Executive Director @EconomicSecProj & @ESP_Action. Alum @RooseveltInst
Brooklyn, NY
Joined January 2009
- Tweets4.4K
- Following2.2K
- Followers1.7K
- Likes3.4K
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
It’s less about getting people off the fence and more cushioning the income shock.
A $2k baby bonus will free some parents to take the unpaid FMLA leave they’ve earned but can’t afford to use. And, for everyone else, it’s diapers.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Today, the COMPETE Act (AB 1776) passed out of suspense in Sacramento, moving California one step closer to updating its 119-year-old antitrust statute.
The legislation would curb the abuse of monopoly power by dominant corporations that have driven up what Californians pay for groceries, healthcare, housing, and everyday essentials.
Here’s our statement from ESCAA Legislative Advocate Loyal Terry: economicsecurity.us/news/cal…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
To me, this is the key chart from the new @PplPolicyProj report on Nordic child care: when you have a system with adequate public funding, you can provide parents with *real* choices so they can raise their kids the way they want. This way lies parental freedom.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
15/ So, what should policy do? Don't try to lower the overall price level. Target the goods where people feel affordability most keenly — housing, childcare, healthcare, energy, and groceries.
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Skyrocketing health costs, hospitals and clinics closing down, and millions of families losing their healthcare: these are the consequences of H.R.1 unfolding in real time, nationwide.
H.R.1 gutted over $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The bill also gave over $1 trillion in tax cuts that mostly benefit billionaires and big corporations.
We need better, affordable healthcare for all. Instead, working families are getting stuck with higher costs and coverage losses. As the healthcare crisis continues to escalate, it's time to speak out against the #healthcareheist.
Learn more here: economicsecurityproject.org/…
Exciting to see Alex Bores put pen to paper on an AI Dividend. We spent a lot of time studying the pros and cons of the Alaska Dividend early at @EconomicSecProj and what I think is most promising is the advancement of a politics of shared ownership and shared benefit.
Today, I’m proud to announce the AI Dividend, my plan to prepare for the AI economy with direct payments to Americans funded by tax reform that simultaneously incentivizes hiring humans instead of AI.
Read the full plan here: alexbores.nyc/ai-dividend
The next big question? How do we build a playbook that taps into the shifting politics on AI to make a real go at comprehensive tax reform, which will be foundational to achieving economic freedom and dignity for all.
More of our thinking on the way forward in "Ideas for Shared Economic Prosperity in the AI Transition", our brief authored by the brilliant @chao_becky
economicsecurityproject.org/…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
Last night, the Senate blocked Scott Wiener’s SB 1074, a bill that would have stopped Big Tech from rigging the system in their favor.
SB 1074 would have banned self-preferencing, an anticompetitive practice where dominant platforms unfairly boost their own products over competitors—stifling competition, raising prices, and further concentrating corporate power.
We are grateful to @Scott_Wiener for his leadership and to our partners @ycombinator.
This fight isn’t over. We’ll keep pushing to rein in monopoly power and build an economy that works for everyone. ✊🏽
Read our full statement: economicsecurity.us/news/big…
Taylor Jo Isenberg retweeted
1933 + 1940, Fiorello La Guardia.
Last year, I told New Yorkers: we would open city-owned grocery stores to take on the affordability crisis.
Today, we're delivering five stores — one in each borough — with the first opening next year. We're building a city where people can afford the basics, leave survival mode behind, and pursue their dreams.
Here's to healthy families, thriving communities, and promises kept.