The last several decades have not been kind to the American middle class—even as the rich have grown far richer, middle-class incomes have stagnated, sending inequality soaring.
For years, conservatives have prescribed “trickle-down” policies, such as tax cuts for the wealthy, that purport to produce prosperity for the many by first enriching the few. Yet rigorous research and economic experience have demonstrated that these policies are part of the problem, not the solution.
In order to restore the postwar promise of shared prosperity, we need to recognize that economies do not grow from the top down, but from the middle out. The argument is simple yet transformational: A strong middle class is not merely an outcome of economic growth, but a key driver of growth.
Please join the Center for American Progress and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas on Wednesday, June 19, for a discussion about “middle-out” economics. The event will mark the release of Democracy’s new summer issue and its feature symposium, “The Middle-Out Moment.”
Complimentary copies of the new issue of Democracy will be available at the event.
Welcoming remarks:
Carmel Martin, Executive Vice President, Policy, Center for American Progress
Andrei Cherny, Co-Founder and President, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas
Featured panelists:
Neera Tanden, President, Center for American Progress
Bruce Bartlett, columnist, The Fiscal Times; former Executive Director, Joint Economic Committee of Congress
Eric Liu, author; former White House speechwriter and the deputy domestic policy advisor to President Clinton
Moderated by:
Michael Tomasky, Editor, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas