"We Are Not a Loan:" Debt and Income Inequality November Drinking Liberally-Redmond Topic

Drinking Liberally - Redmond gives like-minded progressives a place to talk politics. You don’t need to be a policy expert and this isn’t a book club - just come and learn from peers, trade jokes, vent in an informal, friendly environment.

Our next meeting is:

Tuesday, November 10, 7 - 9 PM (as always, the second Tuesday of the month)
Pomegranate Restaurant
18005 NE 68th St, Redmond, WA 98052

Our November topic: We’ve been hearing a lot about income inequality, with the wealthy enjoying the benefits of gains in productivity. However, what we don’t hear much about is the other side of that inequality coin — personal debt.

With living wage jobs difficult to find, a regressive tax structure that sets people up to fail, and costs of living increasing dramatically, families are forced to turn to debt to pay for basic needs. Meanwhile, people are going deep into the red — losing their homes, going bankrupt, or getting sued — for public goods like higher education and health care.
This Drinking Liberally talk paints a picture of the broader systems in play that perpetuate systems of economic inequity while trying to humanize this crisis, and offers solutions for a more just society.

Our guest is Ben Henry, Senior Policy Associate at the Alliance for a Just Society, a national network of grassroots organizations, including, here in Washington, Washington Community Action Network, OneAmerica, Working Washington and the Restaurant Opportunity Center United. Since graduating with a Master’s of Public Administration at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, he has gone on to produce national research reports on personal debt, living wage standards, the influence of money in politics and America’s foreclosures crisis. He has appeared on NPR, the Huffington Post and Bloomberg News, and his research findings have been reported on by CBS News, Bloomberg News, The Hill, ThinkProgress, and dozens of local news outlets across the country. Ben grew up in Honolulu and moved to the Puget Sound area in 2007, at which time he experienced a profound adjustment to his Vitamin D intake. Ben also is singer/guitarist/songwriter with his indie rock band Theory of Change, an avid soccer goalkeeper, and proud dad to his son Jack Henry. Read more: http://benhenry.com | http://allianceforajustsociety.org/category/author/ben-henry/

Join us for a stimulating and important conversation.