Spring 2014, No. 32

Jason Furman, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, unveils the Administration’s new proposal in the continuing War on Poverty: an expansion of the earned-income and child tax credits. These tax credits have been instrumental in fighting poverty for decades, and have consistently won bipartisan support. The time has come, Furman argues, to expand them to benefit millions more.

Next: Brian Katulis calls on progressives to reject the drift toward disengagement in global affairs. Richard Kahlenberg writes on an important American institution that rarely gets the attention it deserves: the community college system. Mike Konczal tackles the conservative belief that voluntarism can take the place of the social safety net. And Molly Ball reports on the ongoing battle between the Tea Party and the GOP establishment.

Finally, in the books section, we have The New Yorker’s James Surowiecki on economic forecasting; Molly Worthen on the postwar intellectuals and religious faith; Tom Perriello on our white-collar Congress; Vanessa Williamson on rich people’s protests against taxes, and the grassroots supporters who enable them; and Monica Potts on the challenges of poverty journalism.

Back Issues Archive

Features

Poverty and the Tax Code

Tax credits have arguably done more to reduce poverty than programs have. It's time to expand them once again.

By Jason Furman

22 MIN READ

The Voluntarism Fantasy

Conservatives dream of returning to a world where private charity fulfilled all public needs. But that world never existed, and we're better for it.

By Mike Konczal

25 MIN READ

Community of Equals?

Few elites give much thought to community colleges. But they educate 44 percent of our undergraduates—and they need help.

By Richard Kahlenberg

29 MIN READ

Against Disengagement

Today’s progressives are often as muddled in their thinking about U.S. involvement in the world as conservatives are divided.

By Brian Katulis

26 MIN READ

Book Reviews

The Dismal Art

Economic forecasting has become much more sophisticated in the decades since its invention. So why are we still so bad at it?

By James Surowiecki

16 MIN READ

Faithless

The postwar liberal intellectuals built a political cosmology that rejected religion. But it was still fiercely moral.

By Molly Worthen

18 MIN READ

Capital Hill

Congress has 535 elected officials. Only a handful come from the working class—and that’s a problem for all of us.

By Tom Perriello

14 MIN READ

Brother, Can You Spare a Tax Cut?

Its no surprise that the 1 percent would fight against high taxes. But how do they get so many 99 percenters to fight at their side?

By Vanessa Williamson

14 MIN READ

The Other Americans

Journalists who write on poverty often reduce their subjects to vessels of misery. But empathy, not pity, is what the poor need.

By Monica Potts

15 MIN READ

Responses

Weak Tea

Far from getting stronger, the Tea Party is now just another faction within the GOP, and an arriviste one at that. A response to the “Is the Party Over?” symposium.

By Molly Ball

11 MIN READ

Recounting

An Angry Democrat Speaks

Bernard L. Schwartz on life, Loral, liberalism, conservatism, "too big to fail," unemployment, infrastructure, and the next President Clinton.

By Michael Tomasky

32 MIN READ

Virtual Brutality

For many women, the Internet has become a pit of sexual harassment and death threats. Government—and tech companies—can do something about it.

By Jack Meserve

12 MIN READ

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Michael Tomasky introduces Issue #32

By Michael Tomasky

3 MIN READ

Letters

Letters to the Editor

By Democracy Readers

4 MIN READ

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