WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | It is twice easier getting a minimum wage job with no benefits at Wal-Mart than being admitted as an undergrad to Harvard. The comparison shows how extreme is the labor market in the US for non-educated workers, and also that, in today’s world, getting a first-class education can be easier than a third-class job.
MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | Higher capital requirements for US banks, aggressive moves in the airline industry and much more…
NEW YORK | By Richard Kirsch via next New Deal | If we are to give American workers the ability to bargain for a fair share of the wealth they create, we need strengthen labor law and bring in 34 millions workers (one-in-four) who are now excluded from the National Labor Relations Act. These include domestic workers, farmworkers, front-line workers with minimum supervisory responsibilities, and public employees.
NEW YORK | By Nell Abernathy via Next New Deal |Unemployment is still a major problem in the U.S., and the best solutions involve a more aggressive government response. The skeptics will argue that the government is too inefficient and bureaucratic to effectively create middle class jobs and support economic growth. But the 2009 stimulus package provides a prime example of effective government intervention: it was designed to create 2-3 million jobs, and it succeeded.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Does anybody remember where the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was five years ago? At 666. Since then, the S&P 500 has gone up a whopping 175 percent. The market has defied fiscal cliffs, Republican obstructionism, three rounds of Quantitative Easing, the start of the Fed’s ‘tapering’, the change in Chinese leadership, the euro near-collapse, a nuclear catastrophe in Japan, a wave of revolutions in the Middle East, and even a Russian invasion of Crimea.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Germany’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, finishes his two-day visit to Washington today with at least some unintended achievement: the U.S. and Germany agree on the importance of a truly independent and democratic Ukraine. The revolution in Kiev and the menacing attitude of Russia have prompted an unexpected rapprochement between Berlin and Washington. However, a real warming up of US-German relations seems improbable.
NEW YORK | By Robert Johnson via Next New Deal | The pensions crisis has far-reaching implications for the future of the U.S. economy: the state and local government sector is about 14 percent of the American workforce. What broke the system, and how do we fix it? Beyond the economic crisis, which put enormous pressure on state and municipal budgets, poor decision-making and the influence of big money interests has led to the underfunding of some state and city public pensions.
SAO PAOLO | By Marcus Nunes | Let´s see. For his memoirs as Fed Chairman Greenspan pocketed 8 million from Penguin. Given PCE inflation Bernanke should get at least 9 million from the same editor. But Bernanke´s book is worth more. Greenspan presided over the Great Moderation. Great Moderations don´t give rise to dramas as does a Great Recession (Lesser Depression).
WASHINGTON | By Areeba Kamal via The Next New Deal | Unless the [U.S.] Federal Communications Commission takes a stand, American consumers stand to lose their open access to the Internet, while providers will rake in even greater profits.
WASHINGTON | By Alan Smith via The Next New Deal | Anchor institutions like universities and hospitals have the power to establish a living wage and a stronger economy. President Obama plans to sign an executive order requiring workers under federal contractors to be paid at least $10.10 per hour. This move was be a key point in Tuesday’s State of the Union, and folks across the United States will benefit in very real ways. [NOTE: Temporal references have been edited since the piece was written on Monday.]