Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series

The Guarantees: Building an Inclusive Economy, a Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series talk by Natalie Foster, Economic Security Project.

AI, inflation and wars have plunged us into economic anxiety. In 2024, that anxiety will fuel the most consequential election in a generation, in which the future of democracy itself hangs in the balance. What this era needs is a new economic framework that ensures every American’s basic needs are met. In her new book, The Guarantee, Natalie Foster, co-founder of The Economic Security Project, tells the story of this contest for the future, and tracks seven guarantees over the past decade (housing, health care, a college education, dignified work, family care, an inheritance, and an income floor) — showing how they went from emphatically impossible to attainable. In the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw monthly checks to families, a moratorium on evictions and student debt, and the development and distribution of a free vaccine. Not since The New Deal have we seen such a nimble and far-reaching response from the US Government, showing us that the answer we need for tomorrow is happening today. In this colloquium talk Natalie will discuss her book The Guarantee.

Natalie Foster is a leading architect of the movement to build an inclusive and resilient economy that works for all. She is the president and co-founder of Economic Security Project and an Aspen Institute Fellow who speaks regularly on economic security, the future of work and the new political economy. Natalie previously served as Digital Director for President Obama’s Organizing for America.  The Guarantee is her first book. 

Co-Sponsored by Climate Action Program.