12 Burst results for "Sandy Darity"
The Indicator from Planet Money
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Indicator from Planet Money
"This message comes from USA facts, a 2022 lead sponsor of the indicator from planet money. To find solutions to issues, Americans need to understand how the government serves the people. USA facts, analyzes government metrics, so everyone can see our nation in numbers. Visit USA facts, dot org. The following message comes from NPR sponsor plaid, plaid helps ensure that you can stay in control of your financial information, giving you tools like plaid portal to control which apps can access data you've shared through plaid to learn more, visit plaid dot com today. So let's dive into some of the problems and solutions that come up in essays in the book. Of course, I want to start with the economics chapter. I couldn't help it. You knew this was coming. Naturally. There is a really fascinating essay by Karl from wesleyan university, which may not be super exciting for most readers. But I was like off the charts excited. My heart rate went up. And the title is how the Federal Reserve can help black workers. Yes. For a lot of people, the Federal Reserve is a very kind of esoteric, you know, it's like the raising lower interest rates that get very boring speeches. It's like how can they possibly help black workers in the U.S.? So lay out the strategy that Carl presents. So essentially, you talked about the FOMC, which is the federal open market committee's statement on the longer run goals and monetary policy strategy. The FMC right now is being used to ensure that not only is the recovery broad based, but it's also as inclusive as possible. And he cites it as a way to think about, okay, if we're going to ensure that we have inclusive economic recovery moving forward, black workers are really, really good proxy for that. So we can't say that the unemployment rate is dropping for everyone if black workers are still very much out of work and they're unemployment rate is rising. So for example, I think there was some chatter some time ago where people were saying, oh, things are improving, but then if you actually disaggregated the data, black women's unemployment rate actually jumped. So that's kind of what he's getting at, where it's, you know, we don't want to say that economic recovery for some is economic recovery for all. So in a let's talk about another essay from economist Kyle Moore. It's about stratification economics. And traditionally, I think people think of economics as how to best allocate scarce resources. That's sort of the initial puzzle. But from what I understand stratification economics is a way to explain economic inequality that looks at how different groups of people are separated or stratified in a society. And the essay starts out talking about how we need to actually look at all of economics a little bit differently in order to address and solve these issues. Absolutely. Yes, I think that his essay is really shocking. Yes. And I mean, the entire book is pretty shocking. It's just facts to be Frank. The facts are pretty bad, so we need like way better solutions. And his assay, I really love it because he lays out the facts in a very clear way. Like this idea, for example, that the racial gap in earnings or in employment is due to some sort of education and skills gap, is something that we should actually question, right? And this is very much where stratification economics comes from. There are structural factors that essentially limit opportunity from the very get go. And so how do you then factor that into someone's quote unquote individual decision to maximize their utility? And so the way that he thinks about stratification economics is that he says, look, it should be used to evaluate the structural influences that impact the U.S. economy at the intersection of race class and gender. And the economists that I've really pioneered this, who have sort of said, look, racial injustice is in the DNA of America, we can't just ignore it when we're talking about the economy. I also feel like it kind of looks at the economy more of as like a living thing rather than like a machine and you put X in one side and why should come out the other side. But of course, it's messy. It's like a living organism, all the good and bad that come with that. That's exactly it. That's I love the way you describe that. The economy is living, right? And one thing that I loved from my microeconomic theory class was that, you know, my professor said, you know, not every efficient market equilibrium is a fair equilibrium, or welfare maximizing equilibrium. And I think that that's a really poignant point, right? This idea of like, yeah, you might have the market workout an efficient outcome, but that efficient outcome might be completely unfair to different groups. And I think that that's what Kyle's es ultimately gets at that. The way that the market is constructed currently, you know, the economy is constructed currently is unfair to black people. So we need to think about ways to mitigate that. And one really interesting solution comes up in the book and the essay of William darity junior who yeah, it's very well known economists often called sandy darity. Doctor Derrick, he talks about reparations and an economic Bill of rights. Talk a little bit about those two concepts. Yeah, so reparations from the perspective of doctor dairy's essay says, if you are African American, meaning that your descendants are formally enslaved, African Americans, then America definitely owes you something and they owe you money, right? This idea of the entire economy was built off of the slavery system that existed, then segregation, then Jim Crow, and arguably the prison system, the prison industrial complex. And so all of these things compounded upon each other have made folks who are not black, lots and lots of money. And that's why it's incredibly important that folks who are looking to mitigate the economic realities that black Americans are facing disproportionately, think to reparations as a possible way to do that. Yes. And he brings up the statistic, which is very stark, which is he says, one fourth of white households have a net worth of more than a $1 million. So a quarter. And 4% of black households have wealth of more than a $1 million. Yep. And he like directly ties this back to slavery to the systemic racism in the U.S. and how that's played out in markets and housing and everything. And he also talks about, you know, the economic Bill of rights, which he sees as a program of universal benefits guaranteed to all Americans, and so the way that he breaks that down is that everybody gets Internet. Internet is something that connects us all, but it also connects us to opportunities, specifically economic opportunities. And so we need to think about bold solutions that address those disparities and get at the root cause of them. Anna, you put this book together, you gathered experts from all these different fields and collected these essays. I'm wondering what your takeaway was from this project. Yeah, so my takeaway really boils down to three words. Oh, actually four. Listen to black people. Seriously. Like, listen to black people. And when I say that, I mean, black folks have been saying a lot of these ideas for a very, very long time. You know? And the truth of the matter is the best outcome for black people is a better outcome for everyone else. And that is the biggest takeaway from this book. Whatever is happening with the black American community in the United States is indicative of what is happening to those who are most marginalized and in my opinion those who might become marginalized in the future. And so it's incredibly important that we use our policy solutions to gear them towards the black American community to ensure that they have the resources that they need to thrive and live in incredible life in the American context. And a gifty apocalypse edited the new book, the black agenda, bold solutions for a broken system..
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Unified movement across multiple groups in this and You know again that. I've said that i'm connected. Bill of rights for the twenty first century. Which would be a social program for all americans that would provide everyone with economic security But i don't see that as something. That is an opposition to or as substitute for a reparations plan. I think that they're complementary sandy. Daddy professor economics and the samuel d. boy cooked distinguished professor of public policy at duke. The book is from here to equality reparations. For black americans in the twenty first century put a link to that at majority dot. Fm thanks so much for your time if they really appreciate it. Thanks for all right folks. Quick break and we'll be right back. Finish this up I have to say I do feel remiss as to asking not asking the professor about a legal case one wonders if they couldn't be A some form of of of mass tort case. This is going to give me a reason to go to the vegas mass tort conference this year. S how much you loved tort. I actually i do but with that. Said we're gonna say goodbye to our a peacock viewers because we're going to go into the fun half. We're going to talk about steven crowder for an extended period time because well obvious reasons we have to yep until then we will see you tomorrow. Don't forget don't forget you can support this program by going to join the majority. I'm sorry i'm thrown off because we did some work in the studio yesterday. And i realize that the camera is slightly tilted. Can you see that now. It is. I gotta get level. There is a level on the tripod. And i'm going to have to fix that at the break. Oh so you're seeing the level on the tripod. now i'm not seeing the level. But i but i i. I know when something's plum. I know some when something's true and it is not is not okay so it's distracted me anyways.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"That. I'm going to go back to getting better people in congress. I think we have the potential for doing that because there has been a sea. Change in attitudes about reparations in in in particular if we went back to the year two thousand there was a survey that was conducted by michael. Dawson and ramona popoff. At the university of chicago was a survey of american attitudes towards reparations and they found that only four percent of white americans in the year. Two thousand endorse reparations. For black americans By the year two thousand eighteen that percentage had risen to about sixteen still low but significantly higher than four percent and as of the midpoint of this year The most recent surveys that i've seen indicate the closer to thirty percent of americans. Now say that they would endorse reparations. For black americans. And if we start talking about millennials is it's somewhere in the vicinity of half of millennials who say that they endorse reparations for black americans so so there is a change in attitudes. There is of course the thirty percent of the population that will never be receptive to this idea but the question is whether or not the remaining seventy percent will continue to move in the right direction so i think that's. That's certainly a possibility now from the standpoint of having a.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"The consequences of doing this whether or not there is a path towards making this happen. I certainly recognize a. It's highly unlikely that the existing congress with even approach adopting a comprehensive national reparations plan but that means that the political issue is still out there. the question of changing. Who is actually are who are our elected officials in congress and that is a struggle that needs to be waged with an eye towards determining whether or not the people who come into congress will be supportive of reparations. I along those lines as a political matter are there are there. Is there a. Is there a dovetail or is there a strategy a political strategy to dovetail with other movements a in be to what extent you know from my vantage point and maybe it somewhat limited. There is a far greater growth of interest in socialism democracy You know at least amongst younger people. To what extent does the idea of reparations in any way conflict with a broader sense of of of of class analysis and of providing a on a class basis as opposed to a racial one. I mean there you know. Obviously you've made the case as to why this is like basically legal case In many instances book but as a political matter what. What's your what's your sense of that and and and is there it aside from. Let's get better people in congress. Is there a a a political strategy. Well i think.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Not sure. This is a material benefit per se. Although i'm going to use the term material in a moment but i am not sure these are second order benefits. I mean maybe there really. I order benefits. But the the first consequence of a reparations plan of this ill and magnitude would be to provide black americans with the material basis full citizenship and the claim ultimately acclaimed for full citizenship. And then and then the second dimension of this that's related it is that the country's claim of being a democracy might truly get fulfilled. I mean that's that's pretty. That's pretty big one. And so how does i mean maybe this is just simply. Let me bring up a couple of a potential critiques and political difficulties. What do you say about the idea of well. We also reparations to To native Americans we there have been instances where we have inhibited The wealth of chinese americans and two japanese americans mexican americans is that i mean what are implications of those claims relative to what you're proposing so you know our position. Is we welcome any community. A has as has a belief that they've been victimized by the. Us government to bring forward their case for reparations. That's not the one that we've developed in from here to equality ours verse specific to black americans who have enslaved ancestors in the united states however I also want to point out that it's it's somewhat peculiar to us that. When the case is being made for black americans suddenly an array of other groups are brought on board An an an are asked. You know black. Americans are as well you know. Why aren't you including these other groups well when The german government paid reparations to the victims of the holocaust nobody asked about other groups When the us government paid money to the japanese americans who had been subjected to unjust incarceration during world war. Two people didn't ask what. What about black americans. And they shouldn't have and i think in a similar context here the question of reparations for other groups as not relevant to the claim that's being made here wh- what do you see about the i mean. Do you have a a political argument or a an argument to the the just a guess. The the the argument that this is just not politically feasible will be too divisive. We i mean. Let's not address that we can afford it. We can afford it that that to me is clear but but what what would you say to those. Those people say well. This is going to be too divisive going to we. really seventy million people voted for donald trump. We don't wanna really upset. You know part of the country you know critical race theory. Whatever it is. What do you say to that argument. Well you know we just carson carson. I just completed a an article for rolling stone. That came out on Where one of the one of the points that. We addresses people's concerns about divisiveness. And of course. I think that the maintenance of a system of racial oppression minutes intrinsically devised and in every instance in which an attempt has been made to bring black americans to full citizenship in the united states Every in every instance this has been perceived as something that's divisive because there's opposition to it The mere factor existence of opposition is not a justification for pursuing the right thing to do Certainly there was substantial opposition to the elimination of slavery It could be viewed as a situation in which the abolitionist position was devised. Although ultimately i can't imagine anything more divisive than the succession of the eleven confederate states But yeah just because something may be may be viewed antagonistically by some segment of our population. Doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do It does mean that the struggle will be hard to win But that's a struggle that needs to be undertaken and so So we're we're not particularly concerned about the question of divisiveness because we think that the a the structure of inequality in the united states recently inequality is is is divisive in and of itself. I mean it's it's also a little bit hard to believe that You know at this point like we wouldn't want there to be racism in this country that the emanate from this. Let's be honest right on the good guy yes. Do you have concerns. That will i would imagine you do. Have this concern policy. You have to be structured in this way that banks would seize Some of the payments paid out by the government in order to cover debts in. Just it's it's reminiscent of how there's this lawsuit against the the. Usda because of these these payments Black farmers at the biden administration is trying to do the other actually to lawsuits The pickford wine and pick for two and then the violent ministration brought forth a proposal to make some payments to to the farmers who had been subjected to discrimination by the us. But if i recall correctly in that recent proposal the amount was approximately five billion dollars and the estimates. That i've seen i've much the farmers lost as a consequence of. Usda policies are closer to two hundred fifty to three hundred billion dollars So this is you know in some sense. Really really very modest out to try to address the issue But in terms of a thinking.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Black americans and attitudes about reparations that are consequence of the of the maintenance of the vision of american society. That's been preserved By the acolytes and Yeah you're you're absolutely right. That's something that also has to be addressed and We talk about a component of a reparations program in our book that would involve an educational project for three generations. The would love telling the true story of america's past particularly with respect to slavery the civil war and the reconstruction era fox news screaming. That's critical race. Yes i clinton with on the other day who said Eight percent of a high school seniors. I think it was are not aware that the confederate of the civil war was fought that the confederacy was fighting to protect slavery and so Well-needed so give me a sense of what the Other aspects okay. So i mean. There's there's the argument that Almost legalistic that there is money owed period end of story. But what would you see as the second order. Impact of these payment and we're talking about about eight hundred thousand dollars per person per person per household her household individually. It's somewhere between two hundred eighty thousand three hundred twenty thousand dollars. And i think the total i've seen is about a approximately eleven trillion dollars. That's right that's that's the low end estimate and it could be like you say you know amateur is over the course of ten years twenty years it could be a pension type of situation you know like or you know in the way that we're going to be doing i mean we're we're we're somewhat open minded about how it could be done as long as took a form of direct payments We would like to see it done within the course of a decade okay and so and you know point one trillion dollars over the course per year doesn't seem like that that much money frankly relatively speaking but what do you perceive to be. The second order benefits both for black people and for the society at large from this aside from the idea of like we can begin to sort of address this issue that has dominated our politics since day. One what you see as the other sort of material benefits that could emanate from something like this. So i'm not sure i'm.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Excluded the entry of of black people into the state and and i guess one could also argue that the there's a knock on effect to those one hundred sixty acres and to the resources that people as you. I'm sorry i don't think they're testing the fire alarm system at my at my thought that was that was when you thought i got something particularly right. I don't have a buzzer. The if we have we get to point where where we look at. What point do we. How do we start to delineate between. Maybe this is splitting hairs. But i but i think this is this Ultimately we start getting into the realm of like you know wh the political implications of this but but what when do we stop looking at the implications of black accumulation of wealth or accumulation of wealth. That are a part of the same lineage of slavery versus. Let's say like fha loans in world war i in the fifties and the forty s or the g. i. bill or smoked dorothy Brown the other day about the tax goes like that would impact maybe folks who don't have descendants of slaves. I mean what is there. Is there any point. Because i think like it seems to me. This lineage of wealth decumulation for black people continues today. I mean this isn't necessarily historical. I think there was a report that just came out a couple of weeks ago that showed black boys will necessarily as adult if you look at black boys and black and white boys at as children regardless of where they live they will. They'll be a wealth disparity between them twenty thirty years out. So this has been ongoing. At what point do is there a cutoff in terms of like when we're talking about reparations and move into a just a sort of we have in inequalities in society that we need to deal with like what point are we are the reparations temporally four yeah well so i think we can walk and chew gum at.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Three percent of of of of white wealth is held by households at the median or below for whiteout souls But it's not just because of these extremely rich billionaires a handful of them Although there are a handful of extremely rich billionaires but Twenty five percent of white house all seven net worth in excess of one million dollars. And it's only four percent of black households so if we were to ignore the wealth that was held above the white median we would be taking the vast majority of of wealth off the table for consideration and and how much of a home ownership is central to understanding the concentration of wealth as well. I mean that would be in terms of asset accumulation. Probably one of the the largest factors that drives this this dynamic for a and how it continues so it certainly very important for households are closer to the middle of the distribution. But when we start talking about how cells that in the upper thirty to twenty five percent of the wealth distribution than the share of their assets attributable to a primary becomes considerably smaller. And if we were to look at the average across all households A primary residence constitutes maybe about twenty five percent of the assets that That households so the remainder is retirement accounts business ownership stocks and bonds and non residential real estate. Also which is very very important. I still. I'm just trying to do to work my way around the mean where ninety seven of the wealth is held outside of that mean is above the media above the median. Okay and And yet and yet we should use the mean as the as as the mechanism is that it to determine the actual disparity. Yes so another way to think about. It is a black american. Descendants of persons. Enslaved in the united states are about twelve percent of the nation's population but possess less than two percent of the nation's well so we sat as a target bringing the black sheriff wealth the consistency with the black share of the population. It would require us to simultaneously.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"The other way. We can compute the The gap in wealth is by looking at the average difference between black and white house and that's a substantially larger gap that approximately eight hundred forty thousand nine hundred dollars net worth between between The the mean black household and the the mean white house Frequently people say they prefer to look at the median. because the omits folks who are outliers folks who have extremely high levels of wealth and folks have extremely low levels of wealth. But i argue that in the context of thinking about the black white wealth differential. We have to address the mean or the average and this is Because of to consider rations the the first is ninety. Seven percent of the wealth that is held by all white house. Holes is held by white house with a net worth above the actually that. Let me just that that That i did not set that off but that is a good opportunity for me to just step in and just make that clear to folks that the wealth is so concentrated in this country that and we see this actually. The i mentioned this in the context of often like how much less income we're capturing under social security because of this dynamic amac. Yes that's so much of the wealth persist for the sake of of of making it. Clear bezos and elon mosque. Then a coupla these guys own so much of the number of dollars that are floating around out there that the wealth is is is above that median that that all the while catch about that media only.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Non residential purposes retirement funds Business ownership stocks bonds or various types of financial assets so that's a critical distinction at the outset and wealth is as you suggest a more significant or important indicator of economic security and opportunity because wealth can replace loss them. Come if you have an emergency that results a decline in your income like a loss of a job or a medical emergency to confront your family. If you're wealthier you're much better able to to weather the storm. Now how do we measure it out of. We compare the amounts that blacks and whites avenue in the united states. Can i just ask you one more question about the about the. What constitutes wealth so security and pensions. How how is that calculated into wealth because this is where income will Will determine your income will determine your social security payments to some extent and and your pension as well. How is that calculated in the context of of of wealth. Money yes absolutely. It's in the context of your retirement. Funds okay yeah absolutely. I just wanted. We'll check on the i now. Continue i apologize. No no question So the way in which. We measure People's wealth is by measuring the difference between the assets that.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for joining us. Joining me as always viglen. Hello emma how are you. i am well today. how are you well. I'm doing great Maybe we should explain as to why you said that. With a rising intonation to your voice that was slightly higher than normal. I but before we do we should say hello to steven crowder. Hello to his team. Hello to averaging you guys watching. Thank you so much for tuning into the show before we get there. Actually i want to mention one one thing about this last Headline so ten million. More people got on medicaid over the course of the pandemic somewhat in part. Because i think there was one or two states that expanded their medicaid offerings over the course of the past year by referendum. I think remember they were about ten or twelve. Red state holdouts. The at would not accept an expansion of medicaid for their citizens because of some form of sociopath sociopath associate so social happy apathy. yes something to that effect sociopathic anyways. But if you add up the number of people who are medicaid at this point and the number of people were medicare medicaid being for people living under four hundred Excuse me hundred thirty percent of poverty. Like i say in most states and the sixty one million people who are on medicare. It's something like thirty five million forty million on just Standard medicare and then another twenty million on medicare advantage. You're talking about half of the country already on government run insurance so the idea of presenting a single payer system in this country as being some form of radical just in insane government takeover of a major sector of the economy is only after it would be just an expansion of the government's takeover of a major sector of the economy. I mean that's basically what it is. They have over half or about half of the united states to population. And let's be clear if you look at the data. People tend tend to have more medical issues when they are living in poverty because they are. They are living in areas where they're more likely to get asthma because of the way our system works and there may be more coal fire power plants in their neighborhoods etc. They have less facilities. They may have more opportunity to be in substandard housing. They may have nutrition issues or when people are older. That's just the reality of it. So we have more than likely the most expensive cohort almost half of the country already in government run health insurance so the idea that to a single payer program for the entire country would be anything other than just simply. Adding efficiency is absurd. But that's where we're at. We can't even pass a bill. That would protect people's right to vote right now in the senate and kristen cinemas out there talking about how the filibuster is protecting democrats from passing legislation that would be then easy for republicans to reverse in the future. Let's just be clear when we talk about democrats more we talk about republicans and i think there are more than legitimate complaints about having a such narrow duopoly in if i were king for a day. I would set up parliamentary system in this country. And that's the way it would be running things but we have two parties and so when people vote for one or the other they are voting to empower one of those two groups to pass legislation and the idea that that legislation could be overturned voters. Decide to empower a different party is what is known as democracy and so the idea that and frankly look we saw the republicans could not muster the votes to reverse the aca so let these legislative let these laws stand or fall on their own accord if they are successful then. The opposing party won't be able to overturn. Yeah i mean don't operate out of a place of fear but that's again giving cinema mantra so you don't even well. That's what i'm saying. I mean that they are using the idea that oh this would be potentially used against us as a cover for actually we enjoy filibuster because it allows us to wheeled maximum power in this narrow system that we operate in and we also don't necessarily want the past progressive legislation 'cause the people that fund our campaigns are not in favor of such and then they run interference for the mark warner's of the world. The john testers the anger. King's whoever the case may be who want to be in that same cohort but aren't could be saying it publicly so good for them. They're shielding their similarly corrupted and conservative. Democrats gotta magic cinema. Imagine sign on to any type of reform filibuster. Everybody else is going to be there all right. Look i wanna address one more thing to Because we got to get to a professor charity. But i don't know how. Many people still read newsweek. But if you do. You probably saw this headline this morning. We mentioned this on this Sam cedar ambushes steven crowder on youtube. Show sparks meltdown. That is a fairly accurate assessment. On some level of what went on people should know there are a lot of people. Just watch the first hour of this show. That's the free part of the show. Although we do a clip stuff and put it on youtube and we we do to basically two different shows the first of the show. We have a guest like professor garrity professor written a very Important book We have people on to talk about a different policies. We talk about Different moments in our history reconstruction the great compression Whatever whole range of more highfalutin topics and then we have second half of the show that gets a little bit more messy as it were. Sometimes we also will will talk about important issues. Obviously we'll go into sometimes a monologue and sometimes we you know we try and expose right-wingers for their maybe their homophobia racism or they're just misguided Libertarian principles or you know we we do this rather you know and then it turns out to be cowardice for a lot of people. Don't understand that much of what's happening in politics. Certainly over the past. Five or six years have emanate out of the. The far reaches of youtube in with a social media. Not so we engage and yesterday We prerecorded the first half of the show because.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"sandy darity" Discussed on The Majority Report with Sam Seder
"Is the five time award winning majority report. We are broadcasting. Live steps from the industrial ravaged ghana's canal in the heartland of america downtown brooklyn. Usa on the program today professor of economics and the samuel d. boy cook distinguished professor of public policy at duke university author of from here to equality reparations for black americans in the twenty first century williams stampede garrity will be joining us also on the program today senate to vote on the doomed for the people's act speaking of doomed. Kirsten cinema promotes a lame. Excuse to protect the filibuster express. New york city has its may oral and other primaries in today expect a may oral result for maybe a week or two also on the program. Joe biden ministration signals support for a bill to end the crack and powdered cocaine. Sentencing disparity trump judge is a judge dismisses the lafayette square police brutality cates delta variant is growing in us counties that have a lower vaccination rate. The famed senate bipartisan infrastructure. Bill is about to be revealed. And a it's gonna stink and be don't hold your breath but them voting on speaking of failure that g seven fails to provide a climate relief for poorer countries and medicaid enrollment surpassed eighty million americans during the pandemic and more on. Today's majority report. Welcome.