During a press call organized by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Mark Zandi, Glenn Hubbard, Jason Furman and Gbega Ajilore and EPI’s own Josh Bivens said there was no logical reason for the federal government to deny much-needed aid to states, cities and towns. Without such aid, they would be forced to continue slashing essential public services that are now, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, in even greater demand.
AFSCME
June 2, 2020
A report released Monday from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) laid out in stark terms the abundance of factors against African Americans.
“Persistent racial disparities in health status, access to health care, wealth, employment, wages, housing, income, and poverty all contribute to greater susceptibility to the virus — both economically and physically,” the report’s authors Elise Gould and Valerie Wilson wrote.
The Hill
June 2, 2020
Likewise, Josh Bivens, director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, tells me some Americans will start heading over the fiscal cliff now, and “by the end of July, anyone who relied on [federal support] will find it gone … It’s under appreciated how reliant tens and tens of millions of people are on very short-term measures that are set to run out. There are going to be a lot of miserable people if this isn’t addressed. I can’t predict the politics of that outcome. ”
Washington Post
June 2, 2020
Valerie Wilson directs the Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute. And Greg, you asked her about something that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said about COVID-19.
NPR Planet Money
June 2, 2020
By the numbers: According to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, titled “Racism and economic inequality have predisposed black workers to be most hurt by coronavirus pandemic,” more than 1 in 6 black workers lost their jobs between February and April.
Axios
June 2, 2020
“All recessions exacerbate existing inequalities by race and ethnicity—and always hit black and [Latinx] workers harder—but this one will be worse,” Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, told The Washington Post at the time. “It will be an absolute nightmare.”
Nonprofit Quarterly
June 2, 2020
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March. Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at EPI, warned in a blog post last Thursday that “the unemployment situation is going to get worse before it gets better, and unemployment benefits applications will continue to flood in.”
Salon
June 2, 2020
What this sad story tells us is that the United States has a very big problem of discrimination and exploitation of the urban poor that goes beyond the ideologically induced greed of a capitalist class. That is not to say that the capitalist structure of the American economy hasn’t played havoc with the aspirations of poor blacks seeking to get out of poverty. There is a very good essay by Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute that provides insight into the government’s role in this aspect of the problem.
Counterpunch
June 2, 2020
At 10:00 AM the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Implementation of Title IV of the CARES Act.” The hearing will be held remotely and the following witnesses are scheduled to testify: Thomas Quaadman, EVP, U.S. Chamber, Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness; Douglas Holtz-Eaken, President, American Action Forum; and Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy, Economic Policy Institute.
The Risk Management Association
June 2, 2020
“Black workers are less able to weather such a storm because they have fewer earners in their families, lower incomes, and lower liquid wealth than white workers,” the Economic Policy Institute wrote in a report Monday.
Washington Post
June 2, 2020