[Robert Reich] What does a farmer in Iowa have in common with an Uber driver in New York City?

Their struggle, much like the struggle facing millions of Americans, isn’t left versus right. It’s about who has power — and who doesn’t.

Economic populism is how we rebalance the economy to work for the many, not the few.

To explain what economic populism really means, a great champion of working people, former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya. 

[Alvaro Bedoya] My time at the Federal Trade Commission — before Donald Trump fired me for doing my job — totally changed the way I see our political divide.

It turned me into a populist. 

Here’s what I mean by that: I used to think that the defining fight for our country was between Democrats and Republicans, between the left and the right. Now, I am much more worried about the money and power at the top crushing everyone underneath.

That sounds grim because it is. But I also think that this way of looking at the world can unite our country across cultural and even political lines in a way that feels almost impossible today. 

As Robert Reich has pointed out, the largest force in American politics right now is anti-establishment fury at a rigged system. 

I saw this every day while I was at the FTC. I saw it when I talked to farmers in Iowa and Uber drivers in New York City and pharmacists and grocers in Knoxville and Salt Lake City and Pine Ridge, South Dakota.

Nearly every person I talked to had one problem. And it wasn’t DEI or immigration or the “trans agenda.” No, they couldn’t stop talking about how corporate power was bleeding them dry. 

Let me tell you about just two of those visits. 

In Iowa, I heard from fourth and fifth generation family farmers who told me about the Big Ag corporations who have monopolized the entire food supply chain — from inputs, to outputs, to every middle man in between. 

They used to have twelve companies to buy their seeds from. Now they have two. They used to have four places to sell their cattle; now they have one. 

And guess what: their costs were going through the roof — and the prices they got for their products were going through the floor. They were going bankrupt. “We have a noose around our necks and we’re standing on an ice cube,” they said. “It’s like getting picked apart by a chicken,” they said.

Even the farming equipment they owned outright was locked by John Deere so that only John Deere could fix it, and profit from those repairs. 

Meanwhile, in New York City, I met a group of Uber and Lyft drivers, every one of whom was an immigrant. They were lured by promises of lucrative earnings and near-total control of their schedules. Many of them spent tens of thousands of dollars on new vehicles so they could get the best fares.

But they were nickeled and dimed by the ridesharing apps, hit with new fees and restrictions. And they reported often getting locked out of their apps at random times of day — meaning that it would take eight or nine hours to make what they used to earn in three or four.

They were going into credit card debt. They couldn’t make rent. And when they weren’t locked out, they would drive up to 13 hours straight with no bathroom breaks. No food. Nothing. 

In a roundtable I hosted with the drivers, a man walked up to the table and told me his wife had died that morning. But he showed up anyway because he was locked out of the apps, he was going bankrupt, and no one would listen to him:

If you focus on the conflict between left and right, if the most important thing is what you are — your party, your state, your race, your ethnicity — the people I met during my time at the Federal Trade Commission couldn’t be more different. 

On the one hand, you had farmers who were four or five generations into building a life in ruby red rural America. On the other, you had immigrant workers in the biggest blue city on the east coast.

What could they possibly have in common?  Everything — if you look at what they need. 

If you look at what they need, everyone I met was part of one huge group: people working themselves to the bone who were getting screwed by billionaires and corporations—regardless of their politics, or where they lived, or whether they were citizens or immigrants. Regardless, even, of whether they were workers or the owners of farms and small businesses.

And It may not seem that way at first, but I think the Iowa farmer who can’t run his own combine because it was locked by John Deere has a hell of a lot in common with the Bangladeshi dad in New York City who can’t work the morning commute because he’s locked out of Uber and Lyft.

Because what they need is surprisingly the same: 

They need a government that gives them a level playing field against the powerful and wealthy.

They need regulators and courts that enforce laws to protect them against abuse and exploitation.

They need basic dignity and control of their material lives.

That is what an economic populist movement can deliver to this country.  

It’s an opportunity to unite the worker, the farmer, the small businessman against the billionaire corporations who are making it harder and harder for them to make a living. Across races, ethnicities, religions, and even politics. 

Donald Trump wants you to think that the least powerful people in this country are the most responsible for your problems. Not Wall Street. Not the billionaires at his back at the inauguration. 

No, he wants you to blame your neighbor. Don’t love your neighbor. Hate him. Hurt him. Deport him.

But let me tell you this: You can’t deport your way out of a rigged economy. 

You deport the construction worker or the rideshare driver down the street, those jobs aren’t going to suddenly start offering overtime and health care and benefits. Your landlord isn’t going to stop nickel and diming you on rent. Your life won’t get any better.

Who is getting rich? The billionaire CEOs who showered the president in money. 

Don’t take the bait. Let’s focus on the money and power at the top. Let’s focus on what people need. 

That’s what gives me hope right now. That’s what feels like the future.