People's Policy Project

People's Policy Project (abbreviated 3P) is an American think tank focused 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] The organization has been noted for its unique funding structure: Unlike conventional think tanks, 3P relies on crowdfunding small donations, as opposed to financial support from corporations.[10]

People's Policy Project
Abbreviation3P
Formation2017 (2017)
FounderMatt Bruenig
TypeThink tank
HeadquartersWashington, D.C., United States
OwnerMatt Bruenig
President
Matt Bruenig
Revenue (2018)
Approximately $10,000/mo.[1]
Websitepeoplespolicyproject.org

The founder and president of 3P is Matt Bruenig, a former lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board and former contributor to the US think tank Demos. 3P's work has been covered by Vox,[11] Jacobin,[12] and Huffington Post.[13]

History and funding

People's Policy Project (3P) primarily relies on small-dollar donations for funding.[14] All funding is done through small donors on crowdfunding websites such as Patreon and a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program.[15] This contrasts with standard funding models, which include large donations from institutions or private individuals, or paid consulting work.[16]

In a 2017 Roll Call article, Bruenig elaborated on his vision for the think tank going forward. He argued that, despite left-wing policies proving popular among a wide chunk of the general electorate, financial constraints prevented progressive policy proposals such as single-payer healthcare from receiving significant attention from think tanks.[10] Since its foundation, 3P has collaborated with a number of other organizations, including the Gravel Institute.[17]

Research areas

Social wealth fund

3P's Social Wealth Fund for America proposal advocates for public ownership of capital through gradual accumulation of all capital into a publicly-owned social wealth fund,[18][19] which would be called the American Solidarity Fund. Per this proposal, each citizen of the US holds a non-transferable dividend-paying share; effectively providing a universal basic dividend.[20][21][22]

Universal Basic Income (UBI)

3P has endorsed the proposed Sending Unconditional Payments to People Overcoming Resistances to Triumph (SUPPORT) Act, which would establish a system of universal basic income for all Americans.[23][24]

Child welfare

3P's Family Fun Pack[25] proposal 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.[26][27][28]

In 2021, Vox cited the 3P's estimation that around seven million American children that live in poverty are from families that did not file taxes.[11]

Climate and environmental policy

3P's "Fighting Climate Change with a Green TVA "proposal[29] 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.[13][30][31] In 2021, 3P published a white paper advocating for full public funding of water utilities.[32]

Crisis of overworking

Much of 3P's research work focuses on the negative ramifications of overworking, which takes a physical and mental toll on those that experience it. A report by 3P in collaboration with the Gravel Institute found that American workers, by average, work longer than workers in any other developed country.[33] One of 3P's policy recommendations is to give all Americans one month paid vacation per year.[12]

Judicial reform

3P has criticized Democratic politicians for appointing or pushing for the appointment of individuals with backgrounds in corporate law or former prosecutors to federal judgeships. Instead, 3P has advocated for the appointment of former union lawyers, civil rights lawyers, and public defenders to these roles.[34]

Leadership

References
  1. "Do It Yourself: Matt Bruenig on Using the Internet to Build a Think Tank". logicmag.io.
  2. "About People's Policy Project". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  3. 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. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  4. 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.
  5. 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.'
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.'
  9. 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.
  10. "People's Policy Project Wants to Change the Think Tank World, $5 at a Time". Roll Call. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  11. Birenbaum, Gabby (2021-07-29). "How to make the child tax credit more accessible". Vox. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  12. "Give Everybody the Month of August Off". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  13. 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."
  14. 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.
  15. "Tracking PPP: Search Every Company Approved for Federal Loans". Propublica. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  16. Weidenbaum, M. (2009). The Competition of Ideas: the world of the washington think tanks. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
  17. Pollard, Amelia (2021-05-11). "The Gravel Institute Punches Up". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  18. "Social Wealth Fund for America". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  19. Robinson, Nathan J. "Today In "Are You Freaking Kidding Me?" | Current Affairs". www.currentaffairs.org. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  20. "A radical idea for reducing inequality deserves more attention". The Economist. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  21. Smith, Noah (2017-12-05). "Robot Takeover Matters Less If We're All Shareholders". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  22. Matt Bruenig (2017-11-30). "Opinion: A Simple Fix for Our Massive Inequality Problem". The New York Times. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
  23. eastcountytoday (2021-08-03). "Rep. Omar Introduces Guaranteed Income Bill and GDP Alternative Legislation". East County Today. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  24. "Rep. Omar Introduces Guaranteed Income Bill and GDP Alternative Legislation". Representative Ilhan Omar. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  25. "Family Fun Pack". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  26. 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.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. "Fighting Climate Change with a Green TVA". www.peoplespolicyproject.org. Retrieved 2019-12-30.
  30. 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.
  31. 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.
  32. "It's Time to Eliminate Water Bills". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  33. "Overwork Is Literally Making Us Sick". Teen Vogue. 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  34. "Democrats Need to Nominate Better Judges". People's Policy Project. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  35. "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.
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