At this moment, only two members of Congress can challenge any state's electoral college votes and throw the election into chaos in 2024. That's why passing the Electoral Count Act is paramount–to prevent a Jan 6 repeat, and to protect election integrity. But it's never that simple, of course–it has to make it through Congress first.

Several camps have strong views on what the Federal Reserve should do next to control inflation.  And on the federal budget, there always are arguments about whether the deficits are too large or needed to keep America working. Who do we believe?  

Wally asked that of Brad DeLong, a heavy-duty macroeconomist at Berkeley and former Assistant Director of the Treasury who has just published Slouching Toward Utopia, a history of the economy from its takeoff around 1870 to our times.

https://www.thepoliticalconversation.org/

Globalization made many promises, but left one detail out: it would pit American workers against workers elsewhere around the globe working for a fraction of their pay. The result was a multi-decade decline of our middle class. In the 1990s, Dani Rodrik of Harvard predicted that people would rebel and elect a spokesperson to voice their rage. Anyone come to mind?

https://www.thepoliticalconversation.org/

America's middle class has not had a decent raise since the 1970s.  At the same time, our national productivity has soared and almost all the benefits have flowed to our upper echelon.  MIT's David Autor explains what is needed to restore wide shared prosperity.

We've all wondered, at one time or another: Are these really our only two choices? But turning that thought to action is not the popular thing to do. This didn't phase Darry Sragow in 2011, when the opportunity to join a serious effort to create a third American party came about. 

https://www.thepoliticalconversation.org/

Some say Washington just hasn't gotten much done; for others, our democracy seems to be on the brink of collapse.

In 2012 and in 2016, Steve Bullock was elected to be a Democratic Governor in Montana. In 2016, 25% of his vote also voted for Donald Trump. It is safe to say Bullock understands rural voters, swing voters, and persuadable Trump voters.

Is a (bipartisan) deal on reforming the Electoral College Act possible? Donald Trump is attempting to restore his domination of the Republican Party; is there reason to think that his domination is not complete? We sat down with Congressman Adam Schiff to get his perspective.