Flint, Five Years On
Off-Kilter commemorates the 5-year anniversary of the Flint Water Crisis — PLUS: why a regional minimum wage, an idea currently gaining traction in Congress, would lock in low-wages for millions of workers. Subscribe to Off-Kilter on iTunes.
This week on Off-Kilter… From time to time, policymakers muse about whether the federal minimum wage should be set by region rather than as a national floor. Now is one of those times, with some in Congress pointing to a regional minimum wage as an alternative to the $15 federal floor called for in the popular Raise the Wage Act. But how would a regional minimum wage play out — particularly for workers? To unpack what’s at stake, Rebecca talks with David Cooper, senior analyst at the Economic Policy Institute and deputy director of the Economic Analysis and Research Network.
Later in the show: This year, the one-year-olds who were poisoned by the Flint Water Crisis will be starting kindergarten in the fall. As they begin their education, the only childhood they’ve ever known is one where safe drinking water can only come from a bottle. Flint remains home to an ongoing crisis, the effects of which will be felt throughout a generation in every facet of their lives. As friend of the show and TalkPoverty deputy editor s.e. smith wrote for Catapult: “Disability is not wrong or tragic or bad, but sometimes it is a symptom of a grave injustice.” To discuss where things stand in Flint five years on, and what policymakers should learn from the Flint Water Crisis when it comes to the ongoing infrastructure debate, Rebecca sits down with Rejane Frederick, guru of public health and place-based policy on CAP’s poverty program, and Areeba Haider, the team’s amazing special assistant who also hails from Michigan — to discuss their TalkPoverty piece commemorating the anniversary, “Flint Five Years Later: Who Deserves Clean Water and Safe Homes.”
We also bring back a conversation from the archives — back when the show was TalkPoverty Radio — with Curt Guyette, the ACLU of Michigan reporter-in-residence who first broke the story of the Flint Water Crisis.
This week’s guests:
- David Cooper, senior analyst, Economic Policy Institute
- Rejane Frederick, associate director, CAP Poverty Program
- Areeba Haider, special assistant, CAP Poverty Program
For more on this week’s topics:
- Read more from Dave Cooper and Heidi Shierholz on the regional minimum wage
- Read more from Rejane & Areeba for TalkPoverty: “Flint Still Doesn’t Have Clean Water. It’s Not Alone.”
- Read s.e. smith for Catapult: “When Disability Is a Toxic Legacy.”
