Date: July 22, 2013
To: Friends of Democracy
Corps and the Economic Media Project
From: Stan Greenberg, James
Carville and Erica Seifert
The New American Economy
“How do these jobs stack up to the cost of
living?”
Americans
are living in a new economy—one in which jobs do not pay enough to live on what
they used to—and barley keep up with prices at the grocery store, student loan
payments and childcare expenses. Voters have moved to a post-recession
understanding of how pay and prices balance out in their household budgets.
Because their understanding of the economy is no longer situated in the
temporary reductions of the recession but a seemingly permanent assessment
about jobs, they now have very different assumptions about life chances,
opportunity, income and equity.
This
new assessment is based on two new focus groups with working class participants
in Columbus, Ohio, two groups in Orlando with young college women and Latinos,
and comparisons with Economy Project findings over the last four years. The
results are clear but preliminary, since prior phases have affirmed these kinds
of observations with in-depth interviews and national representative surveys.
That is the next phase of this work.
We
talked to Americans about their economic experiences throughout the recession.
Their perceptions of the economy were at first temporary—devising makeshift
strategies to get by in the hard years. They often blamed themselves or their
neighbors for incurring too much debt and living beyond their means in the
pre-recession era. As the macro-economy began to show signs of growth, they
moved to anger as they heard elites talking about job growth, stock prices and
the end of the recession. Many Americans were still living in a recession,
still suffering unemployment and still fighting for the next opportunity, even
if elites boasted productivity, job and stock market growth.
Americans
have now moved into a new era—shaped by strikingly new ways of living and very
sophisticated understandings of the economy. Their conversations about finances
and the economy are distinct from the stop-gap economics that characterized the
earlier periods, when tones were more angry and strategies to get by more
temporary.
This
new period is shaped by five powerful dynamics:
1)
Jobs you can’t live off: They believe that jobs have been restructured
in a fundamental way and that the country is now producing jobs “you can’t live
off."
2)
Fear and caution: They are very cautious and conservative. Fear
and worry are the dominant terms they use to talk about the economy, even as
they want to be optimistic.
3)
Getting by: They have restructured their household finances in a more
permanent way in order to keep up. For some this means sharing
inter-generational housing, for others it means a routine of sacrifice—that is
not about temporarily weathering the bad times, but instead a way of living.
4)
Big new expenses: They face big new costs that previous
generations did not face. While their jobs pay less, their income must pay for
more. Most critically, these costs include student loans and childcare.
5)
Reduced expectations: Their ideas about a “good” economy are
radically different than they might have been in the pre-recession era. They
now talk about not living paycheck-to-paycheck as a sign that things are
improving for them.
As
they adapt to this new economy in a more permanent way, particular
solutions—personal, political and economic—have emerged as central to
rebuilding America’s middle class and working families.
1)
Education. Americans across the political spectrum view education as the
most important long-term strategy for themselves personally and for the
country. And they are sharply focused on the country investing in education in
ways that will allow their children to compete in the future. This leads many
to passionately advocate for greater investment in technology education and
also a solution on college affordability and help with retraining that helps
working families.
2)
Make work pay. Income and pay are central. Education is only half of the
equation, as many now talk about working in jobs outside their degree fields
just to pay off student loans. Re-balancing middle class incomes, which have
been declining since the late 1970s, is essential to families’ ability to keep
up with the bills and begin to invest in the economy again.
3)
Reframe debt and deficits. Americans are still concerned about debt and
deficits and think about the national debt through the lens of their personal
experiences with debt, which still weighs them down. However, they are
unwilling to cut funding for programs that they believe will grow our economy
in the long-term and more important, their thinking changes when they here our
country’s deficit is going down fairly dramatically.
4)
Make Washington work for working people. They are keenly aware of economic inequality
but the entry point is powerfully through political inequality. They believe
the system is rigged against them and requires real solutions.
5)
Make Washington work. Period. Americans are also very aware that Washington
does not work. The government is dysfunctional and politicians are driven by
partisan animosity rather than serving the people.
What
does this mean? Progressive economists have been warning for decades about
steady relative income decline, job security and retirement security among
middle class and working people.
And
even as incomes have declined, big expenses have increased for these folks.
More have to pay for childcare, as fewer two-parent families can afford to get
by on single incomes and unmarried parents must work longer hours for fewer
rewards. And, the cost of education has risen exponentially—while median household income increased 10.9 percent from 1983
to 2013, the average cost of public school tuition rose 131 percent.[i]
All
of these trends have left the middle class squeezed. While middle class people
used credit to close the gap during the pre-recession years, the crash has left
many unable to access credit and others wary of using it. During the recession,
we heard a “hard times” narrative—the squeeze felt temporary or circumstantial
—hard times are cyclical and folks recognize that.
But
these trends have given way to something new altogether that will require a big
national reckoning. Now, working people are beginning to see this squeeze as
something permanent, rooted in the character of jobs. The way they live, plan
for the future and talk about finances has shifted. They have permanently
downsized their expectations for what they get from the economy and permanently
upsized their expectations about what they must put into it to reap these
reduced gains. When they talk about solutions, as a result, they are not
looking for temporary half measures to momentarily boost the economy. They are
very thoughtful and totally focused on the long-term. They think hard and
debate what will be the best long-term solutions for themselves, their families
and the whole country.
The New Economy: five tenets
1)
Jobs
restructured to pay less
People
believe that American jobs have been fundamentally restructured to pay less.
They see more jobs available, but the jobs are paying less. They understand
that there has been a real shift in what jobs pay and
what they offer in security and benefits. As a result, they say the new jobs
are ones “you can’t live off.”
One of the most perceptible shifts we find in these groups is a
fundamental concern about the kind of jobs this country produces. This may be
the biggest change in the perception of the economy and it dominates all other
reactions.
For the last two years, in every focus group, we read the most
recent monthly jobs report. In the past when we read reports of job gains,
participants would get angry at the moderator. Where were those jobs? They
talked a lot about job losses and outsourcing. Some were defensive, angry, or
felt personally indicted, noting that they or members of their family were
losing jobs, not gaining them.
That was not the experience in our most recent groups. When
participants heard reports of the new jobs being created, they were not angry,
but rather resigned, skeptical and concerned. They knew about jobs being
created because they had seen help wanted signs or had gotten new jobs
themselves. But there is a deep understanding about what these new jobs are.
The discussion was totally about what those jobs pay. One
participant said he had no trouble getting jobs, he had gotten five over the
course of a few weeks. But none of them paid enough—these were disposable jobs.
As a result, they have had to replace “one career job” with two or more jobs
that pay much less.
What type of jobs?
(Latino man)
What’s full-time and
what’s part-time? (Non-college man)
The lower
income jobs, those grew exponentially…a lot of them in the mid range, you know,
where most middle class people are, those really kind of stayed static in the
last years. I’m actually looking for a job right now. There are lots of jobs
out there in housekeeping, things like that. (Young white woman)
Are those
jobs able to, can you live off of it? Does it balance with the cost of living?
So those
numbers, you know, 175,000, but how many of those are actual livable wages,
wage jobs that, so the numbers can be skewed. (Latino man)
I always
wonder how many of those jobs created are because of like what I talked about
earlier where places are having two part-time workers versus one full-time
worker.
I think a
lot of it is service industry jobs or part time jobs. I think that the ratio or
the percentage of unemployment is going down because I think a lot of people
are underemployed. (Non-college woman)
It looks
good, but it’s not keeping up to the cost of living, so the thing is kind of
hopeless optimism going on here. (Latino man)
They’re
still a lot of people … people whose wages are getting cut and so I’m, it’s
just kind of like an uphill battle still and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to
change anytime soon. (Latino man)
My mom
works for Wal-Mart and she has to work on the night because the only positions
that they offer as full-time is the overnight…but that doesn’t mean that it’s
full-time and offering benefits and everything else that people need. (Young
white woman)
The jobs don’t match the cost of living and everyday expenses,
especially gas and groceries. As a result, “cost of living” is one of the first
things they mention when we ask about the economy.
Cost of living; it’s very depressing. (Non-college woman)
With gas
prices going up, food, everything is going up and, you know, I don’t know how
people do it. I really don’t. (Non-college woman)
Cost of
food going up but raises aren’t happening in the work place so it’s going to be
really hard for people to afford food. (Non-college woman)
Raises
aren’t happening [but] the cost of living continues to rise, bills continue to
go up. (Non-college woman)
I think
inflation, you know, you can begin to see the food prices going up. It’s very
difficult for families, you know. (Non-college woman)
Because jobs don’t pay enough for many to make ends meet, they
cobble together several jobs to make a full time income. For others, two jobs
may not be enough, so one parent must work two jobs while the other works one
job and cares for children.
[I have] a
job working overtime, my husband [has] one full-time job and a part-time job …
and we are still just scraping by. (Non-college woman)
Pretty
much in order to survive this economy the husband and wife, 2 people in 1
household to make the ends meet. One person is hard. (Non-college woman)
One income doesn’t buy
much. (Non-college woman)
In the past, people talked about jobs paying “less” as a
consequence of the Great Recession, but this change in the character of jobs is
now just given and feels more permanent.
You have
to work twice as hard to make half as much as you used to. (Latino man)
Back 6
years ago, 2006, 2005, you know, I was making double the income that I’m making
now, you know and every year, I just see a decline (Latino man)
Despite this, they describe the job and income situation as a
“serious problem,” not a “crisis” – suggesting they have adapted to the new
economy, as we will show below.
2)
Fear and
caution
People sense there is a macro recovery under way and things are
getting better. However, they universally describe the economy as “uncertain”
and their feelings as “concerned” and “worried.”
Their first reactions to
the economy included these terms:
Pretty scary.
(Non-college woman)
Worried. (Non-college
men)
Concerned. (Latino
man)
Uncertain. (Young
woman)
Nervous. (Non-college
man)
Unsure. (Non-college
man)
Skeptical. (Latino
man)
Fearful. (Young woman)
I’m being very
cautious. (Latino man)
I can’t afford to lose
right now. (Non-college woman)
I mean,
most of my family and friends are, they’re making ends meet but they’re
struggling…
They’ve
got financial… worry in the back of their minds, you know, if something happens
what am I going to do? (Non-college woman)
People know of others who have gotten jobs or sold a house and
they have heard credible reports of the economy improving. That produces less
anger in reaction to elites over-interpreting positive economic news, like the
monthly jobs number.
Nonetheless, the improvements have not reached them yet, which
leads them to use qualifiers when they talk about their own cautious optimism
or the economic gains they hear about on the news.
The
housing market is supposed to be on an upswing again. (Non-college
woman)
You want to be
optimistic for the future. (Latino man)
It’s
starting to balance out a bit, but we never know … it’s a rollercoaster.
(Latino man)
When they describe their own personal financial situations, their
descriptions give dark texture to the rosier economic news we hear in jobs
reports, housing reports, or reports of record-breaking days on Wall Street.
Many struggle to get by. Others feel like they can’t get ahead.
The character of these comments is much different than at the height of the
recession when the news matched their experiences or when the pain felt both
temporary and widespread.
I think
the best word to describe my household finances is “precarious.” (Non-college
woman)
Two steps forward,
four steps back. (Non-college woman)
I want to leave the
country. (Non-college man)
Personally, I’m not
doing great. (Young woman)
Me,
personally, not so good; my household is getting by. (Young woman)
I own my
own home and I don’t see the home values going up. I see homes in the
neighborhood selling quick but what they selling for…I don’t see a great
improvement. (Latino man)
Afraid of losing my
house. (Non-college woman)
3)
Restructuring
households and living on the edge
There
is a new permanence about the way they live, meet their bills, earn income and
look to the future. They restructured their households and families to deal
with this new economy, which feels permanent, not
just an adaptation during the Great Recession.
Many more people talk about working full or part-time in
retirement or postponing retirement.
My sister
retired in 2009 and she had to go back to work. (Non-college woman)
I am
trying to retire. I’m trying to live on my Social Security. I don’t know how
people do it. You know, I own my home; it’s paid for. My car is paid for. I
have no credit, I have no debt but it becomes increasingly discouraging that
I’m going to be able to live on my Social Security. (Non-college woman)
More people have moved in with family members, sharing
intergenerational housing. In the past, we heard more people talking about
taking in their adult children, or adult children moving back in with parents.
But this now also includes 20-somethings taking in their parents who have lost
jobs or fallen on hard times.
I moved my
mom in with me last month. I am currently supporting my mom; her factory shut
down and she was on unemployment. (Young woman)
With such
deep concern about the cost of living, couponing and penny-pinching is given.
Cutting
back on unnecessary items at home and just paycheck-to-paycheck. (Non-college
woman)
Extreme couponing; I love my coupons. (Non-college woman)
Looking for sales, pinching pennies. (Non-college woman)
We hear
talk about neighbors and friends sharing both big and small ticket necessities
like lawn mowers and clothes that are difficult to afford. They say they do not
buy “extra stuff” that they don’t need, but devise new strategies to buy the
things they do require.
I know
with my girlfriends and I, we trade clothes like between our kids. I mean, I
haven’t bought clothes for my children in a long time. (Non-college woman)
Our
neighbors are all doing the same, we’re … not buying extra stuff that we don’t
need.
We borrow
each other’s lawnmower … We help each other out. (Non-college woman)
And sacrifice has become part of the routine:
After we
pay our bills we make sure that our children eat but there’s times my husband
and I can’t afford it and we eat peanut butter, potatoes, or rice. We make sure
our children are eating 4 food groups but we can’t. (Non-college woman)
4)
Big new
expenses: childcare and student debt
One of the things that distinguishes the new economy is that big
new expenses, most critically childcare and education, take up a
significant portion of income.
With their households on the edge, they are consumed by these
costs. Both of these reactions seem to have a new prevalence and
intensity–women moving totally into the labor force as jobs pay less and as
young people have turned to college as an economic strategy.
Talk about the cost of childcare is pervasive in groups among
non-college-educated women. As the May 2013 Pew report on “Breadwinner Moms”
showed, just 37 percent of married mothers with children worked outside the
home in 1968. That increased to 65 percent in 2011. But this is not just a
long-term trend of women working outside the home—this is also a function of an
economy that pays less and requires more than one income to get by. These
trends are also not old. As the Pew report also noted, as early as 2007, just 20 percent of mothers said their “ideal situation” was to work
full time outside the home. That increased a full 12 points—to 32 percent—by
2012.[ii]
This leaves families with big new costs to meet on reduced
incomes.
If we
want…to keep the American Dream alive and have a middle class America then we
have to do something to make child care more affordable.” (Non-college woman)
I have 2
kids and they’re in child, they have to go to child care because I have to work
full-time just so that I can afford to feed them … in the summers I pay like
$1,500 dollars a month for child care for 2 kids … I mean, it’s more than my
mortgage payment but I can’t not do it because the money that I still bring in
pays for electricity and food and so it’s, I mean, it’s just a complete vicious
circle. But at the same time, I mean, I don’t have any more to give so I don’t
know what to do. (Non-college woman)
We are
just scraping by but child care continues to go up … [and] I have to have
extended care because of my working hours. (Non-college woman)
Raises
aren’t happening [but] child care continues to go up. Nobody’s going to be able
to do anything. (Non-college woman)
My main
consideration was for child care. I mean, it’s just outrageous. (Non-college
woman)
The other big new expense is student loan debt. For borrowers and
parents, student loan debt has begun to feel like a “crisis.” For some, their
incomes barely cover these big monthly costs. Others are working in jobs for
which they did not train just to pay off the student loans or because they
cannot find other jobs. In our group among young women in Orlando, Florida, we
were struck by how many in the room were working outside the fields they had
studied in school.
For example, we talked to a massage therapist with an MBA for
which she had incurred “$100,000 in student loans” and a bartender with a BA.
Both had to take the jobs they could get just to meet their bills, including
their student loan debt.
We have a
student loan crisis basically where you’re getting into so much debt to get
that degree, to get that better job, that that is becoming cyclical where you
are working just to pay off your student loans so it’s almost, it’s a double
edged sword. (Latino man)
When you
come out of school you’re $50 or $100 thousand dollars in debt. You’re lucky if
you’re making, you know, $30 or $40 thousand dollars a year. That’s paying your
bills. That’s paying your rent. You’re not paying off your debt so you’re never
getting ahead. (Young woman)
I have
plenty of student loans that I’m paying. I have a degree. I’m working as a
bartender not by choice; not saying I love it but I make more money doing that
than any position I could get in my degree so I pay my student loans as a
bartender. (Young woman)
People are
coming out of college are getting off on the wrong foot. My husband has $58
thousand dollars worth of student loans and isn’t making even close to what he
needs to be making to pay it off. They’re saying that you need all this
education to get these jobs to make more money but yet you come out of college
with all this debt and you can’t ever catch up. (Young woman)
You have
people who have to go back to school…they have no options…they’ve gotten a
degree … but they can’t get a job in it so they have to go back and get a
degree in something else … (Latino man)
I just
think, I mean, it’s important to have an education but the cost of it is,
sometimes I wonder is it worth it? (Young woman)
And the cost of college education causes a great deal of concern
about their own children’s future and the future of the American economy.
You have
people who have to go back to school … they have no options … they’ve gotten a
degree … but they can’t get a job in it so they have to go back and get a
degree in something else … (Young woman)
I mean I
think our children are our future, you know, they need to be smart and well
educated for … our country to get better … making college more affordable, you
know, between me and my wife, we have 5 kids so … (Latino man)
If we
don’t make college affordable we won’t have the technical people that we need
and we’ll be hiring from abroad. (Young woman)
These
students graduating with such enormous debt … it takes them years to get out of
debt. (Non-college woman)
5)
Downsized
expectations for a good economy
Even the folks who talk about the economy beginning to pick up
have downsized and adapted their expectations for a good economy. The new signs
of an improving economy are humble.
They say they will know they are doing better when they are “able
to save more.” In Orlando, their perceptions and expectations are very much
shaped by their experience with the tourism industry, but even there, the signs
they look to are rather humble—more people able to spend $50 dollars at Outback
or rightside up on their mortgages, for example.
They talk
a great deal about spending and saving because they understand how critical
spending is to the economy. As one Columbus woman said, “The more money people
within the country spend the economy goes up. I mean, the more you spend the
economy reaps the benefits of it.”
But it feels like they personally don’t have the extra money to
put back into the economy.
Despite these reduced expectations, they refuse to give up on the
American Dream. Many are clearly in the process of redefining what the American
Dream means and what it should mean.
Asked if the American Dream is still alive, they give positive,
albeit sometimes cautious, responses.
They are clearly in the middle of redefining the American Dream—as
they know few rags-to-riches stories.
Yes, I
just think it needs to be altered a little bit, maybe brought back down. (Young
woman)
You can
still live the American Dream but you have to reassess your priorities. (Young
woman)
I think
sometimes we need to reorganize our dreams and make them a little bit more realistic.
(Young woman)
Well, yeah, it could be. (Non-college woman)
It’s not like it used
to be. (Non-college woman)
Well,
people are still losing houses and the American Dream is to have your family
grow up in a neighborhood and your grandchildren come back to that same house …
but with no jobs how do you pay for it? (Non-college woman)
What is the American
dream? (Latino man)
Well, to
me, I mean, say back in World War II the American Dream was, you know, to have
a nice house, 2 kids and a new car and that sort of thing. To me, I don’t
necessarily think that, you know, the idea of a affording a new house is
realistic for a couple of generations maybe. (Non-college man)
It depends
on what your idea of the American Dream is. (Non-college man)
6)
The New
Economy: Solutions
Participants in these groups were very clear about the problems
the country most needs to address—the cost of health care, reforming politics,
investing in education for the future and making work pay for families—clearly
rose to the top as the biggest priorities for participants.
Below is a
list of problems that we could be doing more of as a country. Please read this
list and then circle the THREE that would be most important to happen.
Implement but greatly improve the health care reforms
so people, families and businesses have more affordable
health care.
15
Reform government by radically cutting special
interest spending and subsidies and limiting
big money donations. 14
Make work pay for families – including making sure
women get equal pay, expanding paid family,
maternity and sick leave for families and making
childcare available and affordable. 12
Invest in math and science education, job training
updated to new jobs, and make college
more affordable.
9
1)
Education
Education has become more important in this new economy – as a
personal strategy and as a macro strategy to produce a stronger economy. This includes
investing in math and science education, job training and making education more
affordable.
There was near universal agreement that education is one of the
most important investments we can make in our economy.
Without
technology and education, we’re doomed. We have to increase those. (Non college
man)
I think
our children are our future. They need to be smart and well educated for our
country to get better. (Latino man)
I feel
like if they … put more money into education, that it will benefit the country
as a whole more. We’ll be able to compete more for jobs with other countries.
(Latino man)
I would
like to see them focus on these students graduating with such enormous debt. I
think if they could figure out something because it takes them years to get out
of debt. It’s unbelievable. (Non-college woman)
It needs
to be more affordable. I mean, we need to make sure that we’re investing in our
future, like education is our future. You know, like our kids and, you know,
teenagers and stuff, they are going to be taking care of us when we’re old.
(Young woman)
We can’t
compete against countries like China and India when we’re not even doing, like,
updated training. We’re not focusing on math and science, you know, those are
the fields that we really need to put an emphasis on. (Latino man)
This is simultaneously a personal strategy, as the women in
particular pursue education in order to improve their incomes and job chances.
These results loom even bigger in the survey that we just conducted
for WVWV Action Fund and Democracy Corps, which showed surprisingly robust
support for the following policy as part of a Women’s Agenda: “Expand access to
scholarships so working women and parents can continue their education and
train for jobs that are available now and in the future.” This ranked among the
top policy options for unmarried women, women generally and moms – along with
raising wages so women get equal pay at work.
2)
Making
work pay
Making work pay is central to their ideas about improving the
economy for the future. There was very strong support for a make work pay
package—including making sure women get equal pay, expanding paid family,
maternity and sick leave for families and making childcare available and
affordable. They see this as central to their personal economies, but also to
improving the broader economy.
I know
several people who are staying at home with the kids … because it’s not worth
them going back to work but in turn they’re struggling … they’re not spending
money, they’re not helping out the economy in that way and I think that if it
was more available for women to be able to go back to work … they would be
doing better money-wise. They’d be able to put more into the economy and they
wouldn’t be struggling. (Young woman)
3)
Addressing
debt and long-term solutions
With families restructured and weighted down by debt, people
remain responsive to conservative arguments on debt and spending. Their
framework for talking about debt and deficits is totally personal and based on
household and personal level experiences with debt.
When
you’re in debt you owe lots of money to people they’re going to come to collect
it … like, the government’s in that much debt. (Young woman)
What
happens when we spend more than we’ll ever pay back? If I borrowed or charged
us 450 million dollars on my credit card I’m going to lose my house, my car,
everything. Is China going to repossess our country and then move their
overpopulated people here? Where will we go? They own us. (Non-college man)
It freaks
me out so like to think that our country is completely in the red is scary
because if I were completely in debt I would be scared for myself so I can’t
imagine that we shouldn’t be scared for the country. (Young woman)
The result is a country still divided on investment to grow versus
austerity. That debate is not yet won, regrettably.
We read
participants two sets of statements—one emphasizing that we need to invest now
in the economy versus cutting spending now to reduce the deficit—and another
emphasizing that investing in the economy is a long-term solution that will
also reduce the debt versus reducing spending and long-term deficits. These
were the counts, though it is no substitute for a real statistically
significant number from a national survey.
1.
Given
where our economy is, we should invest
now in
infrastructure, education and technology
and rehiring teachers and firefighters to
get people
back to work to
make our country stronger in the
long-term. 14
2.
Given where our
economy is, we should cut
government spending and reduce the federal
deficit that weighs down our economy and give
confidence to businesses to invest and create jobs. 17
3.
We should avoid
immediate drastic cuts in
spending and instead,
we need serious
investments
that create jobs and make
us more
prosperous in the long term that
will reduce our debt,
too. 17
4.
The only way to
restore prosperity and market
confidence is to dramatically reduce
government spending and our
long-term deficits. 14
As they debated the two options, they kept coming back to “which
is more long-term?” And they fully recognized that both reducing the deficit
and growing the economy were equally important — so they debated which one
might cause the other.
I feel
like this is long-term. I feel like that’s a temporary fix and until we get the
government spending and get all that down that it’s not going to go anywhere.
(Young woman)
I feel
like it’d be great to patch things up quickly but I feel like we have to look
long-term because when Clinton left we were not in a deficit. It took, you
know, 9 or 10 years to get into that deficit with all these wars so it took
that long to get in, to get under; it’s going to take a long time to get back
up. And obviously, I mean, like I said you have to take money to make money.
(Young woman)
We invest
in creating jobs … for everybody with the long-term, it will help reduce our
debt.
That’s
kind of like … reducing government spending and our long term deficits, I think
we have more jobs and the economy would get better. I think the deficit will
get lower. (Latino man)
Just being
able to make sure everything goes to the, you know, for the future, you know
and in the right place. You want to invest in stuff that is going to sustain
ourselves in the future, you know, you don’t necessarily want to have to rely
on other countries in the future, you know, on oil and all that kind of good
stuff. (Latino man)
You have to spend money to make money. (Non-college man)
We are
investing in our future so that’s something positive. (Latino man)
I think
that to do away with the things that we depend on, such as teachers and
firefighters, is doing a disservice to the people that we have now and cutting
government spending and reducing the federal deficit isn’t going to help if
everybody’s on welfare. (Non-college woman)
It has a
ripple effect where the economy gets stronger, infrastructure gets stronger and
then you just, you have a lot more self contained growth. (Latino man)
Invest in
our future; for future growth. How are we supposed to compete if we don’t
invest in ourselves? (Latino man)
However, the conversation changes when they are given information
about rapidly falling deficits over the last two years and two years to come.
This is what we read:
“In May of
this year, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the
federal budget deficit is declining this year compared to the last few years.
The deficit has been reduced by 60 percent over the past two years and will be
cut in half again over the next two years, which economists consider a normal
level.”
Many were surprised to hear this because they are used to thinking
automatically about government debt as a crisis. It is what they hear on the
news, from their friends and during the campaign. It may be a far-away crisis,
but for many the sheer size of the debt and their own experiences with debt
push them into crisis mode. Hearing the positive facts about the falling
deficit allows them to turn to addressing the issues raised in this report.
4)
Addressing
inequality, starting with political inequality.
Participants are well aware of inequality, but their starting
point and emotion is on political inequality รก la Stiglitz and Reich. People
are consumed by the lack of jobs that pay and the fate of the middle class, but
they look right at the top when focused on the rigged political battle that
favors the wealthy and well-connected. They are animated about the political
inequality – the use of lobbyists and money to rig the game for those at the
top. That is the entry point to making change.
[The top 2
percent are] holding us hostage and then they’ve got the money to buy the
politicians to get what they want. (Non-college man)
The best
way to put it unfortunately is the general concept of our elected officials
being there to support their constituents and the people that have elected to
put them in office and unfortunately I think the reality is that too many times
they’re placing their votes with people that line their pockets from special
interest groups. (Non-college man)
The
problem is you have corruption on these high levels where you have these people
who are, you know, laundering money or they’re giving themselves these
multi-million dollar annual bonuses and they’re cutting wages or they’re
cutting jobs or they’re outsourcing jobs. (Young woman)
Congress,
these bank owners, bank people, you know, the finance, they need to have a cap
on their income so if they make money it means the prices are going to go up in
order for them to get their raises. (Non-college woman)
I think
the disparity between the rich and the rest of us is getting greater. The rich
are getting richer and everybody else is getting poorer. (Non-college woman)
5)
End
political dysfunction
People are desperate for an end to political dysfunction. They are
very conscious of the political dysfunction in Washington that keeps government
from doing anything to address the country’s problems – indeed, making it
harder. That is not unrelated to calling people to use government to effect
change.
We are not
as divided in our opinions as our elected representatives! With good old
American political compromises our problems are solvable. America’s citizens
are often more patriotic than congress. I think the government needs to work
together to get things accomplished that benefit America and not special
interests.
If both
political parties could work together, we might actually be able to accomplish
something.
I think
the turmoil and fighting amongst lawmakers. The people who are running the
economy in the country, they can’t even come together on the real issues.
They’re fighting over what seems like the most ridiculous stuff … rather than
coming together and fixing the problem … they’re not helping us.
