Recent Coverage

APR 2, 2026

ABC 5 News: What is ‘street pricing’ and why is it now being proposed at America’s ballparks?

“They’re hitting their limit on what they’re willing to pay,” said Alex Jacquez, Chief of Policy and Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative.

MAR 31, 2026

The New Republic: Can America Handle a $30 Minimum Wage?

Minimum wage increases are generally popular. They almost always pass when they’re ballot initiatives, and almost every Democratic candidate for president in 2020 promised to raise the federal minimum. Which makes it curious that it’s still a paltry $7.25. Alex Jacquez, the chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank in D.C., worked for Sanders when he tried to increase the federal minimum wage during the Biden years, and he said it has a lot to do with who pressures politicians when they’re weighing bills like Sanders’s. “They don’t get millions and millions of people making substandard wages calling their offices and talking to them,” he said. “They get businesses, and the Chamber of Commerce, and the Restaurant Association getting meetings with them, and kind of playing up, or making the arguments about why they shouldn’t have to pay higher wages,” he said. The failure to increase the minimum wage was a blow, he said. “Not being able to get it done, and with the Democratic trifecta, I think … is why some people maybe are skeptical of some of the commitments that politicians make.”

FEB 25, 2026

USA Today: Are you owed a tariff refund? What consumers need to know.

“It doesn’t appear that the Trump administration is going to expedite that process,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at the progressive Groundwork Collaborative. “The mechanics of getting that money back to consumers is even more complicated.”

FEB 13, 2026

CBS News: How the “annoyance economy” affects our wallet and behavior

Alex Jacquez, with Groundwork Collaborative, discusses the “annoyance economy.” The hidden costs people pay when companies turn simple tasks into frustrating ordeals, like cancelling subscriptions, rebates, and refunds.

FEB 2, 2026

The American Prospect: Behind the Bleachers

David Dayen and Alex Jacquez write: Of the top 20 most-watched television broadcasts in American history, 19 of them are Super Bowls. Last year’s record-setting edition peaked at 135.7 million viewers, only 20 million less than the total number of votes in the 2024 presidential election. Even outside the big game, Americans watch 300 million hours of live sports or shows about sports per day; there are more national sports networks on cable than news networks. To many, sports are more than a pastime, they’re a religion: 21 percent of U.S. adults attend church once a week, but 56 percent watch a sporting event that regularly.

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