Two recent pro Sanders stories, social and economic:
Feminist Scholar Barbara Smith on Identity Politics & Why She Supports Bernie Sanders for President February 12, 2020
We speak with the legendary African-American feminist scholar Barbara Smith. She is a founder of the Combahee River Collective and of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. Barbara Smith recently wrote a column in The Guardian newspaper titled “I helped coin the term 'identity politics'. I’m endorsing Bernie Sanders.” Her latest book is “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith.”
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BARBARA SMITH: Well, I would not presume to give Senator Sanders advice. I really would not. I’m really happy to be a part of the campaign. I think that he is effective, and the campaign has been effective, in attracting more diverse constituencies. I feel like — and I just said this to someone a few days ago — I feel like if Senator Sanders can get in front of the electorate, if he can connect with them and share his message and his ideas with them, I think they’re going to be really taking a lot of notice. There are a lot of myths going on — well, always — in the society about race and racism and who is who and what is what. And there’s certainly a — there’s a lot of chatter and a lot of talk about who can appeal to black voters in particular. And my feeling is, let’s just watch us. You know, watch us watch him. I think that they’re doing a really good job of connecting with our incredibly beautiful, diverse United States, all the kinds of people who live here. And I just think that the more that that happens, the more effective and the more he’ll be known. And we’ll just see what happens....Video and partial transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/2/12/barbara_smith_identity_politics_b...
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CBC
Business·Analysis
Bernie Sanders may be just what U.S. capitalism needs, says top economist: Don Pittis
History is filled with examples of healthy social democracies born out of extreme inequality
Don Pittis ·Feb 13,
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Sanders 'not radical'There are plenty of credible U.S. economists who agree with the need for capitalist reform. But for dry, intellectual analysis of why capitalism needs the kind of metamorphosis that only someone like Sanders can provide, it is hard to find a better source than Piketty.
"I think, first, that [Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth] Warren and Sanders are not radicals," said Piketty in response to one interviewer's question. "They are moderate social democrats by European standards."
Looked at in historical terms, said the French economist, even by the standards of the U.S. — a country that in another era was the world leader in progressive taxation — raising taxes on the rich from their current low levels is hardly radical. History is filled with examples of ideological shifts away from inequality far short of revolutions that made countries' economies stronger.
He offers the example of Sweden, which we now think of as a healthy social democracy. But as recently as the early 1900s the country was controlled by a wealthy elite, where only the richest 20 per cent had voting rights and where richer people got a greater number of votes. And he said the new Swedish ideology propelled the change with minimal economic disruption.
Piketty sees a parallel in the United States, where the poor and lower-middle class don't vote because they know the government will inevitably only represent the better off. Perhaps a new Sanders-led ideology could change that.
'Broad participation' neededLike many other economists, Piketty insists that, as happened in Sweden, sharing wealth more broadly will make the U.S. economy stronger, not weaker, and richer overall. He says the evidence from the past 30 years shows that the low-tax ideology that made the rich richer as a way of boosting the economy is "not convincing."
"I think the level of inequality we have today is not only unfair but it is also not efficient for the working of the economy," he said. "We need broad participation by a very large group."....
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/democrats-sanders-capitalism-1.5460890
