Matthew Bruenig
(born November 22, 1988)
is an American lawyer, blogger, policy analyst, commentator, and founder of the left-leaning think tank
People's Policy Project. He was a blogger for the American think tank
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming)
...
covering politics and public policy and has written on issues including
income distribution
In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes eco ...
, taxation, welfare, elections, and the
Nordic model
The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common to the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level coll ...
.
Career
Bruenig's writing has appeared in a range of publications including ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
Current Affairs'', ''
Jacobin
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
'', ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
Dissent
Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...
'', and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.
He has been a
featured guest of the politics and humor podcast ''
Chapo Trap House
''Chapo Trap House'' is an American left-wing political podcast founded in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman and Felix Biederman with Amber A'Lee Frost as a recurring co-host. The show is produced by Chris Wade and formerly by ...
'', and appeared on other progressive platforms like the ''NoFilter'' of
The Young Turks
''The Young Turks'' (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web se ...
and ''
The Michael Brooks Show''.
In 2016, Bruenig was fired from his part-time job blogging for ''
Demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming)
...
'' after he posted a series of what ''
Gawker
''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...
'' called "rude tweets" targeting first
Joan Walsh
Joan Maureen Walsh (born September 18, 1958) is a liberal American political pundit and journalist. Walsh is national affairs correspondent for ''The Nation,'' and was previously an on-air political analyst at CNN and MSNBC. She produced the 202 ...
and later
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a public policy research and advocacy organization which presents a liberal viewpoint on economic and social issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The president and chief executive officer ...
president
Neera Tanden
Neera Tanden (born September 10, 1970) is an American political consultant and government official who has been a senior advisor and staff secretary to President Joe Biden since 2021. Tanden previously served as president of the Center for A ...
. Demos stated he was let go due to a pattern of "online harassment of people with whom he disagrees"; some journalists nevertheless speculated there may have been outside pressure on behalf of Tanden.
In 2017, Bruenig founded the
People's Policy Project, a left-wing think tank which raises money through
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
. The think tank analyzes politics and produces
market socialist policy proposals tailored to the United States context.
In 2020,
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
reported that Bruenig with his wife were producing a podcast that generated about $9,000 per month from listeners.
Personal life
Bruenig is married to
Elizabeth Bruenig
Elizabeth Bruenig (' Stoker; born December 6, 1990) is an American journalist working as an opinion writer for ''The Atlantic''. She previously worked as an opinion writer for ''The New York Times,'' and as an opinion writer and editor for ''The ...
, Staff Writer for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', formerly an opinion writer and editor at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''
and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
They have two children.
Bruenig has stated that he was diagnosed as
autistic
The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
in adulthood.
Political views
Bruenig describes his brand of socialism as follows:
Socialism is the idea that capital (the means of production) should be owned collectively. There are divergent ideas about how to achieve this in reality. One approach is to have the government hold it collectively in social wealth funds. This is (more or less) the socialism of Yanis Varoufakis
Ioannis "Yanis" Varoufakis ( el, Ιωάννης Γεωργίου "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης, Ioánnis Georgíou "Giánis" Varoufákis, ; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. A former academic, he served as the Gree ...
, Rudolf Meidner
Rudolf Alfred Meidner (1914–2005) was a Swedish economist and socialist.
Biography
Son of Alfred Meidner and Elise Bandmann, Meidner was born on 23 June 1914 in Breslau, Silesia. He was forced to flee Nazi Germany after the Reichstag fire in ...
, and John E. Roemer. It is also my brand of socialism, at least for the time.
Bruenig is an advocate of
single-payer healthcare
Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer").
Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...
, and has argued extensively in favor of its feasibility.
See also
*
Market socialism
Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy, or one that contains a mix of worker-owned, nationalized, and privately owned ...
*
Social welfare model
*
Nordic model
The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common to the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level coll ...
*
Socialism in the United States
The history of the socialist movement in the United States spans a variety of tendencies, including anarchists, communists, democratic socialists, Marxists, Marxist–Leninists, Trotskyists and utopian socialists. It began with utopian comm ...
References
External links
*
People's Policy Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruenig, Matt
1988 births
21st-century American lawyers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American bloggers
American commentators
American economics writers
American labor lawyers
American male bloggers
American political writers
American social democrats
Boston University alumni
Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
Living people
Market socialism
Martin High School (Arlington, Texas) alumni
People on the autism spectrum
University of Oklahoma alumni
Washington, D.C., socialists
Writers from Washington, D.C.