How do you demand better wages when you can't miss a paycheck? The affordability crisis isn't just about prices. Debt is swallowing more than half of wage gains—and worker bargaining power. @angelanhanks.bsky.social of @tcfdotorg.bsky.social explains. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4BqgffT

The biggest lie in economics is that it's morally neutral. @nickhanauer.bsky.social exposes the hidden ideology behind one of economics' most powerful assumptions. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/IsabellaWeber

What happens when the things we literally cannot live without become opportunities for extraordinary windfall profits? Economist @isabellamweber.bsky.social explains why the neoliberal logic of the “free market” breaks down when consumers have no choice but to pay. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/IsabellaWeber

Billionaires aren't going to sacrifice their power and windfall profits to save democracy. That's not how power works. @isabellamweber.bsky.social explains why saving democracy means challenging the economic power that's undermining it. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/IsabellaWeber

An economy that works for corporate profits at the expense of working people isn't just failing its people. It's putting democracy at risk. @isabellamweber.bsky.social joins Nick and Goldy to discuss her new book and make the case for Anti-Fascist Economics. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/IsabellaWeber

Want to tax the rich? @kclausing.bsky.social says to start with big corporations. Her proposal could raise trillions—and most Americans want corporations to pay more. Check out our take in this week's edition of The Pitch: civicventures.substack.com/i/220612082/...

Six Straight Months of Shrinking Paychecks

The Pitch: Economic Update for Thursday, October 15th, 2026

civicventures.substack.com

Corporate America is backing away from DEI. But what's the economic cost? Turns out, when corporations choose exclusion over opportunity, we all pay the price. @nickhanauer.bsky.social makes the case on his new Substack: nickhanauer.substack.com/p/the-econom...

Should we build more housing? Absolutely. But if landlords can jack up rents with an algorithm, and developers profit from luxury units, supply alone won’t solve affordability. So, we’re resharing our 2024 conversation with Brian Callaci & Sandeep Vaheesan. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/3VA9hV9

Dollar Tree hiked its $1 prices by 25%, and now it's collected over $383M in tariff refunds while spending $605M on stock buybacks in the same quarter. No plans to cut prices or raise wages for workers. Just some charity donations & investments in "targeted pricing strategies." bit.ly/4e2F2MJ

Dollar Tree Got Nearly $400 Million in Tariff Refunds After Shoppers Paid the Higher Prices

When courts ordered tariff refunds for importers, Dollar Tree collected a nine-figure check from Washington. Shoppers who funded those duties through higher shelf prices are wondering if any of it fin...

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Debt is consuming more of workers' wage gains. Since 2022, a typical household gained $109/month in real take-home income, while a typical worker’s debt payments rose by $57. 52¢ of every new dollar went to debt. New report from @tcfdotorg.bsky.social + Protect Borrowers: bit.ly/4hKntSH

Tariffs are back, and so is industrial policy! We’re revisiting our 2023 conversation with development economist @isabelestevez.bsky.social on the central question behind both approaches: who is the economy being shaped to serve? 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4rR6JxT

On our latest episode, @brendanballou.bsky.social explains how the fine print in your job, credit card, or cell phone contract can quietly determine whether you ever get your day in court, and why ending forced arbitration could change how companies treat all of us. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4yt4Tpq

Apparently, continuing to show up for work can count as agreeing to give up your right to take your employer to court. In some workplaces, simply staying on the job can be treated as agreeing to forced arbitration. That’s one hell of a definition of “consent.” 🎧 https://bit.ly/4yt4Tpq

A lawsuit that showed the legal system working became an argument for weakening it. The real story behind the infamous McDonald’s coffee case is much darker than the joke most of us remember. @brendanballou.bsky.social breaks down what actually happened ⬇️ 🎧 https://bit.ly/4yt4Tpq

There’s a secret justice system hiding in the fine print—and you may have already agreed to it. No public courtroom. Almost no appeal. And the company you’re fighting may help pay the judge deciding your case. 🎧 This week on Pitchfork Economics: https://bit.ly/4yt4Tpq

Corporate power doesn’t stop at the marketplace. It reaches into the rules that determine who gets justice, too. @brendanballou.bsky.social points out one of the quietest ways the legal system gets rigged to favor the powerful. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/3TdDVmt

Companies don’t need to steal a lot from you if they know you can’t fight back. @brendanballou.bsky.social explains how forced arbitration makes small-dollar ripoffs harder to challenge—and turns corporate power into legal power. 🎧 ➡️: https://bit.ly/3TdDVmt

America has a secret justice system—and it's shielding corporations from scamming and abusing customers and employees. Tomorrow, @brendanballou.bsky.social, founder of the Public Integrity Project, joins the pod to discuss the corrupting force of forced arbitration.

Nick joined @faiz.bsky.social and @moreperfectunion.bsky.social to talk about the outrageous reality of our current tax system and how we change it for their new series: Big Ideas.

Don't worry, we don't need to regulate surveillance pricing. They are only using it to give you discounts... From our excellent conversation with @lindsayowens.bsky.social on the many ways you are being gouged by corporations through pricing practices.

What happened to a fair price? @lindsayowens.bsky.social has a simple answer: Big Tech. On this week's pod, we talk to Lindsay about her new book, "Gouged" and the reinvention of the rip off. You don't want to miss this one.

The invisible hand has gotten an upgrade. Corporations gave it your data, an algorithm, and a pretty good idea of just how much it can squeeze out of you. @lindsayowens.bsky.social joins us this week to unpack what that means for your wallet. 🎧➡️ https://bit.ly/4d1X0P8

Worried you're being gouged by surveillance pricing and other schemes? Tomorrow's episode with @lindsayowens.bsky.social is for you.

Public money helps create breakthroughs. Collective knowledge makes them possible. So why are the rewards automatically private? @mazzucatom.bsky.social explains why innovation needs a different social contract. One where access, knowledge, and rewards are built in from the start. 🎧 bit.ly/4xvrUqu

A lot of what gets called “market forces” is really just policy, power, and choices with the fingerprints wiped off. @mazzucatom.bsky.social makes the case for treating the economy as something we can shape and for testing how we could design it differently. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4xvrUqu

If “stakeholder capitalism” still ends with shareholders first, workers last, and a little philanthropy on the side… is it really stakeholder capitalism? @mazzucatom.bsky.social had some thoughts on that in this week’s conversation on the pod ⬇️ 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4xvrUqu

An economy without direction still goes somewhere. The question is who gets to choose where. @mazzucatom.bsky.social joins Nick & Goldy this week to discuss how we can move beyond correcting market failures and build an economy with purpose. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4xvrUqu

What if the problem with our economy isn’t all the market failures — but the theory that keeps producing them? @mazzucatom.bsky.social challenges the idea that progressive policy can fix the economy without rethinking the economics underneath it. 🎧 ➡️ https://bit.ly/4xvrUqu

If government can mobilize entire industries, invent new technologies, and reshape the economy for war, why pretend it’s powerless everywhere else? @mazzucatom.bsky.social says that’s not an economic constraint. It’s a choice. Watch this space. New episode drops tomorrow!

Social Security benefits don’t just sit in a retiree's bank account. They spend them on rent, groceries, restaurants, and everything else that keeps local economies moving. So why would cutting benefits be the fix? Rey Fuentes from @rooseveltinstitute.org explains. 🎧 ➡️ bit.ly/3UIuf3B