Suzanne Kahn
@suzmkahn.bsky.social
940 followers 440 following 120 posts
Historian of social insurance and feminism. VP Think Tank @rooseveltinstitute.org & Roosevelt Forward. Previously @32bjseiu.bsky.social, @seiu.org, @columbiauniversity.bsky.social History Dept linktr.ee/suzmkahn
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Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
rooseveltinstitute.org
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
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
socio-steve.bsky.social
You are going to hear a lot over the next few years about how SS is doomed and we need to privatize it or whatever. But it is not doomed. We have already figured out several possible ways to right to the ship. And we could have done so at any time in the last 2 decades. We knew this was coming...
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social
👇🏾right here. We need to understand the machine behind the machine - corporate consolidation means fewer heads to knock together when out of control state power comes knocking. It means a small group of wealthy individuals doing deals with a corrupt set of leaders. Consolidation is bad for democracy.
rooseveltinstitute.org
Yesterday, a late-night show vanished with a simple directive from 2 of the largest media companies you’ve never heard of (Nexstar & Sinclair), backed by the FCC. That’s not “the market at work.” It’s concentrated corporate power cooperating with an authoritarian. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/b...
ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments After F.C.C. Pressure
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
mikemadowitz.bsky.social
Truly wild stuff going on tonight in DC
White House pushing congress to get an unprecedented Fed Nominee confirmed late tonight (around 8PM per @vtg2.bsky.social / @politico.com )

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Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
lbilik.bsky.social
Exciting news from New Mexico, proving that states continue to innovate in the face of the federal government's decades of inaction on childcare. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't nationwide demand for childcare as a public good. shorturl.at/tTENi
suzmkahn.bsky.social
"People are experts on what’s not working in their lives. And when so many say they don’t have the time to both care for their loved ones and make a living, policymakers need to take that cue." - @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social is essential reading.

democracyjournal.org/magazine/78/...
Winning a People-Powered Future
By bringing the public into the policymaking process, we can shape a better economy and rebuild faith in democracy.
democracyjournal.org
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
rooseveltforward.org
Trump’s second term is about consolidating power through sabotage and deregulation.

The latest #FiresideStacks 🔥 offers a path for how we can challenge and move beyond the myths that have made the Right's harmful vision a reality. www.firesidestacks.com/p/reclaiming...
Infographic titled "A New Blueprint for Politics" by Roosevelt Forward, listing four strategies
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
rooseveltforward.org
Widening inequality, broken systems, and rising discontent aren’t isolated issues.

Americans are navigating economic precarity, failing institutions, and fractured communities. When institutions fail to deliver, people seek alternatives.

Roosevelt Fellow Daniel HoSang with a sobering op-ed.
nytimes.com
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com:

“The rightward drift of minority voters is not a story of just one election. It is a phenomenon years in the making," Daniel Martinez HoSang writes. "And to understand this movement, you must understand the transformations in the places they are happening."
Opinion | Obama Won Record Numbers of Nonwhite Voters. This Is How the Democrats Lost Them.
One in five voters who cast a ballot for Donald Trump in 2024 was a person of color. Why?
www.nytimes.com
suzmkahn.bsky.social
This paper is part of a new portfolio of work on care at Roosevelt Institute w/ contributions from @indivar.bsky.social, @kedseconomist.com, @ehaspel.bsky.social. I was so excited to work with these creative thinkers who are pushing us to think big about solutions to decades of failed care policy.
suzmkahn.bsky.social
Our paper argues that a public system is the best way to meet these needs. As @lbilik.bsky.social and I write today, tax credits--whether the paltry ones JD Vance is touting or the robust ones families deserve--will not get us there. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
Opinion | JD Vance is putting a new spin on Trump’s wildly unpopular megabill
It’s true that the law will provide modest support for child care costs, yet it’s anything but pro-family.
www.msnbc.com
suzmkahn.bsky.social
Parents and providers know what they need in a childcare system: something simple & safe where all kids have a high quality spot. We worked with Community Change on a new paper w/ research rooted in conversations with stakeholders about these simple demands.
rooseveltinstitute.org
NEW📃: The US childcare system is failing families. It's unaffordable, unsustainable, & susceptible to corporate interests.

Today, we offer a bold vision to build a public, universal ECE system that puts children, families, and workers first. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Children and a teacher engaged in activities around a table at an Early Childhood Education center. Text on the image quotes from the Roosevelt Institute about the importance of ECE funding for public welfare.
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
lbilik.bsky.social
New in @msnbc.com from me & @suzmkahn.bsky.social:

Don't let the messaging fool you: a few tax credits (that don't even reach the poorest families) will never solve the childcare crisis. Americans need and deserve historic investment in public universal childcare, and we should demand nothing less.
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
suzmkahn.bsky.social
Private equity is moving into childcare; private chains help small providers sell when they are ready to retire -- that's no small thing. That's why @ehaspel.bsky.social new brief on how the public sector can support childcare ownership transitions to better serve providers and kids is so critical.
suzmkahn.bsky.social
Also @lbilik.bsky.social is a fantastic researcher, writer, and colleague and I can't wait for people to read more from her this summer!
suzmkahn.bsky.social
Schools out for the summer as of yesterday, so we started this morning with a kid on the floor shouting "but i'll be bored!" as she realized that grown-ups don't have summer vacation. If you too are spending June remembering that summer is a nightmare, we have got the policy paper for you!
rooseveltinstitute.org
NEW: Too many families rely on a patchwork of care—unpaid, informal, unaffordable.

In a new report, @kedseconomist.com lays out federal, state, and local paths to a Child Development System that meets families’ real needs: whole child, whole day, whole year. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
Quote that reads: The patchwork approach that many parents must use in finding care—a mix of formal and informal, paid and unpaid, regular and irregular providers—is not serving parents or children well. We need a comprehensive system for filling these gaps that starts in early childhood, spans after school and summer, and is affordable for all families and accessible by all children.
suzmkahn.bsky.social
"Just to sum up, Trump accounts are not baby bonuses and they are not baby bonds. They are a way for households to invest their own money tax free and are of almost no use to working-class households that don’t have spare money to invest" - @socio-steve.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/roos...
rooseveltforward.org
The GOP’s “Trump Accounts” aren’t baby bonuses or baby bonds—they’re tax shelters for the wealthy, not support for working families.

@socio-steve.bsky.social lays out why this isn’t the pro-family policy it claims to be for #FiresideStacks🔥 www.firesidestacks.com/p/trump-acco...
promotional image for fireside stacks with the title: Trump Accounts Are Not Baby Bonuses. They’re Another Giveaway to the Wealthy.
Reposted by Suzanne Kahn
aasthauprety.bsky.social
"We are seeing an age of wealth so concentrated that it threatens to eclipse every form of democratic input—thanks to a system that not only allows wealth to be exercised as political power, but enables such staggering levels of wealth accumulation in the first place."
rooseveltforward.org
The Trump-Musk fallout is just the surface.

Behind it is a dangerous reality: billionaires shaping government to their will, backed by record wealth accumulation.

In a new blog, @bilalb.bsky.social explains why billionaire power puts democracy at risk. rooseveltforward.org/2025/06/06/t...
Bar chart titled "Billionaire Spending in Presidential Elections," showing a significant increase in spending from $18 million in 2000 to $2.6 billion in 2024. Data sourced from Americans for Tax Reforms, with bars marking expenditures for each election year.