Agenda for a Freer and More Prosperous America

There is little that happens in society in general and the market economy in particular that most on the political "left" do not think needs more government intervention, regulation and redistribution to make "better."

One recent example of this is a lengthy "report" primarily prepared by Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph E. Stiglitz, for the Roosevelt Institute. Released in June 2015, Stiglitz and his co-authors present an agenda for Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity.

The "Progressive's" Agenda for Bigger Government

Running for 100 pages, it is based on the premise that markets are inherently likely to be unfair when left on their own without pervasive government oversight and regulation, that income inequality must be cured through various fiscal and interventionist policies, that America's economic system is persistently biased against ethnic and related minority groups and that sustainable growth and stable financial markets require more intrusive government intervention, including making "full employment" a higher priority for theFederal Reserve in setting monetary policy.

In the grab bag of policy proposals are included federal laws restoring union power to control labor markets and hold businesses hostage to their wage and benefit demands, even heavier environmental regulations on business and industry in the name of saving the planet, higher marginal tax rates on the classified "rich" and increased capital gains and dividend taxes to pay for all the things the Roosevelt Institute authors think government should be doing more of.

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