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The Middle Out Center

@middleoutcenter.bsky.social
198 followers 289 following 173 posts

The middle class is the true engine of prosperity. bio.site/MiddleOutCenter

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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
And that's a K-shaped economy doing exactly what it's built to do. buff.ly/Q8S4OlJ
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
This spring, real wages fell year-over-year for the first time in three years. Two-thirds of Americans said they were cutting back spending. Stocks kept hitting record highs the whole time. And that's a K-shaped economy doing exactly what it's built to do.
seattletimes.com
As US stock market hits new highs, 2 of 3 Americans are cutting back on spending, survey shows
U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices that have neared record levels.
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Reposted by The Middle Out Center
Evonomics: The Next Evolution of Economics @evonomics.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
A new booklet by @nickhanauer.bsky.social and Eric Beinhocker "Markets Built for Humans" is about replacing neoliberalism with an economics built on how the economy actually works, and what it's actually for. marketsbuiltforhumans.org
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
The minimum wage debate was never just about wages. It was a test of an entire economic paradigm. The paradigm failed. @nickhanauer.bsky.social and @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social make the case for what a better one looks like. buff.ly/W1PuXv5
theatlantic.com
The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality
Minimum-wage increases were expected to kill jobs. The fact that they didn’t should make us rethink a lot of assumptions.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
According to RAND, $79 trillion has shifted from the bottom 90% to the top 10% since 1975—during the very era this framework dominated policy. That's not a tradeoff. That's a track record.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
The "raise wages, kill jobs" doctrine wasn't just overstated—it was empirically false. The underlying economic model was wrong. Working people aren't commodities priced by supply & demand. They're also consumers. Pay them more, they spend more, businesses have more customers. The economy grows.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
In 2011, economists, Hill Dems & progressive wonks all agreed: a $15 minimum wage was economic madness. Seattle did it anyway. Every prediction proved wrong. Since then, 138 state-level minimum wage increases have been studied. Researchers found zero evidence of job loss. None.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
"If we want to have a world that all of us would like to live in, you better change the operating system that defines how that world works, by ripping economics down to the studs." Read @nickhanauer.bsky.social's TNR interview here 👇 newrepublic.com/article/211507/everything-know-economy-dead-wrong
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The real question isn't whether workers are being treated fairly. It's what level of worker bargaining power actually produces the best outcomes—for wages, for consumer demand, for growth. The evidence is clear. The policy choices, less so. Learn more from @epi.org buff.ly/0Rw7I9v
epi.org
U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union avoidance
Many U.S. employers hire union avoidance consultants to keep their workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The NLRA technically guarantees private-sector workers the right to organize. But decades of policy decisions and reporting loopholes have made that right largely theoretical for the workers who'd benefit most from exercising it.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
What determines what workers earn? Not just their skills or output—but the relative bargaining power of workers and employers when wages are set. A $1.7B industry exists to tilt that balance, and it has measurable consequences for wage levels across the economy.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
$1.7 billion. That's what U.S. employers spend annually on consultants whose job is to keep workers from organizing. That asymmetry doesn't show up in wage negotiations—it shapes them. 🧵
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
@nickhanauer.bsky.social calls his project "comically ambitious"—and he means it. He wants to replace the economic ideas driving policy for 50 years with something that reflects how people and markets actually work. It's called Market Humanism. Start here. ⬇️
newrepublic.com
What if Everything We Know About the Economy Is Dead Wrong?
Entrepreneur and anti-inequality warrior Nick Hanauer has a vision of a fairer, more humanist system. All it takes to get there is to throw out everything that came before it.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
A functioning economy requires functioning infrastructure—literal and human. Healthcare, housing, a safety net that works. These aren't radical asks. They're the preconditions for growth and the data backs that up.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
The alternative he & @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social are building is called Market Humanism—the idea that markets are tools for solving human problems & can work for everyone when designed right. "Comically ambitious," he admits. But someone has to say it. buff.ly/kZ7DZPC
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
That's @nickhanauer.bsky.social's argument in a new @newrepublic.com interview. Trickle-down wasn't just unfair—it was bad economics. GDP growth roughly halved after neoliberal policies took hold. The trickle was coming any day now!
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
What if the economic ideas shaping American policy for the past 50 years were never actually right? Not "could use some tweaks" but literally 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 at the foundation about how people behave, how markets work, and what makes an economy grow.
newrepublic.com
What if Everything We Know About the Economy Is Dead Wrong?
Entrepreneur and anti-inequality warrior Nick Hanauer has a vision of a fairer, more humanist system. All it takes to get there is to throw out everything that came before it.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Middle-out economics flips the logic: a middle class that can afford things isn't the reward for a strong economy. It's what makes one.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
76% of Americans now name the cost of living as their top economic worry, up from 58% a year ago (CNN/SSRS, May 2026). An 18-point jump in 12 months isn't people getting gloomier. It's people noticing that the rules governing prices, wages & housing aren't built to work *for* them.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Five programs designed to fix dangerously insufficient infrastructure in the communities that need it most. Cut. All of them. In one bill. That’s not fiscal responsibility. That’s a choice about whose safety counts.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
“Although the neoliberal paradigm has taken heavy fire over the past decade from academics, activists & populist politicians, it has proved stubbornly hard to eradicate & its flawed assumptions still shape large swaths of economic policy making" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
theatlantic.com
The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality
Minimum-wage increases were expected to kill jobs. The fact that they didn’t should make us rethink a lot of assumptions.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
On his new channel, Class Traitor, he makes the case for a different economics—one where a thriving middle class is the engine of growth, not the byproduct of it. Watch: youtu.be/qa6GjNzxjHE?...
youtu.be
Will AI Destroy The Middle Class?
YouTube video by Nick Hanauer: Class Traitor
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
@nickhanauer.bsky.social has built companies, backed others & spent decades watching how the economy actually works from the inside. His conclusion: trickle-down economics isn't just ineffective—it's a story told to justify policy choices that have cost working families t r i l l i o n s.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
A new @epi.org/@laborlab.bsky.social report puts a number on something economists have long argued shapes wage outcomes more than almost any other structural variable: employer spending on union avoidance.
epi.org
U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union avoidance
Key takeaways Many U.S. employers hire union avoidance consultants to keep their workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions. We estimate that employers spend roughly ...
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
@nickhanauer.bsky.social & @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social on 50 years of progressive economics: When fairness fights growth, fairness loses. Every time. That wasn't a messaging problem—it was the wrong fight entirely. #EconSky
democracyjournal.org
Market Humanism: A New Paradigm for a New Era
Progressives have been fighting on the neoliberals’ terms. Market Humanism flips that—and provides a winning and more humane narrative. Oh—and a far more prosperous country.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
“In some of the higher-cost locations of the country, you’re looking at more than 70% of households that aren’t earning enough to cover a basic [standard] of living. Our problems on affordability are even bigger than what people are talking about.”
capitalandmain.com
Don’t Call It Upward Mobility If People Still Can’t Afford to Live
A living wage analyst challenges rosy claims about rising standard of living, and shows that for millions of Americans, their pay doesn’t cover the basics.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 22/05/2026
“The iron law that said raising wages kills jobs is dead. The evidence killed it. What remains is to bury the paradigm that kept it alive—and to rebuild the country it broke,” Nick Hanauer and Eric Beinhocker write:
bit.ly
The Economic Experiment That Upended Reality
Minimum-wage increases were expected to kill jobs. The fact that they didn’t should make us rethink a lot of assumptions.
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Reposted by The Middle Out Center
Washington Monthly @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
@nickhanauer.bsky.social and @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social argue that capitalism can be saved, provided there’s a radical makeover of what a capitalist economy should achieve. @anne-s-kim.bsky.social writes.
washingtonmonthly.com
The Capitalists Trying to Fix Capitalism
Can capitalism be saved? Is it worth saving? Two ambitious reformers argue yes—provided we change what a capitalist economy should achieve.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The economy isn't broken. It's working exactly as designed. The real question: can we design it better—and for whom? @nickhanauer.bsky.social & @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social joined @washingtonmonthly.bsky.social editor @anne-s-kim.bsky.social to discuss 🎧
washingtonmonthly.com
The Capitalists Trying to Fix Capitalism
Can capitalism be saved? Is it worth saving? Two ambitious reformers argue yes—provided we change what a capitalist economy should achieve.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
For decades, the theory was: make rich people richer and economic growth follows. But businesses hire when customers are spending, not when CEOs are flush. A strong middle class doesn't result from a healthy economy. It produces one.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
76% of Americans say cost of living is their top financial problem. But even working people earning $150K+ report their wages aren’t keeping pace. This isn’t a skills gap. It’s a structural one.
cnn.com
‘My life is not affordable. No one cares’: 76% of Americans call the cost of living their biggest financial problem | CNN Politics
CNN’s poll, conducted by SSRS, finds a surge in people naming high prices and the cost of living as the top economic problem facing their own family.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
$79 trillion diverted from working Americans to the top 1% since 1975. That’s not a mystery. That’s not “the market.” That’s what happens when you spend decades writing the rules so more of the economy’s gains flow upward — then act surprised when they do.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
It’s not talent. It’s not even just luck. It’s a tax code, an antitrust system, and a set of corporate rules all built to send economic growth upward. Build them differently, get a different result.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Six American billionaires got nearly a trillion dollars richer in the past 18 months. The question isn’t whether that’s a lot. It is. It’s how the same handful of people keep grabbing this much of the gains, decade after decade.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
$𝟳𝟵 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻. That's how much wealth would be in the hands of the vast majority of American households today if the gains from a half-century of economic growth had been broadly shared instead of concentrated at the top. A different distribution wasn't impossible. It was a policy choice.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
If you're thinking about what comes after neoliberalism, this is the perfect conversation to start with. Full conversation at the link below ⬇ #EconSky
thesling.org
Slingshot Episode 29 - The Sling
Eric Beinhocker, Professor at Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, discusses his forthcoming book, Market Humanism, which sets out a new economic paradigm to replace neoliberalism.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
And on the political fallout: it wasn't inequality per se that drove the backlash—it was the feeling that the game was rigged. That distinction matters a lot for how policymakers think about what needs to be fixed.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Beinhocker connects the dots most economists leave separate: that the gutting of the middle class didn't just hurt households. He argues it's a direct cause of the economic rut that's puzzled many economists for 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
"When the middle class does well, the economy does well." It sounds intuitive. It should - the data back it up. It's a testable economic proposition—and Beinhocker makes the empirical case for why it holds.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
@inetoxford.bsky.social ED and Oxford economist @ericbeinhocker.bsky.social + entrepreneur, investor and economic thinker @nickhanauer.bsky.social have been building a new framework for how markets work—and who they work for. Beinhocker just took it to @HalSinger.bsky.social's Slingshot podcast. 🧵
Oxford econ professor Eric Beinhocker has a new book out called Market Humanism, co-authored with Nick Hanauer, that offers a new economic paradigm to guide policymakers out of the rubble from neoliberalism.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Trickle-down economics told us that keeping wages low was good for competitiveness. Fifty years of data say otherwise. When workers earn more, they spend more. When they spend more, businesses grow. May Day is a good day to ask: why did we ever believe otherwise?
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
That raises a core question for policymakers: Are markets being structured to expand participation—or restrict it?
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
New data: Americans are searching for mortgage help at rates higher than 2008. But this isn’t a repeat of the same crisis. It’s a different structural problem: In many communities, incomes haven’t kept pace with housing costs.
nypost.com
Google searches for ‘help with mortgage’ surge to the highest level on record
Americans aren’t missing mortgage payments en masse — but they are increasingly worried they will.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
When wages at this scale don’t cover basic costs, it doesn’t just affect individual households. It shapes the affordability crisis itself—shifting more of the burden of meeting basic needs onto families and public systems.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
None of these companies pay a typical worker enough to afford the average 2-bedroom rent in the U.S. At several, median pay is lower than: • the cost of a used car • eligibility thresholds for basic public assistance like SNAP & Medicaid
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
A new report from @ips-dc.org looks at the 20 largest low-wage employers in the U.S. Together, they employ ~6.7 million workers. 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘧 of them are paying less in real terms than they did five years ago.
ips-dc.org
America’s 20 Largest Low-Wage Employers and the Affordability Crisis
Low wages are a key driver of the affordability crisis. These 20 firms pay poverty wages while enriching CEOs.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
This is the 3rd Berkeley study to reach the same conclusion. At some point, "the predicted job losses didn't happen" stops being a surprise and starts being evidence about how labor markets actually work.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
The price effect? A 1.5% increase—about $0.06 on a $4 item. Researchers used cell phone location data to track worker presence at individual restaurant locations nationwide, not just aggregate employment surveys.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
New UC Berkeley research—the most methodologically rigorous yet on California's $20 fast food minimum wage—finds covered workers' average weekly wages rose ~11% with no significant employment reduction.
fortune.com
Study: California’s $20 minimum wage barely raised prices—and proved economists wrong about job loss | Fortune
“The results are nowhere as dire as predicted,” Berkeley’s Michael Reich told Fortune.
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The Middle Out Center @middleoutcenter.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Meanwhile, the richest 10% generate nearly half of all emissions—and face just 3% of the economic fallout. That's not a coincidence. It's what an economy looks like when the people causing the damage don't pay for it.
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