Telling Our Story: An Economy that

Works for All of UsPresented by Richard Kirsch for

USAction Education Fund

What is narrative?

People can only marshal anger and action about the crisis if they feel that at some basic level they understand it. Before we have a politics, or a broad call for reform, we must have some broadly shared understanding of what went wrong and who’s responsible. (New PecoraCommission, Christopher Hayes, New Deal 2.0)

What is narrative?

The narrative determines our attitudes toward the actors and events of the crisis. It also identifies the structural problems thought suitable for legislative and regulatory remedy. (Vincent Reinhart, American Enterprise Institute)

Five Pillars of our Narrative

The Economic Problem

What a Successful Economy Looks Like

The Role of Our Government

The Political Problem

The Call to Action

Our Story

Connect with our Economic Problem

Working and middle class families are struggling, while the richest get richer at the expense of the rest of us.

American families are working harder and getting paid less, falling behind our parents' generation.

Big corporations shipped jobs overseas and Wall Street speculators took more and more of America’s wealth, getting rich quickly at the expense of American workers, and families.

Our Story

What a Successful Economy Looks Like

Our middle class is the engine of the economy.

The true measure of economic success is the well-being of American families, and the productivity of our nation, not just the stock market and corporate profits.

We all do better when we all do better. America is only as strong as its middle class.

Our economic success is driven by innovating and investing in the future so that every American has a good job, can educate their kids, support their families and retire with security.

Our Story

The Role of Our Government in the Economy

The middle class does not prosper by accident.

We build the middle class by decisions we make together, as a society.

Decisions to invest in our people, expand opportunity and provide security.

Decisions that will pave the way for businesses to innovate and meet the future.

Writing rules that boost businesses that do the right thing.

Our Story

Our Political Problem –

Our political system has been captured and corrupted by self-serving elites.

The issue is not the size of our government, it's who it works for – the richest few or all of us?

Today, CEO campaign contributors and Wall Street speculators bribe our leaders to rewrite the rules just for them and to look the other way when they break the law.

Our democracy will only work again when we all have an equal voice in making the rules we all live by. We have to take our democracy back to ensure that our economy works for all of us, not just the richest few.

Our Story

The Call to Action –

We are fighting together for an America that works for all of us.

It’s up to us to fight together for the American Dream: opportunity for good jobs, strong communities, shared prosperity.

We are going to hold our elected representatives responsible for protecting and expanding the middle class.

Americans have done this before. This is who we are. This is what America is all about.

1. Why isn’t the economy working?

For 30 years, the 1% got richer at the expense of the 99%

Five Questions for the 99%

2. What makes the economy work?

The economy works, when it works for the 99%.

Five Questions for the 99%

3. How do we get our economy moving forward again?

By making our economy work for the 99%.

Five Questions for the 99%

4. What do we – the 99% – have to do together for our country?

Make our democracy work for us, the 99%.

Five Questions for the 99%

5. What are we asking our elected officials?

Which side are you on, the 1% or the 99%.

Five Questions for the 99%