For the last 40 years, politicians on both sides of the aisle have championed trickle-down policies that only help the rich get richer at the expense of everyone else. But now, President Biden is ushering in a fundamental shift away from that line of economic thought.

Instead of focusing on a handful of zillionaires, President Biden is strengthening the middle class. This is proven to help everyone: When we create policies that allow the middle class to thrive – like raising wages and protecting the right to unionize – more people have more money to spend in their local economies, which is a win-win for everyone.

As a result of President Biden’s middle-out approach, we’ve already seen improvements in our economy. We wanted to share three key takeaways with you today:

+ We’ve recovered from COVID-19 job losses far faster than economists predicted. President Biden has presided over an employment boom. In late 2020, professional forecasters expected average unemployment would be 5.2% in 2022 – but so far, it’s only at 3.5%. That’s the lowest it’s been in 50 years.

+ The overall income for working adults has increased $2,500 from January 2021 to July 2022 – and that’s after adjusting for inflation. These bigger paychecks allow Americans to better navigate the rising prices of the global inflation crisis than their peers in European nations. Plus, the largest gains have gone to low-income workers, which means the Biden administration successfully took a step toward reducing inequality.

+ Student loan forgiveness is a step in the right direction – and a political lesson for the Biden administration. When President Biden took executive action to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 of student loans for every borrower earning less than $125,000 per year, he gave Americans one fewer bill to worry about – and as a result, consumers have more money to spend in their local economies.

But this student loan forgiveness plan is currently being reviewed by the federal courts. This should serve as a lesson to the Biden administration: With far-right state leaders pushing lawsuits that counter Biden’s every move, it's important to go big with policy decisions, because the GOP will push back on even modest investments in the middle class.

While there’s much more work to be done, we’ve made progress in shifting away from trickle-down policies. As President Biden continues to push his economic agenda over the next few years, he has an opportunity to pass numerous commonsense policies to improve our economy, like raising the threshold for overtime pay, providing affordable childcare for all, and mandating federal paid family leave. It’s our hope that he makes the right choices – ones that leave us all better off.

Thanks for reading,

Team Civic Action



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