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Dave Zirin: “FIFA’s World Cup is for the wealthy, not for the people”

Here in polyglot New York, pop into any bar, restaurant or even dry cleaner and chances are there’s a TV set tuned to the World Cup. And Monday’s surprise United States victory over rival Ghana — the cheers when the US scored the winning goal rocked my neighborhood — has increased attention even more. The fever has taken hold in our city as it has around the planet, with hundreds of millions watching the soccer — football — action from Brazil, this year’s host country.
June 20, 2014 |
Salon
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Economy & Opportunity 
Will President Obama Use Executive Action to Improve Working Conditions?

Once upon a time, the term “government job” was not synonymous with boondoggles, corruption or the perennial “waste, fraud and abuse.” During the New Deal, the state proudly created jobs and spent public money as a vital intervention to check the excesses of market capitalism. Today, the public is disgusted with both fiscal policy and the free market.
June 20, 2014 |
The Nation
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Jobs & Income 
Policy Group Seeks Action to Boost Conditions for Workers at Federal Contracting Firms

A public policy group instrumental in a successful campaign to win a higher minimum wage for federal contract workers is now aiming at a larger target — federal contracting companies.

Demos, in a report released Wednesday, said Uncle Sam could better use his $1.3 trillion in purchasing power by pushing government contractors to improve conditions for their employees.
June 19, 2014 |
Washington Post
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Jobs & Income 
Ask the Experts: How Can We Solve the Young Adult Unemployment Crisis?

For young adults who entered the workforce between the start of the Great Recession in 2009 to the present, days spent searching for jobs — any jobs at all — have stretched into weeks, months and even years. This endless disappointment seems to be the new normal for a generation of young people who were once assured that if they graduated from high school, attended college and studied hard, they would enjoy gainful employment in the field of their choosing.
June 18, 2014 |
NationSwell
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Jobs & Income 
Obama urged to act on America's 'crisis of inequality'

Eight million mostly female workers and their families rely on low-wage jobs supported by the government's $1.3tn annual spending on goods and services, according to a new report.

The report by Demos, which examines how the federal contracting system contributes to inequality, found that 21 million people – 7% of the US population – rely on low-wage jobs in the federally dependent workforce. Demos is a liberal public policy thinktank that focuses on economic issues.
June 18, 2014 |
The Guardian
Is $10.10 An Acceptable Minimum Wage?

A higher federal minimum wage may be a pipe dream in a stalled Congress but with cities and states increasingly raising their own minimums and more workers protesting nationally, President Obama had to get in on the action. For workers employed by federal contractors only Obama issued an executive order this February raising the minimum wage to $10.10. But is that enough? Some of those workers didn’t think so.
June 18, 2014 |
Colorlines
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Jobs & Income 
Time to Stand Up and Fight for a More Perfect Union

We live in a populist moment. The Great Recession shattered the myths and lies of the conservative era. Barack Obama’s historic election briefly lifted hopes, but they were dashed in a recovery that still fails most Americans. A young generation, bequeathed unprecedented debt, lousy or no jobs, and a calamitous climate, has every reason to challenge business as usual.
June 18, 2014 |
The Nation
Big Ideas: On Superheroes, Inequality and Hollywood

Mytheos Holt for the R Street Institute: In what is likely the most bizarre story you will read all week, Seattle resident, trained fighter and self-proclaimed “superhero” (read: costumed vigilante) Phoenix Jones has decided to disband his team, the Rain City Superhero Movement (RCSM), citing an amusing problem: A lot of people seeking to join it aren't all that … well … super. ...
June 13, 2014 |
Washington Examiner
Payments need a lighter touch

Competition and innovation in bank payments risk being undermined if the system’s new regulator is too heavy handed, a report from Demos Finance warns.

The government is setting up a regulator to ensure new and smaller banks get a fair deal when using larger rivals’ systems. But analysts at Demos worry some actions to address this could backfire, prompting banks to withdraw services rather than comply. The think tank also wants the new regulator to consider potential uses for collecting tax data.
June 13, 2014 |
City AM
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Financial Reform 
High Cost to Focusing on Student Loans Over Saving

This week, President Obama ordered changes to the federal student loan program that could help millions of borrowers make their payments more affordable starting in December 2015.
June 13, 2014 |
New York Times
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Higher Education