Last week I wrote an article praising Elizabeth Warren for advancing the student debt conversation. While I think her proposal falls short of what we deserve — a full-on student debt jubilee, no means-testing or exceptions — I’m impressed by how seriously it takes the problem of student debt, leaving Obama-style “refinancing” behind in favor of large-scale debt forgiveness, commensurate with the gravity of the crisis.

The student debt proposal was one of many recent plans released by Warren in recent months, ramping up in the last few weeks. Some are better than others. Her Ultra-Millionaire Tax is a winner, as is her Real Corporate Profits Tax. Warren’s universal childcare plan is promising overall, though it retains unnecessary fees for users. Her affordable housing plan is one-sidedly market-based: its central proposal is to incentivize local governments to remove zoning restrictions. That needs to be complemented by heavy investments in social housing, a policy recently floated by the People’s Policy Project.

But criticisms aside, Warren’s proposals trend in a positive direction. At the very least, they demonstrate a willingness to tackle working people’s real problems with debt, housing, health, and childcare. If they were to materialize, many of these proposals would significantly improve life for working people — maybe not as much as we’d like, but enough to be considered a positive development, especially after decades of Democratic disinterest in policies that threaten corporate profits or meaningfully redistribute wealth.