The Biden administration continues to signal that its economic vision departs from the neoliberal orthodoxy that has dominated U.S. politics for decades, exhibiting some minimal commitment to redistributing wealth and recalibrating the balance of economic power. In a policy memo released on Tuesday key White House economic advisers argue that the emerging data shows that the sprawling spending package enacted in the spring is driving broad growth and prosperity. While the memo acknowledges that labor shortages have caused consumer inconvenience and frustration, it casts this as a “positive development” operating to boost wages. The memo further emphasizes the need to continue to inject public public spending into the economy, fueled by higher taxes on corporations and the rich.

Striking a similar chord, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen delivered a speech at the national chamber of commerce on Tuesday, in which she informed representatives of the corporate elite that they must contribute more in taxes to fund Biden’s ambitious domestic agenda while lamenting the soaring inequality that the neoliberal assault has produced.

Thousands of McDonald’s workers launched a strike in more than a dozen cities across the country today, designed to coincide with the company’s annual shareholder meetings.  Progressive icons Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are poised to ratchet up the pressure, as they plan to join the picket lines later today. “The time is now to end starvation wages in the richest country in the world,” Sanders said in a press release.