20 million people lost their jobs in April. But the stock market had its best month in 33 years.
Capital is recovering quickly. But workers are looking at years to get back to where they were in March -- which wasn't nearly good enough.
We can choose a different path. 1/
Capital is recovering quickly. But workers are looking at years to get back to where they were in March -- which wasn't nearly good enough.
We can choose a different path. 1/
First, we can ensure that the programs Congress has already created are used to support workers. Like making sure that the $500B Treasury fund for big business goes to help retain and rehire workers, instead of feeding executive bonuses and shareholder payouts. 2/
And the time for small ideas is over. Labor's share of income is down sharply in the last 20 years -- and that's before this historic crisis. That trend reflects deep structural problems in our economy that require structural solutions. 3/
We must empower workers so they get more of the profits they help create. Workers should elect corporate board members. There should be sectoral bargaining to push up wages across firms. It should be easier to join a union and unions should have more power. 4/
We can take this moment to make long-overdue investments. Investments that accelerate the transition to green energy while supporting energy workers. Investments in improving infrastructure that create jobs now and strengthen our economy in the long run. 5/
And we must address the rising costs that have squeezed families for generations: create new housing supply to reduce rents, broadly cancel student loan debt, invest in providing free child care, and more. 6/
We can do better than a long, slow recovery for workers while capital rebounds in weeks. This crisis has exposed cracks in the foundation of our economy. Instead of papering over them, we should fix them now.
