For many young Americans, the 2008 financial crisis was more than a downturn; it was a defining life event. Families lost homes to predatory mortgages, jobs vanished overnight, and college graduates faced bleak opportunities. For organizers like Gabe Tobias, watching low-income immigrant families lose everything to adjustable-rate mortgages was transformative. The crisis convinced many that capitalism itself was stacked against working people, a belief that would later fuel their political activism, the Wall Street Journal reported.

From Occupy to organizing

The years after the crash saw protests like Occupy Wall Street channel anger at banks and political elites. Veterans of those movements are now fixtures in groups like the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of Ameri

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