It’s not too late to make better policy choices. View this in your browser and share with your friends. <[link removed]>
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Preserving Lives and Livelihoods
In the past six weeks, one in five <[link removed]> Americans employed in February lost their jobs, and over 60,000 <[link removed]> lost their lives to COVID-19. As Roosevelt Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz argues in a new paper, the federal government has not done enough to tackle these intertwined threats: “Though Congress has intervened with trillions of dollars in stimulus and relief, these rescue packages have been poorly designed. Cash and unemployment benefits will likely run out before the crisis is over; state and local governments, facing increasing expenses and declining revenue, are not receiving the funds they need; the ‘payroll protection plan’ is both inadequately funded and ill-equipped to reach those who most need protection.” For future pandemic relief efforts, Stiglitz proposes four policy priorities—including further support for health care and insurance systems (including paid sick leave), funds for state and local government <[link removed]>, a paycheck guarantee program <[link removed]>, and broader-based liquidity and debt relief for individuals and households. Read on. <[link removed]>
- Voters want more from Congress: As new polling from the Groundwork Collaborative and Roosevelt shows, such measures garner support from majorities of Americans, with 70 percent of voters agreeing that “we should do whatever it takes to provide Americans the economic support they need during this very difficult time.” Asked about a list of 17 policies, respondents considered all but one–tax cuts for corporations–likely to be effective.Read more. <[link removed]>
- The CARES Act’s design flaws: The current Paycheck Protection Program, Stiglitz notes, is simply not working for America’s most vulnerable. This week, Roosevelt Fellow Mehrsa Baradarantold NBC News why <[link removed]>: "It uses banks as middlemen. Any time you create a big program and give banks the ability to choose which customers it prioritizes, you're going to have disparities . . . Credit disparities are where past injustices lead to present disparities."
#ProtectAllWorkers
As essential workers strike across the nation <[link removed]> for International Workers’ Day, a new report from Roosevelt Fellow Alex Hertel-Fernandez uses original survey research to examine structural workplace imbalances. Analyzing the data along four dimensions—experiences with arbitrary or unfair managerial power, access to workplace information, knowledge about workplace rights, and access to workplace discussions—Hertel-Fernandez charts a path for reforming long-broken labor law and redefining what a “good job” should mean. Those reforms, he writes, “would go far in rebuilding workplace power for millions of American workers. As the COVID-19 crisis continues to exacerbate the structural inequities of our labor market, that power has never mattered more.” Read on. <[link removed]>
Black and Brown Americans Need a Better Normal
As always, those inequities disproportionately harm people of color <[link removed]>. For the blog, Roosevelt Managing Director of Communications Kendra Bozarth and Michelle Holder (assistant professor of economics at John Jay College, City University of New York) share preliminary estimates of unemployment numbers <[link removed]> due next week—Black unemployment at or above 20 percent and Black male unemployment at or above 23 percent. In a piece for Inkstick Media, Roosevelt Fellow Anne Price and Director of Health Equity Andrea Flynn explain how building Black women’s wealth can bolster the American economy during this crisis and beyond: “Investments that center on Black women will benefit everyone, but as we have seen from centuries of policies that have failed Black women and their families, justice doesn’t just trickle down.” Read on. <[link removed]>
What We’re Reading
Peacocks and Vultures Are Circling the Deficit <[link removed]> - New York Times
Ending Lockdowns Won’t Revive the Economy <[link removed]> - New York Magazine
How the Coronavirus Pandemic Has Shattered the Myth of College in America <[link removed]> - TheNew Yorker
The Pandemic Will Change American Retail Forever <[link removed]> - The Atlantic
What Donald Trump Could Learn from Herbert Hoover <[link removed]> - Politico
Why the US Shouldn’t Let States Go Bankrupt <[link removed]> - Vox
Why Americans Need a Guaranteed Income <[link removed]> - New York Times
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