The trap of poverty wages.

The trap of poverty wages.

According to researchers, the number of Americans living at or near the poverty line has risen sharply since the beginning of the pandemic. This week, we hear from experts about the plight of poverty-wage workers around the world and the best strategies for combatting those conditions at home.

Historian Annelise Orleck traveled the world to write a book about  workers who live on poverty wages. What she found gave her a renewed sense of hope and possibility.

Elizabeth Lower-Basch has a long history inside and outside of government figuring out the best ways to assist struggling families. She says that “work requirements” for people on public assistance is exactly not the way to help.

How Can Democrats Save the Party… From Their Own Leaders?

“It’s over.” “Biden’s numbers are in the ditch.” “Democrats are doomed.” “Call the priest.”

These are Democrats talking! Even before November’s congressional elections are run, many conventional-thinking Democratic operatives are surrendering to a presumed Republican sweep. You don’t need a political science degree to know that if you start out announcing that you’ll lose, chances are you will.

"We're in a Bad Place Right Now." With Norm Ornstein

Norman Ornstein is one of the leading experts on the Congress and an Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author, with Thomas E. Mann of the 2012 book, It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism and with Thomas E. Mann and E.J. Dione, the author of the 2017 book, One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported.

If you'd like to hear the entire episode, visit BillPressPods.com.