Inclusive Economy | May 19, 2023

The Week’s Chart: Power to the People

Amy Cortese and Dennis Price
ImpactAlpha Editor

Amy Cortese

ImpactAlpha Editor

Dennis Price

ImpactAlpha, May 19 – Bipartisan legislation introduced this week would create an investment facility to mobilize private investment for employee-owned businesses.

The Employee Equity Investment Act would ease employee ownership conversions by providing loan guarantees for investment funds devoted to expanding employee ownership via the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company program (see, “Policymaking for workers and communities in the Year of the S”).

“American workers are the driving force behind the U.S. economy’s strength, dynamism and resilience,” said Fran Seegull of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance. “With the right tools, investors can help empower them further. ” (Image credit: Asset Funders Network.)

  • Jobs, jobs, jobs. American jobs are emerging as a rallying point for bipartisan legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure law and CHIPS act have catalyzed a wave of investment in technology and projects that build climate and economic resilience. More than 18,000 jobs have been created by utility-scale clean energy projects since last August. But permitting and transmission bottlenecks can hold up projects for years – or sink them entirely. “Every day without Congress passing this reform we’re leaving behind projects” that add up to some $3 trillion in clean energy opportunities, said Susan Nickey, incoming chair of the American Clean Power Association.
  • Border tax. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a Republican, says his state has lost land mass the size of Delaware to rising seas. Cassidy hopes to introduce his so-called “foreign pollution fee,” which would tax high-carbon imports of steel, aluminum, cement, fuel and other key inputs. “By discussing the issue of lowering emissions in the context of improving our economy” and decreasing China’s dominance, he says, “I can get 60 votes.”