Category: Briefings

Will the Harris/Walz Pro-Labor Stance Help Get Them Elected?

We begin on this Labor Day with an assessment of how much the Harris/Walz pro-labor stance will help them get elected given that 70% of Americans approve of unions. Joining us is John Nichols, The Nation magazine’s Washington correspondent. His books include The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace’s Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics, and most recently, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis. We discuss his latest article at The Nation, “Democrats Held the Most Pro-Union Convention in History. Now, They Must Take That Message on the Road.’”

America’s Growing Economic Inequality

Then we examine America’s growing economic inequality as CEOs invest billions in stock buybacks to please Wall Street and boost their paychecks while not investing in workers, many of whom are living barely above the poverty line, which is $15,060 for one person and $31,200 for a family of four, with a lot stuck below the poverty line. Joining us is  Betsey Stevenson, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a visiting associate professor of economics at the University of Sydney, a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and serves on the executive committee of the American Economic Association. She served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2015 where she advised President Obama on social policy, labor market, and trade issues and also served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2010 to 2011, advising the Secretary of Labor on labor policy and participating as the secretary’s deputy to the White House economic team.

The Democrats Will Need Both a House and Senate Majority to Pass the PRO Act

Then finally we get an overview of the state of working America as some hopeful signs emerge with labor leaders like the UAW’s Shawn Fain energizing his members and the Democratic party which will need a majority in the House and Senate to pass the PRO Act for a President Harris to sign. Joining us is Dr. Harley Shaiken, who is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.  He studies labor, information technology, the organization of work, global economic integration, and trade.