We The Podcast

Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, joins We The Podcast to discuss wealth inequality and a potential solution: a social wealth fund. With similar concepts already implemented in Alaska and Norway, is a social wealth fund the answer to our inequality crisis?

Social Security Works' Nancy Altman joins Rep. Keith Ellison remotely to discuss why Medicare for All is more efficient than the privatized health insurance status quo, and the idea's deep roots in America's own history.

We need a DREAM Act to protect 800,000 Dreamers whose lives were thrown into turmoil by Donald Trump. Dreamer activist Erika Andiola put her body on the line for this movement and joins us to discuss next steps.

On this We The Podcast, we sit down with Lina Khan (Open Markets Institute) and Stacy Mitchell (Institute for Local Self-Reliance) on the monopolistic rise of the Amazon corporation and what it means for workers, small business and local power.

This week, Keith revisits the topic of franchising, with former guest Megan Edwards, who joined with other franchisees to successfully sue Curves Gym for unfair treatment of franchisees.

Keri Leigh Merritt is the author of Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South. Keith and Keri Leigh Merritt discuss the link between economic hardship and the spread of racism throughout American history.

Barry Lynn is the head of the Open Markets Institute, a think tank that examines the problem of corporate consolidation, market concentration, and monopoly power. These issues make it hard for workers to find jobs, take power away from working people, and make it hard for small businesses to break into the market. This week, Keith and Barry explore monopoly power, and why it matters to you - yes, you!

On this special Labor Day episode of We The Podcast, Keith interviews Lee Saunders, President of AFSCME, about the history and future of labor rights in America.

George Lakoff is a professor of cognitive linguistics and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley. Now, you might be asking yourself, “what does cognitive science, linguistic science, and phenomenology have to do with working families and the economy?” Well, as it turns out, quite a bit. Professor Lakoff studies the way that human beings think about ideas, including politics, and the way that the things we hear and say affect the things we believe. Music by: Podington Bear

The Republican Party talks about "voter fraud" all the time. President Trump even claims he lost the popular vote because more than 3 million people voted illegally. Sounds like a big deal. But how common is voter fraud? And what might Republicans be aiming for if not a genuine interest in "election integrity?" This week on We The Podcast I talk about voting rights with The Nation correspondent, Ari Berman. Music by: Podington Bear

For years, millions of Americans were frightened of two words: pre-existing conditions. Before the Affordable Care Act, private insurance could deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. That's what Republicans want to return to. To learn more about about pre-existing conditions and what could happen if the Republican proposal becomes law, I talked with Andy Slavitt, the former Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama. Music by: Podington Bear

A few weeks ago, we learned that Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13 billion. When big firms merge, it drives up market concentration. But how does that affect working people or local businesses? I talked with my friend Rep. Ro Khanna about market concentration and how it hurts working families. Music by: Podington Bear

Six bucks. That’s all someone working full-time at the federal minimum wage would have left over after paying the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the United States of America. It’s time to give America a raise. It’s time to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. And how about a union? This is the story of the Fight for $15 and a Union. Music by: Podington Bear

Women experience the economy different than men. They pay more for everything from clothes and hygiene products, to dry cleaning and vehicle repairs. This is called "the pink tax". Terry O'Neill is the President of the National Organization for Women, one of our oldest and best feminist organizations in this country. She stopped by my office to talk on a number of issues and how we can get women the equality they deserve. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

The transgender community is more visible than ever. But this increased visibility hasn’t improved the lives of all transgender people. Nationwide, violence against trans people – and trans women in particular – is at an all-time high. This sort of violence has far-reaching repercussions – high unemployment, difficulty accessing lifesaving healthcare, housing instability, and educational barriers. And we need to stop thinking of these injustices as separate from our economic lives. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

Unions raise wages and worker protections for everybody – even if you’re not in a union! These jobs aren’t so simple either. It takes a lot of training to do what these men and women do every day. But as our education system becomes more and more out of reach, it’s getting harder and harder for men and women who want to work with their hands to get the training they need. Enter the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

There are millions of women around the country fighting for equal pay, for better working conditions, for an end to sexual harassment. But in an age of extreme right wing politics – the age of President Trump – what can we do to make our society better? I talked to some of the women who are leading that fight. Music by: Podington Bear and Keith Ellison

Millions of Americans lack credit scores or have scores that are too low to gain access to affordable credit. The problem affects young people, African-Americans, Latinos and immigrants, many of whom can't establish a credit score without taking on debt. We can solve that problem by expanding what is on a person's credit report. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

Two years ago, we started We the Podcast so we could tell stories about how people engage with the economy. Twenty-three episodes and 75,000 downloads later, we’ve covered everything from union organizing to payday loans to tax havens. With Election Day right around the corner, I decided to take a look back at past episodes and some of the issues that are at stake on Tuesday. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

Just last month, we found out that Wells Fargo Bank committed a years-long scam that stole from their customers, inflated their stock price, and lined the pockets of their top level executives. Then, those same executives pinned the whole thing on their low-level employees, thousands of whom were fired from their jobs. I sat down with Ruth Landaverde. She worked at Wells Fargo and Bank of America and saw first hand what a high-pressure sales culture can do to a person. Music by: Keith Ellison and Poddington Bear

We spend a lot of time talking about how important unions are. On this episode, we’re going to see organized labor in action on the streets of my home city, Minneapolis. Right now, almost 5,000 Minnesotan nurses are on strike. I went down to the picket line, and talked with a few of the striking nurses. I wanted to hear, straight from them, why this negotiation was so important that they’ve decided to go on strike. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

How many of you work 40 hours a week? If you’re a salaried worker, guess what: your employer is pretty happy. After all, they’re getting free work. That’s right. Millions of salaried workers are essentially working for free once they pass 40 hours during their work week. That’s because over the past 35 years, we failed to update our overtime pay regulations. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

Let’s be honest, few people enjoy paying their taxes. But most of us understand that taxes serve a critical purpose—the public good. And since we all benefit from these things, you’d figure that we would all contribute. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. According to a recent report by Oxfam America, the top 50 American companies hold $1.4 trillion overseas to avoid paying taxes. These are called tax havens Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear.

What does "home" mean to you? For millions of people in America, a safe and stable home is something they dream about but is out of reach. There is a housing crisis in this country. To get a better understanding of this problem, I talked with Matthew Desmond, author of the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

Every single American has felt the benefits of the New Deal – and for low-income folks, working families, and seniors, the New Deal has been the difference between security and poverty. A lot of the credit for the New Deal goes to President Franklin Roosevelt, and rightly so. But it’s a little-known fact that the New Deal wouldn't have been as effective if it wasn't for one of FDR's closest friends and advisors - the first female cabinet secretary, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins. Music by: Keith Ellison and Podington Bear

This week, We The Podcast took a field trip to the West Wing of the White House to talk with Cecilia Munoz, the Director of the President’s Domestic Policy Council about something We The Podcast has covered before: diaper need. The President recently announced a White House initiative to address diaper need, and Cecilia is the one leading that project. Music by: Podington Bear

Payday loans aren’t like the kinds of loans you usually see, like car loans or student loans. They’re small dollar amounts, often as small as a few hundred bucks. But they have interest rates as high as 600%. I look into how payday loans got started, how they hurt people, and what we can do about them. Music by: Podington Bear

When we talk about race, decision makers rarely talk about women. And when we talk about women’s issues, we rarely talk about black girls and women. This is a concept known as intersectionality, and it has been popularized by UCLA Professor Kimberle Crenshaw. I sat down with Professor Crenshaw to talk about intersectionality, black girls and women, how they are left behind in our economy, and what we can do about it. Music Credits Intro: Podington Bear - Dimmy Outro: Ryan Little - Dawn

In 2014, voter participation was at its lowest since World War II. Why is that? Keith talks with Dr. Theda Skocpol about voter ID laws and how we can reverse declining civic participation.

The Supreme Court is supposed to have 9 justices. Today, we've got 8. On this week's We The Podcast, we talk about what this means for reproductive rights, voting rights, and the environment.

On this week's We The Podcast, we talk about "diaper need." That's the urgent need that many American parents have for affordable diapers. With one third of all parents struggling to pay for diapers, it's a big need.

How much do you pay for your monthly phone plan? How much would you pay? Would you pay $14 a minute? On this episode of We The Podcast, we talk about prison phone rates - the charges that incarcerated Americans incur when they talk on the phone to their loved ones.

More than 2.4 million people are locked up in the United States today. Our country has 5% of the world's population and more than 25% of the world's prison population. This week on We The Podcast, we talk about criminal justice reform.

This week on We The Podcast: what happens to our gadgets when we're done with them? How many cell phones and computers have you gone through? What are you going to do with the device you're reading this on? Think about it.

This week on We The Podcast, we talk about how our society treats the poor. In what ways is poverty stigmatized and shamed in the world we live in, and what does this mean for low-income folks?

A special We The Podcast investigation into the way franchisees, the people who own corporate restaurant franchises, are treated by their parent companies.

If you threw away a piece of trash today, where would it go? How does this affect us? How will it affect our children? Is a world without waste possible? In this week's We The Podcast, we find out. Music: Redemption Song, by Bob Marley

How do the people outside of the millionaire and billionaire class (you know, most of us), engage with our economy and influence politics? Music: Viva La Vida by Coldplay

What is driving the disconnect between our legislators and working Americans? Music: "Future People" & "Don't Wanna Fight" by Alabama Shakes from the album Sound and Color

Faith is critical to the lives of so many working Americans, so I talked to Sister Simone Campbell, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman and Imam Makram El-Amin about what faiths in the United States tell us about the economy. MUSIC: "Let It Carry You" and "With the Ink of a Ghost" by José González from the album Vestiges and Claws (2015).

When people can come together and ask for better wages and working conditions on the job, we all do better. Unfortunately, some politicians and corporations don’t see it that way.

Home healthcare workers take care of our loved ones. So why aren't they paid well? And what can we do to help them?

When employers threaten workers, it often chills union activity. But retaliation doesn't intimidate everyone.