Roosevelt Institute

@rooseveltinstitute

Advancing ideas that rebalance power in our economy and democracy. www.rooseveltinstitute.org

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Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 19d

Americans are working more, but losing control over their time. Unlike peer countries, the US has failed to pair a two-income economy with the policies that make that model sustainable, namely affordable child and elder care and serious workplace protections around scheduling.

Infographic from the Roosevelt Institute and The Good Life stating, “The average middle-class American couple with children works a combined 600 paid hours a year more than they did in 1975.” Below the headline is a 104-square grid representing 104 weeks (one year for a couple). Dark magenta squares indicate weeks worked in 1975, black-outlined squares show the additional weeks worked by 2025, and light pink squares represent nonworking weeks. The visualization highlights that the increase in paid work is equivalent to about 15 additional 40-hour workweeks per year for a couple.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 20d

Only 4% of Americans feel that our government cares about them “a lot.” That’s the predictable result of a federal government that, even before this administration’s indiscriminate cuts, was structured to too often prioritize corporate interests over those of working people.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 21d

Over the past five decades, union density has collapsed while the wealth of the top 10% has surged. As workers have lost bargaining power, they've also lost one of the strongest institutions for shaping the economic and political decisions that affect their lives.

Line chart titled "Unions have shrunk while the rich get richer." It compares U.S. union density (green line) with the share of income going to the top 10% (orange line) from 1977 to about 2024. Union density steadily declines from roughly 26% to 11%, while the top 10%'s income share rises from about 35% to 47%. The chart highlights an inverse trend: as union membership decreases, the share of income going to the highest earners increases. Source: EPI Data Library and World Inequality Database.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 21d

Care is economic infrastructure, but too often the people giving and receiving it are left out of the policy choices that dictate who bears the costs. That's why today's Day to Have Your Say centers those experiences through 1 Million Care Conversations. careconversations.com

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 25d

Our CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social and former National Economic Council official Sameera Fazili discuss why communities are demanding a democratic say over proposed data centers, and what's at stake as AI infrastructure expands across the country. 🎥 Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8F9...

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 28d

The lesson is bigger than today's financing gap. Rising inequality and unexpected economic shocks exposed weaknesses in Social Security's funding—not the program itself. @socio-steve.bsky.social outlines how lawmakers can build a more resilient system that protects beneficiaries from future crises.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· 28d

The American dream of homeownership slips further and further out of reach for the middle and working classes. The median first-time homebuyer is now 40 years old, up from just 28 in 1991.

Infographic comparing two timelines for 1991 and 2025, highlighting the median age of first-time homebuyers alongside age 18 (high school graduate) and age 62 (Social Security recipient). It shows the median first-time homebuyer age increasing from 28 in 1991 to 40 in 2025, while the other reference ages remain unchanged.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 10

For decades, economic policymaking has revolved around cutting regulations, shrinking government, and hoping “free” markets will provide for the social welfare. The #GoodLife Agenda argues we can use an expanded governing toolbox. Public options are one of those crucial tools.

The Good Life Governing Toolbox, including public options, taxes, industrial policy, antimonopoly policy, monetary policy and macroprudential tools, and countervailing power. — The Roosevelt Institute.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 8

As a Roosevelt Network fellow, Nazrin gained the policy tools and community to turn her organizing experience into a powerful call for change. Learn more about how the Roosevelt Network equips the next generation of changemakers ⬇️ rooseveltinstitute.org/roosevelt-ne...

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Roosevelt Institute President and CEO Elizabeth Wilkins.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 8

Prediction markets may look like a level playing field, but the data tells a vastly different story. Thanks to @moreperfectunion.bsky.social for featuring our research, courtesy of @bradlipton.bsky.social and @todusola.bsky.social! Watch below 📹⬇️

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 7

As prediction markets spread deeper into sports, crypto, and other parts of everyday life, the costs are increasingly borne by ordinary users while the gains are flowing to the most sophisticated traders. Retail traders lost $371.6 million on sports trades alone since 2021.

Table showing Kalshi’s top trading categories from July 2021 to May 15, 2026, with trades and estimated net retail losses. Sports accounts for the most activity (279.2 million trades) and the largest losses ($371.6 million), followed by crypto (78.7 million trades, $29.5 million lost) and exotics (18.1 million trades, $100.4 million lost). Across all categories, there were 429.6 million trades and an estimated $583.5 million in net retail losses.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 7

Rather than betting against peers, ordinary users are often trading against professional firms using proprietary data, AI models, and high-frequency trading strategies. When retail users did profit, 63.2% of their gains came from just 6.3% of wagers worth at least $200.

"We estimate that retail traders (market takers) on Kalshi have lost over half a billion dollars—$583.5 million. More than two-thirds of those losses ($371.6 million) were from sports alone. (Exotics and mention markets were also in the top five categories for retail losses, with over $100 million and $16 million in losses, respectively.) And when retail traders made money on Kalshi, it was mostly on a small number of the biggest bets. We find that 63.2 percent of all “taker” revenue on Kalshi flowed to just 6.3 percent of matched orders, those with a dollar value of at least $200."

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 7

NEW 📰: The future of work debate has overlooked one of employment's greatest strengths: its ability to build trust, cooperation, and social connection. In a new brief, @dsreddy.bsky.social makes the case for preserving and strengthening employment as a social institution. 🧵

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 6

The CFPB was created by Congress to hold powerful financial institutions accountable and protect consumers from financial abuse. Whether it continues to fulfill that mission under new leadership has come into serious doubt, argues our @bradlipton.bsky.social:

“It remains to be seen whether [Johnson] intends to enforce the law or will just continue with the Trump administration’s unlawful efforts to shut down an agency created by Congress,” said Brad Lipton of the progressive Roosevelt Institute, formerly a staff attorney and adviser at the CFPB.

“Hope springs eternal that maybe the new leadership will take the job seriously again, but the evidence is not looking good,” said Lipton.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 4

On this Fourth of July, our President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social reflects on the fact that today also marks the anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:

“On July 4th, as Americans mark the 250th anniversary of our founding, it is also the anniversary of the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a law that made the administration’s priorities painfully clear: using the tax code to protect and enrich those already at the top, while working people today–and in the future–bear the cost." — Elizabeth Wilkins, Roosevelt Institute.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 1

This summer, one of our Roosevelt Network fellows, Chestnut Hill College student Jazmyn Dangler is interning with the great team @moreperfectunion.bsky.social! Jazmyn is 1 of 16 participants in our annual “Roosevelt in Washington” program, pairing progressive students with orgs on the frontlines!

"Being a Roosevelter is equipping yourself with the necessary tools, playing to your strengths in order to work alongside those who share the same desired end, and living a life of consideration for economic, social, political and environmental justice." — Jazmyn Dangler, Roosevelt Network.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jul 1

NEW 📰: Our fellow @asteephen.bsky.social connects housing affordability, financial stability, inflation, and economic justice to make the case that rent regulation is not just a tenant protection but a tool for managing systemic risk in housing finance. Read: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 29

The Supreme Court was right to defer to congressional design for the Fed’s independence. Still, it seems that the Court only stands up to the president when Wall Street might benefit. The full statement from our President and CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social:

“Even stopped clocks are right twice a day. By vindicating Dr. Lisa Cook's case, the Court appropriately deferred to Congress's design for the Federal Reserve and preserved its protection from political influence. While this was the right decision, it still fits the pattern that the Court breaks with Trump only when it suits Wall Street. Government institutions—from the Court to the Fed—must be accountable to the interests of the American people, not to the president’s whims or the financial industry." — Elizabeth Wilkins, President and CEO, Roosevelt Institute.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 26

Increased productivity doesn’t have to mean longer hours—it can mean more time for workers. That’s the thinking behind 4C Health, an Indiana mental health center that moved nearly all staff to a 4-day, 32-hour week while keeping full pay and 24/7 coverage through team scheduling.

Infographic from 4C Health highlighting two years of its four-day workweek initiative, reporting high employee satisfaction, improved staffing and access to care, reduced burnout, and no negative fiscal impacts. It features statistics including 94% of employees preferring the four-day workweek, more than 250,000 hours returned to employees' personal lives, and additional metrics on team engagement, patient care ratings, and supervisor support. The graphic ends with a link to learn more about four-day workweek positions at 4C Health.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 25

As our President @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social argues, the anti-tax framing makes it all the more difficult to make the case for the kinds of public investments that ordinary people rely on to survive:

"Importantly, the design and sales pitches for these tax cuts are far more troubling than they were for past Democratic tax cut proposals or pledges to not increase taxes below certain income thresholds. That’s because they much more explicitly buy into and perpetuate the false narrative treating taxes “only as a burden to be eased rather than as a foundation for democratic governance itself,” as Roosevelt Institute President Elizabeth Wilkins put it. The proponents of these tax cuts echo anti-tax rhetoric, like how the government shouldn’t take what Americans earn. Senator Booker’s plan is in fact titled the “Keep Your Pay Act.” But there’s a fundamental problem with this. To even finance the government we have—not to mention the government we should have—the middle- and upper-middle class will have to contribute. Rhetoric likes this suggests that it isn’t worth it for them to do so—that it’s better for them to keep their pay than finance programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and so much more."

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 23

Women with more resources then sometimes outsource care. But that just means the burden moves further downstream—to childcare workers, home health aides, domestic workers, teachers, and others doing underpaid care labor.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 23

Within families, that burden often moves from men to women. Not because women are naturally caregivers, but because labor markets, pay gaps, and workplace expectations make that outcome more likely.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 23

New 📰: Every society needs care. The question is who gets stuck doing it. @jessicacalarco.com's new paper argues that America's default answer has been: whoever has the least power to refuse. 🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 22

After a lifetime of work, no one should have to spend retirement worrying about affording the basics. In our #GoodLife Agenda, we featured the stories of Jennifer in SD and Debbie in LA, who reflected on how Social Security has provided them a foundation for dignity and stability in old age.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 22

More than 4.2 million homeowners—including 1.1 million low- & moderate-income borrowers—could benefit when interest rates fall to 6%. The catch: lenders prioritize higher-income applicants b/c it's easier. @bradlipton.bsky.social tells Realtor.com that may be illegal: www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 16

The status quo economic consensus has failed. What's needed now is a radically new vision to meet the scale of the challenges people face. Hear our Director of Strategic Initiatives Rey Fuentes discuss the #GoodLife Agenda and what's needed to meet this moment with @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com:

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 16

New 📰: When mortgage interest rates fall, millions of homeowners benefit from refinancing. The challenge isn't demand or profitability—it's the barriers that prevent many households from accessing those savings. 🧵 Read: rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 15

Last week, America got its first trillionaire. Meanwhile, millions of Americans don't know if they'll ever be able to stop working. After years of economic and political turmoil, their doubt is well-founded.

"“If you think about what it felt like to go through Covid, and then inflation, and also political unrest and instability, you come out of those things thinking, ‘How am I supposed to plan for the future?’” said Elizabeth Wilkins, president of the Roosevelt Institute, a left-leaning think tank."

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 12

As SpaceX IPOs this morning, a reminder from our principal economist @mikemadowitz.bsky.social: The question isn't whether Americans should be able to invest in fast-growing companies. It's whether retirement safeguards should give way when a company becomes large enough to demand an exception.

""We’ve already made retirement too hard for the nearly half of Americans who have no retirement savings. For the other half, we’ve told them to put their retirement savings in passive index funds and ignore the noise. That's especially true for 401(k)s—it's basically the only retirement advice that makes sense for people who aren't professional traders. But the SpaceX IPO is designed to game exactly that, pushing stock indexes to relax listing standards to effectively force its way into the index funds other companies must earn their way onto, and driving 401(k) holders to buy insiders’ shares, whether retirement savers like it or not." – Mike Madowitz, Principal Economist, The Roosevelt Institute.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute· Jun 11

With the precipitous decline in unions and membership organizations, concentrated wealth has gained outsized influence over policy. Government has a role in combating this. Rebuilding countervailing power means enabling workers and communities to organize and bargain collectively.