After FDR's death, she chaired the UN commission that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says economic security is a human right. That's the idea we carry forward: an economy should give everyone real security and a say in the decisions that shape their lives.

Eleanor Roosevelt was born 142 years ago today. Far beyond First Lady, she was one of the most consequential policy voices of her century, traveling the country as FDR's eyes and ears and fighting to make the New Deal reach the people with the least power to demand it.

“As AI takes over a growing share of the economy, the need for regulation to rein in the world’s biggest companies and protect the working class has become increasingly urgent.” We announced our Good Life Residents for AI this week to explore what that could look like:

That history matters now more than ever. Trust in democracy's ability to deliver is at historic lows, and it won't be rebuilt with empty slogans. It gets rebuilt the same way it was built the first time: government visibly, reliably making people's lives better.

We've seen this work before. The New Deal built the most broadly shared prosperity America has ever known, precisely because government took an active hand instead of getting out of the way. Then 50 years of market-first policy dismantled it, piece by piece.

That means changing who has power in the economy. Antitrust taking on concentrated corporate power. Public options giving people an alternative when private markets fail. Industrial policy steering investment toward public goals. These aren’t disconnected policies. They are tools for governing.

For decades, economic policy has too often relied on tax cuts, deregulation, and the assumption that markets will deliver shared prosperity for everyone. Roosevelt has spent years building a different approach. In the weeks ahead, we'll make the case for a governing agenda that shifts power.

Your phone, your location, your browsing history: companies are turning it all into a profile of how much you'll pay, then charging you exactly that. This is surveillance pricing, and it replaces the market price with a number engineered for you alone.

As crypto and prediction markets boom, the agency charged with overseeing them is losing staff and enforcement capacity. CFTC enforcement actions fell nearly 80% in 2025. That raises serious questions about who is protecting consumers as these markets expand.

When Washington debates the deficit, the question is often what government should cut. But that's the wrong starting point. @michaelslinden.bsky.social shows that rising spending needs were anticipated. Repeated tax cuts, not unexpected spending growth, created today's budget gap.

Owning a home still matters greatly for many families, but it can't close the wealth gap. Reforming the housing market more structurally can help: appraisal comps that aren't limited by a neighborhood's racial makeup, real limits on steering, and protections against predatory lending. Read:

Assumption 3: Homes appreciate the same for everyone. Reality: They don't. Black-owned homes are valued less on average than white-owned homes at every income level, and the gap is widest at the top. That means each year of ownership builds far less wealth.

Assumption 2: Everyone gets equal terms on a home loan. Reality: Black buyers face “steering,” higher mortgage denials even at similar incomes, and "predatory inclusion": access on bad terms, like the subprime loans that hit Black homeowners hardest in the 2008 foreclosure crisis.

Assumption 1: Middle-income families can all afford to buy. Reality: Buying and keeping a home takes wealth. Median Black wealth is $44,900 vs. $285,000 for white Americans, leaving less cushion for a down payment or a broken furnace.

Such vital work! We all know billionaires pour fortunes into elections to shape policy. Less discussed are the ways in which they rig other avenues in our ostensibly democratic system to protect & grow the wealth they hoard. Little wonder why people are losing faith in government!