Bernie Sanders to unveil plan to guarantee every American a job

[Tom Rinaldo]

219. One, Bernies's bill is more extensive. Two, Sanders has a long track record of involvement on this

Taking nothing away from Senator Booker who I like a lot (he is one of our best), but it is dumb to make everything seem like it is a race with one winner and everyone else essentially plagiarists. This dynamic only seems to spring up on Democratic Underground whenever Bernie Sanders is somehow involved. This is from an informative article on this subject. I think the last paragraph has an interesting look at it:


"But the most interesting policy here is a federal job guarantee. This would be a public option for work, offering employment with a living wage and benefits to anyone who wants it. The idea goes back at least as far as the Civil Rights movement. Stephanie Kelton, one of Sanders' key economic advisers, has been working on the idea for years with economists associated with the University of Kansas City-Missouri and the Levy Institute, and pushing it up through Sanders' network of political outfits. Meanwhile, another group of economists, including William Darity and Darrick Hamilton, has also been building out the idea. And Sanders himself organized a townhall with Hamilton to talk about it.

CAP suggested a watered-down but still admirable version of a job guarantee a few months ago. Then Gillibrand publicly endorsed a job guarantee in mid-March. And she's kept up the drumbeat since. This past Friday, Booker released legislation for a pilot program version of the job guarantee, built off Darity and Hamilton's work. Then on Monday, Sanders pushed his chips in, announcing legislation for a full-bore national version of the policy.

This actually looks somewhat similar to how Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards all egged each other on towards health reform in the 2008 campaign. Parts of the Democratic Party are now taking the basic building blocks of Sanders' political philosophy and running with them."
http://theweek.com/articles/769073/bernie-sanders-conquered-democratic-party

I do admit the title to this piece was written to gain eyeballs, but it is pretty substantive.