I have a new article at The Nation with Bryce Covert titled How Paul Ryan Would Decimate the New Deal. "Ryan’s vision for reforming the social safety net can be explained in three verbs: he wants to block grant Medicaid, voucherize Medicare and privatize Social Security. Yes, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would likely still exist, but those changes would mean a profound difference for the average person who receives government benefits over his or her lifetime."

We walk through how a specific person would encounter these programs as they are administered currently and under Ryan's vision. We then talk about Gøsta Esping-Andersen's idea of "Worlds of Welfare Capitalism" and try to understand what a social-democratic welfare state would look like versus a classically liberal (read: libertarian) welfare state. We use that to formalize Ryan's vision as shredding the remaining social democratic parts of the New Deal and Great Society's welfare state and replacing them with a new, libertarian framework.

I just had my mind blown from encountering Gøsta Esping-Andersen's work about six months ago. So even if you are tired of debates about Paul Ryan's budget from the blogosphere, this might be a helpful way to approach the topic from a new angle. Hope you check check out the new article!

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