Pramila Jayapal Quotes

President Obama believes that income inequality is one of the most pressing matters facing the nation. If we are going to be a country that provides ladders of opportunity and believes in a thriving middle class, then we have to raise the minimum wage.

Unless you’re at the very top, you need a more equitable economy.

The only way to have a better world and end poverty is by closing the gap between the top and the bottom.

A strong economy is perfectly consistent with concern for equity and economic justice.

We need to see the FLSA and the minimum wage as part of a larger struggle to cut poverty and to address the challenge of income inequality.

The social justice movement of the 21st century is economic development.

It would be better to incentivise people into work with secure jobs and decent wages, than to try to starve them into submission.

I believe in capitalism for everybody, not necessarily high finance but capitalism that works for the working men and women of this country who are out there paddling alone in America right now.

Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a lie; and the workers want no lying.

Economic growth doesn't mean anything if it leaves people out.

We want an economic team, Paul Krugman and Robert Kuttner, Joseph Steiglitz's people and others, who say, you know what? We're sophisticated economists but we're concerned about poor and working people.

We never accept low wages as the driving force for employment or growth.

The global economy should not be supported by wage earners. They have to be able to build a future like any other human being.

I think the defining issue of our time is: Does the economic, social, and political system work for the middle class?

In a good society, those in the middle and at the bottom ought to benefit significantly from economic growth. When the country prospers, everybody should prosper.

We must ensure American workers get the long-overdue raise they deserve.

I'm not running from the left; I'm running from the bottom. I'm running in fierce advocacy for working-class New Yorkers.

When I travel around the country and talk about the need to raise the minimum wage or expand access to paid leave, I often talk about the need for us to reject false choices.

Historically, it has required a combination of favorable employment trends and active government intervention to lower the percentage of people in poverty and raise living standards for the working middle class.

We have an economy that's really geared toward rewarding the investor class. What are we doing to make sure that people who want to have a middle-class life are able to keep up?

Economic mobility will fix income inequality.

As a society, we need to refocus on creating an economy that works for everyone. I believe the business community is in the best position to lead the way.

You alleviate poverty by trickle-down economics.

I think one of the most important facts of basic income would be that it's not only a redistribution of income, but also of power. So the cleaners and bin men would have a lot more bargaining power.

I try to deal with the poverty gap - to do policies for all of us rather than only for the wealthy.