Eric Levitz

@LittleKeegs0 @iycrtylph Throughout the advanced industrial world, work hours are in long-term structural decline (though it has plateaued a bit in recent decades) lanekenworthy.net/social-democra…

@iycrtylph But real wages have not stagnated since the 70's, that's an outdated talking point. fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252… So no, they don't have to work longer hours to do so. And people aren't working longer in general. fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AWHAETP

get this through your thick fucking heads: technology never shortens labor time on its own. no boss ever has said, "ah, now that these machines have production more efficient, i guess i can let my workers work less." only class struggle shortens labor time.

Wow I guess Dallas landlords are way less greedy than landlords in other cities, or interest rates are dramatically lower, or there’s no demand because everyone is leaving. Supply can’t lower prices, so it must be those other things…

Levitz is right. The problem with Wal*Mart employees being on Medicaid is Wal*Mart's extremely low wages. Detaching employment from insurance is among the most important parts of a M4A platform — who can organize against a boss who decides whether their kid gets cancer treatment?

We should make jobs better by raising minimum wages and expanding collective bargaining. But it is good for workers to have access to public health insurance -- that follows them from job to job and offers relatively good coverage -- rather than being reliant on employer-provided insurance

There’s a type of lefty out there who believes the only future possible is one where you have a shit job but at least you’re collecting welfare.

Jason Furman-Walmart-progressive-success-storyism slop.

@Flat6forever But it's not true that they would have to be paid more without the benefits. Walmart does not pay higher wages in states with less generous safety nets. Without the benefits, workers have less bargaining power over employers. So Walmart does not need to pay them more.

@EricLevitz If people can scrape by working at Wal-Mart for min wage because they can also claim benefits, but would have to be paid much more without the benefits, that's a subsidy to Wal-Mart.

"Ackshully, food stamps help workers, not their employers" is a moronic take worthy of Matt Yglesias, unless you believe minimum wage being $7.25 is an unbreakable law of physics, like the speed of light.

We are so screwed!!!!

Some Democrats are arguing that Medicaid and food stamps subsidize big corporations like Walmart -- by enabling them to pay low wages. This claim is false. And it reflects assumptions that are antithetical to building a social democratic welfare state vox.com/politics/48666…

New Jersey is considering fining large employers for the number of Medicaid recipients on their payrolls. An authoritative case from @EricLevitz of why this is horrible, no good, very bad idea (link in next post)

Democrats have long lamented the fact that some Walmart workers receive Medicaid benefits. This argument was always misguided. And now, it's inspiring tax proposals in New Jersey and Colorado that would harm low-income workers -- and reinforce America's dysfunctional, employer-provided health insurance model. vox.com/politics/48666…

No. I'm saying that leftists rationalizing the crimes of Soviet bloc countries -- while morally deranged -- at least had a coherent internal logic: These countries were ostensibly part of anti-capitalist revolutionary project. By contrast, even if one believes that it is good to run interference for oppressive foreign actors -- in service of the communist cause -- it still makes little sense to propagandize for China (a deeply inegalitarian, state capitalist regime), Russia (a kleptocracy) or far-right Islamist movements. It is always good to oppose America's violations of human rights, however

“Opposing the US stopped making sense after it successfully wound down the primary obstacle to its geopolitical program” is so breathtakingly stupid, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m just not reading this right

I suspect the far (/hyper-nationalist) right's global ascent is driven more by digital media making it easier to disseminate such perspectives, the leftward drift of elite opinion on social issues, and demographic change. But it's a reasonable hypothesis. Certainly, humans care a lot about relative status. Although, in my understanding, there doesn't appear to be a strong connection between national equality and individual life satisfaction lanekenworthy.net/2025/11/02/my-… In any case, I agree that rising inequality is undesirable. And I'm not saying that we cannot improve upon 21st century Nordic social democracy. But if the question is, "Is it possible for the combination of a welfare state, collective bargaining, and pro-growth policies to sustainably raise living standards for the least fortunate, under the conditions of 21st century global capitalism?" I think the Nordic experience indicates that the answer is yes. Or at least, it hasn't given us reason to think the opposite

But this suggests that economic inequality remains a problem, and it seems a growing one. In any human society, inequality is perhaps the ur-problem (for most people are willing to begrudgingly accept poverty without forcing political destabilization if that poverty is equally shared). I’d hypothesize that this is the primary driver of the growth of the far right in Finland and Sweden (i.e., this is an hypothesis worth testing, not a fact I’m asserting).

The Nordic social democracies outperform other rich nations on measures of life satisfaction, low-end household income, economic security, and citizens' self-reported sense of freedom. And life for ordinary Scandinavians seems to have *improved* in the era of globalization

Guy who thinks stealing from museums is fine because the public already has access to an infinite supply of art via AI

@ingasneilevxson peoplespolicyproject.org/2018/01/18/the…

Benign capitalism has yielded vast and unprecedented gains in income and wellbeing. But in any case, workers in Norway exert far more control over their nation's means of production than those in China do, as the former can exert influence over firm governance through independent labor unions and the structure of the broader economy through democratic elections. And the government also owns a larger share of wealth in Norway than in China x.com/EricLevitz/sta…

Hasan Piker has said that China is the country that's come closest to realizing his socialist ideals. This is a curious choice. Even if one puts economic equality above political liberty, the Nordic social democracies are way more egalitarian vox.com/politics/48609…

@replyguy123 It isn't to me. But on parts of the left, there is an idea that post-1970s shifts in the global political economy (aka neoliberalism) revealed that the Nordic model is unsustainable/its gains can only be preserved in the long run by fully transitioning to democratic socialism

@EricLevitz why is the last part surprising?

We asked this to a large sample of nationally representative Americans - blue wins by a 3:1 margin!

@KMatt1114 @Jolly_Olive I'm kidding. But I think the presence of an effective MLB pitcher with many years of control in the deal dramatically lowers what Peralta has to give to make the trade worthwhile. What's he provided would be enough imo, if they actually looked like a contender this year. Alas

@EricLevitz @Jolly_Olive Delusional

Peralta walking Karros in the 6th was bad but I thought he pitched well tonight. This feels unnecessarily negative The offense needs to score more than one run against Michael Lorenzen maybe, right?