8 Etudes: 24 Studies, Op. 31, "Lecons progressives": No. 19 in A Major
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Book Review | Etudes Progressives De Langue Anglaise, Divises En Leons Pratiques ...
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Cheer up, liberals.
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Progressives, these days, are a gloomy bunch, and it's not just because of the outcomes of last week's election. As they see it, there's much to be gloomy about: Poverty levels are stuck, they say, with little improvements made in recent decades. What's more, according to the standard progressive line, income inequality is soaring, and back to levels last seen in the roaring '20s. And, to top it all off, middle class incomes are flat, or even falling.
But here's the thing: Each of these claims is a significant overstatement. In fact: Progressives have every reason to be celebrating right now. Why? Because by and large, things aren't so bad as progressives claim, and the reason things aren't so bad is because progressive policies are working. Medicare and Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits, tax cuts favoring the working poor, expansion of health coverage, and so onall of these policies are making Americans better off than they would otherwise be.
Poverty: Down The official poverty measure is next to useless, given that it was set in the 1960s, and fails to take account of real incomes. If we use a more robust measure, one that includes the value of government benefits and transfers and treats income taxes (and tax credits) in a plausible way, poverty has actually fallen quite sharply in recent decades:
Percent of People Living in Poverty
That decline is the consequence of successive government interventions to improve living standards for lower-income Americans. Today, government transfers and credits keep around 40 million Americans out of poverty. Seven out of eight of these people would be poor today if the safety net were only as effective as it was in 1964, according to calculations by Arloc Sherman at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Social Security alone slashes 8.6 percentage points off the poverty rate, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Poverty? Government cut that.
Inequality: Mostly in Check One of the staple progressive mantras is that income inequality is soaring, with the minority at the top vacuuming up most of the national income. But the picture is much more complex, and more positive, than that. Critically, the most dramatic figures for inequality are generated by looking at "market income"i.e. before any taxes and transfers.
Between 2000 and 2010, the biggest gains in real after-tax income were actually at the bottom of the ladder:
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Progressives Lost the Election, but Their Ideas Are ...
Conservatives scored numerous victories nationwide on November 4, but the East Bay proved once again that it's a haven for progressives. Liberals won nearly every political contest in Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond on Election Day, earning victories over moderate candidates in race after race. Local voters also overwhelmingly approved a range of progressive ballot initiatives, including a minimum wage hike in Oakland and a soda tax measure in Berkeley. Candidates and measures endorsed by the Express also enjoyed a big day at the ballot box, winning 83 percent of the local election contests, while those backed by the Oakland Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle suffered a string of defeats.
In Oakland, progressives dominated. City Councilmember Libby Schaaf took the mayor's race in a landslide, garnering a 23-plus point victory over Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan in ranked choice voting (RCV). According to RCV counts updated on November 11, Schaaf had 50.21 percent compared to Kaplan's 26.48 percent, while Mayor Jean Quan came in third with 23.30 percent. The leading moderate candidate, Joe Tuman, finished in fifth place, behind another progressive, Dan Siegel.
In the city council contests, liberal Annie Campbell Washington won in a landslide over moderate Jill Broadhurst, 63.98 percent to 30.08 percent, in District Four. In District Two, progressive Abel Guillen defeated moderate Dana King, 53.12 percent to 46.88 percent in RCV. And in District Six, incumbent Desley Brooks slipped past fellow liberal Shereda Nosakhare 52.22 percent to 47.78 in RCV. Likewise, in the Oakland school board races, liberals Aimee Eng, Nina Senn, and Shanthi Gonzales won the District Two, Four, and Six races, respectively.
Oakland voters also overwhelmingly approved six progressive measures on the ballot. Measure FF, which will raise the minimum wage in Oakland to $12.25 an hour starting in March, received a whopping 81.7 percent of the vote. Two good-government initiatives Measure CC, which will strengthen the city's Public Ethics Commission, and Measure DD, which will create an independent redistricting commission won easily, taking 73.99 percent and 61.49 percent, respectively. Measure Z, a tax measure for public safety and violence prevention programs, won big with 77.46 percent. Measure EE, which is designed to fix the city's old public-employee retirement plan, got 73.64 percent. And Measure N, a school district parcel tax, received 76.41 percent.
"The results show clearly that we're a liberal-progressive city," said Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb, who authored measures CC and DD. "I'm really pleased with the outcome."
In Berkeley, voters handed a huge defeat to Big Soda by passing Measure D, the soda tax. Beverage companies spent at least $2.4 million to defeat the measure, but it won decisively, with 76.18 percent of the vote. Measure R, which environmentalists said would have ruined Berkeley's attempts to create a vibrant downtown, lost big, 25.8 percent to 74.2 percent. Measure S, which upheld the city council's redistricting plan, won with 63.93 percent. And Measure F, a parcel tax for city parks, was victorious, winning 74.99 percent.
City voters also reelected liberal councilmembers Linda Maio in District One and Kriss Worthington in District Seven. And as of early Tuesday, liberal Lori Droste was leading the District Eight council race by four votes over moderate George Beier in the closest local contest in this year's election.
The most significant victories for progressives this year, however, took place in Richmond. Chevron spent at least $3 million in an attempt to stack the city council with pro-corporate centrists who are friendly to the oil giant. But the company but lost every single contest it spent money on.
In the mayor's race, Councilmember Tom Butt easily defeated Chevron candidate Nat Bates, 51.34 percent to 35.69 percent. And in the city council contest, the Richmond Progressive Alliance Gayle McLaughlin, Jovanka Beckles, and Eduardo Martinez won a clean sweep of the three four-year seats that were up for election. Incumbent Jim Rogers, a moderate who was not aligned with Chevron, came in fourth, while Chevron candidates Donna Powers, Charles Ramsey, and Al Martinez finished far behind the winners. In the race for the two-year council seat, liberal Jael Myrick defeated Corky Booz, a Chevron supporter, 51.88 percent to 31.17 percent.
It's also worth noting that liberal Marguerite Young defeated moderate incumbent Katy Foulkes in the East Bay MUD Ward Three contest, 53.48 percent to 33.93 percent, giving environmentalists a majority of seats on the East Bay MUD board of directors.
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East Bay Progressives Dominated the Election
A member of the House of Representatives, representing Akoko North-East and North-west Federal Constituency, Hon. Gani Dauda, has finally pitched his tent with the All Progressives Congress.
While making his decision known in Akure on Tuesday, the lawmaker, who was received by the Chairman of the party in Ondo State, Isaac Kekemeke, and other party officials, said that other members of the National Assembly from the state would soon join him in APC.
He said the on- going wind of change in the state informed his decision to dump the Labour Party and pitched his tent with the party of progressives in the state.
Dauda said, when he was approached two months ago to join the party,he was skeptical, but now he had seen the light, assuring that the party would sweep all elected offices in Ondo state come February 2015.
He said, It is not Gani Dauda that is joining the party today, but a movement from the Northern Senatorial district of the state that decided and said it is APC or no any other party again.
A truck of change is going on across the country and I have the privileged of joining the truck that is loaded with progressives, which represents hope for a better Nigeria.
He urged the leadership of the party in the state to allow internal democracy to triumph in the party so as not to have any challenges during and after the primaries.
Responding, Kekemeke said the party was more determined to rescue the state from destruction that befell it as a result of bad governance.
Kekemeke said the battle line was drawn between those who want Nigeria to be better and those who want the country to continue with the current status.
He urged all aspirants of the party to conduct themselves and their campaign in orderly manner, devoid of abuse and slander.