Sustaining Capitalism

As the US continues to grapple with the economic shocks of the COVID pandemic, lowering barriers to the full economic participation of all Americans in proportion to their talents remains one of the surest paths to strengthening the long-run outlook for the American workforce. Michigan State University economist Dr. Lisa Cook joins to discuss her research on the pernicious effects of discrimination on innovation and prosperity, and steps policymakers can take to address them.

While the number of unemployed workers continuously declined from April to November, the number "permanently" separated from their employers continued to climb—suggesting that a continuing employment recovery would be slower and more difficult. Following a December in which employment once again declined, former US Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Dr. Erica Groshen joins to discuss the risks of worker displacement during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October of 2020, with COVID-19 case numbers surging, more Americans had been consistently unemployed for at least 20 weeks than had been unemployed—for any length of time—a year prior. With some workers facing increased risks on the job and others worried about being locked on the sidelines, Howard University professor and chief economist to the AFL-CIO, Dr. William Spriggs joins to discuss labor market challenges and policies that could help speed a post-COVID employment recovery.

As the 2020 election season comes to an end and a new Congress approaches, Molly Reynolds, senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Limitations in the US Senate, joins to discuss potential changes in how Congress conducts its business or asserts its priorities, and how that could shape the next two years in the Executive Branch.

While COVID-19 initially struck hardest in American cities, since the end of the summer, more and more rural Americans are dealing with the consequences of the pandemic—including new daily per capita caseloads and death rates that have surpassed those found in more urban areas. Gbenga Ajilore, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, joins to discuss COVID-19's impacts on rural communities and the barriers that threaten to hamper recovery in some rural areas.

Former SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson, Co-Director of the Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance and Director of the Program on Corporate Law and Policy at the New York University School of Law, joins to discuss transparency, concentration, the perceived political power of business, and the strengths and weaknesses of US financial regulation a decade after the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Recorded: 10/23/20

From public health and worker safety to economic dislocation and financial stability, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit some families and communities much harder than others. With the early economic recovery itself looking increasingly uneven, Abigail Wozniak, Director of the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, joins to discuss efforts to track the pandemic's unequal impacts and how COVID-19 may exacerbate existing economic disparities.

When Chair Jerome Powell testified in front of Congress at the end of September, he pledged that the Federal Reserve was committed to using its tools "to do what we can, for as long as it takes" to ensure a strong recovery limited lasting damage to the economy. Skanda Amarnath, Director of Research and Analysis at Employ America, joins to discuss the role the Fed has played, the challenges it has faced, and what more could be done, to help address the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Even before the pandemic, the US was facing potential risks to its long-run economic strength from a series of demographic challenges, including a slower growing workforce. Lyman Stone, Research Fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, joins to discuss how COVID-19 may exacerbate the US's ongoing demographic concerns and what role public policy could or should play in trying to shape those trends.

Ed Stack, Chairman and CEO of DICK'S Sporting Goods and a 2020 Distinguished Performance Awardee, spoke to CED President Lori Murray for the "Leadership in Challenging Times" series and discussed COVID's effect on small businesses, the future of the workplace and the failure of national political leadership to handle it.

"There's kind of a helplessness – that people can't do anything about it," he said. "We've got so many issues in the country and we seem to be somewhat rudderless from a leadership standpoint." The solution, he said, is for business leaders to "raise our voice and call on Congress and the leadership in Washington to put their partisan issues aside and do what's really right for main street America."

Stack told Murray that the pandemic has been especially hard on the nation's children because of the extra layers of complication from school closings and virtual learning. "Kids are our nation's most precious natural resource. And we don't invest in the kids nearly enough," Stack underscored.