The Cato Institute came out with a big study recently that argues the familiar point that generous welfare payments undermine incentives to work. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities promptly replied with a four-page paper rebutting key aspects of the report.
If I were a top executive in the retail or restaurant industries, or one of their hired guns in Washington, I'd be very nervous right now.
Tomorrow will see what may be the first-ever national strike against restaurant and retail chains, with workers expected to walk off the jobs in 35 cities -- including at retail giants like Sears, Macy's, and Walmart.
Most research on rising economic inequality focuses on growing wage gaps between different groups of workers. But of course that is only part of the story. Just as important is the division of the national economic pie between profits going to capitalists and the “labor share” that includes all of the wages and benefits earned by workers.
Walmart employees and their supporters have planned national protests today to demand an increase of their wages. Here is why the average American should support the workers’ demands.
At this point, it's hardly news that Walmart is a pioneer of modern union-busting. And the revelation that Walmart has illegally disciplined 80 workers since June -- including firing 20 -- for their involvement in union activity is no surprise.
The American middle class has been in trouble for decades, but this was not obvious until the recession of 2008 because consumer purchases held up. How was that possible? The simple answer is that financiers devised ways to loan money that severed the link between profits and middle-class wellbeing.
When it comes to financial products, the line between employee and consumer often becomes blurry. If your boss insists that you receive your wages on a pre-paid debit card that charges high fees to access your earnings or check your balance it’s clearly a serious employment problem. And yet consumer law may be workers’ best remedy.
The top .01 percent of earners made nearly five percent of the national income in 2012. That’s just 16,000 Americans that make over ten million dollars a year.
Philadelphia City Council’s Committee on Law and Governance heard testimony on Wednesday supporting charter amendments to extend wage protections for subcontracted city workers. The committee voted in support of the changes and the full Council could vote on it as early as this Thursday. Should it pass that vote, it will become a ballot referendum in May at the earliest.
The solutions necessary to revive and rebuild the middle class are not just choices to intervene after decades of standing by – they are also choices to stop intervening in ways that actively promote corporate interests over those of working people.
Philadelphia Council authorized a public vote on Bill 130532 last Thursday. The bill amends the city charter to provide better wage protections and benefits for subcontracted city workers. The referendum will appear on the Spring 2014 ballot. Council supported this item unanimously.
Suppose we think income redistribution is a good idea -- given near-record corporate profits at a time when wages for most workers are stagnant. There are two main ways to achieve this goal: We could make business pick up the tab directly by raising the minimum wage, making it easier for workers to form unions, and mandating more employee benefits, such as paid vacation time. Or, we could leave business alone, but give poorly paid workers public benefits like tax refunds, free health insurance, food assistance, and so on.
We live in an age when credit card debt has skyrocketed among young adults. It has risen 104 percent from 1992 to 2004 among 18- to 24-year-olds according to "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Young Americans," a report from Demos, a nonpartisan, nonprofit New York City-based research organization.
Over the past decade, credit card debt among 18-24 year olds rose by 104 percent according to a report released by the nonprofit research organization Demos entitled "Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Young Americans."
Although over a third of young adults own credit cards, young people receive little in the way of financial education.
Demos concludes that any meaningful attempt to explain the widening debt gap between Latino and African-American families and their white counterparts must take into account the larger social, cultural and economic forces driving credit card debt.
According to New York-based Demos, between 1998 and 2001, Latino households saw a 19% growth in credit card balances, African Americans stood at 10% and white households saw an 11% decrease.
As Javier Silva, senior research associate at Demos, a research and advocacy group, explained: "Prices have gone up so high that a lot of people can't afford to get into the market - so lenders have responded with these products," he said, stressing the popular loan world euphemism.
