economic justice

The Problem

The economy is not fair or equitable. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. This maxim isn't new, but it also isn't getting any better. In many ways, the issue is getting worse. CEO's make more than they've ever made relative to the wage of the average worker. Wages are stagnant, as prices increase.

Our Solution

Contrary to right-wing, trickle-down talking points, workers are the actual job creators. If workers are struggling, there is no hope for our economy. That's why this platform aims to reverse the undo influence of the wealthy on our economy, and put working-class people in the driver's seat.

A Living Wage

The federal minimum wage is currently a starvation wage. In New Jersey, the average worker would need to earn between $20-$30 an hour to afford a decent standard of living.

Therefore, the federal minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour and pegged to the CPI to prevent us from having to repeat the debate about raising the minimum wage.

Tax Equity

Though we have a supposedly progressive tax system, the effective rate is much lower because of loopholes in the tax code. This campaign proposes a new 45% rate on all income over $5 million and the elimination of tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy, specifically the carried interest loophole.

Postal Banking

Predatory and unscrupulous lenders so as Payday Loan providers prey on the unbanked and those most in need. At the same time, the Post Office is in desperate need of new streams of income. I support H.R.5816, the Postal Banking Act, to allow the Post Offices to offer essential financial services like check cashing and savings accounts.

Digital Divide

In the 21st Century, high-speed internet has become the most common form of communication. Even in New Jersey, a dense state where one would expect everyone to have internet, 300000 people do not have broadband access. This campaign will bridge the digital divide by ensuring that every community has access to Gigabit internet by 2024.

Infrastructure & Jobs

This nation's infrastructure is falling apart, contributing to our economic decline. In Hudson, Essex, Union, and Bergen counties, it is easier to get into New York City than getting around your community. This country needs a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill to update our crumbling roads, railroads, airports, ports, and bridges to bring our critical infrastructure into the 21st Century.

The 8th District is more or less the size of New York City. Still, our municipalities like Jersey City, Newark, and Hector's own Union City have a higher population density. Yet, New York has more than 8 times as many stations and more than 15 times as many railcars. Moreover, the service we do have is concentrated in gentrified neighborhoods and inaccessible to most people.

Our rail and bus infrastructure do not meet our current needs, let alone the needs of our future growth. For that reason, Hector Oseguera proposes not just the expansion of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and Newark City Subway systems, but also the creation of a bus rapid transit system to build a bridge to the long term goal of an integrated Northern New Jersey Subway and Transit system.Such an undertaking will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs for people right here in the 8th District while expanding our economy's potential to grow and serve our residents.

Public Education

Our current system of public school funding reinforces existing inequalities by tying property taxes to school funding. This campaign promises to sever the link between property taxes and public education by offering incentives to states that fund their education equally despite differences in property taxes, and implement a system of universal pre-K and make public universities tuition-free.

Student Loan Debt Cancellation

Student debt has become a new form of indentured servitude that keeps young professionals from fully participating in our economy. Hector Oseguera is in favor of the cancellation of all existing student debt.

Expanding Workers’ Rights

Unionized workers earn more money, work fairer hours, under better conditions compared to their non-unionized counterparts. Hector Oseguera believes every worker deserves the right to organize. Our economy has changed significantly since the height of labor union participation in the mid-'50s, and not just in the decline of union membership to historic lows. Today, most people work service jobs, and the new gig economy has abused regulatory loopholes. There now exists a sub-class of the labor market of supposed "independent contractors" that exists to avoid giving workers benefits or fair wages.

Abuses by management have evolved in the last 70 years, that does not make them any less wrong. Working 60 hours a week on a 40-hour salary or risking losing your job because "you don't fit the company's values" is wrong. Working like a robot in an Amazon warehouse where a worker laid on the floor, dying, for 20 minutes before anyone came to his aid is wrong. Working in unsafe conditions because Elon Musk does not like the color yellow and thinks safety signs are ugly is wrong. The classist distinction between "blue-collar workers" and "white-collar workers" needs to end.

If you need to work to put food on the table, you are a worker. If you ever swallowed your tongue because you were too afraid to ask for a raise, you are a worker. If you ever felt your employer was taking advantage of you, your coworkers, or your community and could not speak out for fear of losing your job, you are a worker, and you deserve a union.