SOTU Economic Backgrounder: Keeping the Focus on the Struggle of Everyday People

With the national conversation focused on the economy and the struggle of everyday people, NDN and the New Policy Institute offer up some of our recent work as background:

• Keeping the Focus on the Struggle of Everyday People: 2010 Edition by Simon Rosenberg, January 26, 2010, The Huffington Post – Simon offers an important, updated narrative on crafting a national agenda focused on the ongoing struggle of everyday people. This version also links to important charts and graphs on the NDN website.

• Prominent Senators Offer Proposal to Cut Payroll Tax, Create Jobs, January 26, 2010 – In column in The New York Times, Senators Schumer and Hatch promote a proposal, similar to that advanced by NDN Globalization Initiative Chair Dr. Robert Shapiro, to exempt a portion of the payroll tax on new hires in order to spur job creation.

• Crafting an American Response to the Rise of the Rest by Simon Rosenberg, January 21, 2010 – This essay written for Salon lays out three strategies for the Obama Administration to craft a comprehensive response to the new politics and global economy of the 21st century.

• The Path to More Jobs and Growth by Dr. Robert Shapiro, January 20, 2010 – Shapiro examines a Congressional Budget Office report illustrating the effectiveness of his proposed payroll tax cut for new hires. He also argues that a new strategy is needed to ensure we do not have another disappointing economic expansion.

• A Lost Decade for Everyday Americans by Jake Berliner, December 17, 2009 – This white paper advances the argument that everyday Americans have just been through a lost decade, marked by stagnating wages and declining incomes, a key factor in explaining the virulence of the Great Recession. 

We hope you find these materials helpful in your thinking on some of the most important issues of our day.