For families struggling to pay the bills, for parents juggling multiple jobs to try to keep things afloat, small amounts of cash can make the difference between making it or not, between having some breathing space or being suffocated by the da...

“The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is facing an unprecedented crisis that threatens worker protections and civil rights enforcement in the state,” according to the Bureau itself.  In this episode of Policy for the People, we...

How Oregon sets the salary of state legislators and other elected officials could soon change.  If enacted by voters, Measure 116 on the November ballot would take away from the Oregon legislature the responsibility for deciding how much l...

Echoing statements from both presidential candidates, one Oregon State Senator recently put forward the idea of exempting tips from Oregon income taxes. But is exempting tips from taxes a good idea?  In this episode of Policy for t...

Measure 118 will be one of the most closely watched measures on the November ballot.  Known as “The Oregon Rebate,” the measure would make it so that each year, every resident of Oregon gets a rebate from the state. To pay for these rebate...

Last month saw yet another record in terms of the fortunes held by the nation's superrich. In July 2024, the roughly 800 billionaires in the U.S. were collectively worth about $6 trillion, the highest amount ever. In light of this, it seemed li...

Next year, 2025, is setting up to be a pivotal year when it comes to how our nation raises the money needed to pay for public services — things like health, housing, the nation’s safety net, and more.The reason for this dates back to 201...

Recently, the IRS announced that its Direct File program is expanding. This is a big deal.Filing a tax return is complicated. It’s costly. This is a bad situation for everyone, especially families struggling to get by on low wages. The c...

The month of May began with the celebration of International Workers’ Day. May Day, as it’s often called, dates back to the late 19th Century, when labor movements that counted on heavy participation by immigrant workers agitated for better wor...

With tax season coming to an end, it’s a good moment to discuss the vital role that our tax system plays in our lives. At its best, the tax system makes the economy work better for everyone. At its worst, it deepens existing economic injustices...

With lawmakers in Salem having wrapped up their work, we take a look at a couple of legislative developments that perhaps you have not heard about, but which could make a big difference in the economic well-being of many Oregonians.We be...

We’re talking taxes today on Policy for the People, specifically from the vantage point of the Oregonians with the fewest resources, those who are struggling the most to make ends meet.  In our first segment, we hear about a brand ...

Once again, the possibility of a federal government shutdown is upon us. This renewed threat ultimately arises out of competing visions of the role of government and the kind of nation we want to have, our guest on this episode explains. Sharon...

Hunger in Oregon is rising rapidly, a reflection of the economic insecurity afflicting so many families.In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with Susannah Morgan, President of the Oregon Food Bank. As Susannah explains, the...

Perhaps the biggest danger from rising economic inequality is what it’s doing to our bodies, to our health. Economic inequality is killing us. Literally.In this episode of Policy for the People, we hear from Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, autho...

The share of children in the U.S. living in poverty has soared, according to new data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. In today’s episode, we talk with Tyler Mac Innis, a policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public ...

This special episode examines what is looking increasingly likely: a federal government shutdown. Unless Congress can pass a continuing budget resolution by September 30, the shutdown will begin on Sunday, October 1.What would a federal ...

All of the strike activity we’re seeing right now is a hopeful sign for those who want to see an economy that works for everyone. In this episode, we speak with Margaret Poydock and Jennifer Sherer of the Economic Policy Institute, co-authors o...

Money is power. And the extreme concentration of wealth that we're seeing means that more and more political power is in the hands of billionaires, who use that power to further increase their wealth, according to today’s guest, Bob Lord...

On July 1, workers in one region of Oregon achieved what once seemed an inspired goal. The minimum wage in the Portland metro area — not in the rest of the state — crossed the $15 an hour level. But this milestone arrived more than a decade aft...

Last month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that threats of violence against the LGBT community are on the rise. We’ve also seen a slew of anti-LGBT legislation in statehouses across the country.  In addition to increased h...

The clock is ticking on the nation’s ability to pay its debts, as U.S. House Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats and the White House agree to steep budget cuts. While much of the attention has been on the economic cris...

Over the past four-and-a-half decades, we have seen economic inequality return with a vengeance. We're living through a new Gilded Age, comparable to the one at the turn of the 19th Century. The first Gilded Age was the age of Rockefeller and C...

Many families in Oregon struggle to put food on the table, and this is especially true for many immigrant families. They are excluded from the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As...

Care workers play a vital role in our communities.  They feed, bathe, and otherwise care for those who cannot take care of themselves. In doing so, care workers make it possible for others to go to work and live their lives. Unfortunately,...