Examining a raft of left-wing policy proposals from 2020 presidential candidates.

Every so often, a rising young Democratic star comes along with an idea that boldly challenges the status quo. Today, it’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who wants to raise the top income tax rate. In 1982 it was Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who proposed an overhaul of income taxes that “seemed revolutionary and impossible,” The Washington Post said in 1986.

In a recent interview, author Ta-Nehisi Coates asked newly elected Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whether we “live in a moral world that allows for billionaires.”

As markets are embedded in a web of human relations, values and norms, they are impacted by human events. Indeed, throughout history, technological advancements have displaced the market from its traditional webs, precipitating sometimes violent backlashes and periods of surging populism. Currently, the strain of globalization and technological shift is both reflecting and exacerbating the polarizing political tensions so evident around the world today.