Hey, there. It’s Paul. I wish I had better news to share, but I’m reaching out with an unfortunate update: The Federal Reserve is about to push forward on its plan to put millions of Americans out of work.

Here’s where we’re at: This summer, prominent economists started telling the public that the U.S. has to raise the unemployment rate to fight inflation. In other words, millions of Americans have to lose their jobs to make the economy “better.” We think that’s utter nonsense – but the Fed is buying into this trickle-down fallacy.

In late September, the Fed raised interest rates for the FIFTH time this year – and when the Fed meets next week, they are expected to raise interest rates again.

We believe that the strength of the economy should be judged by the average American’s well-being – not by whether the wealth of corporations and multimillionaires is seeing continued unlimited growth – and putting more people out of work is a huge step backward: That’s why we’re calling on supporters like you to start a tweetstorm calling out Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for his trickle-down policies: Will you use our pre-drafted tweet now to speak out against the Fed’s plan?

There’s no doubt that inflation is seriously harming Americans – but the root of the issue isn’t low unemployment rates or bigger paychecks for ordinary workers. The truth is, our current wave of inflation was caused by supply-chain issues and price gouging by corporations trying to squeeze extra profits out of consumers. Continuing to raise interest rates won’t solve either of those problems.

Instead, raising interest rates will put millions of Americans out of work. As a result, they will have less money in their pockets to spend at their neighborhood’s shops and restaurants, killing consumer demand and putting more people out of work – and that’s bad news for the economy in the long run.

There are many steps that the federal government could take to combat inflation. These include building a more robust supply chain, penalizing bad corporate actors for price gouging and profiteering at a time of crisis, and following the lead of the 18 states that are sending inflation stimulus checks in order to provide much-needed relief for ordinary Americans – the very people who power our economy in the first place. Most importantly, none of these solutions puts millions of people out of work.

If the Fed raises interest rates again next week, they will be doubling down on a plan that will only cost us in the long run. Please, will you tweet at @federalreserve Chair Jerome Powell to tell him that the Fed’s plan to increase unemployment rates is bad for the economy? You can follow this link to use a pre-drafted tweet now:

Thanks for speaking out,

Paul
Team Civic Action

P.S. Don’t have Twitter? You can help us spread awareness about the Fed’s trickle-down policies by forwarding this email to a friend.