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Matthew Bruenig (born November 22, 1988) is an American lawyer, blogger, policy analyst, commentator, and founder of the left-leaning think tank
People's Policy Project People's Policy Project (abbreviated 3P) is an American think tank focused on social, economic, and political equity issues. It has been described as "Centre-left politics, left-leaning", "left-wing", "democratic socialist–leaning", and "socia ...
. He was a blogger for the American think tank
Demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...
covering politics and public policy, and has written on issues including
income distribution In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes e ...
, taxation, welfare, elections, the
Nordic model The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level colle ...
, and funds socialism. Bruenig advocates for mass unionization and socialization of wealth within an
universalist welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
.


Early life and education

Bruenig was born on November 22, 1988, in Texas, where he also grew up. His father was an active shop steward, while his mother worked low-paid jobs, which motivated his support for
workers' rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, ...
. He graduated in law at the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
(BA), where he was a National Merit Scholar and McNair Scholar, and
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
(JD), and worked as a lawyer at the
National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...
. In 2013, Bruenig was awarded a Peggy Browning Fellowship for the 2014 academic year, when he graduated from Boston University. During his time at the University of Oklahoma, where he graduated ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'' in philosophy and Black studies, Bruening founded and ran a chapter of
Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships a ...
, and led a living wage campaign on campus. He also worked as an intern at
Jobs with Justice Jobs With Justice (JWJ) is a labor rights organization in the United States, focused on the vision that all workers should be able to collectively bargain. It was founded in 1987 and is made up of individuals and affiliated organizations. As of ...
and for the
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is an AFL–CIO/ CLC trade union representing over 600,000 workers as of 2024 in more than 200 industries with most of its membership in the United States and Canada. Orig ...
as part of the
AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...
Law Student Union Summer.


Career

Bruenig researches poverty, inequality, and welfare systems, and is considered a welfare policy expert. Alongside
Jonathan Chait Jonathan Chait () is an American pundit and writer for ''The Atlantic''. He was previously a senior editor at ''The New Republic'' and an assistant editor of ''The American Prospect'' and wrote for '' New York'' magazine. He writes a periodic c ...
, he is a proponent of a larger welfare state, and considers
Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
to be part of the welfare state, which is in line with most researchers, including welfare-state skeptics like Robert J. Samuelson. In response to the
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
argument put forward by the likes of
Milton Friedman Milton Friedman (; July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) was an American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and ...
and
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
who "accused liberals .g. left-wingersof preferring to make the poor poorer if it made the rich less rich", Bruenig writes that " e obvious problem with the statement is that it simply assumes
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
policies can't improve the incomes of the poor. The cross-country data that we have generally suggest that they can and do." He also writes "there's substantial evidence that suggests inequality, in and of itself, generates a whole slew of social problems that are harmful to individual and collective wellbeing. It is therefore conceivable that policies that reduce inequality could be worth pursuing even if they leave everyone, the poor included, with less income than they would otherwise have." Bruenig is the author of numerous articles, including "Rethinking Noncombatant Immunity", "Fertility Rates and Government Intervention", "How Reform Conservatives Like Reihan Salam and Paul Ryan Misunderstand Poverty", "Nordic Zombie Arguments", "People Aren't Better Off Than Income Trends Show", "The Success Sequence Is About Cultural Beefs Not Poverty", "The Success Sequence Is Extremely Misleading and Impossible to Code", "Why Education Does Not Fix Poverty", and "Identitarian Deference Continues to Roil Liberalism", where he criticized "identitarian deference", which he defines as the concept that "privileged individuals should defer to the opinions and views of oppressed individuals, especially on topics relevant to those individuals' oppression". Bruenig was among the critics of
Nima Sanandaji Nima Sanandaji (; born June 30, 1981) is a center-right liberal-conservative Iranian-Swedish social and natural researcher. Nima Sanandaji is CEO of the European Center for Entrepreneurship and Policy Reform and doctor of technology from KTH. Amon ...
, who argued that the economic success of Sweden and other Nordic countries preceded their establishment of the welfare state. Bruenig's writings have appeared in a wide range of publications, including among others ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...
'', ''
The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and Progressivism in the United States, progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The America ...
'', ''
BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...
'', ''
Common Dreams Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based news website with a stated goal of serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of c ...
'', ''
Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
'', ''
Current Affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly American magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format), a genre of broadcast journalism * ''Current Affairs'', former name for ''Behind the News' ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''
In These Times In These Times may refer to: *In These Times (magazine), ''In These Times'' (magazine), an American monthly magazine of news and opinion *In These Times (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), ''In These Times'' (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), a 2004 album b ...
'', ''
Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...
'', ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'', ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...
'', and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
''. Daniel Denvir of ''Jacobin'' described Bruenig as "one of the most incisive analysts of poverty, inequality, and welfare systems and the political conflicts that surround them". Bruenig's writing about politics, the economy, and political theory is, in his own words, "primarily with a focus on the set of interlocking issues that affect poor and working people", and is "informed by a leftist political perspective that draws upon a diverse set of historical and contemporary leftist intellectuals". Among his influences, he cites "the various theories of egalitarian
distributive justice Distributive justice concerns the Social justice, socially just Resource allocation, allocation of resources, goods, opportunity in a society. It is concerned with how to allocate resources fairly among members of a society, taking into account fa ...
that began with
John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral philosophy, moral, legal philosophy, legal and Political philosophy, political philosopher in the Modern liberalism in the United States, modern liberal tradit ...
", with "
Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...
's capability approach to distributive justice being perhaps the most influential". In his December 2013 review for Demos, Bruenig praised Lane Kenworthy's ''Social Democratic America'' (2013). In January 2015, Bruenig also praised
Thomas Piketty Thomas Piketty (; born 7 May 1971) is a French economist who is a professor of economics at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, associate chair at the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and Centennial Professor of Economics ...
's book ''
Capital in the Twenty-First Century ''Capital in the Twenty-First Century'' () is a book written by French economist Thomas Piketty. It focuses on economic inequality, wealth and income inequality in Europe and the United States since the 18th century. It was first published in Fren ...
'' (2014). He wrote in the American edition of ''
The Week ''The Week'' is a weekly news magazine with editions in the United Kingdom and United States. The British publication was founded in 1995 and the American edition in 2001. An Australian edition was published from 2008 to 2012. A children's edi ...
'', titled "America Should Jack Up Its Top Tax Rate to 70 Percent", that it "painstakingly details the dynamics of wealth and income inequality throughout the last two centuries, and offers a somewhat grim picture of the future of economic inequality. Along the way, Piketty also offers his theory of the cause of exploding executive pay and how we can successfully combat this destructive trend." In 2016, Bruenig was fired from his part-time job blogging for Demos after he posted a series of tweets targeting first
Joan Walsh Joan Maureen Walsh (born September 18, 1958) is a liberal American political pundit and journalist. Walsh is national affairs correspondent for ''The Nation,'' and was previously an on-air political analyst at CNN and MSNBC. She produced the 2 ...
and later
Center for American Progress The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy think tank, research and advocacy organization which presents a Modern liberalism in the United States, liberal viewpoint on Economic policy, economic and social issues. CAP is headquarter ...
president
Neera Tanden Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and former government official who is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank. Tanden was director of the United States Domesti ...
. Demos stated that he was let go due to a pattern of "online harassment of people with whom he disagrees"; some journalists nevertheless speculated that there may have been outside pressure on behalf of Tanden. In February 2017, Bruening was among other figures of the
American Left The American Left refers to the groups or ideas on the left of the political spectrum in the United States. It is occasionally used as a shorthand for groups aligned with the Democratic Party. At other times, it refers to groups that have soug ...
, such as
Corey Robin Corey Robin (born 1967) is an American political theorist, journalist and professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written books on the role of fear in political life, t ...
and
Nathan J. Robinson Nathan James Robinson is an English-American writer, political commentator, and editor-in-chief of the left-wing progressive ''Current Affairs'' magazine, which he founded in 2015. Early life and education Born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, ...
, to lament the loss of
Keith Ellison Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2019 as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for fr ...
to
Thomas Perez Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the senior advisor to the United States president Joe Biden and the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs from 2023 to 2025 ...
for the chair of the
Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
and that the leadership of the Democratic Party was resisting acknowledging the failures of the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
. Bruenig wrote: "The left should focus its energies on organizing under alternative institutions that, if they engage with the Democratic party at all, only do so in order to attempt hostile takeovers of various power positions. Only a sucker would do more than that, given what the party has just shown itself to be about at this time." In 2017, Bruenig founded the
People's Policy Project People's Policy Project (abbreviated 3P) is an American think tank focused on social, economic, and political equity issues. It has been described as "Centre-left politics, left-leaning", "left-wing", "democratic socialist–leaning", and "socia ...
, a left-leaning or socialist-leaning
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
. The think tank, of which Bruenig serves as its president, raises money through
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
, and analyzes politics and produces socialist/
social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
policy proposals tailored to the United States context. It soon attracted attention in liberal policy circles. At the People's Policy Project, Bruenig repeatedly criticized jobs guarantee plans as "muddled", especially on the critical question of "coming up with suitable jobs". In February 2019, the People's Policy Project released its Family Fun Pack platform, which is loosely based on the Finnish welfare state model. A
YouGov YouGov plc is a international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm headquartered in the UK with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. History 2000–2010 Stephan Shakespeare and Nadhim ...
poll commissioned by the People's Policy Project in October 2019 found the free public childcare and pre-kindergarten advocated policy to be popular and supported by a majority of Americans. In a series of analysis that attracted attention, including from Eleanor Mueller of ''
Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...
'', Bruenig was critical of the child care proposal by Democrats as part of the
Build Back Better Act The Build Back Better Act was a bill introduced in the 117th Congress to fulfill aspects of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better Plan. It was spun off from the American Jobs Plan, alongside the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, ...
, which he said would increase prices for the middle class by $13,000, and how in 2023 it kept work requirements. In ''The Atlantic'', he wrote the article "How the Democratic Child-Care Proposal Hurts Families", arguing that it would "dramatically increase demand for child-care services as newly subsidized users pour into the sector". Alongside
Rebecca Traister Rebecca Traister (born 1975) is an American author and journalist. Traister is a writer-at-large for ''New York'' magazine and its website ''The Cut'', and a contributing editor at ''Elle'' magazine. Traister wrote for ''The New Republic'' from Fe ...
, Bruenig was an early critic of
Melissa Kearney Melissa Schettini Kearney (born 1974) is an American economist who is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). She is also ...
's book ''The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind'' (2023).


Political views and commentary


Socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy

Bruenig is a
democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...
in the tradition of
market socialism Market socialism is a type of economic system involving social ownership of the means of production within the framework of a market economy. Various models for such a system exist, usually involving cooperative enterprises and sometimes a mix ...
, as well as an advocate of Nordic socialism, and has been described by
Matthew Yglesias Matthew Yglesias (; born May 18, 1981) is an American blogger and journalist who writes about economics and politics. Yglesias has written columns and articles for publications such as ''The American Prospect'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''Slate''. I ...
as an "eccentric socialist". He argues that democratic ownership is "a crucial step on the road to a democratic socialist future", and describes his brand of
socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
, "the development of the idea from
Rudolf Hilferding Rudolf Hilferding (; 10 August 1877 – 11 February 1941) was an Austrian-born Marxist economist, Socialism, socialist theorist,International Institute of Social History, ''Rudolf Hilferding Papers'': http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/h/1075 ...
to the Meidner Plan", as follows: "Socialism is the idea that capital (the
means of production In political philosophy, the means of production refers to the generally necessary assets and resources that enable a society to engage in production. While the exact resources encompassed in the term may vary, it is widely agreed to include the ...
) should be owned collectively. There are divergent ideas about how to achieve this in reality. One approach is to have the government hold it collectively in social wealth funds. This is (more or less) the socialism of
Yanis Varoufakis Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis (; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founde ...
,
Rudolf Meidner Rudolf Alfred Meidner (23 June 1914 – 9 December 2005) was a Swedish economist and socialist. Biography Son of Alfred Meidner and Elise Bandmann, Meidner was born on 23 June 1914 in Breslau, Silesia. Being Jewish and a socialist, he was for ...
, and
John E. Roemer John E. Roemer (; born February 1, 1945) is an American economist and political scientist. He is the Elizabeth S. and A. Varick Stout Professor of Political Science and Economics at Yale University. Before Yale, he was on the economics faculty a ...
. It is also my brand of socialism, at least for the time." He also stated that "in ideal liberal theory, citizens themselves are the source of all governmental action", and argued alongside William A. Edmundson ''et al.'' that "political philosophy can and ought to make use of the concept of ''the means of production''". In a 2018 debate on ''Jacobin'' with
Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...
member Neal Meyer and sociologists Mathieu Desan and Michael A. McCarthy about where Nordic social democracies fit into the vision for democratic socialism, Bruenig argued that while the Soviet Union was not a democracy because the state was unaccountable to the people, this type of criticism does not apply to Nordic countries because they are parliamentary democracies, and that to draw a hard line between democratic socialism and actually existing social democracies is not accurate. According to Bruenig, this is further complicated by the fact that democratic socialism is often discussed in ideal rather than practical terms, and that this misses the many socialist aspects of actually existing social democracies. For example, Bruenig cites as examples the socialist aspects of Norway and Singapore, among others, to show that "it is quite possible to collectively own the means of production while also using price systems to assist in the allocation of productive factors", and that this is "what market socialists have been saying for a hundred years".


Nordic model and socialism

Bruenig is a supporter of the Nordic model, and has written several articles about it. According to Bruenig, "Nordic economies do not provide any support for the idea that relatively high levels of state ownership are incompatible with stable and successful economies". He argues that while they are not fully socialist, Nordic economies include "an efficient single-payer health care system, free college, long parental leave, heavily subsidized child care, and many other social benefits too numerous to list here", and their socialist credentials have been dismissed "to deny that there are leftist success stories in the world". In contrast to the likes of Jonathan Chait who think that the Nordic economies feature an "amped-up version of ...
neoliberalism Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pe ...
" and a large number of
American conservative ''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a bimonthly magazine published by the American Ideas Institute. The magazine was founded in 2002 by Pat Buchanan, Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos to advance an anti- neoconservative perspect ...
and
libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...
writers, such as Will Wilkinson at the
Niskanen Center The Niskanen Center is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that advocates libertarian and market-oriented principles regarding environmentalism, immigration reform, civil liberties, and an effective welfare state. Named after Willi ...
, who state that the Nordic economies are "quasi-libertarian", Bruenig argues that "this is not true" as "Nordic economies are also home to large public sectors, strong job protections, and labor markets governed by centralized union contracts". In this vein, he argues that Norway, which owned 58.6 percent of the country's wealth (the double of Communist China) as of 2018 and described it as "by far the most socialist country in the developed world", is more socialist than Bolivarian Venezuela, concluding that if "government spending of around 40 percent of GDP, a minimum wage, and a small coop sector equals socialism s argued by some pundits in the case of Bolivarian Venezuela then Americans live in socialism every single day".


Funds socialism

Bruenig shares the socialist argument that the
golden age of capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining Profit (economics), profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages a ...
was simply a temporary deviation from the inexorable logic of capitalism, and that its neoliberal turn showed the true nature of capitalism reasserting itself. He argues that the postwar decades were "quite anomalous" as the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
had created historically unique conditions that could not last forever, and adds: "True, inequality goes down. But excepting that, we're right back on the trail.
Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
would tell you: Capital accumulates. It's a natural tendency." Among other socialist intellectuals, including his wife Elizabeth Bruenig who generally rejected the binary choice between socialism and capitalism, he echoed the idea of ''Jacobin'' founder
Bhaskar Sunkara Bhaskar Sunkara (born June 1989) is an American political writer. He is the founding editor of ''Jacobin,'' the president of ''The Nation,'' and publisher of ''Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy''. He is a former vice-chair of the Democr ...
to "not merely tame but overcome capitalism". Bruenig says that his answer to "the
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
problem" is to " socialize capital as much as you can into these social wealth funds, which are like endowments that the country runs. The social wealth funds will deliver capital returns just like endowments do and take those returns and pay them out to everyone as part of a social dividend. That has been a sort of market socialist idea for, I don't know, maybe a hundred years now." Bruenig's plan, which involves the creation of an American Solidary Fund, is similar to that of Alaska, Norway, and many state public employee pension funds. He proposed it in a ''New York Times'' op-ed, titled "A Simple Fix for Our Massive Inequality Problem", as one way to reduce
income inequality in the United States Income inequality has fluctuated considerably in the United States since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in the 1920s and 2000s, with a lower level of inequality from approximately 1950-1980 (a period named the ...
, with Noah Smith writing that it "seems extremely promising and woefully overlooked". Smith suggested that Bruenig's plan would not only fix inequality but also find "a way to insure the American middle and working class against technological change". In ''
Democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...
'', sociologist
Dalton Conley Dalton Clark Conley (born 1969) is an American sociologist. Conley is a professor at Princeton University and has written eight books, including a memoir and a sociology textbook. Education Conley attended Stuyvesant High School. He graduated ...
also called, in 2009 and due to the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, for the establishment of an American sovereign wealth fund. In addition to his concept of social wealth funds, Bruenig published a paper authored by ''The Week'' writer Ryan Cooper and Dublin-based researcher Saoirse Gowan arguing that the best response to the issue of housing affordability would be a massive social housing project, in which the government would pay to build ten million homes over ten years, pointing to the success of such a program in European countries like Austria and Sweden.


Universal basic income

Bruenig writes that an
universal basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...
is "a way of dealing with the capital problem" but that for the "
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
types and the libertarian types" is "a remedy to the problems their innovation is causing or that they think their innovation will cause", and describes the possible implementation by them as a "terrible ... very dystopian idea". Bruenig also says that passive income already exists in capitalist societies. He writes: " pitalist societies already dedicate a large portion of their economic outputs to paying out money to people who have not worked for it. The UBI does not invent passive income. It merely doles it out evenly to everyone in society, rather than in very concentrated amounts to the richest people in society." Bruenig thus argues in favor of a basic income for all, and provides a list of taxation possibilities for creating a Social Wealth Fund capable of paying an universal income. He further states, in response to
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
's raise of wages at least $15 per hour, that " ge levels are determined as much by social forces as they are by market forces", and that "wage-setting is driven not by
invisible hand The invisible hand is a metaphor inspired by the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith that describes the incentives which free markets sometimes create for self-interested people to accidentally act in the public interest, even ...
s, but by the decisions of real people who can be affected by collective-pressure tactics and other forms of social power". He argues that simply increasing
unemployment benefits Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work d ...
rather than using stimulus checks would be insufficient in helping the poorest Americans.


Healthcare, education, and other policies

Bruenig is an advocate of
single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...
, and has argued extensively in favor of its feasibility. He says that "
Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
was the most effective and most popular part of
Obamacare The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
" and that it "kept the bamacareafloat", showing that "this simple public-health insurance program ends up creating far better constituencies and support bases than these complicated
Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as Rube Goldberg (), was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated ...
machines like Obamacare". He wrote an article making the case that liberal critics of single-payer healthcare are "moral monsters" on par with proponents of
Trumpcare The Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition, also known as the Trumpcare Executive Order, or Trumpcare, is an Executive Order signed by Donald Trump on October 12, 2017, which directs federal agencies to modify how the Patie ...
. Bruenig later explained: "Moving from Obamacare to Trumpcare, twenty-four million people would lose their insurance. By the same token, keeping Obamacare instead of single-payer will keep twenty-eight million people from being insured. They're similar magnitudes. In fact, the Obamacare to single-payer magnitude is higher." As an advocate
Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...
, he argues that it would cut poverty by over 20 percent, lifting 8 million people out of poverty and at the same time generating economic growth as individuals invest more into the economy by spending on consumer goods. Bruenig was skeptical of free higher education, later commenting: "My issue was not Clinton's issue, which is that it supports rich students when it should support poor students. My position is that providing benefits to students ignores non-students." He supports the education system in Finland and Sweden, where "benefits paid to students are paid out from the same welfare agency that you would go to if you were a single mother and didn't have a job". As a solution to the problem of two-tier system of disability benefits, Bruenig suggests guaranteeing a minimum
Social Security Disability Insurance Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD or SSDI) is a payroll tax-funded federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and designed to provide monthly benefits to people who ha ...
benefit to all people with disabilities that is equal to the federal poverty line regardless of work history, earnings, or assets. He also wrote an article about school reform, arguing that "we should do what tons of other countries do and make it easier to be a lawyer" rather than "creating massive barriers to entering the job of reading and writing arguments and following made up procedures". Although commitment to an universal welfare state and
competition policy Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
are not mutually exclusive, Bruenig has been a critic of the anti-monopoly movement, such as the anti-trust
New Brandeis movement The New Brandeis or neo-Brandeis movement is an antitrust academic and political movement in the United States which argues that excessively centralized private power is dangerous for economical, political and social reasons. Initially called hip ...
. Critics like Bruenig and Matthew Yglesias refer to it as the anti-bigness movement. In 2018, Bruenig told Gilad Edelman that competition policy was for him "way down on the list of priorities". According to Edelman, among the American socialist left, with the exception of Ryan Cooper, "there seems to be a reluctance among the socialist left to engage with an agenda that promotes competition. What is the socialist answer to the dominance of Amazon, Facebook, and Google?" In a 2024 debate on ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', Bruenig argued that the government should buy the big corporations, citing the example of the
Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...
, contra
Zephyr Teachout Zephyr Rain Teachout (, born October 24, 1971) is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and professor of law specializing in democracy and antitrust at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination f ...
arguing that they should be broken up rather than
nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
.


Personal life

Since 2014, Bruenig is married to Elizabeth Bruenig, a staff writer for ''The Atlantic'' and formerly an opinion writer and editor at ''The Washington Post'' and ''The New York Times'', whom he met in their high school debate team in Arlington. They have two children, and also host together ''The Bruenigs Podcast''. In 2020,
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
reported that Bruenig was producing a podcast, alongside his wife, that generated about $9,000 per month from listeners. Bruenig was diagnosed as
autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...
in adulthood.


See also

*
History of the socialist movement in the United States The history of the socialist movement in the United States spans a variety of tendencies, including anarchists, communists, democratic socialists, social democrats, Marxists, Marxist–Leninists, Trotskyists and utopian socialists. It began ...
* Social welfare model


References


External links

*
Resume

People's Policy Project

Posts by Matt Bruenig
at Demos {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruenig, Matt 1988 births 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American commentators American economics writers American labor lawyers American lawyers with disabilities American male bloggers American political writers American social democrats American socialists American writers with disabilities Autistic writers Boston University School of Law alumni Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Living people Market socialism Martin High School (Arlington, Texas) alumni University of Oklahoma alumni Washington, D.C., socialists Writers from Washington, D.C.