Lessons from the Stock Market’s Rise, Dismantling the Vote, Effects of Bigness, and More

1. Taking Sides

When Trump won the presidency, the stock market soared. Wall Street shrugged off Trump’s recklessness and unpredictability in favor of promises of tax cuts and deregulation. Writing for Vox, Roosevelt Fellow Mike Konczal explains why Democrats need to decide whether their economic agenda should be to tinker around the edges or to put forward a bold restructuring of the economy.

2. Tools of Exclusion

Roosevelt Fellow Andrea Flynn, one of the authors of our forthcoming Hidden Rules of Race book from Cambridge University Press, writes how conservatives are continuing to strategically dismantle one of the greatest tools in the arsenal against persistent injustices: the vote. Get a sneak peak and click here to read about democratic participation in Chapter 9 of Hidden Rules.

3. Mergers are Political

Roosevelt’s Research Director and Fellow Marshall Steinbaum joined On The Economy and Washington Bytes to discuss what’s driving inequality, why mergers are inherently political, and how we can counteract the harmful effects of “bigness.”

4. GOP Gambles, We Rise Up

Are the Republicans going to listen to the heart-wrenching stories of people whose lives will be destroyed by this so-called health care bill? Roosevelt Fellow Dorian Warren calls on all of us to raise our voices and share our stories to stop the GOPs’ health care bill from moving forward and harming millions of people.

5. Interdependence Days

In 1776, America declared economic and political independence from its colonial rulers. Two hundred and forty-one years later, Roosevelt Fellow Todd Tucker describes two developments in recent weeks that illustrate how American workers are still looking for economic enfranchisement in a world of global interdependence.

What We’re Reading:

Writing for the New Yorker, Lawrence Wrights explores how Texas has become the nation’s bellwether, with right-wing zealots taking over the legislature even as the state’s demographics shift leftward.

Roosevelt’s Marshall Steinbaum and Visiting Fellow Rohit Chopra spoke to USA Today about how student debt stunts the economic life cycle for young people. Record high student debt means many people are starting their economic lives with a negative balance, which is far worse than starting at zero.