Not Just New Policy, New Politics
August 6, 2021
By Sonya Gurwitt
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity for economic transformation.
The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.
The New Economics Is Here
This week, the Senate continued moving forward with negotiations on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
But as we wait for the details, Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal, Steph Sterling, and Felicia Wong remind us to look beyond the specifics of the bill—whether exciting or disappointing—at the new approach to economic policy that together these individual programs and policies represent.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” they write in the New Republic. “Not just for policy but for politics. If Democrats use this moment the right way, they could fundamentally restructure both our economy and our political landscape.”
Several challenges still lie ahead: The scale of any investments in infrastructure must be big enough to tackle our nation’s intertwined jobs, care, and climate crises, and must be structured to deploy public power equitably and with democratic accountability.
As they tackle these hurdles, Democrats must also take credit for their successes.
“Politicians must learn to say it plainly: Government action over the last two years has put more money in the pockets of nearly every American than they would otherwise have had,” Konczal, Sterling, and Wong write.
“Now, with a boom on the horizon, it’s time to keep our foot on the gas . . . We can more than afford to make these investments now, and doing so will make us a more innovative, more productive, more cohesive, and more resilient country in the future.”
Read “The New Economics is Here.”
July’s Strong Jobs Number
“Today’s [jobs] report builds off last month’s great jobs number . . . and shows that the fiscal and monetary support this year, most notably in the American Rescue Plan and the Federal Reserve’s commitment to keeping rates low, is working to speed up the recovery and get us to full employment faster,” Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal and Aaron Sojourner write in a new blog post.
What We’re Reading
It’s Crunch Time for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party [feat. Roosevelt’s Felicia Wong] – The New Yorker
The Infrastructure Deal Is Not Not a Climate Bill – The Atlantic
Biden’s Child Care Plan Faces a Critical Test – Politico
Why Black Women’s Wage Gap Is a Problem for Everyone – Fortune