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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 1d

State funding for universities has not decreased, yet tuition costs have skyrocketed.

@lookheron.bsky.social breaks down this relationship & the implications for the future of higher education governance.

As the political pressure on higher ed mounts, his findings are a crucial part of the story.

Luke Herrine @lookheron.bsky.social · 6d

OK let me do a little thread.

Contrary to popular belief, state funding for public colleges did NOT go down overall during the neoliberal era. That widely repeated result seems mostly be be an artifact of unusually low post-2008 levels.

But...

rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

graph of per-FTE student funding, 1980-2024. cycles around $10,500 until a big dip in 2008 and then a gradual recovery back to previous levels starting in 2012

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 1d

As media ownership consolidates into fewer hands, how to revive the public's trust in media is clear: Rebuilding a world-class public media system.

It is the only counterbalance to the consolidated media ecosystem and growing censorship. Read more ⬇️
https://bit.ly/4nDA5g4

Quote from Roosevelt Institute blog: "What the polling makes clear is that Americans still want a free and trustworthy press—but the collapse of public media leaves fewer places to find it. Commercial outlets are built to maximize profit, not to safeguard democratic accountability."

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 22h

Deputy Director of Democratic Institutions lays out the cases to watch in this SCOTUS term.

With the influence this court has had on landmark decisions and precedent, the outcomes will have long-lasting impacts.

Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 2d

A new SCOTUS term begins today. What fresh hell awaits our flailing democracy this time around?🧵

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 1d

Lost in last week’s shutdown news: The Department of Energy is undermining the well-established truth of the impacts of climate change.

Tackling climate change and building a resilient, sustainable, and worker-centered economy go hand in hand. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/nx-s1-...

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 2d

rooseveltforward.org/2025/09/11/t... 2/2

The Cruelty Is the Point: Work Requirements Don’t Lift People Up—They Drag Us All Down. - Roosevelt Forward

In last week's Substack, we wrote about how politicians have been scapegoating a very specific population of people: “able-bodied adults without dependents,” or ABAWDs for short. The consequences of c...

rooseveltforward.org

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 2d

It was in fact a talking point meant to conjure up images of an "undeserving" poor that they could use to sway public opinion and let them gut the safety net. 1/2

rooseveltforward.org/2025/09/04/a...

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 4d

#ICYMI:

✅ Citizens United let billionaires control politics
✅ The government shutdown hurts the macroeconomy
✅ Higher education suffered from neoliberal reforms

More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️
https://bit.ly/3VL6Pbd

15 Years After Citizens United: Big Money’s Grip on Our Democracy - Roosevelt Institute

As ultra-wealthy interests gain power, public trust in government has cratered. Roosevelt’s latest report draws on new research demonstrating how corporate actors benefited from Citizens United to the...

rooseveltinstitute.org

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KLM @klm.bsky.social · 20d

and right at the time when disabled people's labor market gains are disappearing. i've been thinking about that constantly as the labor market gets softer and remote options disappear

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 20d

Disability researchers and advocates are extremely worried about this policy change because they know that people with disabilities will be caught up in the reporting requirements and will lose access to the care they need to survive and thrive. There is a scramble to prepare. 2/2

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 20d

During the Disability Economic Research Consortium meeting I spoke with fellow researchers about my recent piece with Noa Rosinplotz on Medicaid work requirements for "ABAWDs." 1/2

www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-cruelt...

The Cruelty Is the Point: Work Requirements Don’t Lift People Up—They Drag Us All Down.

In last week's Substack, we wrote about how politicians have been scapegoating a very specific population of people: “able-bodied adults without dependents,” or ABAWDs for short. The consequences of c...

www.firesidestacks.com

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Randy Rosso @fooddatanerd.com · 15d

🥗 Work requirements don’t work. They drag us all down.

www.firesidestacks.com/p/the-cruelt...

The Cruelty Is the Point: Work Requirements Don’t Lift People Up—They Drag Us All Down.

In last week's Substack, we wrote about how politicians have been scapegoating a very specific population of people: “able-bodied adults without dependents,” or ABAWDs for short. The consequences of c...

www.firesidestacks.com

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 6d

NEW📝: A flood of billionaire money in elections started after the SCOTUS #CitizensUnited decision.

Since 2010, billionaire 💰💰 in elections has grown 160x, giving the wealthy huge power over policy while regular voters lose influence. 🧵1/3

Graph showing billionaire spending in Presidential elections before and after Citizen's United.

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Bilal Baydoun @bilalb.bsky.social · 6d

Where are we 15 years after SCOTUS sanctioned virtually unlimited campaign contributions from billionaires and large corporations? @rfunkfordham.bsky.social's new report analyzes how the Citizens United decision is corroding democracy on multiple fronts, and calls for renewed urgency for reforms.

Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 6d

One hundred billionaire donors poured a record $2.6 billion into the 2024 elections—1 of every 6 dollars spent.

New analysis from @rfunkfordham.bsky.social on the last 15 years of #CitizensUnited’s impact on democracy. 2/3 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Graph showing breakdown of top 100 billionaire donor spending on outside political spending groups.

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 8d

The gender wage gap is widening again, and showing “worrying trends.”

Top of the list of reasons, to no one’s surprise: soaring child care costs.

Important read from @kedseconomist.com

Quote from article:
The first is that the gender wage gap widened for the second year in a row. Women’s earnings as a share of men’s fell to 80.9% in 2024, from 84% in 2022. There is no racial group or educational class within the working population in which women outearn men. The second is that the gender working gap is also widening. Women are leaving the labor force: 383,000 since January, for a 0.6 percentage-point decline in their participation rate, compared to an addition of 690,000 men, an 0.1 point increase. The overall employment picture is even worse: There are 499,000 fewer women working now than at the start of the year, compared to 368,000 more men working.

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 6d

The price of shutdown politics is long-term damage to growth and stability—putting the economy & workers at risk.

Principal Economist @mikemadowitz.bsky.social on how a prolonged shutdown could delay economic reporting and slow the policy response needed to address inflation or possible recession.

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JessicaMCurrall @jessicamcurrall.bsky.social · 7d

"What makes this one different is the Trump admin’s embrace of SHUTDOWN POLITICS as a GOVERNING STRATEGY. It is not a breakdown of negotiations but a way to paint the government as incapable, demoralize its workers, & shift the burden of dysfunction onto the public..."

Emphasis with all-caps mine

Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 7d

Shutdowns used to be rare. Now, they frequently block progress—hitting public services & industrial renewal policy projects hard.

In #FiresideStacks🔥, @reyfuentes.bsky.social discusses shutdowns as a tool for dismantling the government itself and public trust.
www.firesidestacks.com/p/shutdown-b...

Quote “For the people waiting—a disabled worker, a small business owner, a family navigating Social Security—these aren’t abstractions. They are weeks of anxiety, bills delayed, or opportunities foregone.” highlighted in an orange box, attributed to Reynaldo Fuentes from Roosevelt Forward.

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 6d

“The same politicians who claim we ‘can’t afford’ to lift disabled Americans out of poverty had no trouble spending more to lower business tax rates.”

A fix for Social Security is possible. What we “can’t afford” is abandoning 7M Americans. Read @socio-steve.bsky.social 👇
https://bit.ly/46vLqJe

The Cost of a Single Trump Tax Break Would Bring 3.2 Million Individuals Out of Poverty. SSI Reform Could Change Lives.

During the debate on the 2025 GOP reconciliation bill, Republican lawmakers argued that cutting aid for able-bodied adults would free resources for “those that truly need it.” Yet, that money has never reached disabled people, whose safety net remains d...

www.firesidestacks.com

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 6d

“Shutdowns may start as political gambits, but they end as human harm.”

Stalled factories = lost jobs
Frozen disability checks
A health coverage cliff impacting millions

In #FiresideStacks🔥, Rey Fuentes highlights the need to end shutdown politics.
https://bit.ly/48rICOL

Roosevelt Forward quote image stating: 'Each new standoff reinforces a sense that the government is unstable, which serves the agenda of those eager to discredit public power.' - Reynaldo Fuentes, from 'Shutdown by Design: How State-Capacity Sabotage Stalls Industrial Renewal, Shreds Public Trust, and Hurts Families.'

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 7d

Shutdowns used to be rare. Now, they frequently block progress—hitting public services & industrial renewal policy projects hard.

In #FiresideStacks🔥, @reyfuentes.bsky.social discusses shutdowns as a tool for dismantling the government itself and public trust.
www.firesidestacks.com/p/shutdown-b...

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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 8d

Even before the admin went after higher ed, public colleges faced 50 years of decline—hollowed out by privatization, financialization, and disinvestment.

@lookheron.bsky.social’s new report traces that history & shows how we can build a more equitable education system today:
https://bit.ly/3WlV9vv

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 11d

#ICYMI:

✏️ Media concentration hurts free speech
✏️ Why crypto regulation matters
✏️ How childcare fits into the cost-of-living crisis

More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️
https://bit.ly/4oc45Qn

The Kimmel Saga Proves Media Consolidation Is a Threat to Democracy - Roosevelt Institute

Roosevelt Rundown: How Corporate Concentration Enables State Censorship, Why Crypto Doesn’t Want to Be a Security, What We’re Talking About, and What We’re Reading

bit.ly

Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 12d

3.2M Americans could be lifted out of poverty. Its cost is less than a single tax break in Trump’s budget bill.

We can afford to do it.

In #FiresideStacks🔥, @socio-steve.bsky.social explores why it’s the perfect time to fix what’s broken in Social Security. www.firesidestacks.com/p/ssi-reform...

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Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 12d

New from me at @rooseveltforward.org Building economic security will require major upgrades to our forgotten and threadbare programs for people with disabilities. I describe the decade of neglect that have left millions on SSI languishing in poverty...1/3

www.firesidestacks.com/p/ssi-reform...

The Cost of a Single Trump Tax Break Would Bring 3.2 Million Individuals Out of Poverty. SSI Reform Could Change Lives.

During the debate on the 2025 GOP reconciliation bill, Republican lawmakers argued that cutting aid for able-bodied adults would free resources for “those that truly need it.” Yet, that money has neve...

www.firesidestacks.com

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 14d

A system where corporations rewrite the rules while voters’ priorities stall is not a healthy democracy.

In the latest #FiresideStacks 🔥 Brad Lipton explores why progressives need to fight back with urgency + conviction. www.firesidestacks.com/p/corporatio...

Corporations Have Bent the Government to Their Will. To Win for Working People, We Must Fight Smarter.

For anyone questioning whether our country is rigged in favor of corporations and billionaires, the image of Elon Musk in the Oval Office in the first few weeks of the Trump presidency should settle t...

www.firesidestacks.com

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Roosevelt Forward @rooseveltforward.org · 18d

#ICYMI:

✅ New Mexico went all-in on universal childcare
✅ Corporate consolidation plays a key role in Jimmy Kimmel's suspension
✅ Trump tariffs are hitting the manufacturing industry hard

More in the #RooseveltRundown ⬇️
https://bit.ly/48nIjnM

Free, Universal Childcare Is Becoming a Reality in New Mexico - Roosevelt Institute

Roosevelt Rundown: New Mexico’s Bold Plan for Childcare for All , What the US Can Learn About Breaking the Nuclear Cost Curse, What We’re Talking About, and What We’re Reading

rooseveltinstitute.org