The New Populism Conference is an all-day event focused on strategies for educating, energizing and mobilizing around an agenda for economic change that strong majorities of Americans already support, including:
• Investing in good jobs to achieve full employment
• Ensuring that anyone who works full time should not be in poverty
• Breaking up the banks that are “too big to fail”
• Increasing, not cutting, Social Security benefits
• Recognizing that America is not broke; the rich and big corporations are not paying their fair share.
• Rejecting the Supreme Court’s view that corporations are people, and refusing to let big money buy our democracy.
In addition, critical sessions throughout the day will be sharpening the progressive principles that will unite and galvanize America’s new populist majority.
This event will also be live-streamed, courtesy of WeAct Radio. Check this page for the live stream, starting at 9 a.m. EDT
CONFERENCE AGENDA
8:30 a.m. Registration
INVESTMENT, GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY
9:05 a.m. Time to Rebuild America: Invest and Grow
• REP. KEITH ELLISON (D-Minn.)
9:25 a.m. We Aren’t Broke; We’ve Been Robbed: Fair Taxes in a Gilded Age
• REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-Ill.)
THE NEW POPULISM
9:45 a.m. The Populist Moment; The Emerging Movement
• ROBERT BOROSAGE, Co-Director, Campaign for America’s Future
10 a.m. The Populist Majority: Americans Want An End to Business as Usual
• CELINDA LAKE, Pollster, Lake and Associates
10:20 a.m. Break
TAKING ON INEQUALITY AND CAPITAL
10:40 a.m. Full Employment and Growth: Make Workers Scarce and Jobs Plentiful
• JARED BERNSTEIN, Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
10:55 a.m. Balanced Trade: End the Fast Track to Nowhere
• THEA LEE, Deputy Chief of Staff and Trade Policy Economist, AFL-CIO
11:10 a.m. Curb Wall Street: Too Big to Fail = Too Big To Bail
• SEN. SHERROD BROWN (D-Ohio)
11:20 a.m. Educate This: Guarantee the Opportunity to Learn
• ELAINE WEISS, Coordinator, Broader, Bolder Approach to Education Campaign
THE RULES ARE RIGGED; IT WILL TAKE A MOVEMENT
Noon Keynote Address
• SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.)
Lunch follows, available in the registration area.
RAISE THE ROOF, LIFT THE FLOOR
1:30 p.m. Jobs with Justice: Living Wage, Basic Rights: Moving in States and Cities Now
• VALERIE ERVIN, Executive Director, The Center for Working Families
1:50 p.m. Empower Workers
• LARRY COHEN, President, Communications Workers of America
2:10 p.m. Crack Down on CEO Plunder
• SARAH ANDERSON, GLOBAL ECONOMY PROJECT, Institute for Policy Studies
THE RISING AMERICAN ELECTORATE: A POPULIST FORCE
2:45 p.m. Shafted: The Rising American Electorate and Today’s Economy
• MAYA ROCKEYMOORE, President, Global Policy Solutions
3:05 p.m. Latinos Want Action, Not Retreat
• KICA MATOS, Director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice, Center for Community Change and Director, Fair Immigration Reform Movement
3:25 p.m. Big Debts, Lousy Jobs, Catastrophic Climate: The Coming Millennial Revolt
• SOPHIA ZAMAN, President, U.S. Student Association
DEFEND AND EXPAND SHARED SECURITY
4:05 p.m. Fight Back Against the Oligarchs
• SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.)
4:35 p.m. Not Right and Left: Right and Wrong
• REV. WILLIAM BARBER II, President, North Carolina NAACP
5:15 p.m. Reception