Suzanne Kahn

Suzanne Kahn

@suzmkahn.bsky.social

Historian of social insurance and feminism. VP Think Tank @rooseveltinstitute.org & Roosevelt Forward. Previously @32bjseiu.bsky.social, @seiu.org, @columbiauniversity.bsky.social History Dept linktr.ee/suzmkahn

1,003 Followers 442 Following 131 Posts Joined Aug 2023
1 week ago
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Roosevelt Institute President and CEO Elizabeth Wilkins.

On Thursday, CEO @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social met with @mayor.nyc.gov to talk about what it takes to govern—investing in public capacity and building the talent pipeline to deliver for working people. That’s the Roosevelt tradition: pairing big ideas with the capacity to deliver lasting results.

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3 weeks ago
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The Stories Behind the Stories Email from Workplace Justice Lab The impact, organizing response and lessons on the Minneapolis ICE siege   The Month in Review: Minneapolis by Janice Fine   This month’s newsletter focuses on the ICE

Wanted to share the Workplace Justice Lab's latest piece on the story behind the story of the Minneapolis occupation through the eyes of our close partners in organizing, government and small business.
conta.cc/3O8RFvL

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1 month ago

I love this guy, very calming using historical analogy reading his city council for filth.

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1 month ago

!!!! (I thought I was just doing something wrong)

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1 month ago
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Somehow minor in the scheme of things, but marriage as the solution to the affordability crisis is still 🤯.

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1 month ago
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Trump taps Kevin Warsh to chair Federal Reserve The choice ends a monthslong search for a successor to Jerome Powell, who has resisted fierce White House pressure to lower interest rates.

Let's be clear: The nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Fed threatens harm to American workers and families.

The subdued market reaction isn’t an endorsement—w/o a majority of FOMC votes, he'd be unlikely to shift policy significantly. bit.ly/49PZleT

My take 👇

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1 month ago

A just tax system is essential to rebuilding our democracy. Proud to publish @bdgesq.bsky.social's new paper on one way to get there.

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1 month ago

OK a quick 🧵 on one aspect of the report

In this Neo-McCarthyist moment, how can progressives make sure that expanding public higher education does not come at the expense of academic freedom and freedom to protest on campus?

In a way, the question is easier to answer that I thought

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1 month ago

Across the board the essential civic institutions behind our democracy, are being weakened by the extremely wealthy. We see it in higher ed, we see it in media, etc. A democracy agenda is an anti-oligarchy agenda.

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1 month ago

We genuinely didn't know where the research would end up, but when @lookheron.bsky.social came back with the argument that the missing link in the story was the growing power of trustees it made perfect sense.

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1 month ago

This project was born out of conversations about how the free college fight in 2019 and 2020 barely touched issues like free speech, curriculum, and academic freedom. That would be impossible today, but if we are serious about equity we can't stop calling for real public investment in higher ed.

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1 month ago

One of the best days of the year is when we get to welcome new fellows! So excited for this new group to formally join our team!

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1 month ago
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Lessons from YIMBYism: Taking “Abundance” Back to Its Fundamentals Lessons from YIMBYism examines how supply-side reforms, public investment, and state capacity can make progressive social policy work as intended.

New from me: A brief for @rooseveltinstitute.org on the logic of YIMBY policymaking and its applicability to other domains. What principles underlying the YIMBY agenda are transferrable to thinking about energy, healthcare, and other areas? Short 🧵 to follow. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

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2 months ago
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“Will Social Security Run Out?” Is the Wrong Question: How Lawmakers Can Protect Beneficiaries and Strengthen OASI Is Social Security really in crisis? This report examines the OASI Trust Fund, lessons from 1983, and policy options to secure benefits for the future.

You may have heard that "social security is going to go bankrupt." Many younger people assume social security will not be there for them when they retire. In my latest paper I correct the record. SS is not going bankrupt but we'll need to revisit it soon 🧵

rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

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4 months ago

Today, New Mexico launched its universal childcare initiative. Last month I wrote about it for Roosevelt Institute -- historic state endeavors like this should show lawmakers at all levels of government that Americans are sick and tired of waiting for bold action on childcare. shorturl.at/Sm2tZ

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4 months ago

Excited that my new book review came out at the same time as Corrine Low's essay on what the medical professions can teach us about how to organize jobs to be family friendly. There's a lot to be learned by looking at how women organize work when they have numbers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/o...

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4 months ago
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Running Out of People In After the Spike, two economists make a provocative case that population decline could stall innovation and human progress.

a sharp @suzmkahn.bsky.social review in @washingtonmonthly.com on After the Spike. Parenting will always have something of an "opportunity cost" but that doesn't mean there's not a lot policy can do to make it a better option

washingtonmonthly.com/2025/11/02/a...

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4 months ago
Image featuring a classical architecture building with columns, overlaid with a text quote  from Elizabeth Wilkins of the Roosevelt Institute, "In Building a More Effective, Responsive Government: Lessons Learned from the Biden-Harris Administration, former Biden-Harris senior officials Hannah Garden-Monheit and Tresa Joseph draw from the insights, recommendations, and candor of more than 45 former public servants and tell a broader story we can’t forget: The problems with these institutions did not start with Donald Trump or Elon Musk, worse as they now are. These problems are, in part, what results from decades of bipartisan neglect, disinvestment, and deference to markets."

NEW 📰: Building a more effective government that moves beyond the status quo requires honest reflection.

Drawing on interviews with more than 45 former senior Biden officials, our latest report offers 161 practical recommendations for better governance.
https://bit.ly/4312Zid

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4 months ago
Roosevelt Forward quote graphics that reads "With this much volatility, it’s precisely the wrong time to turn off the data tap. And it really is shut off, making the economy harder to read in addition to gumming up the work of straightforward governing."

No jobs data. No inflation report. No roadmap. This isn’t a technical glitch, it’s a threat to democratic governance.

In #FiresideStacks🔥, @mikemadowitz.bsky.social warns how the shutdown has silenced the federal stats that keep our economy functioning.

bit.ly/4726aag

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5 months ago
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Americans’ Trust in Media Hit a Record Low This Week. Only Public Media Can Restore It. - Roosevelt Institute Wednesday’s government shutdown was the final nail in the coffin of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which officially closed after having its funding rescinded by the Trump administratio...

Americans' trust in media hit an all-time low this week. But the trust numbers for public media look totally different. The public is wary of how commercial pressures impact news fairness and accuracy — and for good reason.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/trust-i...

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5 months ago
Quote graphic for a new publication

Even before the admin went after higher ed, public colleges faced 50 years of decline—hollowed out by privatization, financialization, and disinvestment.

@lookheron.bsky.social’s new report traces that history & shows how we can build a more equitable education system today:
https://bit.ly/3WlV9vv

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5 months ago
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New Mexico Offers Free Childcare for All. The Federal Government Should Follow Suit. - Roosevelt Institute Last week, New Mexico announced that it will become the first state in the nation to provide no-cost universal childcare for all its residents. This comes as welcome news in a country in the throes of...

New Mexico is making history: the first state to guarantee no-cost universal childcare.

💡 A bold step toward affordability that shows what’s possible when leaders prioritize families.

@lbilik.bsky.social on why federal lawmakers should take note. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/new-mex...

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5 months ago

You are going to hear a lot over the next few years about how SS is doomed and we need to privatize it or whatever. But it is not doomed. We have already figured out several possible ways to right to the ship. And we could have done so at any time in the last 2 decades. We knew this was coming...

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5 months ago

👇🏾right here. We need to understand the machine behind the machine - corporate consolidation means fewer heads to knock together when out of control state power comes knocking. It means a small group of wealthy individuals doing deals with a corrupt set of leaders. Consolidation is bad for democracy.

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6 months ago

Truly wild stuff going on tonight in DC
White House pushing congress to get an unprecedented Fed Nominee confirmed late tonight (around 8PM per @vtg2.bsky.social / @politico.com )

1/

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6 months ago

Exciting news from New Mexico, proving that states continue to innovate in the face of the federal government's decades of inaction on childcare. Don't let anyone tell you there isn't nationwide demand for childcare as a public good. shorturl.at/tTENi

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6 months ago
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Winning a People-Powered Future By bringing the public into the policymaking process, we can shape a better economy and rebuild faith in democracy.

"People are experts on what’s not working in their lives. And when so many say they don’t have the time to both care for their loved ones and make a living, policymakers need to take that cue." - @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social is essential reading.

democracyjournal.org/magazine/78/...

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6 months ago
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Raising a Nation: Elliot Haspel on What a Universal Childcare Movement Will Take It is no secret that childcare in the US is, as Elliot Haspel puts it, “a hellscape.” Elliot’s new book, Raising a Nation: 10 Reasons Every American Has a Stake in Child Care for All, is a welcome add...

"Childcare undergirds everything we care about as Americans." - Great conversation between @lbilik.bsky.social and @ehaspel.bsky.social in today's Fireside Stacks.

www.firesidestacks.com/p/raising-a-...

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7 months ago
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Celebrate Today but Fight Tomorrow: Social Security’s Anniversary Is a Call to Action This should be a moment of celebration. But instead, on Social Security’s 90th anniversary, I find myself sounding an alarm. The program my grandfather signed into law on this day in 1935 is under att...

"The program my grandfather signed into law on this day in 1935 is under attack—not just in rhetoric, but through deliberate acts of administrative sabotage."

Today on Fireside Stacks, a warning and a call to action.

www.firesidestacks.com/p/social-sec...

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7 months ago
Infographic titled "A New Blueprint for Politics" by Roosevelt Forward, listing four strategies

Trump’s second term is about consolidating power through sabotage and deregulation.

The latest #FiresideStacks 🔥 offers a path for how we can challenge and move beyond the myths that have made the Right's harmful vision a reality. www.firesidestacks.com/p/reclaiming...

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