Off-kilter With Rebecca Vallas

Rebecca talks with Azza Altiraifi of CAP’s Disability Justice Initiative about how asset limits have become a deadly poverty trap in the age of Coronavirus.   Full show notes: https://medium.com/@OffKilterShow/deadly-poverty-trap-bcfb0f61636e

As the grim data on racial disparities of who’s losing their lives to COVID19 continue to roll in, Rebecca sits down with Angela Hanks of the Groundwork Collaborative for a deep-dive into how structural racism is exacerbating the coronavirus pandemic for black people—and especially black women.   For full show notes: https://medium.com/@OffKilterShow/structural-racism-in-the-age-of-coronavirus-22a28fa20302

“This chart is a portrait of disaster. I have spent the last 20 years studying the labor market and have never seen anything like it. Unemployment insurance claims for the last two weeks are mind-blowing.” –EPI’s Heidi Shierholz

The fight to make sure some of the poorest people in the US get direct emergency payments, explained (with Chuck Marr, director of tax policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).

For the latest installment in Off-Kilter’s ongoing COVID-19 series, Rebecca talks with Helen Gym, Councilmember-at-large in Philadelphia’s City Council, about how local leaders have been stepping up and leading the way amid a slow and inadequate federal response.

Rebecca Cokley of the Disability Justice Initiative on how people with disabilities have been left behind in the COVID-19 relief packages so far — and what the disability community needs now to weather the pandemic.

With the ongoing debate around health care rationing and ventilator shortages amid COVd19, Rebecca talks to Ari Ne’eman, Alice Wong, and Sam Bagenstos about the importance of disability non-discrimination in health care.

Matt Cortland on where things stand with the COVID-19 response, the science of social distancing, and how we can ensure people with disabilities aren’t left behind in the response—PLUS: Tom Jawetz and Emily Galvin-Almanza on the steps leaders need to take to reach the nation’s 5,000 prisons, jails, and immigrant detention facilities.

Jared Bernstein unpacks the economics of the Coronavirus pandemic—and the economic policies that are needed to protect workers, families, and the economy as a whole. PLUS: Kat Calvin on the story behind Spread the Vote, which helps get people ID.

Economist Gbenga Ajilore on the persistence of the black-white unemployment gap—PLUS: everything you need to know about the “public charge” rule now that it’s taken effect, with Connie Choi of the Protecting Immigrant Families campaign.

The Nation’s Greg Kaufmann on his recent article “Appalachia gets special funding. The black rural south deserves it too. PLUS: We mark Valentine’s Day for millionaires with Social Security Works’s Alex Lawson.

This week on Off-Kilter, we break down the latest Trump budget with CAP’s Seth Hanlon and Lily Roberts, and Bobby Kogan, chief mathematician of the Senate Budget Committee.

CAP’s Shilpa Phadke on the push for nationwide paid leave, as the House takes up its first-ever hearing on the FAMILY Act—PLUS: a deep-dive with EPI’s Ben Zipperer on why expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit should go hand-in-hand with raising the minimum wage.

Ed Chung on the campaign to destroy bail reform in New York state—PLUS: Ezra Levin on the Indivisible movement three years on, his and Leah Greenberg’s new book, and the path to defeating Trump and Trumpism in 2020 and beyond.

Rebecca sits down with Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Angela Hanks of the Groundwork Collaborative, for a preview of the year to come and the issues, stories, trends, opportunities, and threats to watch in 2020 when it comes to poverty and inequality.

The Trump administration’s latest target for sabotage? The Social Security disability programs. PLUS: Trump’s final rule taking food assistance away from 700,000 struggling workers, explained.

The rise of the “working homeless,” and why housing insecurity in the U.S. is far worse than official stats suggest—PLUS: What the fight over means testing is really about.

Food insecurity among Philly’s student athletes; how philanthropy is benching women of color; PLUS: “You Can’t Eat Your Dreams. Hollywood Expects Assistants to Do Just That.”

“The Costs of Being Poor”…. How inflation inequality is causing more 3 million more people in poverty.

A conversation with some of the organizers behind The Forge, the new journal by and for organizers—PLUS: Off-Kilter takes a look at America’s “civil justice crisis.”