Institute for Policy Studies

Populism Can Win Back Working Class Voters - OtherWords New research shows that progressive economic policies can bring working-class Trump supporters back into the Democratic Party.

NEW: Contrary to what many expect, the working class has become both more progressive on economic issues and less conservative on social issues in recent decades.

To win back working class voters, Democrats need to get more progressive — not less.

Keep Immigration Raids Out of Schools - OtherWords Most Americans oppose ICE raids on schools, which lead to absenteeism, disruption, and long-term threats to learning for all students.

NEW: Under Trump, schools are no longer safe havens from ICE. Now, research shows a direct link between increased immigration raids and rising absenteeism.

Keep ICE out of our schools. IPS Wallace Fellow Sonia Banker:

IPS’s Giving Pledge at 15 report: wealth growing alarmingly faster than it’s given away - the Giving Review Warns of coming supercharged dynastic philanthropy.

NEW: In 2010, 57 billionaires pledged to give away at least half of their wealth. In the 15 years since, 32 of them have instead collectively grown 283% wealthier.

“We must enact measures to ensure more donations actually reach working charities,” says IPS scholar @bdevaan.bsky.social:

We’re Locking Up Innocent Immigrants and Calling It Justice - OtherWords Shackling innocent people, denying them basic medical care, and forcing them to eat like animals isn’t “law and order.” It’s lawless.

In a new report, Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South looked at three Florida detention centers. Conditions are not just inhumane — they actually violate international law.

@belkiswille.bsky.social of @hrw.org:

America's billionaires promised to give away their money 15 years ago. How's that going? - The San Francisco Standard Only one local bigwig is even close to giving away half their wealth.

NEW: 15 years into the Giving Pledge, billionaires’ broad failure to donate money faster than they can hoard it shows the need to overhaul philanthropy — and tax the rich, says @bdevaan.bsky.social. “There’s only so long that we can take them at their word.”

@eshugs.bsky.social in @sfstandard.com:

The Giving Pledge at 15 15 years on, the Giving Pledge is unfulfilled, unfulfillable, and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.

Philanthropy is not a replacement for government or taxes in a democracy. This report from @ips-dc.org shows why. @patrioticmillionaires.org @itep.org @4taxfairness.bsky.social

The Giving Pledge at 15 15 years on, the Giving Pledge is unfulfilled, unfulfillable, and not our ticket to a fairer, better future.

NEW: Hundreds of rich people have signed the Giving Pledge to donate half of their wealth. 15 years on, their lack of progress shows our critical need to fix philanthropy — and tax them more.

REPORT by @chuck77.bsky.social, @bdevaan.bsky.social, @helenofips.bsky.social and @dpetegorsky.bsky.social:

The Trump-GOP budget is a dire threat to Oregon’s patients, hospitals and nurses • Oregon Capital Chronicle Health care workers are warning of dangerous conditions in hospitals for patients and nurses alike under the new law.

NEW: The GOP budget's colossal cuts to Medicaid will leave hospitals to cover more costs — which will mean cutting nursing staff, says Tamie Cline, president of @oregonnursesassoc.bsky.social. “No one is protecting us."

IPS Wallace Fellow Karina Smith speaks to Cline in @oregoncapitalchronicle.com:

Democrats Can Win Back the Working-Class with Economic Populism New research from the Center for Working-Class Politics shows that progressive economic policies can bring working-class Trump supporters back into the Democratic Party.

Winning back working class votes from the GOP is still possible. The key? Bread-and-butter economic policies.

NEW: 1 in 5 working-class Trump voters actually favor progressive policies like:

- Taxing the rich,
- Funding public school,
- Funding social security, and
- Raising the minimum wage.

Democrats can win back these voters. To do that, they must boldly champion these policies.

A fifth of California homes are investor-owned as state’s affordability crisis deepens – report New figures show that the Golden state’s rate of investor-owned homes is 19%, with mountain regions up to 83%

NEW: 1 in 5 homes in California are now owned by investors. If homes continue to be built at prices that are only affordable to these profiteers, then the housing crisis will be "a never-ending cycle," points out IPS scholar @ocampomar.bsky.social in @us.theguardian.com:

The Transformation of Industrial Politics - Institute for Policy Studies Join us for a webinar on the response of trade unions, community organizations, and environmental NGOs to industrial policies.

🎙️ MONDAY: The Transformation of Industrial Politics 🎙️

📍 Zoom webinar
📆 July 28
🕐 12:00 - 1:30 pm ET

This session with experts Ariel Salleh, Kennedy Manduna, and Lala Peñaranda will examine the effects of industrial politics on unions, society, and our shared future. Save your spot:

Mounting corporate pressure on Honduras threatens community rights Honduras is currently facing a total of $19.4 billion in lawsuits from corporations, an amount equivalent to roughly 53% of the country’s GDP in 2024, according to new data by the Institute for Policy...

NEW: A shadowy legal tool called ISDS is allowing foreign corporations to sue Honduras — one of the region's poorest countries — for a total of $19.4 billion, roughly 53% of the country’s 2024 GDP.

The public good must be put over this corporate greed. @aimeegabay.bsky.social in @mongabay.com:

A sixteen-year-old starting their first job as a fast food worker or cashier today won't make a cent more than those working the same jobs on the day they were born.

There is no excuse. Raise the wage.

There Is Finally Such a Thing as a Free Bus Ride - The Provincetown Independent PROVINCETOWN — The state budget requires all transportation districts in Massachusetts to provide free bus service, and Cape Cod is finally getting on board. For most of the state, this […]

NEW: While some places are cutting transit, Massachusetts is offering its second year in a row of FREE buses — funded in part by the state’s wildly successful new tax on millionaires.

Tax the rich. Fund public transit. @laurenhakimi.bsky.social:

Commentary: The deaths in Texas are on the GOP’s hands The horrific flash flood in Texas has left at least 130 dead (including 36 children), and three are ...

NEW: Unlike the federal government, states can't run budgetary deficits and are much more fiscally constrained.

The GOP's current push to confine disaster recovery to state hands is "only marginally better" than eliminating it altogether, writes IPS scholar @basavsen.bsky.social:

'New Era of Climate Accountability': ICJ Says Nations Have Legal Duty to Combat Planetary Crisis | Common Dreams "For the first time, it feels like justice is not just a dream but a direction," said Flora Vano, an activist from Vanuatu.

NEW: In a landmark opinion yesterday, the ICJ ruled that all countries have a legal obligation to take cooperative action against the climate crisis.

This is a huge win that is expected to bolster climate lawsuits worldwide. Jake Johnson in @commondreams.org:

The Deaths in Texas Are on the GOP’s Hands – DC Journal - InsideSources The horrific flash flood in Texas has left at least 130 dead (including 36 children), and three are still missing. As with most extreme weather events

NEW: The Trump administration has cut NOAA to the bone, proposed *eliminating* FEMA, and all the while pushed more fossil fuel extraction that's worsening our storms.

The GOP has Texans' blood on its hands. IPS climate scholar @basavsen.bsky.social:

When would-be developers of Hanscom Field’s proposed expansion argued “ferry flight reduction” would balance out an additional 6,000 private jet flights annually (2024 IEc Report), Chuck Collins from @inequality.org ‬at IPS came to @gbhnews.bsky.social with the facts. Learn more at spje.org.

5 Ways the Trump Administration Is Militarizing Our Immigration System Since taking office this year, President Trump and his administration have been unapologetically loud and harmful about immigration. And they’re using the U.S. military to help do all of it.

Immigration is a good thing. Nearly 80% of Americans agree.

We can, and must, resist Trump's reckless militarization against our communities.

The people of Los Angeles were quick to unite in resistance to ICE raids, thanks to months of organizing by the Community Self Defense Coalition LA.

In Pasadena, a crowd peacefully drove ICE agents out of a hotel where they were lodging.

Yes, fascism is rising — but people are rising to meet it.

Want Government Efficiency? Restore Medicaid - and Audit the Pentagon The Republicans in Congress have used a charade of government efficiency to justify funding reductions in these anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs.

NEW: While forcing poor Americans through extra hurdles and paperwork to receive basic life-sustaining services, the GOP's big, ugly bill will reward the repeatedly audit-failing Pentagon with a whopping $150 billion.

IPS Wallace Fellow Olabisi Omoniyi-Alake in @nationalpriorities.bsky.social:

5 Ways the Trump Administration Is Militarizing Our Immigration System - Institute for Policy Studies It couldn’t be any clearer: we need to defund the separation of families and invest beyond the enforcement paradigm into the well-being of all of our communities.

Here are five ways the Trump administration is militarizing our immigration system, from IPS @nationalpriorities.bsky.social scholar Alliyah Lusuegro:

NEW: Military aircraft including Air Force jets are deporting migrants, costing $4,675/person.

As of May 2025, the Pentagon spent $21 million on deportation flights where migrants report being dehumanized, chained, and barely fed.

Militarizing immigration is unpopular, brutal, and costly. End it.

Democrats Can Win Back the Working-Class with Economic Populism New research from the Center for Working-Class Politics shows that progressive economic policies can bring working-class Trump supporters back into the Democratic Party.

NEW: A new report shows that the blue-collar exodus from the Democratic Party can be reversed with progressive economic policies like raising the minimum wage and expanding public health care.

To defeat Trumpism, Dems must listen to, and fight for, workers. Sean Mason in @inequality.org:

How Stablecoins Are Reinventing Financial Hegemony - FPIF The Trump administration mistakenly believes that crypto can help maintain the dollar's supremacy.

NEW: In June, the Senate passed the so-called GENIUS Act, aimed at the proliferation of stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar.

This cryptocurrency is "becoming the infrastructure for a new era of soft power projection," writes analyst Imran Khalid:

Robert Alvarez, 76, Dies; Called Attention to Nuclear-Waste Safety

Beloved IPS fellow Robert Alvarez has passed away at age 76 after a lifetime dedicated to exposing and repairing the insidious damage of nuclear waste.

In @nytimes.com, @risenc.bsky.social chronicles how a young legislative aide became an international force for justice:

5 Ways the Trump Administration Is Militarizing Our Immigration System Since taking office this year, President Trump and his administration have been unapologetically loud and harmful about immigration. And they’re using the U.S. military to help do all of it...

The military shouldn’t have anything to do with immigration.

IPS scholar Alliyah Lusuegro in @nationalpriorities.bsky.social:

NEW: When 1 in 6 kids in the U.S. face hunger, $134 million could fund SNAP for 716,578 Americans.

Instead, Trump is spending that to send troops into protests against ICE's abuses in LA.

Every dollar spent on militarizing immigration is a dollar stolen from our real needs.

The Texas Floods Are a Warning: Fund Public Services - OtherWords We need to shine a light on all the good that “invisible” public services like the National Weather Service do.

Public services can prevent and mitigate disasters, but they’re being prevented from doing so by politicians like President Trump and Ted Cruz, who’d rather fund tax breaks for the wealthy and the war machine.