Member-only story
Last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) released a highly-anticipated resolution detailing the trappings of a Green New Deal. The resolution is bold and unapologetic. It outlines impactful economic and social prerogatives that take aim at some of the most ingrained, systemic issues facing the United States.
On the economic front, the resolution wastes no time calling out significant flaws inherent in the U.S. economy that have taken root thanks to the neoliberal policies of the 1970s onward. It states that, “the United States is currently experiencing several related crises, with-… hourly wages overall stagnating since the 1970s despite increased worker productivity.” Continuing with its list of maladies to heal, it is so bold as to desire, “strengthening and protecting the right of all workers to organize, unionize, and collectively bargain free of coercion, intimidation, and harassment.” Rarely do statements like these come from inside the walls of the White House. Taboo subjects such as the erosion of the bargaining power of labor, or the obvious failures of free market economics for the many, have been all but stricken from the lexicon of the modern politician.
Just as the resolution explicitly calls out the last time massive government intervention in the economy was…
