Investing in People, Investing in Places

A Blue-Collar Blueprint

Last week, Roosevelt President and CEO Felicia Wong urged President Biden to show Americans a new vision of government at the State of the Union.

It seems he got the memo.

“My economic plan is about investing in places and people that have been forgotten,” he told the nation on Tuesday. “This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives.”

Central to that blueprint is the successful implementation of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act—industrial policy advances that could be transformative.

“It isn’t quite the arrival of a New Deal; it’s not like we’ve created all these new agencies,” Wong told The New Yorker’s John Cassidy.

“But it is a new way of using the government in a multipronged and muscular manner to shape, prod, and mobilize the economy in certain directions . . . They are trying to shape markets, ultimately.”

Read more in “Joe Biden’s Innovative Attempt to Reshape the American Economy.”

Some Questions for Jerome Powell

Wage growth has returned to trend—but whether Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell still thinks it’s too high remains uncertain.

Roosevelt’s Mike Konczal has questions:

• Can we sustain 4 percent wage growth with low inflation, like we did in the 1990s?
• Do we no longer think weak job turnover has economy-wide effects?
• Do we have a de facto labor force dynamism target?

Read Konczal’s analysis in “What Does Powell Think about Wages Now?”

What We’re Reading

Oil Companies Are Finally Being Honest about Their Feelings on Renewable Energy [feat. Roosevelt fellow J.W. Mason] – The New Republic

The Twilight of the Deficit Hawks [feat. Roosevelt fellow Lindsay Owens] – The American Prospect

Record Low Unemployment Is Great for Workers. The Fed Is Trying to Stop It – Time

What Banning Noncompetes Could Mean for the US Workforce – Vox