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The Economic Justice and Progress Newsletter is now officially open to the public! New readers can find summaries of archived and planned articles here

Jul 04, 2021

The Economic Justice and Progress Newsletter is now open to the public! Thank you to all the readers who supported my writing and provided feedback while I tested things out, and welcome to all the new readers!

It’s been a long and interesting journey, but I learned a lot in the process, and I’m proud of the articles I published. There’s a good mix of everything for people of any background interested in (or skeptical of) progressing towards a more just economy. Learn more about my background here and read on to get an idea of the articles I’ve written and future articles I plan to write.

Articles in the Archives

Capitalism vs. Socialism

My first article explored theoretical differences between capitalism and socialism, focusing on the spectrum between market-based economic systems and planned economies. I also discussed common contradictions and misconceptions, current and historical examples, and made the argument that policies are more important than labels. Because detractors will often just say some variation of “but that’s socialism!” regardless of facts or reality, it’s better to focus on delivering meaningful solutions to alleviate unnecessary suffering rather than worrying about ambiguous labels.

Coronavirus Relief and Economic Stimulus Series

I spent multiple articles examining the U.S. response to the pandemic recession, advocated for additional relief, and discussed economic studies suggesting that relief and economic stimulus helps everyone. Despite the benefits of such relief policies, detractors still tried to use “socialism” as a scare tactic against passing further relief, hence my first article.

Vol. I: Coronavirus Relief and the Slowing Economic Recovery – The first article in this series was written just after the $600 relief checks were passed in December 2020. I wrote about the insufficient relief package, how the economy had not yet recovered from the pandemic recession, compared the current recession to past recessions, and advocated for additional relief. I even got to quote Weird Al!
Vol. II: CARES Act Relief and the Need for Economic Stimulus – While Biden’s relief package was still being negotiated, I took the time to recount many of the benefits that last year’s CARES Act provided. Because nearly a year had gone by since the CARES Act was enacted, I also had the benefit of being able to examine several economic studies that analyzed its impacts in detail. I once again advocated for, and cited several other voices demanding, additional relief, which brings us to the third article in the series.
Vol III: The American Rescue Plan and Maintaining Political Momentum – I wrote about Biden’s relief package, what it provided and what it did not include, and compared its benefits to the benefits of the Trump tax cuts. Between the new administration and new majority in Congress, I also alluded to the possibility of maintaining momentum to deliver further progress.

Sidenotes

These articles are often a sort of note from the editor discussing “meta” issues about the newsletter, but I still try to include informative sections in each.

Support My Writing – This Sidenote outlines how paid subscriptions and donations work, along with breakdowns of how fees and taxes work.
Economics Books and Future Articles – After meeting my first donation goal for new economics books, I wrote about some of the books relevant to this newsletter that I am currently reading and similar books I would like to read in the future.
Corrections and Updates for D-Day Reflections – Days after I published my D-Day Reflections article, a new report from the Inspector General revealed new information about subjects I had covered. I updated the original article, outlined the changes in this Sidenote, linked to new information referenced, and posted screenshots showing before and after the updates. Although I always do my best to conduct thorough research before publishing articles, and this was the first major correction I’ve had to issue, this will serve as the basis for the standards of any future corrections I may issue. I hope my readers hold me to these standards, and that this demonstrates my commitment to journalistic integrity and transparency.

Unemployment and Inflation Basics

Since articles in my Coronavirus Relief and Economic Stimulus series already discussed labor force metrics, and I wanted to start covering monthly jobs report data, I decided to preface future articles with an introduction to certain fundamental terms and concepts. This article covers definitions and the measurement of unemployment rates, labor force participation, inflation, consumer prices, and other important macroeconomic indicators.

Jobs Report Analysis Articles

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issues reports on employment data every month called Employment Situation Summary. I write this series of articles with the intention of making the data easily accessible for readers of all backgrounds while highlighting key takeaways.

March 2021:Record Job Gains, but Economic Recovery Still Incomplete – March 2021 marked the (approximate) one-year anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic recession, so this was a good opportunity to examine the 12-month employment data trends. Although the number of jobs gains was revised downward the following month, this jobs report showed some of the highest numbers of jobs added in U.S. history. Still, millions of people remain unemployed, and others have left the labor force altogether, so further progress is necessary.
April 2021: Disappointing Job Gains Suggest Economy is Still Recovering from Pandemic Recession – Falling far short of the possible seven-figure job gains which optimistic analysts had hoped for, if the upward trend from the past few months persisted, the disappointing jobs report was a sobering reminder that our economy still has not fully turned a corner.
May 2021: Job Gains Increase as Labor Shortage Continues – While May 2021 had stronger job gains than the previous month, and three-month averages continue a relatively slow yet steady upward trend, Republican governors risk derailing economic recovery by prematurely ending federal unemployment benefits. Read more in this article about the disagreements, the underlying economic conditions, and why I think the reality is more complicated than Republican governors would have you think.

Biden’s Plans for Unions and Working Families

After President Biden’s latest State of the Union speech, I wrote an article covering the basics of three bills affecting unions and working families. This includes the PRO Act, the American Jobs Plan, and the American Families Plan, which are unfortunately still currently being negotiated in Congress at the time this article was written. I will revisit these bills again as more information is known about which provisions remain after obstructionists try to block progress. Hopefully most of the original proposals will make the final cut, and certain provisions are expanded rather than cut back, but these bills are good attempts at progressing in the right direction, and we need more legislation like this.

News from the I.R.S. about Advanced Child Tax Credit Payments

After covering these changes to the tax code in my article about the American Rescue Plan, I decided to do a Public Service Announcement sharing news from the IRS website regarding monthly advance payments for families with children. Given the risk that certain groups of people may qualify for such credits, but be unaware of recent changes to the tax code, I wanted to help raise awareness with this P.S.A., and plan to do so for other similar issues in the future.

D-Day Reflections

This article deviates from the usual economics discussions to focus on broader political issues which threaten the ability to make further progress. I put current events into an historical perspective by reflecting the D-Day Normandy invasion of occupied France, some of the early twentieth-century events which led up to that point, and discussed insights from history regarding the fragility of democracy. The article culminates in analysis of Trump’s assault on democracy throughout 2020 and in early 2021. While I want to keep most of my content free for all readers, this is an example of the type of article I might offer to reward the generosity of paying subscribers.

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Articles in the Works - Future Articles Planned

Voting Rights and the Assault on Democracy – Following my latest article on certain twentieth century assaults on democracy, and those we saw during 2020 and early 2021, I want to discuss ongoing efforts to dismantle voting rights across the U.S. and how the For the People Act could help address such issues, should it pass. Because this bill includes not only voting and election protections, but also campaign finance reform and other important provisions, this article will dovetail nicely with other future article topics I plan to cover.
Campaign finance and the Citizens United Supreme Court decision – After this controversial 2010 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, it became the law of the land to prohibit virtually unlimited campaign contributions, based on the (in my opinion) flawed premise that money is free speech and therefore protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. This topic will likely lead to several articles on the subject, especially given how widespread and multifaceted the effects of wealthy interests corrupting the democratic process have been. Still, a key theme throughout articles on this subject will be how our current campaign finance laws incentivize politicians to be beholden to their wealthy donors rather than the public.
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.
The Bond Market Bailout and Other Shortcomings of the CARES Act – I had initially planned to include a section about this in my first article about the CARES Act, but after examining the details, I discovered that the topic deserved its own article. After the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic was setting in for Wall Street, Congress effectively bailed out the corporate bond market with certain provisions in the CARES Act. While it certainly helped Wall Street, these bailout funds could have been spent elsewhere to better effect. I want to cover these and other shortcomings of an otherwise beneficial law like the CARES Act in future articles.
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 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.
Jobs Reports Analysis – I have articles covering BLS Jobs Reports through May 2021, but I plan to continue to analyze new reports as they become available. I also want to continue monitoring the “labor shortage” debate and ongoing lawsuits to restore federal unemployment benefits.
Inflation and price fluctuations – Prices for various commodities and other resources have increased dramatically in the past year, but many of these increases appear to be due to supply chain issues. I plan to cover some Consumer Price Index data, articles covering resource bottlenecks, and expert analysis of data surrounding sustained, widespread inflation. My preliminary research suggests that we have fleeting price increases in certain sectors, rather than inflation more broadly, but the details are rather interesting, so I hope you look forward to examining the data with me.
Tax cuts don’t create jobs; demand does – As a continuation of my Economic Misconceptions series, I want to examine the Trump tax cuts and why they did not cause any noticeable changes in job creation. Demand, on the other hand, where people are lining up to purchase goods and services, does create jobs. There are situations in which tax cuts, in combination with other factors, could lead to job creation, but tax cuts alone do not create jobs. The article will likely explore “trickle down” economics and other falsehoods, but will focus on growing the economy from the bottom and middle out rather than from the top down.
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.

If you have any preferences regarding which topics you would like me to prioritize, or other topics you would like me to consider covering, feel free to leave a comment or otherwise contact me and share your thoughts.

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