Mayor de Blasio wants to rebuild the middle class with the heavy hand of government.
Hizzoner said Monday that “substantial government investments and actions” are required to reduce inequality and create a more “just society.”
“We have to reconstruct the kind of middle class we used to have. It will require very substantial government investments and actions,” he said on WNYC radio. “It won’t happen by letting the free market go unfettered, it won’t happen with trickle-down economics.”
The mayor was unabashed about how his agenda — which includes expanding paid sick leave and living-wage laws, along with providing job training to get workers into higher-quality jobs — represents a concerted effort to address income inequality.
“All of this is of a piece locally to try and do what I wish was being done nationally in a coherent way, which is to restore the middle class,” he said. “We have a platform to do it . . . We have to set a new standard of what’s expected and then challenge other jurisdictions to meet it.”
The mayor is set to deliver his first State of the City speech next Monday, when he said will address the creation of jobs — and specifically those that provide good wages and benefits.