Economy
Build a middle class
that can breathe.
This is the richest country in human history. Yet one-third of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency. That's not an accident. That's economic policy. And economic policy can be changed.
The Reality
The economy is working - for about 1% of us.
Top 1% now own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. That is the biggest gap since the Gilded Age.
The federal minimum wage, unchanged since 2009. It buys 30% less today than it did in 1968.
CEO pay increase since 1979. Average worker pay in the same period: 18%
Corporations (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft) now control more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans combined
Why This Happened
Forty years of trickle-down didn't trickle down.
Since 1980, every major economic policy has rested on one idea. Cut taxes on the rich, cut rules on corporations, and everyone will prosper. It didn't work. It gave us forty years of flat wages, rising inequality, and a winner-take-all economy.
Corporate power is more concentrated than ever. In industry after industry, a handful of companies control the whole market. Airlines. Drug makers. Farming. Banking. Social media. This isn't how markets work on their own. It's what happens when antitrust enforcement is gutted.
Project 2025 doubled down. More corporate tax cuts. The end of the CFPB. Fewer protections for workers. Weaker rules for banks. The stated goal was to shift more power and wealth to corporations and their shareholders. Workers and small businesses would pay the price.
What Project 2025 Did to the Economy
- ● Shut down the CFPB, the main agency that protects people from financial abuse.
- ● Proposed ending capital gains taxes entirely. That is a direct transfer of wealth from workers to investors.
- ● Gutted the antitrust staff at the FTC and DOJ. Reversed the Biden-era merger guidelines.
- ● Proposed turning the SBA into a block grant program. That would all but end small business lending.
- ● Removed overtime pay protections for salaried workers. More than 4 million workers lost coverage.
The Plan
What Project 2029 proposes.
Based on Chapters 21, 22, and 25 of Project 2029. They cover Commerce, Treasury, and the SBA.
Main Street Investment Act
$100 billion to rebuild the small business economy
Create a $100B Main Street Investment Fund run by the SBA and Treasury. It would offer low-interest loans (under 3%), technical assistance grants, and equity investment to small businesses with under 500 employees. First in line: businesses in struggling communities (defined by unemployment and poverty rates), minority-owned and women-owned businesses, and businesses in sectors key to the domestic supply chain. Worker-owned cooperatives get priority loans at 1% below standard rates.
Antitrust Restoration and Corporate Accountability Act
Break up the monopolies, and keep them broken
Restore the original intent of the Sherman, Clayton, and FTC Acts with stronger enforcement and updated standards. Treat any merger that creates a market share above 30% as anticompetitive by default. Require a structural breakup (not just conduct rules) for platform monopolies worth over $500B that run a platform and also sell on it. In plain terms: Amazon could not compete against sellers on its own marketplace. Raise the FTC and DOJ Antitrust Division budgets to $2B each per year. Make antitrust violations a crime for corporate executives, not just a fine.
Tax Code Reform: Work Over Wealth
A tax code that rewards work, not just ownership
Restore the top income tax rate to 39.6% on income above $400K. Set a minimum 25% tax on unrealized capital gains for people with over $100M in assets. That closes the "buy, borrow, die" loophole. Enact a 2% yearly wealth tax on net worth above $50M, and 3% above $1B. Raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. Close the carried interest loophole. Raise the estate tax to 77% on estates above $1B, with no step-up in basis at death. Use the revenue to pay for the programs in this document.
Worker Ownership Incentive Act
Let workers share in what they build
Create a Worker Ownership Investment Fund. It would offer low-cost financing for employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and for turning companies into worker co-ops. Give retiring owners a 50% capital gains tax break on sales to workers (vs. 10% for ESOPs today). Fund technical assistance grants to help form co-ops. Require any company with federal contracts above $10M to share profits with frontline workers. Extend ESOP benefits to S-corporations and partnerships.
Supply Chain Security and Domestic Manufacturing Act
America shouldn't depend on hostile countries for critical goods
COVID showed how fragile U.S. supply chains are for critical goods: semiconductors, drugs, rare earth minerals, medical equipment. Project 2029 proposes $50B in domestic manufacturing investment through Commerce Department industrial policy. All federal purchasing would favor critical goods made in America. Strategic reserves would hold drugs and medical supplies. Buy American rules would have teeth: verified compliance, not self-reporting.
Restore and Strengthen Financial Consumer Protection
No more financial products designed to strip wealth from working people
Restore the CFPB to full independence. Expand its authority to cover non-bank financial companies (payday lenders, buy-now-pay-later, cryptocurrency platforms). Bring back the CFPB payday lending rule that caps loans at 36% APR. Restore the CFPB arbitration rule that bans class-action waivers in consumer financial contracts. Create a Financial Products Safety Commission, modeled on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, to vet financial products before they reach the market.
Take Action
What you can do right now.
Vote Your Wallet
Economic policy is on the ballot in every election. Vote for candidates who will fight for working people, not corporate donors.
Register to Vote →Demand Antitrust Action
Ask your representative where they stand on breaking up corporate monopolies and restoring the CFPB.
Find Your Rep →Share the Numbers
The 1,322% CEO pay stat changes minds. Download the economy one-pager and share it.
Get One-Pager →Read the Full Chapters
Chapters 21, 22, and 25 of Project 2029: Commerce, Treasury, and SBA.
Read the Plan →Share This
Help others understand what's at stake.
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