note: not all candidates were asked the same questions

"The Economy, Jobs, Inequality" viewing options:

• All-in-one playlist (18 minutes)

• Steve Grossman on jobs and wages and on jobs in manufacturing

• Juliette Kayyem on inequality and a living wage

• Don Berwick on children and poverty and addressing inequality

Other videos and resources

• View by topic
  
• View by candidate
• Read our Endorsement Questionnaire responses, by topic

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Appearing in the order in which the candidates spoke while at our forum

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STEVE GROSSMAN, on jobs and wages

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STEVE GROSSMAN, on jobs in manufacturing

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JULIETTE KAYYEM, on inequality and a living wage

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DON BERWICK, on children in poverty

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DON BERWICK, addressing inequality

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VIDEOS ON OTHER TOPICS:

• Introductions (14 minutes)

• Revenue, Taxation (24 minutes)

• Jobs, The Economy, Inequality (18 minutes)

• Education (16 minutes)

• Leadership, Movement Building (6 minutes)

• Path to Victory, Viability (6 minutes)

• Health Care, Communities of Color (8 minutes)

• Final Comments (10 minutes)

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VIDEOS, ORGANIZED BY CANDIDATE

• Grossman
• Kayyem
• Coakley
• Berwick
• All Candidates in one playlist (in order they appear)

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Endorsement Questionnaire Responses (by topic)

• Part A: Jobs and the Economy
• Part B: Education and Workforce Development
• Part C: Healthcare
• Part D: Housing
• Part E: Revenue and Taxation
• Section I/IV: "About the Candidates" / final comments

Related: Our Shared Prosperity agenda

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This past week, the President of the United States spoke out directly and unflinchingly on what he called “the defining challenge of our time:  Making sure our economy works for every working American.”   He told us that “if we refocus our energies on building an economy that grows for everybody, and gives every child in this country a fair chance at success, then I remain confident that the future still looks brighter than the past, and that the best days for this country we love are still ahead.”

The previous week, Pope Francis had decried the growing inequity in the world, "While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so, too, is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation.”  He went on to ask, “’How can it be that it’s not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points.”

Two of the most important leaders on the global scene are asking the same question about income inequality. 

So how is Massachusetts doing?  

Here are some critical facts:

• Our median income is $59,373 (8th Highest)
• Our households earning $200,000 is 6.56% (4th Highest)
• Our population living below the poverty line is 10.30% (7th Lowest)

All told, Massachusetts has the fourth-greatest percentage of wealthy residents among all the states and the seventh-lowest percentage of people living below the poverty line. However, according to The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, "incomes for the highest income families in Massachusetts have grown almost five times as fast as those for low-income families and nearly twice as fast as those for middle-income families," over the past two decades. According to the organization, the inequality gap has increased more during this time in Massachusetts than in 47 of the other states.   Source:  Huffington Post (April 2011)

Check out this graphic summary

For those of you want more depth

[Most recent updates: progressivemass.com/raiseuprecap; main page: progressivemass.com/raiseup
UPDATE 11/19/2013: recap of Senate's vote, and what's next, here]

Today the Massachusetts Senate will debate raising the state's minimum wage. Proponents of low wages and the cheap labor it provides will undoubtedly argue that raising the minimum wage would be a blow to business. But they probably won't talk about how low wages create an economic underclass that has to be subsidized and sustained by all the rest of us -- shifting labor costs away from the employER and onto the taxpayers. 

ThinkProgress outlines how it works, on the national level: "Due to low wages and few benefits, Walmart workers at a single 300-person Supercenter store rely on anywhere from $904,542 to $1,744,590 in public benefits per year, costing taxpayers"

It's become quite fashionable in the Legislature to blame the poor for, well, it seems like everything. "WORKING poor" should not be a thing. If the Massachusetts Legislature raises the minimum wage, ties increases to inflation and includes tipped wages in the increases, they may just be doing one of the most important things in years to actually decrease economic inequality in Massachusetts and greatly help Massachusetts families. 

The Senate is debating the minimum wage today. Tune in this afternoon, and let your legislators know your support to increase the minimum wage for all workers, with automatic increases tied to inflation. 

WATCH SENATE DEBATE and CONTACT INFO FOR YOUR SENATOR, HERE: http://progma.us/maleg