This brief offers an initial framework for understanding the historic inequities in our economy, beginning with an analysis of racial capitalism, which has shaped and continues to define how the American economy works and for whom. 

It includes an overview of the myriad ways that the Trump Administration’s economic policies have worsened these problems while failing to deliver on promises to protect workers and to provide financial relief to working families. Trump and his administration have gutted vital work protections, undermined workplace safety, attacked workers’ right to form a union, and ignored the nation’s crumbling infrastructure while fueling the climate crisis. 

In 2020, policymakers can begin to advance the vital policy change needed to build an economy that works for all. This brief highlights the urgent need for economic policy solutions that are part of the Center for Popular Democracy/Center for Popular Democracy Action Federal Platform, adopted by our network of over fifty grassroots organizations in July 2019.