Economic Justice

A Midterm Liability for Republicans: Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Is Deeply Unpopular

PUBLISHED 8/11/2026 by

It’s been over a year since President Donald Trump signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill (HR 1) into law—a sweeping 2025 budget-reconciliation package that extends and expands tax cuts, funds defense and immigration enforcement, cuts or restructures major safety-net programs, rolls back some clean-energy spending, and raises the federal debt limit.

Trump and congressional Republicans promised the bill would provide economic relief for American families. New polling suggests the legislation has failed to win over the public, with many voters saying the law has done little to improve their financial situations, while others remain unsure what the bill does at all. 

According to a recent poll, the legislation remains broadly unpopular, despite months of Republican messaging promoting its economic benefits.

I Put My Career on Hold to Raise Five Children and Care for My Disabled Mother. America Depends on Women Like Me.

PUBLISHED 7/28/2026 by

Front & Center amplifies the voices of Black women navigating poverty—highlighting their struggles, resilience and dreams as they care for their families, build careers and challenge systems not built for their success. Now in its fourth year, Front & Center is a collaboration between Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities, a nonprofit based in Jackson, Miss., working alongside residents of federally subsidized housing as they pursue their goals.

Christy is a Jackson, Miss.-based mother of five, family caregiver and entrepreneur. She is caring for her disabled mother while pursuing her dream of one day growing her catering business into a food truck.

“Taking care of my children and my mom at the same time is rewarding, but it is also hard. I really don’t get much help with my kids from their dad, so most of the time I’m here with them.

“What would make caregiving for two generations of family easier, is a break. If my mom had places to go, or if somebody could take her every other weekend or even every weekend sometimes, that would give me time to myself to breathe and live a little bit. My siblings are far away, my car situation makes it hard to get around and I’m always here, so having a little peace would help me and my kids too.

“Childcare vouchers … helped a lot with after-school care and transportation, but when I recently had to recertify, I was cut off because I missed getting a copy of my ID in by the deadline and ended up on a waiting list.”

How Corporate Finance Took the Fun—and the Values—Out of Ben & Jerry’s

PUBLISHED 7/23/2026 by

I still remember standing in line outside the original Ben & Jerry’s, trading neighborhood gossip while debating which new flavor to try. Back then, the company stood for more than ice cream—it was proof that a business could put people, workers and communities alongside profits. That’s why watching its social mission slowly unravel under corporate ownership has felt like losing something much bigger than Cherry Garcia.

Ben & Jerry’s story isn’t just about one beloved brand. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when Wall Street’s demand for ever-higher returns collides with a company built on “caring capitalism.”

The result is a lesson in how corporations redefine sustainability—not as a commitment to people or the planet, but as a strategy for maximizing shareholder value.

Can You Believe They Put This in Writing? The Wildest Quotes From Heritage’s ‘Project 2026’

PUBLISHED 7/8/2026 by , , , and

The Heritage Foundation has once again taken it upon itself to craft a plan for how to supposedly save America. The report—”Saving America by Saving the Family: A Foundation for the Next 250 Years”—focuses on marriage, family and the American Dream, and has become widely known as “Project 2026,” a follow-up to Heritage’s infamous Project 2025 blueprint.

Project 2025 clocked in at 900 pages; the sequel is around 150. We read the whole thing and pulled out the passages that gave us chills, made us laugh out loud, compelled us to suddenly need to take a long walk and hug our dogs, or inspired another donation to our local abortion fund.

This isn’t intended to be a fact-check or a line-by-line rebuttal. It’s intended to show you how some of the country’s most influential conservative thinkers are talking about feminism, contraception, abortion, LGBTQ+ people, higher education, marriage, motherhood and the role government should play in all of it—because you’re probably too busy to read hundreds of pages of anti-feminist slop.

And because, as former Vice President Kamala Harris famously said about Project 2025: “Can you believe they put that thing in writing?” They did—twice now!

This is the roadmap they’re offering. These documents tell us how their authors understand the country, the family and women’s place in both. We should know what it says.

Revisiting the Speech That Made America See Farmworkers: Dolores Huerta and the Power of Saying, ‘We Exist’

PUBLISHED 7/2/2026 by

In 1965, the National Farm Workers Association announced their decision to join the striking Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee on Sept. 16—Mexican Independence Day. The choice of date reflected the hybrid identity of Chicanos: straddling Mexican and American cultures, Spanish and English, rooted in the old country but with branches fully extended into the new one.

This was the identity Huerta embodied.

Huerta maintained a heavy bilingual speaking schedule to keep up mo­rale. In addition to the typical challenges of organizing, the farmworkers were standing up against bigotry and asserting their American identity—attaching their cause to the Civil Rights Movement.

“Abajo con racism! Down with rac­ism!” Huerta sometimes ended her speeches. “Viva la union! Viva la causa!”

The people in power, the ones who owned the companies that sold the food or wrote laws in the statehouse, had been able to ignore people like the farmworkers—the people who toiled out of sight to keep the system going.

Now, a crowd of people had walked across the state to watch Huerta declare: “We are here and we embody our needs for you.”

(Excerpted from the book ALL WE SAY: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches by Ben Rhodes.)

America’s Roman Holiday: Prime Day and the Price of Convenience

PUBLISHED 6/26/2026 by

Amazon Prime Day has become one of the biggest shopping events in the country, but its success tells a story far bigger than discounts.

In an economy where families are struggling with the cost of groceries, rent, healthcare and childcare, the appeal of lower prices is understandable. Yet the massive scale of Prime Day also raises a harder question: What does it mean when one of America’s defining consumer rituals depends on a labor system that workers, regulators and advocates have repeatedly described as dangerous, underpaid and deeply unequal?

Amazon’s influence extends far beyond its own warehouses. By normalizing ever-faster delivery, constant surveillance and relentless productivity, the company has helped reshape expectations across the retail economy.

As billionaire wealth continues to soar and labor protections face renewed political pressure, Prime Day reveals the growing divide between those who profit from convenience and those whose labor makes it possible.

The World Cup Is Here—But Who Is It For?

PUBLISHED 6/23/2026 by

Soccer is one of the most beloved sports in the world, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup—the largest in the tournament’s history—has drawn millions of fans across the globe. This year, for the first time, the event is being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with matches and related events taking place across North America.

FIFA stands to earn billions of dollars from the tournament.

But as the organization reaps record revenues, many host communities are bearing significant costs. Soaring ticket prices, displacement, labor concerns and aggressive immigration enforcement have raised questions about who truly benefits from the World Cup. For many working-class residents—and even lifelong soccer fans—the tournament is out of reach.

To better understand those impacts, I spoke with Jennifer Li, co-director of the Center for Community Health Innovation at the O’Neill Institute and director of Dignity 2026, a coalition of labor and human rights organizations working to protect communities most at risk during the World Cup.

Soccer “is very much an immigrant sport, let’s face it,” said Li, “and by extension, a sport for people of color, diverse communities. It is a sport that’s not expensive to play, but very expensive to watch, apparently. So, the question then becomes: Who is this for?”

Making a Killing: Who Profits From Trump’s Foreign Policy? Trump and His Inner Circle.

PUBLISHED 6/16/2026 by and

As we wait for the details of the Trump administration’s proposed deal with Iran, one thing is already clear: The people benefiting most from U.S. foreign policy are often the people making it.

From Jared Kushner’s role in Middle East negotiations, to the Trump family’s rapidly expanding business empire, this administration has blurred the line between public service and private profit in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

U.S. foreign policy has never been free of criticism or influence from wealthy interests, but Trump has taken those dynamics to new extremes. While Americans face rising costs at home and vulnerable communities around the world suffer the consequences of conflict, the president’s family and closest allies appear positioned to reap financial rewards. The result is a foreign policy that prioritizes enrichment over accountability, and power over the public good.

We need a different vision—one rooted in transparency, peace and shared prosperity rather than personal gain. Foreign policy should serve people, not billionaires. It should reduce conflict, uphold human rights and improve lives, not create new opportunities for those already at the top to grow even wealthier.

America’s Medical Research System Has Been Failing Women for Generations

PUBLISHED 6/11/2026 by and

For decades, women have been systematically excluded, overlooked and underfunded by America’s scientific and medical institutions—and the consequences are measurable. Women were not required to be included in federally funded clinical research until 1993, and even today, no more than 8.8 percent of NIH grant spending goes toward women’s health research. The result is a dangerous knowledge gap that affects everything from cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders to drug safety, maternal health and reproductive care.

The problem transcends partisan politics. While the Trump administration’s cuts to women’s health research have intensified concerns, Democratic and Republican administrations alike have failed to prioritize women’s health.

Private philanthropy and venture capital have also fallen short, with women’s health receiving just a fraction of available funding.

As women face rising healthcare deserts, worsening maternal mortality rates and persistent gaps in diagnosis and treatment, meaningful progress will require action on every front—from federal investment and philanthropy to innovative new funding models focused specifically on women’s health research.

Trump’s White House UFC Fight Was a Master Class in Fake Populism

PUBLISHED 6/9/2026 by | UPDATED 6/15/2026 at 10:45 A.M. PT

The White House UFC spectacle has come and gone—but the questions it raised about masculinity, power and political culture remain.

In a post-event column for The Guardian, writer Moira Donegan argued that the event reflected a governing style rooted in spectacle and domination, writing that Trump’s embrace of public displays of violence evokes “the dysfunctional Roman emperor” more than a democratic leader. Arts & Entertainment
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Trump’s White House UFC Fight Was a Master Class in Fake Populism
PUBLISHED 6/9/2026 by Jackson Katz | UPDATED 6/15/2026 at 9:22 A.M. PT
Updated June 15 at 8:40 a.m. PT: The White House UFC spectacle has come and gone—but the questions it raised about masculinity, power and political culture remain.

In a post-event column for The Guardian, writer Moira Donegan argued that the event reflected a governing style rooted in spectacle and domination, writing that Trump’s embrace of public displays of violence evokes “the dysfunctional Roman emperor” more than a democratic leader.

Josh Hokit speaks with President Trump following his win in a fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC)
The concern, she suggested, is not simply the fight itself but what it symbolizes: a vision of power that treats aggression, conflict and public humiliation as signs of strength.

The spectacle arrives amid continuing attacks on reproductive rights, gender equality initiatives and social programs that disproportionately affect women and families. In that context, the celebration of cage fighting on the grounds of the White House feels less like a harmless entertainment event than a cultural statement about whose values matter and which forms of power deserve public admiration.

The UFC event was never just about athletics—it was political symbolism. And for many observers, the image of fighters trading blows outside the executive mansion served as a stark reminder that authoritarian politics often rely on spectacles of strength, especially at moments when leaders have less to offer on the material concerns facing ordinary people.