation and employment levels, periods during which there was a possible correlation between the two, and why economists are beginning to reconsider their stances on when an economy has achieved “full employment”.
Inequality – This is a rather broad topic, but I plan to cover several forms of inequality throughout several articles. Whether we discuss income, wealth, tax, resource, racial, gender, or other forms of socio-economic inequality, many forms of inequality are central to current events.

Again, feel free to leave a comment or otherwise reach out if there are any other topics you would like me to consider covering. I look forward to sharing these new articles with you soon!

The Economic Justice and Progress Newsletter