BUILDING A STRONGER, FAIRER ECONOMY The economy is not working for the American people. In a matter of weeks, the abject failure of President Trump and his Administration to competently respond to the COVID-19 pandemic erased all the job gains made since the Obama-Biden administration pulled the country out of the Great Recession, and plunged the economy into recession once more.
But our economy was fundamentally flawed even before the novel coronavirus sickened millions and killed more than 130,000 Americans. Working families’ incomes have been stagnant for decades, while the cost of basic needs—from housing to health care, higher education to child care—keep rising at precipitous rates. Meanwhile, the rich have been capturing a larger and larger share of the economic pie, with incomes for the top 1 percent growing five times faster than those of the bottom 90 percent.
America bills itself as the land of opportunity, but intergenerational mobility has plummeted; children born in the United States are less likely to move up the income ladder than those in Canada, Denmark, or the United Kingdom. Women still earn just 82 cents to every dollar men earn, with even greater disparities for women of color. Wage gaps between Black and white workers at all levels of education have grown wider since 2000. And there is a persistent, pernicious racial wealth gap that holds millions of Americans back, with the typical white household holding 10 times more wealth than the typical Black family.
That’s bad for our economy, it’s bad for our democracy, and it’s bad for the soul of our nation. That is why Democrats commit to forging a new social and economic contract with the American people—a contract that invests in the people and promotes shared prosperity, not one that benefits only big corporations and the wealthiest few. A new contract that recognizes all Americans have a right to quality, affordable health care. One that affirms housing is a right and not a privilege, and which makes a commitment that no one will be homeless or go hungry in the richest country on earth. A new economic contract that raises wages and restores workers’ rights to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain. One that at last supports working families and the middle class by securing equal pay for women, paid family leave for all, and ensuring racial equity. A new economic compact that provides access for all to reliable and affordable banking and financial services. One that treats the formerly incarcerated as the returning citizens they are, and that pulls down the barriers to housing, employment, and the ballot box that for too long have turned even minor infractions into life sentences. A new social and economic compact that at last grapples honestly with America’s long and ongoing history of racism and disenfranchisement, of segregation and discrimination, of economic exclusion and political suppression, and invests instead in building equity and mobility for the communities of color and Native American communities who have been left out and left behind for generations.
Democrats stand ready to take immediate, decisive action to pull the economy out of President Trump’s recession by investing in infrastructure, care work, clean energy, and small businesses to put tens of millions of Americans to work in good-paying jobs, shoring up state and local budgets to save jobs and protect public health in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and enacting 12 fundamental reforms to address systemic racism and entrenched income and wealth inequality in our economy and our financial system.
But our economy was fundamentally flawed even before the novel coronavirus sickened millions and killed more than 130,000 Americans. Working families’ incomes have been stagnant for decades, while the cost of basic needs—from housing to health care, higher education to child care—keep rising at precipitous rates. Meanwhile, the rich have been capturing a larger and larger share of the economic pie, with incomes for the top 1 percent growing five times faster than those of the bottom 90 percent.
America bills itself as the land of opportunity, but intergenerational mobility has plummeted; children born in the United States are less likely to move up the income ladder than those in Canada, Denmark, or the United Kingdom. Women still earn just 82 cents to every dollar men earn, with even greater disparities for women of color. Wage gaps between Black and white workers at all levels of education have grown wider since 2000. And there is a persistent, pernicious racial wealth gap that holds millions of Americans back, with the typical white household holding 10 times more wealth than the typical Black family.
That’s bad for our economy, it’s bad for our democracy, and it’s bad for the soul of our nation. That is why Democrats commit to forging a new social and economic contract with the American people—a contract that invests in the people and promotes shared prosperity, not one that benefits only big corporations and the wealthiest few. A new contract that recognizes all Americans have a right to quality, affordable health care. One that affirms housing is a right and not a privilege, and which makes a commitment that no one will be homeless or go hungry in the richest country on earth. A new economic contract that raises wages and restores workers’ rights to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain. One that at last supports working families and the middle class by securing equal pay for women, paid family leave for all, and ensuring racial equity. A new economic compact that provides access for all to reliable and affordable banking and financial services. One that treats the formerly incarcerated as the returning citizens they are, and that pulls down the barriers to housing, employment, and the ballot box that for too long have turned even minor infractions into life sentences. A new social and economic compact that at last grapples honestly with America’s long and ongoing history of racism and disenfranchisement, of segregation and discrimination, of economic exclusion and political suppression, and invests instead in building equity and mobility for the communities of color and Native American communities who have been left out and left behind for generations.
Democrats stand ready to take immediate, decisive action to pull the economy out of President Trump’s recession by investing in infrastructure, care work, clean energy, and small businesses to put tens of millions of Americans to work in good-paying jobs, shoring up state and local budgets to save jobs and protect public health in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and enacting 12 fundamental reforms to address systemic racism and entrenched income and wealth inequality in our economy and our financial system.
