Media

Heather McGhee, a national leader, policy expert and communicator, has been named the next president of Demos.

One of the more concrete actions President Obama can take tomorrow is announcing an executive order to raise the wages of federal contractors. As my colleagues, Amy Traub and Robbie Hiltonsmith found the federal government is the nation’s leading low-wage employer, with nearly two million private sector employees paid through federal contracts, grants, loans, concession agreements and property leases were paid $12 or less per hour.

Earlier this month, the New York Times and other media reported on a new study by Harvard financial economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart. It concludes that the duration of the recovery from the 2007/08 recession and financial crisis is similar to historical recessions that were linked to financial panics. The recovery period is measured by a return to levels of GDP per capita in various countries over a long historic period.

When it comes to income inequality, Emmanuel Saez and Raj Chetty are two of the most important academics in the field. With professional clout, access to the best data, and a renewed public interest in the topic since Occupy Wall Street, the release of the Saez et al.

While the State of the Union is a unique opportunity for President Obama to talk directly with all Americans, this year's speech has special significance for African Americans.

The 2014 speech emphasizes three primary themes—opportunity, action, and optimism. Opportunity initially appears the most relevant to African Americans, as the President likely will talk about increasing the minimum wage to over $10, job training, and expanded Pre-K programs.

If Congress won't raise the federal minimum wage, you can. At least for people who work for companies that get federal contracts, subcontracts and grants.

So says a group of liberals in the House and Senate who want President Obama to sign an executive order requiring federal agencies to give preference in awarding contracts to companies that pay workers no less than $10.10 an hour. [...]

Pew is out with a new poll on inequality and social mobility, with the usual findings about how divided the public is about these issues -- with Republicans tending to shrug their shoulders about inequality and blame individuals or government for people's economic problems, and Democrats tending to blame larger circumstances.

"I really enjoyed my time at Oberlin and I felt like I was learning, but I wasn't progressing towards a job at the end of graduation," said Ned Lindau, a 2011 graduate from Oberlin College in Ohio. He noted that his liberal arts education focused on students exploring subjects that they were interested in learning, not the practicality of a job after college.