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Eric Levitz

Features Writer, Intelligencer
@EricLevitz

Eric Levitz is a features writer for Intelligencer. He covers politics and economics.

  1. history
    The Authoritarian Right’s 1877 ProjectAs the GOP undermines Black political rights in the present, some right-wing intellectuals are rationalizing Black disenfranchisement in the past.
  2. the republican party
    Only Republicans Can Stop the Republicans NowThe biggest obstacle to the GOP’s political dominance is now the party’s own dearth of ideological discipline.
  3. the republican party
    Is the GOP’s Policy Agenda Hidden or Nonexistent?For a party that may soon have full control of government, its ambitions remain remarkably unclear.
  4. supply chains
    6 Signs That the Supply-Chain Crisis Is (Slowly) EndingAnd a couple reasons to worry that it won’t end anytime soon.
  5. kyle rittenhouse trial
    Kyle Rittenhouse’s Defense Was Strong. It’s Also a Threat to the Rule of Law.The shooter’s claims of self-defense are legally plausible. But they also expose the anarchy latent in America’s lax gun laws and vigilante culture.
  6. build back better
    Democrats Must Hope That Build Back Better Adds to the DeficitBiden’s social policy bill is fully paid for — if the bulk of it expires before the decade’s end.
  7. inflation
    What Biden Should — and Shouldn’t — Do to Combat InflationThere’s no need to raise interest rates or cut spending. But there are a few things Biden can do to lower prices.
  8. inflation
    Two Big Myths About Why Energy Prices Are RisingWhy Joe Biden and climate hawks are not responsible for soaring fossil-fuel costs.
  9. critical race theory
    When Keeping It ‘Woke’ Gets Racist, Liberals Should Say SoSome of the things that conservatives have dubbed “critical race theory” aren’t worth defending.
  10. politics
    The GOP Got Away With All of ItGlenn Youngkin’s win in Virginia suggests that Republicans will pay no sustained price for abetting Trump’s assault on democracy.
  11. 2020 hindsight
    New 2020 Autopsy: Demographics Won’t Save DemocratsIn Nevada, high turnout made the electorate more diverse but no more Democratic, while in Wisconsin white working-class Democrats kept dying off.
  12. polls
    Is the Media to Blame for Biden’s Bad Poll Numbers?Or is it “the economy, stupid”?
  13. build back better
    Congress Decides to Learn Almost Nothing From PandemicCOVID cost America 734,000 lives and $16 trillion. Biden’s new Build Back Better bill invests just $2.7 billion into pandemic preparedness.
  14. build back better
    The Build Back Better Framework: The Good, the Bad, the UglyThe diet-version of Joe Biden’s signature legislation has some heartening strengths and dismaying weaknesses.
  15. the economy
    Bidenomics Is WorkingEven though voters think otherwise.
  16. build back better
    The Democrats Have a Collective-Action ProblemCan Joe Biden’s agenda survive the competing claims within his own party?
  17. racial justice
    Smearing Popularism Does Not Help Black VotersPersuasively rebutting David Shor requires scrutinizing his arguments, not stigmatizing them.
  18. build back better
    Manchin Hasn’t Killed Biden’s Climate Agenda (Yet)Biden’s best green policy looks dead. But there’s still a fair amount Congress can do.
  19. intelligencer chats
    How Government Could Make the Inflation Problem WorseWith politically damaging price increases showing no signs of easing, it may be tempting to take counterproductive measures.
  20. economy
    Neoliberalism Died of COVID. Long Live Neoliberalism!How the predominant ideology of our time survived the pandemic.
  21. debt ceiling
    Democrats Must Raise the Debt Limit to a Quadrillion DollarsInstead of trying to win a staring contest with Mitch McConnell, Democrats should use reconciliation to (effectively) abolish the debt ceiling.
  22. build back better
    The Case Against Temporary, Half-Assed ReformsIf Democrats must shrink Biden’s agenda, they should enact a few big, permanent policies.
  23. build back better
    Manchin Might Not Be Biden’s Biggest ProblemThe West Virginia senator’s demands are easier to satisfy than those of some other “moderate” holdouts.
  24. mint the coin
    How Biden Could End the Debt-Ceiling Crisis by ‘Minting the Coin’The president could bail the United States out of debt default by ordering the creation of a $1 trillion platinum coin. Really.
  25. political science
    Is America Too Rich for Class Politics?A new theory for why affluent Democrats vote against their economic interests.
  26. build back better
    Why Are There So Many Democrats to Joe Biden’s Right?Political necessity doesn’t explain moderate opposition to the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act.
  27. moderate democrats
    $3.5 Trillion Is Not a Lot of MoneyJoe Biden’s spending bill isn’t extreme, no matter what moderate Democrats say.
  28. explainer
    Will America Finally Get National Paid Family Leave?What to expect when you’re expecting the U.S. Congress to pass a paid family-leave law in 2021.
  29. joe biden
    Can Joe Biden Build Back a Better Approval Rating?The president’s poll numbers are getting ugly.
  30. reconciliation bill
    3 Key Divides in Democrats’ Civil War Over the Biden AgendaIt’s not just progressives versus moderates.
  31. the federal reserve
    The Big Problem With the Left’s Case Against Jerome PowellOne can imagine an aggressively anti-carbon Fed chair. But the U.S. Senate will not confirm one.
  32. covid-19 vaccines
    How COVID Won the SummerFailures of solidarity both within countries and between them enabled the Delta variant’s spread.
  33. explainer
    Why Pandemic Unemployment Benefits (Probably) Won’t Be ExtendedDelta is extending the pandemic, but Congress isn’t extending UI. Here’s what the expiration of enhanced benefits means for workers and the economy.
  34. conservatism
    The Time for Democrats to Go Nuclear Was YesterdayIf conservatives can subvert the Constitution to gut abortion rights, moderate Democrats can abolish the filibuster to protect them.
  35. afghanistan
    Hawks Would Have Afghans Die in War or Starve in PeaceCritics of Biden’s withdrawal style themselves as champions of Afghan rights. If sincere, they will oppose sanctions against a starving nation.
  36. the media
    Glenn Greenwald Speaks Truth to Reply GuysThe polemicist’s latest screed fails to distinguish between liberals who annoy him on Twitter and the U.S. government.
  37. the media
    The Media Manufactured Biden’s Political ‘Fiasco’ in AfghanistanThe “straight news” media has chosen sanctimony over circumspection in its coverage of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  38. student debt
    Has Biden Abandoned Wide-Scale Student-Loan Forgiveness?While Biden officially supports forgiving $10,000 of every borrower’s student debt, he appears more inclined to expand existing debt-relief programs.
  39. conservatism
    Afghan Refugee Crisis Will Test the Strength of GOP NativismWhile some Republicans slam Biden for betraying Afghans, Trumpists are already mulling anti-refugee primary campaigns in 2022.
  40. the media
    The Media Is Helping Hawks Win the War Over Biden’s Afghanistan WithdrawalThe Taliban’s triumph illustrates how little good our 20-year war did. The media’s coverage of that triumph illustrates how little we’ve learned.
  41. democracy
    Liberalism and Socialism Are Both in CrisisThe past decade of global warming and right-wing advance poses an existential threat to various visions of human progress.
  42. the economy
    America’s Inflation Debate Is Fundamentally ConfusedTo raise real wages and lower Americans’ cost of living, we need to inject more demand into the economy, not less, economist J.W. Mason argues.
  43. the economy
    Delta Be Damned, the U.S. Economy Keeps Chugging AlongFriday’s jobs report was one for the books, but COVID still looms.
  44. late capitalism
    China’s Sweeping Crackdown on Big Tech Is a Wake-Up Call for the U.S.The U.S. and China face similar economic problems. The latter is taking an increasingly anti-capitalist approach to solving them.
  45. public health
    Congress Is Already Botching the Next PandemicAs Delta surges, congressional Democrats are poised to slash Biden’s proposed investment in pandemic preparedness.
  46. infrastructure week
    5 Reasons Biden Got His Bipartisan Infrastructure DealMitch McConnell is poised to hand the president a big win. Here’s why.
  47. the discourse
    How Anti-Racist Is Ibram X. Kendi’s Anti-Racism?His approach to fighting racism contains glaring inconsistencies and contradictions that might undermine his own project.
  48. democratic party
    Why Is It So Hard for Moderate Dems to ‘Do Popular Things’?Centrist resistance to popular tax hikes and drug reforms threatens to derail Biden’s agenda.
  49. millennials
    Will ‘the Great Wealth Transfer’ Trigger a Millennial Civil War?Boomers will bequeath more than $30 trillion by 2045. Some millennials will become beneficiaries of high housing costs and stock prices. Others won’t.
  50. conservatism
    ‘Buying Votes’ Is Good, ActuallyThe right’s new attack on Biden’s child allowance reveals its contempt for democracy.
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