34: Fed up with the economy?
Why haven't wages risen in 40 years? It's not just bad luck. The mostly invisible, ultra-powerful folks who run at the Federal Reserve have gone to great lengths to keep it that way. When too many people get jobs, when pay starts going up... wham! They knock things back down again.
But lately, things have been a little different. The financial crisis jolted the Fed into superhero mode—and Janet Yellen, the new boss, seems determined to make the economy work for regular people. Trouble is, the old guard's not happy about it. What's needed is another jolt, a fresh infusion of real-world voices. And now, an unlikely group of outsiders is stepping up to provide it.
Meet Action United's Kendra Brooks, the AFL CIO's Damon Silvers, and the Center for Popular Democracy's Ady Barkan—and go inside what might be the wonkiest and most important economic-justice fight of the year. Or the decade. http://tgf.fm/34
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By Ben WiklerWhy haven't wages risen in 40 years? It's not just bad luck. The mostly invisible, ultra-powerful folks who run at the Federal Reserve have gone to great lengths to keep it that way. When too many people get jobs, when pay starts going up... wham! They knock things back down again.
But lately, things have been a little different. The financial crisis jolted the Fed into superhero mode—and Janet Yellen, the new boss, seems determined to make the economy work for regular people. Trouble is, the old guard's not happy about it. What's needed is another jolt, a fresh infusion of real-world voices. And now, an unlikely group of outsiders is stepping up to provide it.
Meet Action United's Kendra Brooks, the AFL CIO's Damon Silvers, and the Center for Popular Democracy's Ady Barkan—and go inside what might be the wonkiest and most important economic-justice fight of the year. Or the decade. http://tgf.fm/34