On Tuesday, the American people delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Trump administration and the Republican Party, giving Democratic candidates victory after victory, even in places long considered Republican strongholds. These historic results followed months of polling and surveys that showed widespread voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the Trump administration’s handling of the economy.
In some ways, these election results exposed a deep rejection of an economic order that has failed to deliver for most Americans. For decades, and across both parties, policymakers embraced the idea that giving markets free rein and prioritizing corporate growth and investment would ultimately deliver prosperity for everyone.
But that clearly has not worked. Americans increasingly see an economy that generates enormous wealth for a few while failing to deliver the security or opportunity they were promised. Families are struggling to get ahead, relying on debt to cover the basics, and assuming greater financial risks, while large corporations, Wall Street, and Big Tech have amassed extraordinary power over our economy and our democracy.
These economic arrangements are not accidental. They were built by decades of policy choices that concentrated economic power in a few hands, and changing them will require a different set of choices.
As policymakers aim to respond to voters’ concerns post midterms, their ambitions must match the scale of the problem.
As policymakers aim to respond to voters’ concerns post midterms, their ambitions must match the scale of the problem. Immediate relief from high costs must be a priority, but the election should also prompt a broader reckoning with the economic policies that brought us here. To address the root causes of the affordability crisis and deliver lasting change, they must be willing to do something bigger: rebalance economic power to build an economy that delivers for everyone.
How Policy Choices Built an Economy That Favors the Powerful
Today’s economy reflects several major shifts that have favored the interests of a powerful few over workers and families. Corporations and Wall Street amassed greater wealth and power to shape the economy in their interests; institutions that gave workers and families a say over their economic lives were weakened; and households were left to shoulder a growing share of economic risks.
Beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating in the decades that followed, policymakers on both sides of the aisle embraced policies that favored markets and corporate interests, cutting corporate taxes, deregulating markets, and prioritizing financial returns. Over time, corporate profits became almost synonymous with economic success, even when those gains came at the expense of workers and consumers. Today, large corporations use their pricing power to raise prices beyond what their rising costs justify, even as they report strong profits, or use their outsized bargaining power to hold down wages. Big Tech in particular uses its dominance to dictate terms of employment for workers, extract more from small businesses, and shape the rules governing the digital economy. The explosive growth of data centers offers a textbook example of runaway corporate power, as tech firms ramp up building new facilities while communities face rising energy and water bills while their tax dollars go toward subsidizing the build out.
Wall Street’s growing influence has extended this dynamic into more and more corners of everyday life. Private equity firms, for example, have bought up businesses that families depend on—from child care centers to nursing homes and veterinary clinics and more—using financial maneuvers to extract returns for investors, often at the expense of service quality, workers, and customers. Meanwhile, a rising stock market has been routinely hailed as evidence of a healthy economy, even as its performance bears little resemblance to the financial realities faced by millions of Americans.
Over the same time period, the institutions that once gave ordinary Americans greater influence over their economic lives steadily lost ground. Employers mounted more aggressive campaigns against unions, while outdated labor laws and weak penalties for union-busting made it harder for workers to organize and bargain collectively. As union membership declined, workers lost a critical counterweight to corporate power, giving employers greater freedom to set the terms of employment, hold down wages, and shift costs and risks onto workers.
As the economic power imbalance between corporations and workers grew, employers and government shifted more of the responsibility for ensuring household economic security—and critically, more financial risk—onto individuals and families. Job security and benefits became less certain, with traditional pensions giving way to 401(k)s and households shouldering a greater share of healthcare costs. The rise of contract, gig, and freelance work, along with other precarious employment arrangements, has extended this shift, leaving many workers responsible for their own benefits and burdened by the financial risk of unpredictable earnings.
When Americans must borrow to afford the American Dream, something is fundamentally wrong.
The consequences of these shifts are evident in the financial pressures families face today. Many Americans have turned to debt to cover anything they can’t actually afford, from everyday expenses such as food to sudden expenses such as medical emergencies. Research from The Century Foundation (TCF) found that 111 million adults carry credit card balances month to month. Additional TCF research found that since the end of 2022, rising debt payments have consumed more than half of the income gains for a typical worker, leaving families with far less money to spend on their everyday needs. When Americans must borrow to afford the American Dream, something is fundamentally wrong.
Building an Economy That Delivers for Everyone
Building a different economic order will require rebalancing economic power through deliberate policy choices that confront the dominance of corporations, Wall Street, and Big Tech, and instead give workers, families, and communities a greater say over the economic decisions that shape their lives. It also means rebuilding public institutions capable of protecting people, expanding opportunity, and providing alternatives to private markets.
Reining in corporate power is a critical step in building a new economy. Breaking up monopolies, prohibiting private equity firms from owning and extracting profit from the essential services that families rely on, or fundamentally rewriting the rules governing consumer finance so that predatory lending was a thing of the past would begin to change who holds economic power. More immediate measures, such as limiting the credit card interest rates companies can charge borrowers or prohibiting companies from using personal data to charge consumers high prices, could begin shifting power back toward households. The next Congress also has an important role to play in using its oversight powers to investigate the ways corporations, Big Tech, and financial firms exercise economic power, expose how this imbalance harms the public, and lay the groundwork for lasting, structural reforms.
That said, curbing concentrated private power is only one part of the equation. Policymakers must also build up countervailing power for workers and families. Workers need higher wages, and they also need greater power to shape the terms of their employment. That could mean fundamentally rewriting labor laws to strengthen collective bargaining rights and give workers a meaningful say in decisions that shape their working lives, including whether and how AI and other emerging technologies are introduced in their workplaces. Families need greater financial security, freedom from burdensome debt, and opportunities to save and build wealth they can pass down to the next generation. Greater economic security can also be a source of growth, allowing more Americans to contribute to the economy rather than simply struggle to get by.
And in this process, policymakers should get imaginative about what government can do. The Trump administration has demonstrated just how powerful the federal government’s levers can be, from imposing tariffs that raise costs for American families to attempting to dismantle the agency charged with protecting consumers from financial abuses. Imagine if those same tools were used to lower costs, create good jobs, build public infrastructure, and give families and businesses more choices when private markets fail to deliver. Government could use its purchasing power to demand better wages and working conditions from companies receiving public contracts, or invest directly in public services and alternatives, from low-cost prescription drugs and child care to public payment systems, that give families and businesses more affordable choices.
Rebalancing economic power offers a path to a different future—one where prosperity is measured not by corporate profits or stock market gains, but by whether families can afford the basics, get ahead without taking on debt, and build financial security and wealth for the next generation. Political leaders made the policy choices that built today’s economy, and they can make different ones. But doing so will require the courage to confront the powerful interests that benefit from keeping things as they are.
Tags: election, economic oppurtunity, affordability crisis
After the Midterms, It’s Time to Start Rebalancing Economic Power
On Tuesday, the American people delivered a sweeping rebuke to the Trump administration and the Republican Party, giving Democratic candidates victory after victory, even in places long considered Republican strongholds. These historic results followed months of polling and surveys that showed widespread voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the Trump administration’s handling of the economy.
In some ways, these election results exposed a deep rejection of an economic order that has failed to deliver for most Americans. For decades, and across both parties, policymakers embraced the idea that giving markets free rein and prioritizing corporate growth and investment would ultimately deliver prosperity for everyone.
But that clearly has not worked. Americans increasingly see an economy that generates enormous wealth for a few while failing to deliver the security or opportunity they were promised. Families are struggling to get ahead, relying on debt to cover the basics, and assuming greater financial risks, while large corporations, Wall Street, and Big Tech have amassed extraordinary power over our economy and our democracy.
These economic arrangements are not accidental. They were built by decades of policy choices that concentrated economic power in a few hands, and changing them will require a different set of choices.
As policymakers aim to respond to voters’ concerns post midterms, their ambitions must match the scale of the problem. Immediate relief from high costs must be a priority, but the election should also prompt a broader reckoning with the economic policies that brought us here. To address the root causes of the affordability crisis and deliver lasting change, they must be willing to do something bigger: rebalance economic power to build an economy that delivers for everyone.
How Policy Choices Built an Economy That Favors the Powerful
Today’s economy reflects several major shifts that have favored the interests of a powerful few over workers and families. Corporations and Wall Street amassed greater wealth and power to shape the economy in their interests; institutions that gave workers and families a say over their economic lives were weakened; and households were left to shoulder a growing share of economic risks.
Beginning in the late 1970s and accelerating in the decades that followed, policymakers on both sides of the aisle embraced policies that favored markets and corporate interests, cutting corporate taxes, deregulating markets, and prioritizing financial returns. Over time, corporate profits became almost synonymous with economic success, even when those gains came at the expense of workers and consumers. Today, large corporations use their pricing power to raise prices beyond what their rising costs justify, even as they report strong profits, or use their outsized bargaining power to hold down wages. Big Tech in particular uses its dominance to dictate terms of employment for workers, extract more from small businesses, and shape the rules governing the digital economy. The explosive growth of data centers offers a textbook example of runaway corporate power, as tech firms ramp up building new facilities while communities face rising energy and water bills while their tax dollars go toward subsidizing the build out.
Wall Street’s growing influence has extended this dynamic into more and more corners of everyday life. Private equity firms, for example, have bought up businesses that families depend on—from child care centers to nursing homes and veterinary clinics and more—using financial maneuvers to extract returns for investors, often at the expense of service quality, workers, and customers. Meanwhile, a rising stock market has been routinely hailed as evidence of a healthy economy, even as its performance bears little resemblance to the financial realities faced by millions of Americans.
Over the same time period, the institutions that once gave ordinary Americans greater influence over their economic lives steadily lost ground. Employers mounted more aggressive campaigns against unions, while outdated labor laws and weak penalties for union-busting made it harder for workers to organize and bargain collectively. As union membership declined, workers lost a critical counterweight to corporate power, giving employers greater freedom to set the terms of employment, hold down wages, and shift costs and risks onto workers.
As the economic power imbalance between corporations and workers grew, employers and government shifted more of the responsibility for ensuring household economic security—and critically, more financial risk—onto individuals and families. Job security and benefits became less certain, with traditional pensions giving way to 401(k)s and households shouldering a greater share of healthcare costs. The rise of contract, gig, and freelance work, along with other precarious employment arrangements, has extended this shift, leaving many workers responsible for their own benefits and burdened by the financial risk of unpredictable earnings.
The consequences of these shifts are evident in the financial pressures families face today. Many Americans have turned to debt to cover anything they can’t actually afford, from everyday expenses such as food to sudden expenses such as medical emergencies. Research from The Century Foundation (TCF) found that 111 million adults carry credit card balances month to month. Additional TCF research found that since the end of 2022, rising debt payments have consumed more than half of the income gains for a typical worker, leaving families with far less money to spend on their everyday needs. When Americans must borrow to afford the American Dream, something is fundamentally wrong.
Building an Economy That Delivers for Everyone
Building a different economic order will require rebalancing economic power through deliberate policy choices that confront the dominance of corporations, Wall Street, and Big Tech, and instead give workers, families, and communities a greater say over the economic decisions that shape their lives. It also means rebuilding public institutions capable of protecting people, expanding opportunity, and providing alternatives to private markets.
Reining in corporate power is a critical step in building a new economy. Breaking up monopolies, prohibiting private equity firms from owning and extracting profit from the essential services that families rely on, or fundamentally rewriting the rules governing consumer finance so that predatory lending was a thing of the past would begin to change who holds economic power. More immediate measures, such as limiting the credit card interest rates companies can charge borrowers or prohibiting companies from using personal data to charge consumers high prices, could begin shifting power back toward households. The next Congress also has an important role to play in using its oversight powers to investigate the ways corporations, Big Tech, and financial firms exercise economic power, expose how this imbalance harms the public, and lay the groundwork for lasting, structural reforms.
That said, curbing concentrated private power is only one part of the equation. Policymakers must also build up countervailing power for workers and families. Workers need higher wages, and they also need greater power to shape the terms of their employment. That could mean fundamentally rewriting labor laws to strengthen collective bargaining rights and give workers a meaningful say in decisions that shape their working lives, including whether and how AI and other emerging technologies are introduced in their workplaces. Families need greater financial security, freedom from burdensome debt, and opportunities to save and build wealth they can pass down to the next generation. Greater economic security can also be a source of growth, allowing more Americans to contribute to the economy rather than simply struggle to get by.
And in this process, policymakers should get imaginative about what government can do. The Trump administration has demonstrated just how powerful the federal government’s levers can be, from imposing tariffs that raise costs for American families to attempting to dismantle the agency charged with protecting consumers from financial abuses. Imagine if those same tools were used to lower costs, create good jobs, build public infrastructure, and give families and businesses more choices when private markets fail to deliver. Government could use its purchasing power to demand better wages and working conditions from companies receiving public contracts, or invest directly in public services and alternatives, from low-cost prescription drugs and child care to public payment systems, that give families and businesses more affordable choices.
Rebalancing economic power offers a path to a different future—one where prosperity is measured not by corporate profits or stock market gains, but by whether families can afford the basics, get ahead without taking on debt, and build financial security and wealth for the next generation. Political leaders made the policy choices that built today’s economy, and they can make different ones. But doing so will require the courage to confront the powerful interests that benefit from keeping things as they are.
Tags: election, economic oppurtunity, affordability crisis