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:

cc @alissaquart.bsky.social

‘Tis the season of college commencement—and this year, it’s also the time for booing commencement speakers, who have made AI their go-to topic.

My new piece for @motherjones.com and @economichardship.bsky.social (link in comments) on the New Power Elite, what I call "the banality of venal," those AI-pilled commencement speeches and the boos, and what C. Wright Mills would have thought @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social @maiasz.bsky.social

"The most trusted and esteemed program in American journalism, the legacy of our loved ones’ hard work and its accompanying sacrifices on the home front, has, in [Scott] Pelley’s words, been murdered," writes Sarah Safer, daughter of Morley Safer, who was a 60 Minutes correspondent for 46 years.

it's not a "vibe cession"— uncertainty & insecurity driven by wild swings in policy & deliberate nonsense are bad for economic & mental health. excellent by @alissaquart.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Happy May Day!!! My latest in @economichardship.bsky.social @motherjones.com on the insecurity industrial complex-- Kalshi! ICE!-- and how we might survive it. Link in comments. including words from the late and wonderful Amisha Patel. @mayaschenwar.bsky.social @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social

My colleague Lynn and I have been doing the rounds, talking about AI in the workplace, what we call "Apocalyptic Insecurity." Here we are on @eskow.bsky.social Richard Eskow's very clever podcast open.spotify.com/show/2vCNQfz... @newrepublic.com @economichardship.bsky.social

My latest with Lynn Parramore for @newrepublic.com and @economichardship.bsky.social on the AI "robot gaze" and how AI stands for "apocalyptic insecurity," manipulating workers by creating dread @maiasz.bsky.social @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social @epi.org @ineteconomics.bsky.social link in comments

New, from me: American taxpayers will spend billions of hours and hundreds of billions of dollars — not to pay their taxes, but to report them to the government. Thank Trump, who killed Direct File, a free tax high-quality reporting tool that IRS had built. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-the-d...

AI + workers = "apocalyptic insecurity" newrepublic.com/article/2086... great @alissaquart.bsky.social

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

One Battle After Another wins the Oscars. Not a surprise. PTA compared it to Oscars 1975 but I explain why it's not this piece in @motherjones.com @economichardship.bsky.social No winner said anything political, sadly. @maiasz.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...

Latest from @alissaquart.bsky.social ...https://www.motherjones.com/media/2026/03/academy-awards-oscars-inequality-class-marty-supreme-sinners-battle/

Feed: "blog" By: Alissa Quart on Friday, January 23, 2026

Essay: I see Tarot, much like New Year’s resolutions, as part of something I call "wish culture," writes Alissa Quart.

I am a skeptic but I found surprising meaning in Tarot which I call part of wish culture for @wbur.org @cogwbur.bsky.social and @economichardship.bsky.social link in comments! @maiasz.bsky.social

Cancer research costs too much but we have the money to run Venezuela

I wrote for @economichardship.bsky.social @literaryhub.bsky.social about the meaning of @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social and Wilson elections. The precarious middle class: not mere neurotics on their daybeds with @inetoxford.bsky.social @epi.org and others @maiasz.bsky.social

I’m part of the triple-decker sandwich generation. You probably are as well - Alissa Quart www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

My latest piece for @theguardian.com on the sandwich generation, of which I am one, and how we became the triple sandwich generation in Trump 2.0 www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i... @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social @economichardship.bsky.social @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social link in comments

🥗 This is the urgent reality that @alissaquart.bsky.social’s incredible books woke me up to, and it’s the reality we all must confront to progress as a nqtion, a people, a community. One where all of us can survive and thrive, and we leave NOBODY behind! www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

I have not seen ANYONE mention that as a factor in the election. You have to be certified shit for brains if you don't think the labor market matters to people.

And the issue is not just getting a job. It's getting a decent job. The plunge in job switching means many fewer people feel they can leave a job they don't like.

I wrote about my late friend and brilliant poet Cole for @poetrysociety.org She was really one of a kind. Also about bygone literary scenes and nature as mutual aid @maiasz.bsky.social @poetrydaily.bsky.social @poetrysociety.org.uk @poetshouse.bsky.social @pw.org poetrysociety.org/poems-essays...

Great to be on WHYY for an hour (!) talking about the squeezed middle class in the Trump 2.0 era (federal worker lay offs, defunding of PBS, med research etcetera). Plus: jokes & Bourdieu... @whyy.org @economichardship.bsky.social @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social @deniseoswald.bsky.social

Right. Zohran explicitly links his economic populism w/his attack on Trump's authoritarian abuses, which also hurt working people. Some commentators are trying to only elevate the former, to push Dems away from taking on Trump frontally, but they're (deliberately?) missing the real innovation here:

You can't really call yourself a reporter til you've gone on a 2-week school trip (called "Introduction to Travel Journalism") to Orlando that includes tickets to 7 theme parks, and "beverage coolers." www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

George Soros has done as much as anyone to strengthen democratic freedoms in the United States—democratic freedoms that are important to the right as well as the left. It’s those freedoms that are the real target of this outrageous attack. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Excited about next week’s nearly daylong @economichardship.bsky.social event at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social starring @jeffsharlet.bsky.social , @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social , @lizafeatherstone.bsky.social Ray Suarez and others!

It is the dystopian safety net, as @alissaquart.bsky.social has written. But necessary so often. Thank you Leran! 💕

I loathe that we need GoFundMe campaigns for this type of thing, but Randy is a real one. Kind, dedicated, smart, funny, and deeply a good person. If you have a few dollars or well wishes please send them his way

If you, like me, are the parent of a neuro-atypical child dreading this autism press conference, please remember: These are the people hurting our kids. Not us. They are the ones stigmatizing and pathologizing them. They are the ones peddling untested science. And we should be very, very angry.

"Tasteless" does not even begin to describe what is happening here.

Ghouls

🥗 Latest SNAP data (through 6-2025): doi.org/10.7910/DVN/...

Nice personal news to share among all of this political misery. Just sold my new book Terra Infirma to @pantheonbooks.bsky.social & editor @deniseoswald.bsky.social, Squeezed's editor. Thanks @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social and @economichardship.bsky.social Read about it in @publisherswkly.bsky.social

Oof we've got a lot of work to do to counter these persistent myths about poverty. Right @alissaquart.bsky.social?

It has been three years and one day since Barbara Ehrenreich left us. She meant a great deal to me personally and professionally, as a literary and political figure & weirdly, as a metaphysical guide. Here we are after a book event I did with BE in Vogue. @economichardship.bsky.social @ips-dc.org

My latest story for @timemagazine.bsky.social on Labor Day, Labor Day Sales and the American Dream. A very personal essay time.com/7313480/labo... @eccobooks.bsky.social @economichardship.bsky.social @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social @maiasz.bsky.social @maassp.bsky.social @economichardship.bsky.social

God, "Magnolia" is so freaking good. One of the great movies about seemingly disconnected lives in Los Angeles, what Alissa Quart described as "hyperlink cinema." That millennial anxiety about how we're all simultaneous separate and intertwined, and how that breaks us.

🥗 Really thought-provoking essay by @alissaquart.bsky.social on “citizenship insecurity”. What is America anymore? When is it ok/imperative to expand citizenship options? When is it time to leave America? Answers change based on privilege. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My new piece on what I call "citizen insecurity" in @theguardian.com @economichardship.bsky.social @jillgrinberglit.bsky.social

fabulous piece by @lisquart about the dislocation so many of us feel as the U.S. abandons any pretense of even having democratic ideals.... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

For any of you still on here, this is my piece about my mother, art, affordability and mortality in @nytimes.com @nytopinion.nytimes.com @hyperallergic.com @mollyjongfast.bsky.social @artforum.com @artnews.com.web.brid.gy @anya1anya.bsky.social

Beautiful tribute/ layered musing on creativity and life by @alissaquart.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/o...

Ford Foundation Makes Landmark Contribution to Economic Hardship Reporting Project for Social Justice Storytelling#USA#Brooklyn#Ford_Foundation#EHRP#Building_Institutions