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SESSIONS
All sessions are virtual via Hopin.
Plenary Sessions
In conversation: Tax Justice for Equity, Economic Growth, and our Democracy
Description
This panel brings together three individuals who have completely reshaped the tax policy debate and our understanding of how to fix our unequal tax code. Drawing on stunning historical and investigative reporting and research, they will discuss the urgent need to tax the wealthy and corporations to curb corporate power, preserve our democracy, and center race and gender in tax policy in order to advance equity for communities left behind by our broken tax system. They will connect it all to the current tax policy fight in Washington.
Centering Black Women in our Economic Recovery to Ensure a Full Recovery for All
Description
Pundits, policymakers, and experts have been quick to declare our economy “recovered” in the aftermath of previous recessions even as Black workers and families continue to experience crisis-level unemployment, income instability, and housing insecurity. This conversation will feature economic policy experts discussing the vital importance of centering Black women in our policy making, and the difference it will make in our economic recovery when we do. Panelists will also discuss how a full economic recovery for Black women ensures a stronger, more inclusive recovery for all, and a more stable economy for the future.
Building Public Power to Remake the Economy
Description
Public power is the power we wield when we come together in labor unions, political parties, organizations and associations, social movements, and accountable governments. Each panelist leads an organization and a movement that is building new forms of public power to remake our economy so that it works for all, not just the wealthy few. Panelists will identify successful approaches for building public power and discuss tactics for taking on private power. Panelists will also talk about how our economic security is dependent on public power, and what we can do to ensure new forms of public power can flourish for decades to come.
Keynote: Will History Repeat Itself? The Racist Roots of Austerity Politics
Description
This panel will dig into the deeply rooted anti-Blackness and white supremacy undergirding austerity politics. In particular, the conversation will explore how the technocratic nature of austerity, deficit fearmongering, and fiscal responsibility hides the true intentions of these policies: denying Black and brown communities the benefits of our economy. Using a historical lens, the conversation will highlight how using austerity as a smokescreen for an undemocratic political agenda is a tried and true tactic of conservative politics, alongside some key lessons that we can apply to overcome today's political challenges.
In Conversation: The Post Neoliberal Promise
Description
Acclaimed Economist and Professor Mariana Mazzucato discusses her new book “Mission Economy” and how the government can and must play an active role if we’re going to tackle the big and pressing economic issues of the moment.
How the COVID-19 Pandemic Exposed the Economy’s Precarity and Catalyzed the Most Progressive Economic Policy in a Generation
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly changed our world, but in many ways, it simply magnified existing inequities and challenges. In this panel, experts will discuss what the pandemic revealed about our economy, and how those revelations are changing what is possible for policymakers to achieve for a stronger economy today. Panelists will reflect on the incredible successes to date, and consider how to overcome the structural challenges that remain to fully seize this moment and achieve a more just, stable economy.
Breakout Sessions
Philanthropic Approaches for Shifting Economic Paradigm
Description
Leaders of various foundations will discuss how philanthropy is working to shift the economic paradigm. Representing work on a cross-section of issues, our panelists will discuss why moving beyond neoliberalism should be a goal for those striving to build a healthy, equitable, and democratic economy.
Unions and Racial Justice
Description
Economic justice and racial justice are inextricably linked, and unions operate firmly at the intersection of the two. This panel will discuss the importance of unions to racial equity, and highlight why unions are among the country’s most important institutions for racial economic justice. The panel will also discuss how unions help win progressive policies that strengthen democracy, and discuss why labor law reform that boosts unionization is crucial for an equitable recovery.
Owning the Boom: The Transformative Effects of a Full-Employment Economy
Description
Our economy is on the brink of a boom thanks to historic investments from the American Rescue Plan and the CARES Act. This panel will lay out the key characteristics of an economic boom, how it can be leveraged to reach the vision of true full employment, and its enormous potential to mitigate inequalities and return power to workers. The panel will also discuss why oft-cited concerns like inflation and labor shortages are welcome developments for a booming economy rather than serious obstacles.
Economic Democracy: A Framework for Equitable Power Building
Description
This panel will introduce an Economic Democracy framework through conversations with movement partners whose work to combat and regulate the new corporate monopolists, reconceptualize essential public infrastructure, and increase public governance over our civic and economic institutions exemplifies Economic Democracy in action. Attendees will leave this session with a common understanding of Economic Democracy as a framework, concrete examples of Economic Democracy in practice, and policy solutions to mobilize around in the months to come.
Replacing Deficit Hawkishness with Abundance
Description
A scarcity mindset is pervasive in our party politics. It also manifests in our communities when the harmful narrative that some people are undeserving of success is internalized and then reinforced by public policies. Breaking this harmful cycle begins by embracing the idea that we have more than enough to go around, especially via redistributive measures in the tax code, and is the first step to building an economy of mutual care.
Defining Success: Reimagining Economic Measurement
Description
Inequality has changed how our economy works and who it benefits. Old measures of economic progress can set up policymakers and the public at large to misunderstand how the economy works and what to do to create broad-based prosperity. This panel will push back against prevailing economic narratives that use aggregate headline statistics and help attendees start thinking about how the right economic metrics can change the country’s dominant economic narratives and lead to better policy.
Sectoral Bargaining and the Future of Labor
Description
This panel will discuss what sectoral bargaining is, how it works, and why it is an important complement to workplace-level bargaining. Experts will also share how sectoral bargaining can raise standards for all workers and how advocates are pushing towards it in a variety of ways.
Securing the Future, Securing the Bag: How State Tax Wins Unlock the Investments People Need
Description
States are the laboratories of our democracy. Across the nation we've seen mobilized communities pioneer and boost institutions that feed the hungry, house the homeless, teach our children, and include the excluded. State-level fights to raise revenues, assert progressive economic agendas, and deliver for working families will shape the future for millions—we're already winning across the country, and where we aren't winning yet, we are changing the stakes. Listen to experts share how their state campaigns lay the groundwork that allows federal funds to be spent equitably, articulate local visions for a fairer, more compassionate economy, and circumvent gridlock that can stymie federal aid to deliver wins for our communities.
