People's Policy Project
People's Policy Project (abbreviated 3P) is a United States-based crowd-funded think tank that works on social, economic and political equity issues.[2] It has been described as "left-leaning"[3], "left-wing"[4], "democratic socialist-leaning"[5], and "socialist"[6][7][8][9].
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Abbreviation | 3P |
---|---|
Formation | 2017 |
Founder | Matt Bruenig |
Type | Think tank |
Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
President | Matt Bruenig |
Revenue (2017) | Approximately $10,000/mo.[1] |
Website | peoplespolicyproject |
The founder and president of 3P is Matt Bruenig, a former lawyer at the NLRB and contributor to the US think-tank Demos.
Funding
People's Policy Project relies on small-dollar donations for funding.[10] All funding is done through small donors on crowdfunding websites such as Patreon, which is primarily used by artists and entertainers to coordinate small recurring donations from large numbers of supporters. This contrasts with standard funding models, which include large donations from institutions or private individuals, or paid consulting work.[11]
Projects
3P focuses on several areas of social democratic and market socialist policy in its projects.
The "Social Wealth Fund for America"capital through gradual accumulation of all capital into a publicly-owned Social Wealth Fund, called the American Solidarity Fund, in which each citizen of the US holds a non-transferable dividend-paying share; effectively providing a universal basic dividend.[13][14][15]
paper advocates for public ownership ofThe "Family Fun Pack"[16] paper advocates for a substantial suite of Nordic-style child welfare policies: a baby box, parental leave, free child care, free pre-kindergarten, free school lunch, free health care, and a child benefit. This project is targeted at eliminating child poverty, and removing economic concerns from family planning.[17][18][19]
The "Fighting Climate Change with a Green TVA"[20] paper advocates for including a massive de-carbonization and expansion of the Tennessee Valley Authority as part of the Green New Deal, in order to shrink greenhouse gas emissions and create public jobs.[21][22][23]
Leadership
- Matt Bruenig is the current president.[24]
References
- "Do It Yourself: Matt Bruenig on Using the Internet to Build a Think Tank". logicmag.io.
- "About People's Policy Project". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
- CNN Staff (2019-06-27). "Fact check: Democratic debate night 2 - CNNPolitics". cnn.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
Matt Bruenig, the founder of the left-leaning People's Policy Project, earlier this month also released an analysis based on Federal Reserve data, which tallies Americans' wealth.
- Jeff Stein (2019-07-11). "The four-day workweek some want to bring to America". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
Americans work more hours annually than any of their Western peers, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data compiled for a forthcoming paper by the People’s Policy Project, a left-wing think tank, about strategies to reduce working hours.
- Matt Erik D'Amato (2019-12-18). "How the Battle Against Billionaires Could Reshape American Giving". insidephilanthropy.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
“Going into the nonprofit world is a straight march to the center,” says Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, a crowdfunded democratic socialist-leaning think tank, describing a common feeling on the left about what he calls the “nonprofit-industrial complex.”
- Jeff Stein (2018-12-03). "Why do Democrats love trapezoids? - The Washington Post". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
Matt Bruenig, a poverty expert at the socialist think tank People’s Policy Project, said socialists and liberals should agree the poor not be left out of big federal programs designed to ameliorate inequality.
- Jeff Stein (2018-11-15). "Almost all of Sen. Harris's $2.8 trillion tax plan would help middle and working class, study finds". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
The People’s Policy Project, a socialist think tank, argued that Harris’s plan should “at the very least include the poorest among us.
- Aída Chávez (2019-12-09). "A Purity Test for Raising Middle-Class Taxes Would Eliminate Every Democratic Frontrunner". theintercept.com. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
According to the People’s Policy Project, a socialist think tank, the carbon tax would have to be “approximately $230 per ton of CO2 in 2020 to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2.5 degrees C.”
- Rachel M. Cohen (2019-06-24). "We Have to Finance a Global Green New Deal". The Intercept. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
A new report from the People’s Policy Project, a socialist think tank, argues that industrialized countries should contribute $2 trillion annually to help developing nations stave off the effects of climate change.
- Andrew Breiner (2017-08-09). "People's Policy Project Wants to Change the Think Tank World, $5 at a Time". www.rollcall.com. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
The People’s Policy Project is the only think tank funded by tiny monthly donations.
- Weidenbaum, M. (2009). The Competition of Ideas: the world of the washington think tanks. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
- "A radical idea for reducing inequality deserves more attention". The Economist. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
- "Bloomberg - Are you a robot?". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
- Matt Bruenig (2017-11-30). "Opinion: A Simple Fix for Our Massive Inequality Problem". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
- "Family Fun Pack". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
- Benjy Sarlin (2019-03-03). "Democrats have big plans for every age group. Republicans call that socialism". nbcnews.com. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
Matt Bruenig, founder of the socialist think tank People's Policy Project, said he tried to take these demographics into account while crafting a package of family-oriented policies last month, including universal child care, family leave and other benefits for parents. By focusing on parents of small children, a Democratic candidate who adopted his plan could target voters who are disproportionately young, female and nonwhite, allowing them to excite several base constituencies at once. "It's a neat package, I think, in terms of hitting all these groups that the Democratic Party is made up of," Bruenig said.
- Sarah Kliff (2019-02-22). "Elizabeth Warren's universal child care plan, explained". vox.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
It’s interesting to contrast Warren’s plan with another new child care proposal: the Family Fun Pack from the People’s Policy Project, a newly formed liberal think tank. This new plan would give all Americans access to free child care, regardless of their income. It essentially envisions public day care and preschool as an extension of the public school system: freely available to all citizens regardless of their income.
- Matt Bruenig (February 2019). "A Serious Plan To Solve Child Poverty". currentaffairs.com. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
Instead of these tired approaches, Democratic contenders would be wise to put forward an ambitious welfare agenda that is easy to understand and provides universal benefits to a broad swath of the U.S. population. The People’s Policy Project released a detailed platform last week called the Family Fun Pack that does just that.
- "Fighting Climate Change with a Green TVA". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
- Alexander C. Kaufman (2019-01-23). "New Proposal Aims To Make Legacy FDR Works Project The Flagship Of A Green New Deal". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
In a 10-page report published Wednesday, the People’s Policy Project, a left-leaning think tank, detailed how tweaks to the law governing the Tennessee Valley Authority could transform the federally owned utility into “a renewable energy juggernaut that pushes at every margin to install as much clean energy capacity as possible across the country.”
- Alexander C. Kaufman (2019-01-23). "How FDR'S New Deal Could Fuel AOC's Green New Deal by 2027". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
While the New Green Deal has so far been short on details—more a conceptual rallying point around stimulus investments in clean-energy and infrastructure than specific legislation—the new paper authored by People's Policy Project president Matt Bruenig offers a detailed roadmap to beginning the process of decarbonizing the United States economy.
- Keith Schneider (2019-02-19). "What comes after coal for the Tennessee Valley Authority?". Energy News Network. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
In January, in a report anticipating the Feb. 7 introduction of the Green New Deal, the People’s Policy Project published a provocative research paper intended to push the TVA to the front of the discussion.
- "People's Policy Project president makes the case for socialism". Fox Business. 2019-05-14. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
Here now to defend the cause of socialism: People's Policy Project President Matt Bruenig.