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Roosevelt Institute
@rooseveltinstitute.org
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Advancing ideas that rebalance power in our economy and democracy. www.rooseveltinstitute.org
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · Aug 14
In outlining his reason for a national program of social insurance, FDR stated:

"It is our plain duty to provide for that security upon which welfare depends."

We lay out why that goal is as essential today: #ProtectSocialSecurity 1/3 🧵
rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/what-do...
The goal of Social Security is to mitigate economic risk, particularly the risk of poverty when someone loses their ability to receive market-based income through employment. All people age, and no one can foresee with absolute certainty when death or disability may occur. Because these events are inevitable, yet the timing is unpredictable, it makes sense to protect against them.
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powerswitchaction.org
PowerSwitch Action ⚡️ @powerswitchaction.org · 50m
Corporations call it "privacy-preserving," but this new AI tech isn't all that it seems.

Our new brief w/@datasociety.bsky.social + CoWorker exposes how this tech harms + exploits workers and what we can do to strengthen worker protections + power in the digital age: datasociety.net/library/the-...
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 40m
As corporations deploy new tech and AI to collect and analyze data at scale, the impact on workers needs to be front and center.

New @datasociety.bsky.social, @powerswitchaction.org & Coworker report proposes durable protections for workers in the new digital age: bit.ly/4h1N9tm
The “Privacy” Trap
Corporations are rolling out new technologies that may technically comply with data privacy laws, but actually create more ways to control and exploit workers. This brief offers concrete principles fo...
bit.ly
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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
socio-steve.bsky.social
Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 2h
Last month @rooseveltinstitute.org and NASI launched the Disability Economic Policy & Research Consortium. Read my colleague Lena Bilik's latest below on how a focus on this oft ignore population is crucial to building an inclusive economy.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/disabil...
Economic Policy Is Disability Policy: Launching the Disability Economic Policy & Research Consortium - Roosevelt Institute
When we apply a disability lens to economic policy and research, we zoom in on people who deeply understand the flaws in our systems and are more likely to interact with public programs and services. ...
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 17h
Pushing “market logic” into higher education has made the wealthy schools richer and the poorly resourced schools poorer.

@lookheron.bsky.social builds on his arguments and findings in his recent report for @lpeblog.bsky.social.

lpeproject.org/blog/the-neo...
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 20h
Climate change is already impacting our economy, whether it is insurance fragility due to increasing climate disasters or the impact on labor participation across the globe.

Our #FedLit newsletter provides a good foundation for understanding the stakes.
fedlit.substack.com
Fed Lit | Substack
Fed Lit is a monthly newsletter from the Roosevelt Institute offering essential climate reading for Federal Reserve staff, leadership, and other interested parties. Click to read Fed Lit, a Substack p...
fedlit.substack.com
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 20h
Our vision for the #GoodLife includes ensuring disabled Americans and their experiences are an integral part of economic policy.

Our partnership to co-launch the Disability Economic Policy Research Consortium is a part of this commitment. Learn more 👇
https://bit.ly/4q0NDDZ
Graphic from the Roosevelt Institute featuring the quote "People with disabilities are up close and personal with our fraying social safety nets, our lack of federal labor protections, and the indignities of means-tested and underfunded public programs that put undue administrative burden on people simply seeking economic freedom and a dignified life. For this reason, listening to the lived economic experience of disabled people can show us all where the cracks are throughout our public policy."
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 23h
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.
shahrzadshams.bsky.social
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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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
shahrzadshams.bsky.social
Shahrzad Shams @shahrzadshams.bsky.social · 1d
Important piece by @lookheron.bsky.social tracing how the steady neoliberalization of higher education has sowed fertile ground for its takeover by authoritarians
lpeblog.bsky.social
LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 2d
Today, @lookheron.bsky.social argues that, for higher education, it's been one battle after another: how the neoliberal era laid the groundwork for the recent authoritarian turn.
The Neoliberal Foundation of the Authoritarian Turn in Higher Education
Recent authoritarian attacks on higher education mark a significant shift from the neoliberal era, which celebrated institutional independence from the state, the role of education in boosting worker…
lpeproject.org
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 1d
AI infrastructure is surging, but broader US manufacturing investment is slowing.

The risk: an AI boom that enriches tech firms more than people. A smart industrial policy will translate AI’s surge into quality jobs.

An 🎯 piece from @ianrharnett.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c7b9453e-f...
The AI capex endgame is approaching
The rapid building of excess capacity both extends bubbles and ultimately bursts them
www.ft.com
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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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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 · 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.
lookheron.bsky.social
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
Nearly half of Americans say groceries are more expensive than a year ago.

Over the last 5 years, grocery prices have increased by more than 30%.

Families judge the economy by what they pay—not by GDP. Costs, but not wages, are rising.
www.axios.com/2025/10/02/groc...
Bar chart titled "How Americans say grocery costs compare to a year ago," based on a Harris/Axios poll, showing percentages of the general public, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who find it harder to afford, about the same, or easier to afford groceries. Colors range from purple (harder to afford) to orange and light purple (easier to afford).
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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
Since early 2024, women’s employment has declined relative to men, and rising costs—from groceries to childcare—have hit them hardest.

As Mike told the @nytimes.com, “women’s employment rates are down 2 percent from where men’s are,”—a worrying stat: 2/3 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Screenshot of quote from NYTimes article linked: "By any metric, America’s working women are doing poorly compared to men. Since January 2024, women’s employment rates are down about 2 percent from where men’s are, according to Michael Madowitz, the principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute. Put another way — as Time magazine did — 212,000 women left the work force between January and August of this year, while 44,000 men entered. The gender wage gap is widening, notes the economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, and, she said, “There is no racial group or educational class within the working population in which women outearn men.”
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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
How are women faring in today’s economy?

Between rising costs from tariffs, lingering inflation, and uneven job growth, the picture isn’t promising.

Principal Economist @mikemadowitz.bsky.social breaks down what’s really happening: 🧵1/3
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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
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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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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
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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 · 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
Quote graphic for a new publication
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 4d
#ICYMI: The week’s top stories

✅ Citizens United let billionaires control politics
✅ The government shutdown hurts the macroeconomy
✅ The future of higher ed requires grappling with its past of privatization

More in our #RooseveltRundown ⬇️
https://bit.ly/4pRvAzZ
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...
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Reposted by Roosevelt Institute
bilalb.bsky.social
Bilal Baydoun @bilalb.bsky.social · 4d
Americans' trust in media hit an all-time low this week. But the trust numbers for public media look totally different. The public is wary of how commercial pressures impact news fairness and accuracy — and for good reason.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/trust-i...
Americans’ Trust in Media Hit a Record Low This Week. Only Public Media Can Restore It. - Roosevelt Institute
Wednesday’s government shutdown was the final nail in the coffin of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which officially closed after having its funding rescinded by the Trump administratio...
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 4d
New data confirm what economists warned for months.

Tariffs aren’t just raising prices on essentials like food—they’re widening the gap between working-class families and the wealthy few.

The economy is being propped up by wealthy spenders: https://cnn.it/46L4rpO
Still, although the spending trajectory appears strong on the aggregate, the US economy is being increasingly powered by the few: Through the second quarter of this year, the top 20% of earners accounted for roughly half of all spending, Moody’s Analytics data has shown. “While we are encouraged by the 0.4% increase in income growth, the fact that Americans had to draw down savings to support the current pace of spending is a not-so-friendly remainder that the pace of spending is likely driven by upper-end households while lower-income cohorts remain stressed,” Brusuelas wrote.
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
The reasons vary, and our latest explainer dives into the “mixed” female labor market and what it means for women’s jobs, wages, and day-to-day financial pressures.

It is the economic measure to keep watching 👀 . 3/3
rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/mixed-s...
Mixed Signals on Job Gains for Women - Roosevelt Institute
One of the bigger economic puzzles of 2025 is what is going on with women in the labor market. The monthly Employment Situation report uses two separate surveys—one for households and one for business...
rooseveltinstitute.org
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Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
Since early 2024, women’s employment has declined relative to men, and rising costs—from groceries to childcare—have hit them hardest.

As Mike told the @nytimes.com, “women’s employment rates are down 2 percent from where men’s are,”—a worrying stat: 2/3 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...
Screenshot of quote from NYTimes article linked: "By any metric, America’s working women are doing poorly compared to men. Since January 2024, women’s employment rates are down about 2 percent from where men’s are, according to Michael Madowitz, the principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute. Put another way — as Time magazine did — 212,000 women left the work force between January and August of this year, while 44,000 men entered. The gender wage gap is widening, notes the economist Kathryn Anne Edwards, and, she said, “There is no racial group or educational class within the working population in which women outearn men.”
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rooseveltinstitute.org
Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
How are women faring in today’s economy?

Between rising costs from tariffs, lingering inflation, and uneven job growth, the picture isn’t promising.

Principal Economist @mikemadowitz.bsky.social breaks down what’s really happening: 🧵1/3
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rooseveltinstitute.org
Roosevelt Institute @rooseveltinstitute.org · 5d
How can the federal government bring industries in line with its climate goals?

Using the Department of Energy as a case study, @betonyjones.bsky.social recounts the wins, losses, and lessons learned from climate industrial policy in the Biden era.
rooseveltinstitute.org/public...
President Biden behind a podium delivering a speech at a Roosevelt Institute event, with audience members in attendance, and a quote "By relying on a model that channeled federal ambition through private-sector action while downplaying the state’s role, US industrial policy both achieved remarkable results and undermined the political durability of its own success."
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