What Should Be Done to Help the Working Class?

President-elect Donald Trump has delivered ideas on how to help the working class: restrictions on immigration, tax cuts, and renegotiating trade deals. At the Aspen Ideas Festival in June, economic experts also weighed in. For families dealing with stagnating wages, a decline in manufacturing jobs, and the impact of trade, what can be done?

“There has been a drop in the absolute number of manufacturing jobs for a long time,” says Steven Rattner, lead advisor on the 2009 Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry. Last year 2.7 million new jobs were created, but Rattner says, just 1 percent were in manufacturing. “As a country, we need to be doing a lot more to help the people who are being left behind.”

Michael Froman, President Obama’s chief trade negotiator, agrees more should be done, but he says, “we should recognize some of the major steps that have been taken.” American businesses have added 15.5 million jobs since 2010, and Froman says, 800,000 of those have been in manufacturing.​ Read more.

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Lawmakers Pass Health Legislation

A bill that speeds new medicines to market and allocates millions for research is one signature away from becoming law. The 21st Century Cures Act cleared its final hurdle Wednesday with a majority vote in the Senate. “What we think this bill will do is expedite biomedical research in a safe way that protects patients and their privacy,” says Diana DeGette (D-CO). She’s a key sponsor and spoke in depth about the bill at Spotlight Health.

Why Do Happy People Cheat?

Why do happily married couples cheat? Why does the modern egalitarian approach to marriage quash desire? In this episode of Aspen Ideas to Go, author and couples therapist Esther Perel tackles infidelity. She wrote Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence. She’s interviewed by Hanna Rosin, cohost of NPR’s Invisibilia. Find the podcast on iTunes and the NPR One app.

Memorable Words

“I want to take issue with the idea of rebuilding trust, because there’s no evidence there was once a period of trust [between police and communities of color].” — Sherrilyn Ifill, Aspen Ideas 2016