Conquering crises will rebuild America

By Aaron Pacitti and Judith Enck | 1/30/21 | Times Union

We are in the midst of five crises — health, economic, environmental, racial and political — that demand immediate action to ensure the long-term health of our democracy, economy and environment. Democratic control of the White House and Congress presents a historic opportunity to implement policies that address the economic and environmental crises using the same tools and working toward the same ends. It is a myth that you cannot have economic prosperity, and environmental and public health protection at the same time. Here is how.

The economic crisis has been brewing for 40 years. Wealth inequality is as high as it was in the 1920s. Family finances are on unstable footing. For the first time in modern history, young people are more likely to earn less than their parents.

These are the predictable results of anti-worker policy that has been designed to annually redistribute $1 trillion of income growth from the middle class to the richest Americans. Deunionization, deindustrialization, automation and globalization have made people insecure and anxious. They’ve watched their income stagnate while the cost of education rises beyond their means. They often drink contaminated water and breathe dirty air. They’ve watched opportunity pass them by.

We need to understand the causes of why people feel left behind and offer workable solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Trump administration’s disastrous response did not cause our economic crisis; it exposed and intensified it. Make no mistake, the recession has been severe. Eight million more people have fallen into poverty. Nearly 11 million people are unemployed. The most vulnerable — minorities, women and low-wage workers — are especially feeling the economic sting.

At the same time, climate change threatens our health and children’s future. Four years of promoting oil and gas drilling by the Trump administration intensified the environmental crisis. Reversing it requires bold leadership at every level of government, and in the civic and business community. Last year matched 2016 for the hottest year on record. The impacts of this trend are staggering. Heat deaths, more intense hurricanes, raging wildfires, crop damage and rising sea levels have gotten worse due to our warming planet. They’ve inflicted not only environmental costs, but economic ones as well. Read More >>