#ICYMI: ✅Ordinary users of Kalshi have lost more than half a billion dollars since its launch ✅Local communities want a say in data center development ✅Why employment is integral to the human experience More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️

For decades, economic policymaking has revolved around cutting regulations, shrinking government, and hoping “free” markets will provide for the social welfare. The #GoodLife Agenda argues we can use an expanded governing toolbox. Public options are one of those crucial tools.

New in @theguardian.com: New York City has announced the nation's first municipal click-to-cancel rule, making it easier for consumers to escape unwanted subscriptions instead of trapping them in recurring charges. The rule takes effect October 1.

Gig companies have long argued that classifying workers as independent contractors is the only way to preserve flexibility. A smart piece in @prospect.org from @profsheenalives.bsky.social explains why that narrative doesn't hold up and what flexibility is really protecting.

New @wsj.com polling captures a growing sense that, for millions of Americans, the social contract is failing. Only 12% of Americans say democracy is working very or extremely well. Just 35% believe the country still offers a real chance to achieve the promised yet elusive American Dream.

After years of organizing, New York City’s street vendors have won long-overdue reforms. Now, the city must make good on its promises to ensure vendors have the protections they deserve. Read the argument from Roosevelt Network fellow Nazrin Nahar in @thenation.com:

Prediction markets may look like a level playing field, but the data tells a vastly different story. Thanks to @moreperfectunion.bsky.social for featuring our research, courtesy of @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social! Watch below 📹⬇️

NEW: Prediction markets promise people a chance to profit by betting against each other. But our first-of-its-kind analysis suggests something different. @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social find that ordinary Kalshi users have lost a whopping estimated $583.5 million since 2021.

NEW 📰: The future of work debate has overlooked one of employment's greatest strengths: its ability to build trust, cooperation, and social connection. In a new brief, @dsreddy.bsky.social makes the case for preserving and strengthening employment as a social institution. 🧵

"contrary to the conventional wisdom of most pundits, most Americans connect the concept of democracy to economic matters.... a majority of Americans seem to consider redistributive taxation & the provision of basic necessities like food & shelter features of democracy, rather than separate issues."

The CFPB was created by Congress to hold powerful financial institutions accountable and protect consumers from financial abuse. Whether it continues to fulfill that mission under new leadership has come into serious doubt, argues our @bradlipton.bsky.social:

After 17 years without an increase, the federal minimum wage has lost nearly a third of its purchasing power. It's long past time to restore a meaningful national wage floor. Our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social and @epi.org’s @hshierholz.bsky.social explain how in @thehill.com:

“The American public has made clear that it understands democracy in far richer terms, and that appeals to democracy must be grounded in the principles and aspirations underpinning the democratic ideal—respecting human equality, enhancing human agency, and enabling human flourishing.”

A year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it's worth asking what those tax cuts actually bought. Greater fortunes for the wealthiest Americans, less security for millions of working people and a political system increasingly shaped by concentrated wealth and power. Read Noa Rosinplotz's latest:

These state victories matter. But no one's ability to earn a living wage should depend on their ZIP code. Our Director for Worker Power, Patrick Oakford, outlines one proposal to raise the federal minimum wage and strengthen wage standards nationwide:

NEW 📰: Our fellow @asteephen.bsky.social connects housing affordability, financial stability, inflation, and economic justice to make the case that rent regulation is not just a tenant protection but a tool for managing systemic risk in housing finance. Read: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

On this Fourth of July, our President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social reflects on the fact that today also marks the anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:

#ICYMI: Our top stories of the week ✅ This 250th, Our democracy depends on tax reform ✅ Could rent regulation help prevent the next financial crisis? ✅ The AI job-pocalypse hasn’t happened, but youth unemployment is real More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️

At 250 years, the gap between democracy on paper and democracy in everyday life is especially stark. Osita Nwanevu argues progressives should rethink democracy not as institutions alone, but as whether people have meaningful agency over their lives.

🧵1/6 Rent regulation is getting national attention right now, and the conventional debate is too narrow. In my new paper with the @rooseveltinstitute.org I argue that rent regulation should be understood as macroprudential policy and one of the most powerful tools state and local governments have.

A year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it's worth asking what those tax cuts actually bought. Greater fortunes for the wealthiest Americans, less security for millions of working people and a political system increasingly shaped by concentrated wealth and power. Read Noa Rosinplotz's latest:

This summer, one of our Roosevelt Network fellows, Chestnut Hill College student Jazmyn Dangler is interning with the great team @moreperfectunion.bsky.social! Jazmyn is 1 of 16 participants in our annual “Roosevelt in Washington” program, pairing progressive students with orgs on the frontlines!

Today, workers in 17 states and localities got a raise as new minimum wage increases took effect. These increases will help millions better afford the basics, but they also underscore how uneven wage protections remain across the country.

NEW 📰: Our fellow @asteephen.bsky.social connects housing affordability, financial stability, inflation, and economic justice to make the case that rent regulation is not just a tenant protection but a tool for managing systemic risk in housing finance. Read: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

The Supreme Court just weakened agency independence. But as @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social, @nhegde.bsky.social, and @millennialdebt.bsky.social argue, the core crisis is that these agencies consistently side with corporations over workers. “The long-overdue answer to this crisis is court reform.”

A lot of what was framed as an AI productivity boom threatening jobs may have just been a weak economy. The AI job apocalypse hasn’t arrived but the youth unemployment crisis did. New from our Principal Economist @mikemadowitz.bsky.social on why the labor market is falling short for young people.

The Supreme Court was right to defer to congressional design for the Fed’s independence. Still, it seems that the Court only stands up to the president when Wall Street might benefit. The full statement from our President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social:

One of the paper's most important points: Care is economic infrastructure. Until we stop treating care as a private burden and start treating it as a public good, the cascade continues. Read the report:

New 📰: Every society needs care. The question is who gets stuck doing it. @jessicacalarco.com's new paper argues that America's default answer has been: whoever has the least power to refuse. 🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

New brief out with @rooseveltinstitute.org on green state capacity! I identify its four pillars as: (1) Bureaucratic-institutional, (2) Macrofinancial, (3) Productive-innovative, & (4) Social-protective. Check it out!

An important labor reform must be redefining full time labor. We need more time in our lives to be happy and healthy. To care for ourselves and others. To participate in our communities. To be engaged citizens.

#ICYMI: Our top stories of the week ✅ The cascade effect of broken care infrastructure ✅ The nuts and bolts of implementing a childcare system ✅ How policy gridlock and economic inequality reinforce each other More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️

Increased productivity doesn’t have to mean longer hours—it can mean more time for workers. That’s the thinking behind 4C Health, an Indiana mental health center that moved nearly all staff to a 4-day, 32-hour week while keeping full pay and 24/7 coverage through team scheduling.

New brief from @danieldrisc.com at the @rooseveltinstitute.org argues that "markets alone cannot deliver decarbonization" -- robust state capacity is required.

At a moment when taxes are being framed only as a burden to escape, it's worth remembering that a strong income tax is what makes public investment and shared prosperity for the working class possible. Important reminder in Democracy Journal that progressives should defend, not abandon, income tax.

For over 90 years, Social Security has been one of the few reliable sources of financial stability for millions of Americans. As @kedseconomist.com writes, “We don’t need to save Social Security. We need Social Security to save Americans.”

Start of the summer means parents (like me) are scrambling to figure out care arrangements in even more complex ways than during the school year. @jessicacalarco.com's new piece vividly shows how this isn't an individual problem but a collective and structrual one.

@lbilik.bsky.social talks with Kristin Spanos (First 5 Alameda County) about the complex, vital work of implementing childcare policy from the ground up.

@warren.senate.gov is right: Congress does not need to cut Social Security to strengthen it. A clear place to start is lifting the payroll tax cap so the highest earners pay into Social Security on all of their income. 🧵

Director of Stratification Economics @socio-steve.bsky.social with an informative deep dive on how growing earnings inequality affects Social Security's finances.

Required reading from @jessicacalarco.com --

The tax cap was never designed for an economy this unequal. Our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social explains why inequality—not just demographics—is eroding Social Security's revenue base, via @aimeepicchi.bsky.social

"Current policies incentivize all of us to push care downstream. This cascade is fundamentally unsustainable, as it concentrates care in the hands of those already overburdened." My latest for @rooseveltinstitute.org on neoliberalism's trickle-down of care: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

New 📰: Every society needs care. The question is who gets stuck doing it. @jessicacalarco.com's new paper argues that America's default answer has been: whoever has the least power to refuse. 🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

After a lifetime of work, no one should have to spend retirement worrying about affording the basics. In our #GoodLife Agenda, we featured the stories of Jennifer in SD and Debbie in LA, who reflected on how Social Security has provided them a foundation for dignity and stability in old age.

More than 4.2 million homeowners—including 1.1 million low- & moderate-income borrowers—could benefit when interest rates fall to 6%. The catch: lenders prioritize higher-income applicants b/c it's easier. @bradlipton.bsky.social tells Realtor.com that may be illegal: www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

#ICYMI: Our top stories of the week ✅ What NYC’s childcare success teaches us ✅ Lower-income households miss out on mortgage refinancing ✅ What Kevin Warsh should keep in mind More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️

More than 160 years after the abolition of slavery, racial inequality remains deeply embedded in our economy. On Juneteenth, Roosevelt Fellow Michelle Holder reminds us of the need for structural changes to build a more equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity, and security for all citizens.

Ahead of Kevin Warsh’s first press conference as Fed Chair, one question looms large: what changed? After years of warning inflation was too hot and rates too loose, Warsh is now pointing to AI-driven productivity and a shifting neutral rate as grounds for lower rates. @mikemadowitz.bsky.social

For years, policymakers have treated childcare as a private problem for families to solve on their own. New York City's move toward universal childcare reflects a different view: that access to care is essential economic infrastructure, no less important than schools, transit, or housing.