Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

This week, Nick and Goldy are joined by Michael Graetz to discuss his new book, "The Power to Destroy: How the Anti-Tax Movement Hijacked America.” Graetz asserts that while the anti-tax movement is often overlooked, it has shaped policy by intertwining with issues of race and economic ideology, diverging from Keynesian economics in favor of neoliberal supply-side economics that results in extreme wealth accumulation at the top. He argues for major tax reforms, including a carbon tax and the implementation of a value-added tax, as potential solutions to creating a more equitable and sustainable tax code that would benefit the middle class. Their conversation also revisits the historical origins of the anti-tax movement in the United States and highlights how tax policy is not just shaped by economic theory— it’s also shaped by cultural and social differences.

Michael Graetz is a professor emeritus at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School and a leading authority on tax politics and policy. He served in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy and is the author and co-author of many books, including Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth and The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right.

Further reading:

The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America

The Graetz Competitive Tax Plan, Updated for 2022

Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth

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Substack: The Pitch

This week, Nick and Goldy sit down with Rohit Chopra, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to explore the agency's efforts to lower financial costs for working Americans. From cracking down on credit card late fees to tackling medical debt on credit reports and regulating bank overdraft charges, Director Chopra sheds light on the CFPB's various initiatives to promote transparency and competition in financial products and services. Chopra argues that by advocating for consumer rights and protections, the CFPB is shaping a more equitable economic landscape for all Americans.

UPDATE: This episode was recorded before yesterday’s breaking news that a Texas judge issued a last-minute order temporarily blocking the CFPB’s plan to cap credit card late fees. Find more information about the injunction, and the Chamber of Commerce’s case against the cap, here: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/11/business/credit-card-late-fees-regulation-cfpb/index.html

Rohit Chopra is the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers in the financial marketplace. Prior to leading the CFPB, he served as a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, where he focused on promoting fair competition and protecting consumers from deceptive practices.

Twitter: @chopracfpb, @CFPB

Further reading:

www.consumerfinance.gov

Submit a complaint about a financial product or service

CFPB Bans Excessive Credit Card Late Fees, Lowers Typical Fee from $32 to $8

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Rutger Bregman, who The Guardian has called “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas”, joins us this week to daydream a better future. Bregman won international fame by taking on everyone from Tucker Carlson to the wealthy elites at Davos on the topic of income inequality, and here he lays out a positive economic vision using the pillars of his book ‘Utopia for Realists’: a universal basic income, open borders, and a 15-hour workweek.

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and author. He has published four books on history, philosophy, and economics. His book ‘History of Progress’ was awarded the Belgian Liberales prize for best nonfiction book of 2013, and the Dutch edition of ‘Utopia for Realists’ became a national bestseller and sparked a basic income movement that made international headlines. The book has been translated into 31 languages. Bregman has twice been nominated for the prestigious European Press Prize for his journalism work at The Correspondent.

Twitter: @rcbregman

Further reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/18/solution-everything-working-less-work-pressure

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/26/rutger-bregman-utopia-for-realists-interview-universal-basic-income

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/20/dutch-professor-exposes-tucker-carlsons-fraud/?utm_term=.a252dc0fa581

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/01/rutger-bregman-world-economic-forum-davos-speech-tax-billionaires-capitalism

https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1090045108064579584

Business reporting on labor unions tends to focus on speculation about how much striking workers might hurt the economy. But the reality is that successful strikes have a long-term positive impact on economic growth because they raise wages for all workers. Economist and researcher Kate Bahn, Director of Research from WorkRise argues that strikes, especially historic strikes such as the recent UAW strike, benefit both unionized and non-union workers, and have much broader ripple effects across the whole economy because they increase worker power and competition for workers across various sectors and industries.

Kate Bahn is an economist and researcher, currently serving as the Director of Research for WorkRise, a research-to-action network hosted by the Urban Institute. Bahn's expertise lies in labor markets, gender economics, and income inequality. She has conducted extensive research on topics such as the gender wage gap, paid family leave, and the impact of automation on employment. Bahn's work combines rigorous analysis with a commitment to addressing the needs and challenges faced by marginalized communities.

Twitter: @LipstickEcon

How the UAW strike might benefit all workers: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/15/opinions/union-member-negotiations-uaw-pay-bahn/index.html

Labor unions are good for workers, and here’s why they also make good business sense: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/labor-unions-are-good-for-workers-and-heres-why-they-also-make-good-business-sense-a39f3697

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

On Tuesday’s episode, Anu Partanen mentioned the Finnish civil war, which divided the country between elite land-owners and the working class. That’s right up our pitchforks alley - so we called an expert, Finnish professor Tuomas Tepora, for a history lesson.

Tuomas Tepora is a lecturer in history at the University of Helsinki. His research deals with a wide variety of topics related to the cultural history of war and the history of emotions.

Twitter: @TTepora

Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com/

Twitter: @PitchforkEcon

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Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer