Dean Baker has some suggestions for real pro-growth progressivism, and they all look good to me. It strikes me as strange that economists spend a lot of time inveighing against trade-related protectionism but have little to say about similar barriers in the domestic economy. I'd love to see an expanded Medicare compete in the private market, love to see government-run 401(k)'s pass their increased efficiency onto workers, love to see the sweetheart legislative deal drug companies have unravel a bit in taxpayer's favor, love to see the rich stop paying effectively lower tax rates than the middle class (why should they get all those great growth incentives?), love to see schools financed by something other than property taxes so wealthy districts can't entrench their eonomic superiority into generational perpetuity, and so forth. Look at me, ma -- I'm a pro-fair growth progressive!
Also check out my post on Tapped about tying the minimum wage to productivity increases among workers. It's related and, I think, interesting.
