How falling life expectancy, Generation X and the backlash in France have pushed the UK government to rethink pension policy - Sky News
"If life expectancy was rising, Mr Cridland reasoned, it made sense for the state pension age to rise with it.
"However, since the pandemic, life expectancy in the UK has actually gone backwards...For women, the pandemic clipped a year off life expectancy on average and for men, 1.3 years....
"This, then, removes one of the major justifications for bringing forward the rise in the state pension age."
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Determinants of inequalities in life expectancy: an international comparative study of eight risk factors - Lancet
As in the US, Europeans with low levels of education and income live shorter lives.
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Here’s What To Know About France’s Controversial Pension Reforms As Macron Survives No-Confidence Vote - Forbes
Explainer: Why is Macron in so much trouble over pension reform? - Reuters
TThe French pension system explained - Expatica
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What just happened at BP? Depends on what you read:
BP Faces Serious Safety Violation Charges, Fined $150,000 - Zacks Equity Research/Yahoo
The value American capitalism places on workers’ lives: BP fined $156,250 for the deaths of two refinery operators in Ohio explosion - WSWS
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Testimony: House Ed. & Workforce subcommittee hearing: “Breaking the System: Examining the Implications of Biden's Student Loan Policies for Students and Taxpayers” - Marc Goldwein/CRFB
"...the Administration’s approach – especially the ongoing student debt pause, retroactive debt cancellation, and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) reforms – is of serious concern. At best, these changes serve as a band-aid and ignore very real structural challenges. Likely, they will make the underlying situation worse. They are especially problematic with
inflation surging and federal debt approaching record levels.
In my testimony, I will touch on five main points:
"1. Recent student debt actions and proposals are costly, adding nearly $1 trillion to the deficit over a decade.
2. These student debt actions are, for the most part, economically unjustified.
3. The student debt pause and cancellation worsen inflation and recession risk.
4. The policies are poorly targeted, paying windfalls to high earners.
5. The policies would lead to more borrowing, higher tuition, more low-quality programs, and a more arbitrary higher education financing system."
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Americans without health insurance or $1 million to spare can stop reading here:
US government announces plan to overhaul organ transplant system - CNN
Troubled U.S. organ transplant system targeted for overhaul - WaPost
"Federal health official announces plans to break up monopoly power of group that has run system for decades."
Unos, dos, tres...? How will the gov replace the monopoly? Competitive bidding? A full bore 'wet' market?
Wyden Statement at Finance Committee Hearing on the Urgent Need to Address Failures in the Organ Transplant System
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Allocation of liver grafts worldwide - Is there a best system? - NIH
"An optimal allocation system for scarce resources should simultaneously ensure maximal utility, but also equity.
"While the model for end-stage liver disease is currently the standard for this model, many adjustments were implemented in most countries. A future globally applicable strategy should combine donor and recipient factors predicting probability of death on the waiting list, post-transplant survival and morbidity, and perhaps costs."
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Blast from the past:
"Obama Signs Bipartisan Bill To Speed Miracle Cures to Market. But Who Will Have Access to Expensive New Technology? Who Won’t?" - CCSE
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Los Angeles schools shut down as teachers, staff begin 3-day strike - PBS
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No insurance = no liver:
New liver transplant rules yield winners, losers as wasted organs reach record high - WaPost
"The number of lifesaving liver transplants has plummeted in some Southern and Midwestern states that struggle with higher death rates from liver disease."
"Landing a spot on the transplant waiting list has been difficult for some time. The proportion of people who make it can vary wildly by state. In 2021, Massachusetts had 11 people per 100,000 residents on its waitlist — the second-highest in the country; North Carolina had 1 per 100,000, among the lowest nationwide. Kansas had about 3 per 100,000.
"To get on the list, patients need insurance or other means to pay for their treatment. They must show up for regular appointments, which often require access to a car and sometimes a friend or family member to drive. And they have to be able to pay for regular appointments before transplant surgery, weeks of recovery at the hospital afterward and thousands of dollars a month in anti-rejection medication for the rest of their lives.
"Residents of the states harmed by the new rules are at a disadvantage for each of these.
"Not only do they generally have lower incomes, they also have lower rates of insured people than those that benefited. Three of these seven states chose not to expand Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor, under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. A fourth, South Dakota, only expanded it in late 2022, and it doesn’t go into effect until this summer. The state has the second highest rate of death from liver disease in the nation.
"Lack of insurance leaves many people with no way to pay for a liver transplant, which can cost just shy of a million dollars.
"'Everyone has to have insurance,” said J. Steve Bynon Jr., chief of abdominal transplantation at Memorial Hermann in Houston, when asked about its policy. “There are no freebies.'...
"'Being poor,' said Donna Cryer, CEO of the patient advocacy group Global Liver Institute, 'penalizes people.'"
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Uninsured Rate by State
Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map - KFF
Someone should ask presidential candidates from the 11states that haven't expanded Medicaid why they left billions of federal matching funds on the table that would provide life-saving coverage to low-income residents.
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House Republicans’ Proposals Could Take Food Away From Millions of Low-Income Individuals and Families - CBPP
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Well, most everybody...
Biden revives hopes for this poverty-fighting tax break - yahoo
"As Congress possibly revisits an expansion of the Child Tax Credit, it’s likely that any new version won’t look like its pandemic predecessor in order to garner bipartisan support. Some Republicans have expressed concerns that the CTC would be inflationary and that one version without work requirements would disincentivize work.
"One potential compromise would be to adopt provisions from the Republican-led Family Security Act 2.0, introduced by Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Richard Burr (R-NC). The proposal calls to increase the maximum value of the CTC to $4,200 per child under the age of 6 and $3,000 for those between 6 and 17.
"Unlike the enhanced CTC from the American Rescue Act, Romney’s proposal requires families to earn a minimum of $10,000 to receive the full credit. Part of the funding would also come from financial cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the elimination of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which would impact low- to moderate-income households the most, according to the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities."
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The Effects of Work Requirements on the Employment and Income of TANF Participants - Justin Falk/CBO
"Experiments conducted in the mid-1990s show that a combination of work requirements and work supports substantially increased the employment of cash assistance recipients in Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the predecessor program to Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) while having little effect on recipients’ average income. There is little evidence on the effects of TANF’s work requirements, though, and recent research on other means-tested programs demonstrates that their work requirements have had little effect on employment and have substantially reduced the number of people receiving the benefits they provide."
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De-transitioned teen sues Kaiser Permanente for performing double mastectomy on her at 13: 'Intentional fraud' - Fox
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Lawmaker pauses filibuster on agreement to debate trans bill - AP
Can't deny she has big brass ones.
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UAW Challenger Fain Purges Top Allies in Favor of Brooklyn Consultants - Payday Report
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For life expectancy, money matters – Harvard Gazette
"You might expect two or three years of life differential ... but 10 or 15 years … it’s an immense difference"
"While researchers have long known that life expectancy increases with income, Cutler and others were surprised to find that trend never plateaued...
"Cutler and Chetty then examined how life expectancy changed over time, and found that while life expectancy has increased for the wealthiest, it has edged up only slightly for low-income Americans...
"'The increase has been approximately three years at the high end, versus zero for the lowest incomes,' Cutler said. 'This is important, because it has major implications for Social Security policy. People say, "Americans are living longer, so we ought to delay the age of retirement," but … it’s a little bit unfair to say to low-income people that they’re going to get Social Security and Medicare for fewer years because investment bankers are living longer.'
"When they laid the data over maps of the United States, Cutler and Chetty again found unexpected results, with low life expectancy concentrated not in the Deep South, but across the Midwest Rust Belt.
"'What emerges strongly is that there is a belt from West Virginia, Kentucky, and down through parts of southern Ohio, through Oklahoma and into Texas — it’s not a story of the Deep South,' Cutler said. 'The variability in where high-income people live longest is not as large and is much less geographically concentrated. You don’t see this same type of belt — it’s scattered all over.'"
Implication: Manchin (WVA) & McConnell (KY) alert): The pain resulting from raising the standard Social Security retirement age would fall most heavily on particular low-income states and regions.
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Britain has endured a decade of early deaths. Why? - Economist
"Life expectancy in Britain, as in almost all other rich countries, had been rising for nearly two centuries...
"Two features make this figure even more worrying. Death comes mostly when people are old. But the slowdown in life expectancy has occurred across all age groups. Mortality rates have stalled for infants, and risen among young adults and the middle-aged. Death rates for 30- to 49-year-olds have steadily increased in Britain since around 2012, in sharp contrast with neighbouring countries.
"Although the deaths have been spread across generations, they have not been spread across the income spectrum. Life expectancy has fallen among the poorest in society but risen for the richest. A poor English girl could on average expect to live 6.8 years less than a rich girl in 2011, but 7.7 less in 2017. For boys, the gap increased from 9.1 to 9.5 years over the same period."
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A Black family fights to get their kids back from Tennessee Department of Children’s Services - TN Lookout
"One month after the Tennessee Highway Patrol pulled the couple over, their five young children remain in state custody."
Need a break taking care of the kids? Try driving a car with "a dark tint" slowly from Chattanooga to Knoxville with the kids in the back seat and a joint on the dashboard. The Volunteer State can help.
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In Florida, showing mental health struggles could get a child detained - WaPost
"Advocates say the Baker Act, designed as a measure of last resort, is not used that way. The result: Kindergarteners can be forcibly committed to psych centers for exams."
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Sunday, March 19, 2023
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"But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
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Arizona Proposal for Automated Income Tax Cuts Sounds Benign but Would Cause Great Harm - CBPP
"Income and wealth inequality has grown in Arizona, while the state’s legislature and courts have recently taken several actions that shift even more of the state’s income to these wealthy interests. Policymakers and the courts ignored public will after Arizona voters approved increasing taxes on millionaires to fund public schools. Instead, the legislature cut income taxes, particularly for high-income people, and restricted voters’ ability to ever again tax wealthy people via the ballot box."
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2022-2023 Arizona State Income Tax: Rates, Who Pays - NerdWallet
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Whitmer signs bill to boost EITC, restore retirement tax break - Michigan Radio/NPR
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Historic highs in employment for people with disabilities: An unexpected pandemic outcome - Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine
"While much attention focused on the risks of COVID-19 infection and the social, emotional, and psychological consequences of lockdowns and mandatory isolation, in the U.S. many people with disabilities realized newfound opportunities as employers faced widespread labor shortages."
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Wealthy Executives Make Millions Trading Competitors’ Stock With Remarkable Timing - ProPublica
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Fire the Fed - Matt Stoller/BIG
"Key bad guys in the Silicon Valley Bank saga are at the Federal Reserve. It's time to end the era of central bank supremacy and fire the Fed as our most important bank regulator."
But a thousand economists with PhDs can't be wrong!...Where's Wright Patman when you need him?
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The Silicon Valley Bank Failure Should Terrify the Federal Reserve - Desmond Lachman/AEI
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Treasury Secretary Yellen says not all uninsured deposits will be protected in future bank failures - CNBC
"Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators that government refunds of uninsured deposits will not be extended to every bank that fails, only those that pose systemic risk to the financial system."
In the wake of a statement like this, one might expect capital to move from smaller to larger banks.
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Wall Street banks will put $30 billion into beleaguered First Republic - WaPost
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Moral hazard or creative destruction? - Michael Roberts
Interesting history and analysis. Maybe the gov could design a way to randomly bail out enough failed banks to stabilize markets while letting enough flounder to reduce moral hazard? :)
To repeat, seems like what we have is socialism for the capitalists. And creative destruction for everyone else.
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Creative Destruction: Out With the Old, in With the New - Investopedia
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Another Predictable Bank Failure - Joseph Stiglitz/Project Syndicate
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Rate of women dying in childbirth surged by 40%. What's to blame for these preventable deaths? - USA Today
Pregnancy-Related Deaths: Data from Maternal Mortality Review Committees in 36 US States, 2017–2019 - CDC
"Over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were determined to be preventable."
Maternal Health:Outcomes Worsened and Disparities Persisted During the Pandemic - GAO
Maternal Mortality: Trends in Pregnancy-Related Deaths and Federal Efforts to Reduce Them - GAO
Scroll down for report on how states are expanding Medicaid postpartum coverage.
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Expanding Work Requirements Would Make It Harder for People to Meet Basic Needs - CBPP
Total National Work = Paid Work + Unpaid Work (especially raising the next generation).
Source: underpaid economist, 2023
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Congress’ failure to reup expanded child tax credit displays longtime favoritism toward higher income - CCSE
"If lawmakers decide to add a work mandate, it could be softened to require only part-time paid employment for low-income single parents who have the hardest time earning a living wage since they have no partner. Alternatively, low-income parents facing work requirements could be provided with adequate subsidies for childcare, which incidentally would be far more costly for taxpayers than the expanded 2021 credit amounts.
"Sen. Romney and other leaders realize that work does not have to be paid to have great value to a society. Raising children is hard work – and perhaps the most important contribution that parents make to the country’s health and wellbeing. Having enough time to raise their children should not disqualify a mother or father from getting government assistance that better-off parents receive."
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There is finally bipartisan consensus on reducing maternal deaths - Leana Wen/WaPost
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State Efforts to Extend Medicaid Postpartum Coverage - NASHP
"This interactive map and chart summarizes proposed and approved legislation since 2018, Medicaid waivers and state plan amendments, financial estimates, and other initiatives designed to extend coverage during the postpartum period.
"Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, the 12-month extended Medicaid postpartum coverage option has been made permanent. This option was created by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and previously expired in 2027. Now once states take up the option to extend the postpartum period from 60 days to 12 months, they will continue to receive federal matching funds."
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Unfair Cap Means Millionaires Stop Contributing to Social Security on February 28, 2023 -CEPR
"Ninety-four percent of workers are paid less than $160,200 per year, so they pay the 6.2 percent social security payroll tax on all of the paychecks they receive in 2023. But workers who earn over $160,200 pay no tax on their earnings above this level. For a millionaire, only about 1 percent or less of their total earnings go to supporting Social Security. Despite earning much more than the average worker, a millionaire’s effective tax rate is far lower than the average worker’s. As a result, the burden of supporting Social Security falls most heavily on working-class and middle-class people."
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‘That’s how capitalism works,’ Biden says of SVB, Signature Bank investors who lost money in failed banks - CNBC
Really? Another soft landing for 'risk takers' operating the US financial casino. Meanwhile, the Fed amps up risk people at the bottom will lose jobs, homes, means to pay bills and raise families...
Socialism for capitalists. Capitalism for everyone else.
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Big Tech wins unfair advantage over American workers in SVB scandal - NY Post
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With demands for a bank bailout, Silicon Valley shows its 'small government' mantra was just a pose - msn/LA Times
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Billionaires, Buybacks & Medicare: How Biden’s 2024 Budget Outlines Trillions Of Dollars In Proposed New Taxes - Forbes
"The budget is not expected to make its way through Congress, according to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell noted that because Republicans hold a House majority, the budget 'will not see the light of day,' according to Reuters."
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Stock Buyback Excise Taxes: What We Know And Don’t Know - TPC
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Biden’s making gov’t discriminate by race — he needs to stop - NY Post
For the record, "equity" on this web site denotes fair treatment, ownership of property, freedom from bias or discrimination, and inclusion of everyone in the yield of the economy.
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An End to Airline Consolidation? - Matt Stoller/BIG
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Virginia, West Va. Kroger employees allege computer-generated wage theft - Virginia Mercury
"Class-action suit, one of four nationwide, filed in Richmond in January."
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Nurses march in Toronto to demand better wages, staffing, working conditions - CBC
Registered nurse salaries in Ontario
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New Mexico Has Lost Track of Juveniles Locked Up for Life. We Found Nearly Two Dozen. - ProPublica
"New legislation would require the New Mexico Corrections Department to help schedule parole hearings for prisoners given life sentences as children. But the agency wasn’t aware of at least 21 'juvenile lifers' in its custody."
"...New Mexico, despite having banned the death penalty for children three decades before the Supreme Court did, had not yet addressed extreme juvenile sentencing. (Twenty-six other states and Washington, D.C., have done so.)"
New Study Finds 1% Recidivism Rate Among Released Philly Juvenile Lifers - Montclair State University
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Va. prison reform advocates fear approved solitary confinement bill won’t lead to meaningful change – Daily Press
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Sunday, March 12, 2023
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Another Norfolk Southern Train Derailed as Its CEO Testified Before the Senate - truthout
Congress, this isn't Ayn Rand's railroad.
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Inequality Costs Social Security Trillions - CounterPunch
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Black Americans view capitalism more negatively than positively but express hope in Black businesses - PEW
"Isms" can imply a sense of worship.
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Inequality is behind central bank dilemma - Martin Wolf/Financial Times
Wolf's analysis still holds up. If clicking this link leads to a paywall, try goggling the title of the article.
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Central banks should better communicate monetary policy’s distributional effects - IMF
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Source: Fed Distributional Financial Accounts
What Wealth Inequality in America Looks Like: Key Facts & Figures - St. Louis Fed
"Based on past research, here are four recommendations that could help families build wealth.
"Help families build a rainy-day fund...
"Promote early-in-life investments...
"Examine college costs...
"Support all forms of housing.
"Increase the supply of affordable rental housing while promoting paths to sustainable homeownership. Homeownership should be treated as a “capstone” financial event, not a first step; building a diversified balance sheet—with low levels of consumer debts and high levels of liquid savings—should precede and help sustain homeownership."
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U.S. household wealth rebounded to $147.7 trillion in 4th quarter - Reuters
Most low-income households have zero net worth or owe more than they own.
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Missing Middle Plan Wins Unanimous Approval From Planning Commission - Patch
As high-income Northern Virginia leaders begin contemplating making room for what's left of the middle class, don't forget low-wage people including those who work at restaurants, supermarkets, nursing homes, warehouses and childcare centers, and as construction workers, drivers, maids, and grass cutters. Judged by their lack of action on providing affordable housing for workers like these, county and city officials across the Potomac from the US capital demonstrate this attitude: "We want you work here, but don't think about living here." (Contact Fairfax County or Falls Church and ask what kind of housing assistance or advice they have for full-time workers making $35,000 or less a year.)
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Idaho Childcare Workers Strike Statewide – As Democrats Dither, Virginia Bus Drivers Strike Remains Deadlocked - Payday Report
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News Blog: Feb. 10 - March 9, 2023 - Click here.
Israeli reserve soldiers, veterans and activists protest outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, 2/10/2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
A mass wave of Israeli army refusal could be a transformative moment - +972
"Civil resistance against the government has put the Israeli military in an unparalleled crisis, presenting an opportunity for those fighting apartheid."
A couple perspectives on babies and the economic bathwater in China:
China’s collapsing birth and marriage rates reflect a people’s deep pessimism - Nicholas Eberstadt/AEI/WaPost
China and the ‘experts’ - Michael Roberts
“Eye-popping” executive salaries led these hospitals to lose their property tax benefits - Lown Institute
Hospital Raises Prices if You Are Uninsured - Dr. Eric Bricker/AHealthcareZ
Another example of how US hospitals gouge uninsured patients and those without the power, knowledge, connections, or money to push back.
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Labor’s Struggle With Anti-Monopoly - American Prospect
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Summer Lee Mocks AFL-CIO Chapter - 3 Million French Workers Strike - French-owned Company Unionbusts Va. Bus Drivers - Payday Report
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One of US’s Largest Public Universities Could See First Strike in Its 257 Years - truthout
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300,000 federal workers confront Canada’s union-backed Liberal government in struggle for real-terms pay increases - WSWS
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France comes to a standstill as livid workers protest plan to increase retirement age - CBC
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Dear Sens. King and Cassidy: Before you finalize your Social Security reform plan please read this:
"A Widening Gap in Life Expectancy Makes Raising Social Security’s Retirement Age a Particularly Bad Deal for Low-Wage Earners" - Karl Polzer/Society of Actuaries
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Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries? - Our World in Data
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A bipartisan group of Senators is talking about raising the retirement age on Social Security - Semafor
As Social Security reform talks heat up, changes to the retirement age, payroll tax may be on the table - CNC
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Biden to tax high-earners to save Medicare - Reuters
Biden to unveil plan averting Medicare funding crisis, challenging GOP - WaPost
"The White House would raise taxes on high earners and reduce government payments for some prescription drugs in a bid to keep the program stable."
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CRFB Welcomes Plan to Put Medicare Solvency On the Table
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What Income Level Is Considered Middle Class in Your State? - msn
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The Gospel of Deglobalization: What’s the Cost of a Fractured World Economy? - Raghuram Rajan/Foreign Affairs
"Deglobalization is well underway...but the costs of giving up on globalization are immense and will be borne disproportionately by...people who live outside the developed world, the young, and future generations."
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Billionaire investor Mark Mobius says he cannot take money out of China - Fox/Reuters
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UK PM Sunak vows to deport all illegal immigrants: ‘You will not be able to stay’ - Fox
"Sunak says illegal immigrants will not be able to apply for asylum."
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Haaretz: Israel has erected ‘a formal, full-fledged apartheid regime’ - Middle East Monitor
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A mile-long line for free food offers a warning as covid benefits end - WaPost
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SNAP cuts could lead to ‘hunger cliff,’ experts fear - The Hill
Dear Fed chair + economists: The sudden withdrawal of food subsidies may present an opportunity for research on the degree of influence changes in demand from low-income people have on food prices and inflation.
Note that while Congress and the White House are trying to increase the labor supply (in part by removing work disincentives) to drive economic growth, the Fed has been raising interest rates on the assumption that suppressing economic activity and increasing unemployment helps to drive down inflation. Higher costs for life necessities hit low-income people the hardest.
What happens to a vehicle when you press the brakes and gas pedal simultaneously?
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It’s Time to Link Work and Food Stamps Again - AEI/Deseret News
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A Quick Guide to SNAP Eligibility and Benefits - CBPP
SNAP: State by State Data, Fact Sheets, and Resources
SNAP Helps Low-Wage Workers in Every State
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Sunday, March 5, 2023
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Welcome To the Vegetable Garden of Europe – ‘The Greenhouses of Death’ - IPS
Spanish immigration pinata?
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Who Stands for Freedom? - Joseph Stiglitz
"For decades, Americans have been led to believe that liberty is more or less synonymous with anti-government market fundamentalism. But, because this conception of liberty fails to account for the complexities of real societies, it cannot possibly deliver the 'freedom' it promises."
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A cleaning company illegally employed a 13-year-old. Her family is paying the price. - WaPost
"...One blustery day last month, the girl’s stepfather, Manuel De la Cruz, arrived at the county courthouse in downtown Grand Island for sentencing in his own misdemeanor case. He had pleaded guilty to violating child labor laws by driving the middle-schooler to a dangerous job, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail. His lawyer asked the judge to impose a fine.
"The judge, Arthur Wetzel, called the case “extremely difficult.” He accused Packers of “forcing young children to work on a kill floor.” He blamed the girl’s mother for obtaining the fake papers and collecting her pay. And he blamed “the elephant in the room, JBS,” for “hiring a cleaning company such as this.”
"“However, Mr. De la Cruz, you also are at fault,” the judge said. “To have a 14-year-old daughter employed eight hours before she’s expected to attend school under dangerous circumstances simply could not be condoned by this court.”
"The judge sentenced De la Cruz to 30 days in jail. After serving his time, court records show, he could be deported. Through his lawyer, he declined to comment.
"An officer’s handcuffs clicked open. At the back of the courtroom, De la Cruz’s 19-year-old stepdaughter sobbed. Outside, his wife and young children watched as he was led away.
The 14-year-old girl did not attend the hearing. For the moment, at least, she was still in school."
Legal and policy Qs for "the reasonable (hu)man": How is it possible, by visual inspection, for supervisors not to suspect that a 13- or 14-year-old female from Central America isn't an adult?
Is a $1.5-million civil fine sufficient deterrent for a $100-billion private equity firm to change the employment practices of companies under its control?
More immigration games? Here's one of the first pieces posted on this site:
"Let's Play Illegal Immigration Pinata."
BTW, these kids have shown they are hard workers. US employers should be happy to hire them once they are of age.
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Leaked audio reveals US rail workers were told to skip inspections as Ohio crash prompts scrutiny to industry - Guardian
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Norfolk Southern, rail union floated exchanging sick days for automatic track inspections - WSWS
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks:
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Meet the highest-paid CEO(s) in America - msn
See any of your friends?
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This is how the world's wealthiest people invest their money — from office buildings, to art, to crypto — according to a major survey of the super-rich - Business Insider
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Starbucks Faces New Front in Its Labor Disputes: White-Collar Workers - Bloomberg
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UAW Prez Vote Count Very Tight – After 58 Dead, Greek Rail Workers Strike – East Palestine Rail Union Says Workers are Falling Ill - Payday Report
Close of voting nears in UAW presidential run-off election - Reuters
"UAW officers previously were elected through a delegate system. Members approved direct elections in a 2021 referendum required as part of a 2020 Justice Department settlement to resolve a corruption probe which resulted in the incarceration of two former UAW presidents."
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Maryland lawmakers push to accelerate $15 minimum wage increase from 2025 to 2023 - ABC Baltimore
"The 'Fair Wage Act' also includes an inflation buster, in that starting in 2025, all future wage increases would be tied to the Maryland Area Consumer Price Index."
The minimum wage is indexed for inflation in 19 states and D.C., meaning it is automatically adjusted each year for increases in prices. See:
EPI Minimum Wage Tracker
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Reducing Child Poverty in the United States - Brookings Hamilton Project event
Well worth watching, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), a leading advocate of expanding the child tax credit (CTC) to include all low-income families, begins this discussion (min. 11:10) by laying out values and ideas aligning with much of what's advocated on this website. Panels of leaders and experts then examine the economic impacts of child poverty and propose national and state-level solutions. Among these is a proposed compromise (see below) to bridge differences between Democrats and Republicans on expanding the CTC.
A proposal for an enhanced partially refundable Child Tax Credit - Brookings
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The long-term effects of conditional cash transfer programmes: Evidence from Colombia - VoxDev
"Conditional cash transfer programmes can have long-term benefits by reducing crime, lowering adolescent fertility and increasing school attendance as well as formal employment."
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Did Lina Khan Just Slash Insulin Prices? - Matt Stoller/BIG
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Norfolk Southern Workers Win Paid Sick Days – Hyundai to Divest from Plant that Used Child Labor – BBC Reporters to Strike - Payday Report
While most salaried workers take paid sick time for granted, millions of hourly and tipped workers without it take a pay cut when they go to the doctor or hospital.
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All Workers Should Have A Few Paid Sick Days. The President And Congress Can Make It Happen - HealthAffairs
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Student Debt Forgiveness Benefit Distribution, FY2022
THE BIDEN STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS PLAN: BUDGETARY COSTS AND DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT - Penn Wharton Budget Model
A slice for everyone - except taxpayers and people who don't go to college.
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Conservative Justices Appear Ready To Scrap Biden's Student Loan Plan — But It Might Survive Because Of Standing - Yahoo
"The conservative justices also took aim at the program for violating the court’s major questions doctrine. They asked how it could be possible for such a large program with a cost of $500 billion to not constitute a major question of 'vast economic or political significance.'"
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"Hunger cliff" looms as 32 states are set to cut food-stamp benefits - CBS
SNAP Emergency Allotments State Fact Sheets - FRAC
"As of March 1, 2023, all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants will suffer cuts to their benefits each month as the temporary, pandemic-era SNAP boosts known as Emergency Allotments come to an end."
Find Your Local Food Bank - Feeding America
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What are the basic priorities and big ideas in the 2023 Farm Bill debate? - Purdue University
Bread & circus: hunger games on Capitol Hill.
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Worker Earnings, Service Quality, and Firm Profitability: Evidence from Nursing Homes and Minimum Wage Reforms - MIT
"...higher minimum wages increase income and retention among low-wage employees and improve consumer outcomes, measured by fewer inspection violations; lower rates of adverse, preventable health conditions; and lower resident mortality. Firms maintain profitability by attracting consumers with a greater ability to pay and increasing prices for these individuals."
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How do rich people avoid taxes? Wealthy Americans skirt $160 billion a year in tax payment - USA Today
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America's 401(k) millionaires have plunged by a third - CBS
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A PPP plan for East Palestine - Sen. J.D. Vance/WaPost
It's good to see newly elected Sen. J.D. Vance stick up for the low-income community in his state struck by the toxic impact of the recent railroad disaster. But a program like the PPP would be the wrong response from Washington.
In a recent analysis of Covid stimulus spending, we noted: "Not only was the PPP riddled with fraud, the free “loans” to prevent businesses from closing and laying off staff were a "fire hose" of untargeted, unaudited spending. Much of it went to businesses and non-profits that already had adequate financing and to high-income people."
With the senator's colleagues in the House expected to hold further hearings to probe PPP fraud, direct aid to residents based on injury and need could help more. East Palestine residents also are gearing up for court battles including redress through the tort system.
Erin Brockovich urges East Palestine residents to document health conditions as some diagnosed with bronchitis - Fox
“They have upended people’s lives”: East Palestine residents speak out at Erin Brockovich town hall meeting - WSWS
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EEA1 – the causes of current inflation - Michael Roberts
Capitalists, the state and globalization - Branko Milanovic/Global Inequality
"The tendency to create the world market is directly given in a concept of capital itself. Every limit appears as a barrier to be overcome…In accord with this tendency, capital drives beyond national barriers and prejudices as much as beyond nature worship, as well as all traditional, confined, complacent…reproductions of old ways of life. It is destructive towards all of this, and constantly revolutionizes it, tearing down all the barriers which hem in the development of the forces of production, the expansion of needs…” etc. (Grundrisse).
Reimagining The James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Debate - NPR
What Would It Take to Balance the Budget? An Update - CRFB
"In this analysis, we show that in order to achieve budgetary balance within a decade all spending would need to be cut by 27 percent and the necessary cut would grow to 78 percent if defense, veterans, Social Security, and Medicare spending were off the table. These cuts would be so large that it would require the equivalent of ending all nondefense appropriations and eliminating the entire Medicaid program just to get to balance...
"Of course, the task is made more feasible by adopting a combination of different types of spending reductions and reforms along with new revenue, user fees, and stronger economic growth. But even then, achieving balance within a decade is incredibly challenging. Enacting the $7 trillion CRFB Fiscal Blueprint, which puts all parts of the budget and taxes on the table, would reduce the 2032 deficit to 2.9 percent of GDP (down from 6.6 percent) when incorporating stronger economic growth effects – still far short of balance."
This analysis would be more helpful if it included options to raise revenue as well as to cut spending.
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TPC estimates of making the Individual Income Tax and Estate Tax Provisions in the 2017 Tax Act Permanent, by ECI Percentiles, 2026
Comment: If the tax cuts lapse or are repealed, the bottom quintiles could be held harmless.
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Opinion: Here’s a dirty little secret about Trump’s tax cuts - WaPost
"Here’s a dirty little secret about those expensive, unpopular Trump tax cuts: We’re probably stuck with them for good, because neither party seems to have the political courage to let them lapse. Not the Republicans who supposedly care about fiscal responsibility, and not the Democrats who are on record as hating them."
We'll see. What happens will provide a clue about whom the political parties are working for.
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Striking it Richer:
The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (Updated with 2019-2021 estimates) -
Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley
"What’s new for recent years?
COVID 2019-2021: Record surge in top incomes fueled by capital gains"
"From 2019 (the year before the COVID crisis hit) to 2021. (the year the economy recovered from the crisis), real average incomes per family have grown by 13.1%.
"This very large growth hides substantial inequality as bottom 99% real incomes grew by only 4.1% from 2019 to 2021 while the top 1% grew by 46.6%."
Top 7 billionaires in US healthcare - Becker's Hospital Review
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The Dysfunctional Health Benefits Market and Implications for US Employers and Employees - JAMA
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Dysfunctional Employee Benefits Article in Journal of the American Medical Association - Eric Bricker, MD
Bottom line: Because they profit over time from rising health costs by getting a cut, health insurers do not function properly as agents (fiduciaries) for employee benefit plans or participants. This structural flaw is harming employees and families who can no longer afford health care coverage and hence care. Researchers recommend DOL change ERISA fiduciary duty standards to correct this contradiction.
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Here's some past work on ERISA dealing with issues that developed when plan sponsors deployed "managed care" strategies to control health care cost growth:
"ERISA Health Plan Liability: Issues and Options for Reform" - GWU
"Emerging Issues in the Use of Binding Arbitration to Resolve Disputes between Individuals and Health Plans" - GWU ... (arbitration update)
Pre-ACA overview of interplay of ERISA and state law: "ERISA and Variation in CA Health Plan Consumer Protections" - CHCF
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Russia-Ukraine: one year of war – the economics - Michael Roberts
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At least 11 Palestinians killed and scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid - NBC
Dear Congress & WH: Need to spend less money? What about cutting military support to one of the most racist regimes on Earth?
Israel-Gaza: How much money does Israel get from the US? - BBC
How the US Is Bankrolling Israel - Mother Jones
"Consider also that this top recipient of such aid—nearly all of it military since 2008—has been busily engaged in what looks like a nineteenth-century-style colonization project. In the late 1940s, our beneficiary expelled some 700,000 indigenous people from the land it was claiming. In 1967, our client seized some contiguous pieces of real estate and ever since has been colonizing these territories with nearly 650,000 of its own people." (2014)
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Israel’s ‘nation-state law’ parallels the Nazi Nuremberg Laws - Aljazeera
Nuremberg Laws - Wiki
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India at a Crossroads -
Union Pacific Railroad Workers Win Paid Sick Days – Fayetteville Bus Drivers Strike 2nd Time in 2 Years – Anti-Caste Discrimination Legislation Introduced in Seattle - Payday Report
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The state of our families: Child and dependent tax benefits in the states - Niskanen Center
New York’s proposed Working Family Tax Credit is the boldest reform yet - Niskanen Center
"Overall, the credit is a great example of the benefits of 'targeting within universalism,” where all families receive support, but additional support is provided to lower-income families with the greatest need."
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End the Charitable Tax Exemption and Remove the Conflict of Interest Baked Into Big Philanthropy - CoP
"This circle of self-serving charitable giving has helped to spawn a permanent, parasitic, and professional philanthropic class that knows who butters its bread: Big Philanthropy. America’s professional philanthropic class includes employees of universities, think tanks, philanthropies, investment banks, financial and philanthropic advisers, charitable foundations, and thousands of nonprofit organizations. All drink from the same government-regulated trough of tax-advantaged charitable funding. This renders Big Philanthropy apologists as suspect as Big Tobacco advocates in the 1970s."
Has the US non-profit evolved into an animal that has sex with itself to produce offspring? ... Only donations that end up being spent on services to the poor and disadvantaged should be fully tax favored. Donations to non-profits involved in politics and policy should be fully taxed.
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Fair Taxation, Not Philanthropy - LAP
"Concentrated wealth and power exploit philanthropy and distort its service to the common good. We need to end the use of charitable vehicles for tax dodging or wealth warehousing and increase the flow of money to working charities."
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Mormon church fined $5M for obscuring size of portfolio - AP
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Joel Osteen’s taxes: What’s probably true and what isn’t - Business Insider
Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church opens doors during bitter-cold weather - Houston Chronicle
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"If moving a mountain is too much trouble, another approach is breeding millions of tiny camels that can navigate narrow corridors and tight corners." - unknown accountant
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You Won't Believe What This Bank CEO Earns After a 30% Pay Cut -ascent/motley fool
Key points:
-
The average CEO pay increased by 1,322.2% between 1978 and 2020.
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The average American worker earns $63,214 per year.
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In one study, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 670-to-1.
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How Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage Could Affect Employment and Family Income - CBO interactive tool
CBO cautions of major uncertainty in estimating the impacts of raising the minimum wage. For example, CBO calculates that a higher minimum would both lead to 1) a net reduction in average family income and 2) a reduction of the number of people in poverty. Go figure.
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The Federal Government Should Raise The Minimum Wage - WoodWardAvenue
"Overall, raising the minimum wage would be beneficial to both low-income workers and taxpayers. It would provide a boost to the economy and reduce the number of people who rely on government assistance programs."
Want to cut federal government spending? Why not raise the minimum wage?
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Raising Minimum Wage Would Reduce Public Assistance Spending - National Low Income Housing Coalition
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Some of our work on this issue:
"Considerations on Raising the U.S. Minimum Wage To Help Workers and Families While Minimizing Negative Impacts"
"Congress faces the difficult task of creating a standard high enough to help low-income workers in higher-income areas, yet low enough to be digestible in low-income state and regional economies."
"Yes, raise the minimum wage, but don't stop there" - op-ed
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"Expanding Use, Scope of the EITC & Child Tax Credit: a Win-Win for Workers and Employers"
This paper, originally a memo to the long-term care industry, makes the case that the EITC is a subsidy to employers as well as their employees. Raising the minimum wage could reduce the cost of the EITC and other subsidies based on low income.
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The Darker Truths About the State of Unionizing in the Country — and What Can Be Done to Change Things - Capital & Main
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US wage growth is slowing and not keeping pace with inflation — but that doesn't mean the Fed will stop hiking rates - Business Insider
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Chinese Visit to Moscow Showcases Deepening Ties with Russia - WSJ/msn
China may be on brink of supplying arms to Russia, says Blinken - Guardian
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American Compass Cost-of-Thriving Index
"The middle-class security once enjoyed by American families has slipped out of reach. Americans know this to be true: Raising a family in middle-class security on a single income is rarely possible for the typical worker, and ever more young people are forgoing marriage and dropping out of the workforce...
"In 1985, a basket of major annual costs for a family of four (food, housing, health care, transportation, higher education) took a typical male worker about 40 weeks to afford. In 2022, that figure had shot to 62 weeks, driven by stagnating wages and rising costs.
"In other words, in 1985, a single full-time earner could support a family with room to save, but today, a comparable man could work all year and still come up ten weeks short."
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Why Conservative Women Report Being the Happiest—and How You Can Be, Too - AEI
Are marriage and family undervalued in US culture?
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Remembering artist Jesse Treviño, who rebuilt life and career after war’s toll - San Antonio Report
Jesse Trevino, painter who persevered after Vietnam War injuries, dies at 76 - msn/WaPost
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Sunday, February 19, 2023
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Mark 11:22-25 NIV
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Pyramid of Capitalist System - wiki
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State treasurer challenges NC health system executive pay as medical costs rise - Charlotte Observer
"Folwell has called the healthcare industry in North Carolina a cartel, expressing frustration at the lack of transparency on prices for healthcare services.
"'This is the largest transfer of wealth, especially from low- and fixed-income people, of anything that I’ve ever observed in my business career,' the treasurer said. 'It’s all being financed, especially on the backs proportionately of low and fixed-income people – sick low-income and fixed-income people.'"
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Fat Joe Calls On President Biden And Others To Protect Hospital Patients Against Hospitals And Insurance Companies - msn
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Republicans take aim at food stamps in growing fight over federal debt - WaPost
"Some GOP lawmakers are eyeing work requirements and other changes to the SNAP program in a bid to reduce the deficit."
No problem with establishing adequate work incentives. But is the timing right as the Fed continues driving up interest rates in an effort to slow the economy and increase unemployment as a way to stifle inflation?
SNAP Is and Remains Our Most Effective Tool to Combat Hunger - CBPP
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MORE THAN 100 CHILDREN ILLEGALLY EMPLOYED IN HAZARDOUS JOBS, FEDERAL INVESTIGATION FINDS; FOOD SANITATION CONTRACTOR PAYS $1.5M IN PENALTIES - US DOL
U.S. fines firm $1.5 million for hiring kids to clean meatpacking plants - WaPost
"In a statement, a spokeswoman for Packers said the company has a 'zero-tolerance policy' on employing underage workers. Packers is privately owned by Blackstone, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, and employs roughly 17,000 workers."
Q for policymakers: Do you think a $1.5 million fine will influence the behavior of a private equity firm with $1 trillion in assets under management? If not, what might?
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Alexandria ends ‘unconstitutional' BIPOC Small Business Grant program, seeks new solutions - msn
That nettlesome 14th amendment...
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U.S. Health Care from a Global Perspective, 2022: Accelerating Spending, Worsening Outcomes - Commonwealth Fund
Gigantic flags displayed on TV football games notwithstanding, can it be that major US health care purchasers - employers and the government - are very dumb negotiators compared with foreign counterparts? Probably not, from their perspective: US health care decision makers are generally high-income and get excellent health care for themselves and their families...Future international research and comparisons should include distributional analysis of how citizens in the top, middle, and bottom strata compare in health costs, access, and outcomes.
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The company behind Ohio’s toxic train disaster: Deaths, silenced whistleblowers, and $10bn for shareholders - Independent
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Universal raises hourly wage to $17, setting pace for parks - AP
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Twin Peaks Employees Go on Strike - Nashville Scene
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Alaska governor drops college degree requirement for most state jobs to fight worker shortage - Hill
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The highest-paying jobs in Washington, D.C. for high school graduates - msn
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Older Americans Are Richer Than Thought, Census Bureau Says - Bloomberg
"...the general trend was to revise incomes up for older households, and revise them down for younger ones — widening the generational gap."
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Maryland sought an accurate poverty count. It found 110,000 more kids. - WaPost
"Child poverty in Maryland is deeper and more widespread than previously calculated, with a new state government analysis finding that more than half of public school students now qualify for a range of anti-poverty programs."
Implications for the bottom 50%?
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Long live Social Security: chief actuary says Bernie Sanders’s plan would keep program alive another 75 years - Marketwatch
Click here for CCSE work on Social Security and retirement savings policy
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How the Supreme Court turned America into a casino - Charles Lane/WaPost
"American capitalism has come a long way since Max Weber, roughly 120 years ago, argued that it epitomized a 'Protestant ethic," which sanctified savings, investment and other productivity-enhancing deferrals of gratification.
"Legal sports betting — at times with money borrowed via credit cards — typifies 'limbic capitalism.'"
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Because The U.S. Is Too Corrupt To Pass Privacy Legislation, Data Brokers Increasingly Traffic In Sensitive Mental Health Data - techdirt
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Data Brokers and the Sale of Americans’ Mental Health Data - Duke University
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Why Americans need protection from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - George Will/WaPost
One way or the other, how long before the CFPB is captured by financial interests it regulates?
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Supreme Court Gives President Power To Fire Key Independent Agency Chief - NPR
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Biden Administration Proposes Big Change To Benefits For People With Disabilities - HuffPost
Good first step. Keep going.
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CCSE on this issue:
SSI Needs Fixing: Chronic neglect is choking off access to Social Security’s critical backstop – and pushing more
blind, disabled and old people into poverty. - Karl Polzer
Social Security's disability program desperately needs fixing - Washington Examiner op-ed
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Unmasking India’s Crony Capitalist Oligarchy -
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Lower income brackets have to commute as top earners work from home - Evening Standard
"More than 60% of those earning less than £30,000 said they were required to travel to work every day with no work-from-home option."
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The crisis of democratic capitalism - Michael Roberts
Interesting discussion of book by Martin Wolf. Schumpeter goes deeper:
"Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" - wiki
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First baby in Kentucky is anonymously left at one of its 'baby box' at fire station - Daily Mail
"All 50 states in the US now have 'safe haven' laws, which allow parents to give up their children without fear of criminal charges. More than 10 states have since permitted the installation of baby boxes."
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Poll: Reeves trails Presley in 2023 governor’s race, welfare scandal a top issue - Mississippi Today
GOP has been chanting "Let's go Brandon" for a long time. Be careful what you... :)
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Millions of people are about to get kicked off Medicaid - Vox
"It is an absurdity of the American health system, compared to those of other developed countries, that millions of vulnerable people could end up becoming uninsured in a matter of months. But even in normal times, because of how our health system is set up, people with low incomes shift frequently between different insurance coverage, going from Medicaid to ACA insurance subsidized by the federal government or not having any insurance at all.
"It’s called “churn,” and it has long been recognized as a problem. In 2018, about 10 percent of Medicaid enrollees cycled on and off the program within a year."
Unjust absurdities - after decades of legislative neglect - become intentional.
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If Medicare And Social Security Are Off The Table, Medicaid Could Be A GOP Target - HuffPost
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Biden and Democratic governors embrace the new (old) class politics - E.J. Dionne Jr./WaPost
Some Dems are saying the right things about returning to New Deal values. But the columnist's parting comment (see below) shows that fighting for workers is no longer in the party's DNA. To Dionne and other top-20% members of the Dem elite, doing more frontline workers is seen as a political "wager" rather than a commitment:
"...Whitmer still believes in the oldest of progressive dreams, that some of the country’s deepest divides could be eased if politicians were more attentive to people’s economic needs. 'There are a lot of similarities between poor inner cities and small towns and rural parts' of her state, she said. 'A feeling that they’re just a number or they don’t matter or they’re not on anyone’s radar.' Her word of advice to those in her business: 'Listen.'
"A lot is riding on this wager being right."
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NY Mayor Eric Adams praised for revealing uncomfortable theory about Democratic Party, wokeism and minorities - Fox
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There Is More Inflation Complexity Ahead - Mohamed El-Erian/PS
More macroeconomics roulette: Choose between door #1, #2 (double wide), or #3. Tiger or pussycat?
Don't care for the doors and tigers metaphor? What about this one for the Fed and monetary policy?
Sorcerer's Apprentice - Fantasia/YouTube
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Economy Remains the Public’s Top Policy Priority; COVID-19 Concerns Decline Again - PEW
"Aside from the economy, no single policy area stands out. About six-in-ten rate several issues as top priorities: reducing health care costs (60%), defending against terrorism (60%), reducing the influence of money in politics (59%), reducing the budget deficit (57%), reducing crime (57%) and improving education (57%)."
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An anonymous donor reportedly walked into the Turkish Embassy in the US and gave $30 million to aid victims of the devastating earthquake - msn
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Sunday, February 12, 2023
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Why Americans are leaving their churches - Religion News Service
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Top 5 reasons Black millennials are leaving the church - Defender
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Israel: A Jewish democracy or religious state? - Jerusalem Post
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Mob storms Pakistan police station and lynches man accused of blasphemy - Guardian
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"Why the conventional tools of the Phillips Curve, NAIRU, potential output, and money-supply growth are useless"
The Quasi-Inflation of 2021-2022: A Case of Bad Analysis and Worse Response - James Galbraith/INET
"In brief summary: The price increases of 2021-2022 were cost-driven, accompanied by an asset price boom incident to the disruption of the service economy. They were not driven by macroeconomic excess, neither fiscal nor monetary. But they did hand the Federal Reserve a political problem, which it proceeded to solve, in what may prove to be the worst way." ...
"What did households do with the (stimulus) money? For the vast majority, laid-off from low-to-moderate-wage service jobs, the best answer (Peterson Foundation 2021) appears to be that they kept up with their ordinary, fixed, and customary expenses: rent, utilities, groceries, gasoline, education. They did not splurge, but for these households, there was only a modest increase in savings. For households in the upper tiers of the distribution, the picture is different. They had previously spent heavily on the services that employed the large majority of American workers; they were less likely to become unemployed and the assistance was a less-important share of their incomes. But they were cut off from the ordinary use of their earnings. So they saved what they could not spend, and aggregate savings rose temporarily to about one-third of aggregate income. These savings then found their way into asset markets: real estate, corporate equities, collectibles, and the like, with purchases abetted by extremely low long-term interest rates. Asset prices, accordingly, recovered quickly and rose sharply as the pandemic wore on."
So, to what degree did the asset price bubbles increase money available to bid up prices of goods and labor in response to supply constraints? Did low bond yields resulting from Fed actions cut off saving/investment options that might have tempered inflation?
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GOP Virginia House kills paid sick day bills - VICPP
"The House paid sick day bills were killed. The Senate one passed out of committee but with an exemption for employers with fewer than 25 employees. We oppose this exemption and will be asking you to have conversations with some of the Senators about why there should be no employer size exemptions. We have talked with the patron about working with us next year to fight for a bill to cover all workers regardless of employer size (like most paid sick day policies around the country)."
Here's what we posted before the 2022 legislative session. Sent this to several VA newspapers but they weren't interested:
"What about a few paid sick days? Are low-wage workers
simply invisible to Virginia’s elected leaders?"
Also see:
"The spreading virus calls for fast action on paid sick days for health and personal care workers" - Karl Polzer/CCSE
"All Workers Should Have A Few Paid Sick Days. The President And Congress Can Make It Happen" - HealthAffairs blog
"To stop coronavirus, take quick action on paid sick days" - Washington Examiner op-ed
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TRADE POLICY, EQUITY, AND THE WORKING POOR /PPI
"The U.S. MFN tariff system is a regressive element of the U.S. tax system, with disproportionate effects on low-income families (in particular, single-parent families), and also on African American and Hispanic families relative to families of other races and ethnicities. This emerges from four points:
"(1) U.S. MFN tariffs raise revenue principally from home necessities such as clothes, shoes, and a few other consumer goods. These make up only a small share of imports but provide more than half of MFN tariff revenue.
"(2) This fact makes the MFN tariff system a regressive form of taxation, since low-income families, single-parent families, and African American and Hispanic families spend more of their family budgets on these products than the U.S. average.
"(3) U.S. MFN tariffs on these and several other categories of consumer goods are systematically skewed, taxing cheap goods heavily and luxury goods lightly, making the MFN tariff system discriminatory as well as regressive.
"(4) Tariffs on consumer goods appear ineffective as protectors of employment or production.
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The Regressive Nature of the U.S. Tariff Code: Origins and Implications - Miguel Acosta and Lydia Cox
"... (US) consumers would save a little over $4 billion on imported goods (via savings on tariff revenues) if the regressive
pattern were eliminated... (when) we lower tariffs uniformly by 5 percentage points
across all varieties, the average welfare gain for an individual earning $20,000 per year is around double the gain for an individual earning $100,000 per year. When we additionally eliminate the
regressivity in tariff rates, the lower-income individual gains about three times as much...
"We show that regressivity has been a longstanding feature of U.S. tariffs, and is a feature of the tariff schedule of the E.U."
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What women’s underwear tells us about our trade system - Catherine Rampell/WaPost
"So why aren’t feminists and anti-poverty advocates up in arms? Perhaps because there’s such limited understanding of how the U.S. trade system works. Like so many features of government, it is cloaked in complexity. Plus, those who usually fight for more equitable treatment might be loath to take on the political allies who push protectionism.
"Maybe someday we’ll build a trade system that’s friendlier to women and the poor. Now that would be romantic."
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News Blog: Jan. 10 - Feb. 9, 2023 - Click here.
Time to get their ducks in a row?
Dec. 15, 2022
Who’s More Likely To Find Gifts from Congress under the X-Mas Tree? Low-income Families - or Well-off Retirees and Corporate Shareholders?
"As time ticks down for 117th U.S. Congress to pass a year-end spending package, it will be interesting to see which strata of society our lame-duck lawmakers might gift the most if a deal can be reached. Will they deliver corporate tax breaks for those at the top? Good chance. Corporate tax breaks may be the prerequisite for anyone else getting anything.
"What about tax-code adjustments mostly benefiting well-off owners of retirement funds? Possible. As described as a case study below, long-prepared, bipartisan legislation – aka the Secure Act 2 or Earn ACT— is ready for final touches and attachment to a spending bill.
"What about something that could help people at the bottom..."
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Go Dawgs!
Capitalizing on college football
"In U.S. college sports -- as in the nation’s broader blend of capitalism and socialism -- political leverage can be advantageous. Winning football coaches now sit at the top of the public university food chain. They are emblems of both American economic opportunity and inequality..."
Thanks to the Washington Examiner for publishing this op-ed.
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P.S. The draft, titled "Capitalizing on the public-private college football plantation," includes links to the classic Marx Brothers film "Horsefeathers."
Oct. 26, 2021
Responses received from Virginia campaigns for governor
Last week, the Center on Capital & Social Equity, which operates from Northern Virginia, sent a short list of questions to policy and press people working on the two Virginia campaigns for governor. We are pleased that both campaigns sent responses but would have liked to see more specific answers to many of the questions.
Our motivation in asking these questions is to help focus the next governor on the needs of low-income people who make up a large portion of Virginia’s population. Their everyday challenges are often ignored by their political representatives. Attention to detail and commitment will be keys to developing and implementing policies that will help improve their lives on issues including adequate wages, paid sick days, access to mental health care, the cost of living,and affordable health care. We look forward to working with the next administration on these and other matters.
November 20th, 2021 Grocery Store Labor Action - All Workers Deserve Paid Sick Days - Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy
"Grocery store workers are one of the best examples of why Virginia needs a paid sick day standard. Two-thirds of grocery store workers have no paid sick days. Virginians for Paid Sick Days is partnering with UFCW Local 400 to hold actions outside grocery stores on the Saturday of November 20, 2021 (the Saturday before Thanksgiving) highlighting the need for all grocery store workers to have paid sick days."
Thanks to the Washington Post for publishing most of our letter:
"Push the pain of taxes into the afterlife"
Really don't think that a particular billionaire (hint: cojones enough to be shot into space) would have objected to being mentioned as in the letter submitted:
"A Smart Way To Tax the Rich: Let Sleeping Billionaires Lie"
Biden’s spending spree could destabilize Social Security - Karl Polzer
"President Joe Biden’s plan to inject $4 trillion of social and capital infrastructure spending into a $21 trillion economy could help many people take care of their families. But there are also major economic and political downsides. These risks could be reduced, and the proposal’s value increased, by putting Social Security on the table and targeting new social spending to people most in need..."
The Center on Capital & Social Equity explores and promotes ways to include all workers and families in the output of capitalist economies. (See chart above.) All should have the opportunity to own shares of working capital. One way to mitigate the negative effects of monopolies, which antitrust regulation cannot entirely control, is through widespread profit sharing. This can be done by setting up a universal retirement savings system.
