Hey all! I’ve recently joined WatchDog Media. I’ll be writing Opinion pieces and policy briefs over there. I’ll make sure to mirror them on here for viewers of my blog to read as well. For my first opinion piece, I’ll just link it here. I have a long overdue post coming out sometime in the next several days and a big one I plan to do on general OPSEC after that.

Decided to make another public policy list as my Modern Deal was well received. There is a bit of overlap with a few policies from the previous post, but these are mostly unrelated otherwise. Without further ado, here is a list of what I believe to be the most important policy changes (from a largely US centric standpoint) for boosting economic freedom and growth. State & Local Note that some of these are already set in place in some states

As a fun weekend project, I decided to make a reform platform that would be suitable to social liberals (the European connotation) that finishes what the Roosevelts started with the Square Deal and New Deal. Note that this is just a rubric and not at all fully comprehensive! The Modern Deal Pensions Make state and local pensions solvent Strengthen and make fully solvent SS Switch to CPI-E for COLA 125% FPL benefit floor Increase benefits for the extremely elderly Allow recipients to deduct years that they took care of a child out of the workforce Hike the bottom AIME bracket to 93% Universal savings accounts to replace 401ks ran through the Thrift Savings Plan or Unions (see Ghent below) Labor Market Amend the Taft-Hartley Act to ban right to work Move to the Ghent system for unemployment insurance and federalize all funding Increase UI benefit duration to 52 weeks for all states Uniform replacement rates with all states that starts around 80% and declines over time Pass the ELEVATE Act or some other form of community jobs subsidies Massively expand apprenticeship programs on an cost-efficacy basis for as many occupations that are feasible Require that a certain percentage of public sector jobs be filled with apprentices Establish a public-private partnership tasked with creating standards and working with industry to ascertain current private sector needs Expand Reemployment Trade Adjustment Assistance (RTAA) as described in my last post Turn EITC into a low wage subsidy Education Merge all general education into K12 Free at the point of use public college through income based repayment w/ total tuition subsidies for certain majors Convert Pell Grants into living stipends and apportion based on need Universal free school lunch for K12 Help states who cannot do so fund Early learning scholarships Healthcare Universal healthcare through Medicaid Expand federal coverage mandated to cover all ACA health benefits + dental care with the option to get supplemental insurance for other things Value based insurance design No deductibles or premiums Out of pocket costs capped at 2% of annual earnings Universal catastrophic LTSS benefit Family income security Consolidate most assistance programs like TANF and SNAP into direct cash benefits (effectively a NIT) Eliminate work requirements on all low income assistance programs; eligibility based on income with gentle phase outs Universal Child benefit of $4000 per child that rises to $5000 for kids 5 years of age 36 weeks of paid family leave with 70% wage replacement up to the national average wage and $300 a week floor, which is split between parents as they as they see fit Employer mandate of 10 paid sick days Subsidized childcare via childcare savings accounts, which give families full control over what childcare arrangements they choose.