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Why can’t prices just stay the same?

Over the past few years, most of the world has experienced some pretty intense inflation, with prices rising as much as 10 percent in a single year. In 2024, even though inflation rates have fallen to more manageable levels, prices are still way up and are very unlikely to come down. Which, understandably, continues to be a source of major stress for people all over the world. So why can’t prices just stay the same?

May 15, 2024 Vox

Press Release

Groundwork’s Dr. Rakeen Mabud on April CPI Report: “Rate cuts must come soon”

“Rate cuts must come soon or else people are left to struggle with high interest rates that are only making life more unaffordable.”

May 15, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

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Experts react to April’s PPI report

Peter Earle, senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research; Kitty Richards, senior fellow at Groundwork Collaborative; and CNBC’s Rick Santelli join ‘Squawk Box’ to react to April’s PPI data.

May 14, 2024 CNBC

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The Fed is struggling to break the back of inflation. Here’s why

The Fed's decision to delay cutting rates may be contributing to stubborn housing inflation, said Rakeen Mabud, chief economist of Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group that is urging the central bank to start cutting rates. "When the Fed raises interest rates, mortgage rates rise too," Mabud said in a social media post. "That means that many prospective homebuyers are priced out of the decision to buy a home. Where do these potential buyers go? Back into the rental market, increasing demand among renters and pushing up rent costs."

May 14, 2024 CBS News

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High Interest Rates Are Hitting Poorer Americans the Hardest

“High interest rates really forced cracks in that recovery, and it’s folks who are on the margins of our economy who are hit first and hit hardest,” said Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive group. “They really serve as a bellwether for what could happen to the rest of our economy.”

May 14, 2024 New York Times

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Democrats Urge Biden to Investigate Grocery Store Price-Fixing

“Purchasing food isn't a choice, it's a necessity,” says Lindsay Owens, the executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning think tank that released a report in February on the key drivers of grocery inflation. “There's no getting around a trip to the grocery store in modern America, so I think Congress and the Biden Administration are rightly focused on what they can do, what suite of tools they have at their disposal for bringing down food and grocery prices for Americans, particularly when food and grocery prices are being kept artificially high because of market manipulation, collusion, and price gouging.”

May 13, 2024 TIME Magazine

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Inflation is slowing. Here’s why prices still aren’t going down

“I think Americans are a little perplexed when they see news reports of inflation coming down, and yet they don’t notice any of their prices coming down,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the nonprofit think tank Groundwork Collaborative.

May 12, 2024 CNBC

Press Release

Groundwork’s Bilal Baydoun on Senate Banking Hearing: “We should be thankful for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau”

“It’s a shame that some lawmakers are so scornful of an agency that is saving consumers billions of dollars per year by taking on predatory late fees. We should be thanking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for standing up for consumers when corporate traps stretch family budgets.” Groundwork's Director of Policy and Research Bilal Baydoun reacts to today’s Senate Banking Committee hearing on junk fees in the credit card industry and the housing market.

May 9, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

Press Release

Groundwork’s Lindsay Owens on CBO’s TCJA Extension Report: “This tax law should expire”

“Extending Trump’s tax law and effectively subsidizing corporate profiteering and billionaire wealth is a nonstarter. This tax law, on top of decades of failed trickle-down cuts, has come at the expense of workers and families. Groundwork Collaborative’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens reacts in response to today’s report from the Congressional Budget Office that shows extending the Trump tax cuts would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit.

May 8, 2024 Groundwork Collaborative

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Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Add $4.6 Trillion to Deficit: CBO

Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens also responded critically to the CBO report, saying Wednesday that "extending Trump's tax law and effectively subsidizing corporate profiteering and billionaire wealth is a nonstarter."

May 8, 2024 Common Dreams