Read Blog for Arizona | Politics from a Liberal Viewpoint for more about economic inequality

The COVID-19 Relief Bill Is ‘A Big Effin’ Deal’ (As Joe Biden Might Say) (Updated)

March 10, 2021March 9, 2021 by AZ BlueMeanie

The “lamestream media” coverage of passage of the COVID-19 Relief bill tended to focus on the fact that it was not “bipartisan,” i.e., that not one Republican in Congress voted for the most popular bill since raising the minimum wage in 2007, supported by 76% of Americans and even 60% of Republicans. That is almost … Read more

#AZHouse Democrats Force Vote on #ERA

August 27, 2020April 17, 2019 by Pamela Powers Hannley

For the third year in a row, Arizona House Democrats forced a debate and a vote on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). On April 16, I made an “emergency motion” to skip over First, Second and Third Readings of HCR2030 and bring the ERA up for an immediate vote. Predictably, the Republicans offered as substitute … Read more

Economic Inequality, Access to Care & Workforce Development: A Progressive Roadmap (video)

December 29, 2017 by Pamela Powers Hannley

Economist Dean Baker, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, recently gave a talk which focused on solving economic inequality. He pointed to five key areas of the economy that keep the rich rich and keep the rest of us in our places:

Macroeconomics;
Intellectual property rights;
Practice protection by highly paid professionals;
Financial regulation; and
Cooperate governance.

Given this list, can a state legislator like me make a dent in economic inequality? I think so.

I ran on a platform that focused on economic reform and public banking; equality and paycheck fairness; and attacking the opioid crisis.

How does my platform dovetail with Dean Baker’s list? There is quite a bit of overlap—particularly in macroeconomics, intellectual property rights, and practice protection.