Mike Konczal — How an anti-rentier agenda might bring liberals, conservatives together

Rent-seeking is becoming the new "big issue." Left and right anti-establishment activists agree on the problem, but disagree over solutions. Mike Konczal is on it.

However, I would put it as "progressives" rather than "liberals." The traditional liberal wing of the Democratic party is allied with the establishment, while the progressive wing is focused on reform. I would also say "Libertarians" rather than "conservatives." It's the Tea Party Libertarians who are agitating for reform in the GOP and traditional conservatives who are allied with the establishment.

This looks like an Progressives and Libertarians agreeing that rentierism is a problem, and that government is a major factor in the generating artificial monopoly power. However, Progressives see this as a corrupt crony alliance between government and business, whereas Libertarians lay it all to the intervention of government in the private sector. Hence, the approaches to resolving the issues are entirely different.

I suspect that a lot of the debate over policy in future elections is going to be over these approaches, although the progressive wing in the Democratic Party and the Libertarian wing in the GOP are still in the minority in their caucuses. However, I expect to see them gaining ground since these idea have youth-appeal.

Wonkblog

How an anti-rentier agenda might bring liberals, conservatives together
Mike Konczal | Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute
(h/t Mark Thoma at Economist's View)