Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech business and politics.

I'm Dan Pramak. On today's show, the tech world prepares to converge on Las Vegas, and the U.S. jobs picture gets much, much brighter.

But first, the Green New Deal. Yesterday, the 116th Congress was sworn into office, highlighted by a new Democratic

majority in the House that includes many new progressive representatives. And something a lot of

them are talking about and tweeting about besides impeachment is what they call the Green New Deal.

So like a lot of big policy initiatives, this one is not yet fully fleshed out.

But the broad strokes are to tackle economic inequality and climate change simultaneously,

borrowing from what Franklin Roosevelt did to help pull America out of the Great Recession,

which back then was via a combination of infrastructure jobs programs and new regulatory protections.

So for guidance here, the best source is probably actually the campaign website of

freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, because on it she includes a piece of draft

legislation that includes such proposals as creating a goal of 100% of U.S. electricity coming from renewable

energy up from just 17% today, and federal job guarantees for those working to make that transition.

It also endorses the creation of universal basic income, which is something we devoted our

December 4th podcast to and the establishment of universal healthcare. Now, the draft legislation does not include any price tags or other explanations of how it would be paid for, but Ocasio-Cortez did today float the idea of a 70% income tax on those earning $10 million or more per year.

Now, this is not legislation that could probably pass even this House of Representatives,

and certainly not the Senate, let alone get President Trump's signature.

And even Nancy Pelosi isn't fully on board, although she did hearten some green new dealers

yesterday by addressing climate change as a key theme in her opening speech.

But it does matter.

First, because it reflects how Congress will be fighting

different battles for the next two years than it has for the past two, and also because it

...