CORE MESSAGE

Most of us, no matter what we look like or where we come from, work hard for our families, pitch in for our communities, and try to make things better for generations to come. But today, too many of us can’t make ends meet no matter what we do. Greedy corporations and the ultra wealthy few have rigged the rules in their favor so they can raise prices on the things we need to survive like groceries and gas. They pocket the profits, and then blame rising costs and hard times on poor families, Black people, and immigrants.

President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a historic effort to build the things our communities need like clean water, broadband, and new schools and create millions of good-paying union jobs. But we have more work to do. Millions of people are still struggling including the record number of mothers who had to drop out of the workplace in the pandemic, students drowning in student loan debt and understaffed, underpaid and overworked essential workers like nurses, teachers and care workers.

Now, we need to come together across our differences and fight for a better future with a tax system where the wealthy few pay what they owe. Together we can create a nation where everyone can find a good job and where working families have what they need to thrive like paid family leave, affordable childcare and a child tax credit. Just like we won better wages, safer workplaces and civil rights in our past, we can build an economy where people matter more than profits and all of us can thrive.

WATCH IT IN ACTION

NEXT: POLLING + WORDS THAT WORK ↓

POLLING + Fast Facts

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THE RICHEST ARE GETTING RICHER — FAST

Since 1989, the top 1% seized more than $22.7 trillion.The wealthiest few take more and more while we scrape by with less and less.

CORPORATE PROFITEERING IS DRIVING INFLATION AND HURTING WORKERS

The Economic Policy Institute found that nearly 54% of recent inflation can be traced back to corporate profits. A Brookings study of 22 major companies showed that corporations spent 5 times more on benefits for shareholders than they spent on raising pay for workers.

COLOR-CODED BARRIERS TO WEALTH AND INCOME DELIBERATELY HARM HOUSEHOLDS OF COLOR

Our country’s history of systemic racism – including enslavement, discrimination, redlining, and school segregation – still harms Black, Indigenous, Latino, and other families of color. Today, a typical Black household today owns just 12.5%, and a typical Latinx household only 20.5%, of the wealth owned by a typical White household.

THE WEALTHIEST 1% PROFIT OFF THE PANDEMIC

A greedy few are profiting off of the coronavirus pandemic while pushing poor families and families of color further behind and into much higher risk from the virus itself. Between March 2020 and May 2022, the wealth of billionaires in the United States grew by $1.7 trillion and the gap between CEO and worker pay rose even further to a staggering average of 670 to 1.

THE PANDEMIC WORSENED INEQUALITY FOR WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR

61% of Latinx people and 44% of Black people surveyed said they or someone in their household had been fired or had wages cut during the pandemic, compared with 38% of White people. Two-thirds of the net jobs lost since the pandemic began were women’s jobs - and there are over 1.1 million fewer women working in February 2022 than in February 2020. Nearly 40 percent of women—including 66 percent of women who lost or quit a job during the pandemic and 51 percent of women in jobs paying $15/hour or less—say their family’s financial situation is worse today than before the pandemic, compared to 26 percent of men.

Words that Work

We the people make the economy. The economy is people going about our lives, trying our best to provide a decent life for ourselves, our families, and those in our communities.

While our families are choosing between groceries and gas, greedy corporations are raising prices while they profit off the pandemic and rake in record profits.

Interest rate hikes can’t tackle the root causes of inflation: supply chain disruptions, foreign wars, and plain old profiteering by greedy corporate monopolies. We need solutions that put workers and families who are already struggling with high prices first, not ones that burden us with unemployment.

We need to invest in health care, clean energy, and American families. This is the best way to grow the economy and help millions of Americans who have been paying too much for too long.

Right now, greedy CEOs are profiting off the pandemic while they take from the people we depend on most: health providers, educators, first responders, and working people who drive trucks, stock shelves, and clean buildings.

Big corporations are raking in profits by keeping wages low while hiking up prices for housing, healthcare, education, and child care. To fix that, we need to put power back where it belongs –– in the hands of working people.

We’ve got a choice. We can continue to let big corporations and the wealthy few rig the rules of the economy so they can hold down wages, pocket huge profits, buy politicians, and refuse to pay what they owe in taxes — or we can create an economy that serves our needs where everyone can earn a good living and have a good life.

Big corporations and the politicians they’ve bought built a system that forces working families to live in debt and constant financial insecurity, and they keep us divided by pointing the finger at poor families, Black people, and immigrants.

To build stronger families and a stronger economy going forward, we need to value care work — paid and unpaid — by ensuring affordable care, fair wages, time off, and safe working conditions.

NEXT: TOOLS + RESOURCES ↓

Tools + Resources

For more information, we have included the following additional resources below. These resources do not necessarily reflect the policy positions of the Progressive Caucus Action Fund.