Executive Director @EconomicSecProj & @ESP_Action. Alum @RooseveltInst
Brooklyn, NY
Joined January 2009
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Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
at @voxdotcom I wrote about how health care costs have come to dominate the midterm election, topping even housing, utilities and groceries as a top economic concern
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
5 things to know about Gen Z voters before Tuesday
1. Top issues: economy, war, corruption
2. The gender gap is closing, but young men aren't liberal
3. Youth turnout could surge in states like TX, GA, MI, NC
4. 1st-time voters were 8-years-old when Trump was elected
5. They're looking for results geared toward people their age, i.e. policies around rent, healthcare, childcare
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
New post: I used to be obsessed with ECI (2021-2023). Now I just forgot about its new drop today until @EconBerger pointed out it's a window into the affordability crisis.
Employers’ hourly health insurance costs are growing twice as fast as wages under Trump: 6.4% vs 3.1%. /1
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
many elites are exhausted by healthcare debates, but the health care costs = top, top priority for voters this cycle.
I wrote about why the political backlash is just getting started vox.com/policy/508136/health…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Yes, consumer spending has been robust. You could even call it strong.
But many people are spending more $$ than they bring in each month. The savings rate is falling. Credit card debt is at a record high. Personal bankruptcies are up. Personal loans are way up.
There's clearly strain on a lot of Americans.
Personal income in September: +0.2%
Personal spending in September: +0.5%
Inflation-adjusted spending in Sept: FLAT (0%)
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
On the heels of a hot inflation report, a new overview piece from me on how the Trump administration's actions have made affordability much worse.
Hard numbers on what families and voters are facing in this economy, and a useful guide for those needing to prewrite anything... /1
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
PCE inflation broken down by contribution. Core services and housing alone are about 2.5 percentage points of inflation across different windows.
Over the past 12 months, inflation has been a full percentage point higher than it was in 2024. Things have gotten worse.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
If you read one thing today to understand the midterms it should be this @washingtonpost story that does an analysis of how Costs outpaced Wages in these GOP-held battlegrounds districts. bit.ly/4koCKeK
"In the battleground districts, 60 percent of households did not earn enough income to cover the full cost of housing, food, transportation, health care, child care and taxes"
“Inflation burns; it literally does, and it makes it harder making ends meet. But also, you get this sense of injustice, and I think that’s the political side of it.” @DianeSwonk Chief Economist, @KPMG_US
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
So interesting and important!
My pet theory is that it is related to rise of two-earner couples: Life isn't built for this crowd being parents (certainly not of 3 kids!) w/o complex and increasingly costly care infrastructure. So people who aren't in the top are priced out.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
What distinguishes the 1% from the merely affluent? How about having a third child.
New post on a topic I've long been fascinated by (the economics and financing of having a third kid) where I finally felt bold enough to go into the latest SCF microdata to get a good answer. /1
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Very excited to have this live! I think it brings together important priorities in housing that can serve as a basis after this moment.
Check it out, I also have a quick blog recap in the next link. /1
1/ Today, ESP released Building Affordability, our new policy agenda on housing, which tackles the two causes of unaffordability: broken markets and broken incomes.
Written by @chao_becky, @Mtkonczal, and @resnikoff, it shows how policy can expand supply while also directly protecting tenants.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Working families are facing an affordability crisis. Rising costs, hidden fees, and a tax system that was not built for them are making it harder to get ahead.
Our partners at Economic Security Illinois Action just wrapped up a big session in Springfield fighting back against exactly that.
See what they won for working families.
economicsecurity.us/news/wha…
🎉 The Illinois legislative session is a wrap. And we have a lot to celebrate.
Working families in Illinois have been squeezed by rising prices and corporate greed. This session, we fought back—and we won:
✅ Hidden junk fees are banned. After three years of advocacy, HB 228 passed. The price you see is the price you pay. No more hidden “convenience” or “processing” fees at checkout.
✅Illinois now has the ability to support local guaranteed income initiatives like the Newborn Equity Support Transfer (NEST), laying the foundation for future investments in economic security.
These victories were made possible by our coalition partners, advocates, parent leaders, and community members who showed up, spoke out, and refused to back down.
This is what fighting for working families looks like. And our fight continues.
Read our full statement here: 🔗
economicsecurity.us/news/wha…
Thank you to our partners @COFIOnline @LIFTCommunities @Move_UpTogether @ChiTrust @StartEarlyorg @FoodDepository @newmomschicago @latinopolicy @LeagueWomenVote @IllinoisStand @ChicagoVotes @actnforchildren
And legislators @SenatorAquino @RepBobMorgan @RepKellyCassidy @graciela4senate
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
For DAME Magazine's Repairing America series, I spoke to experts about addressing affordability through policies like universal childcare, expanded child tax credit, unionization, wage increases, & more. damemagazine.com/2026/05/13/…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
“We need to progress beyond analysis paralysis on whether AI comes for jobs and start to pursue 'no regret' policies that not only prepare Americans for a potential AI transition, but respond to the affordability crisis and instability already facing millions of Americans."
ESP Executive Director @taylorjo in @InsidePhilanthr, making the case for "no regret" policies — solutions that address the affordability crisis millions of families are already facing and prepare the country for the AI transition.
The piece explores how philanthropy is responding to AI-driven job displacement and where the field can go further by backing policies that address the broken markets and broken incomes driving the affordability crisis.
Our new brief, "Ideas for Shared Economic Prosperity in the AI Transition", lays out what some of these "no regret" ideas look like in practice: modernizing the tax code, establishing an income floor, and a four-day work week.
Dig into our brief here: economicsecurityproject.org/…
And read the full piece from Inside Philanthropy here: insidephilanthropy.com/home/….
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
This sounds nice, but it's a great way to undermine the welfare state.
The strongest welfare states in the world (the Nordics) tax everyone, including nurses. And they give everyone universal healthcare, childcare, pensions, education in return.
When the middle class has skin in the game, they defend the system. When welfare is 'just for the poor', it becomes a poor program: stigmatized, underfunded, easy to gut.
That's why billionaires keep pushing this idea. The real scandal isn't that this nurse pays $12k.
It's that Jeff Bezos pays $0.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
ESCAA Legislative Advocate Loyal Terry was featured in @politic’s California Decoded newsletter today as California’s antitrust momentum continues to build.
Loyal spoke about the growing push by California lawmakers and @CAgovernor, who in his latest budget revision called for stronger antitrust enforcement, to take on corporate consolidation as the federal government steps back from this fight.
Last week, the Assembly Appropriations Committee advanced the COMPETE Act, which would update California’s 119-year-old antitrust law to hold dominant corporations accountable for anticompetitive behavior driving up prices for groceries, healthcare, housing, and everyday essentials.
Corporate consolidation costs California families an estimated $3,700 a year. That has to change.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Last year, I authored & we passed the strongest AI safety law in the nation, SB 53. New York State essentially copied it. Most large tech companies can’t stand it, so there’s now a push in Congress to preempt it. Republicans want to replace our state work with *voluntary* federal requirements.
Hard no. politico.com/news/2026/05/15…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Since I see Piketty-Saez-Zucman vs Auten-Splinter (on the rise of inequality) again on my TL, let me share two items.
First, here is what I (very briefly) say about the exchange in my book.
Then in the next post, I'll link to my lecture notes on this, doing a deep dive.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
It is interesting to me how often in policy debates we have to “achieve” some clear metric (increase women’s labor force participation, increase fertility, etc) and how “it’ll just make things less bad for people” isn’t taken as an acceptable goal more often
