Finance and the Economy

Another California Minimum Wage Earthquake?

February 1, 2022 Martin Bennett, Beyond Chron. Organize! California, Finance and the Economy, Minimum Wage, Worker Rights and Jobs

California is the epicenter for a nationwide grassroots movement to raise the wage floor for American workers. On January 1st, the state set $15 an hour as the floor for large employers and $14 an hour for small ones (rising to $15 for all in 2023). Meanwhile, thirty-nine California cities and counties have established higher rates, with Emeryville the highest at $17.13 an hour and most well above $15. The Fight for Fifteen movement has reshaped public opinion, pushing local and state officials around the country to approve a $15 per hour minimum wage. Eleven states and fifty-four cities and counties have $15 minimum wage floors, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), and four in ten workers live in states on the pathway to a $15 minimum wage.

Union Membership Resumes Its Fall

January 31, 2022 Doug Henwood, LBO-News.com. Educate! Equity, Finance and the Economy, Labor Unions, Worker Rights

Union membership fell by almost 2% in 2021 as employment rose by over 3%. That took union density—the share of the workforce belonging to unions—down from 10.8% in 2020 to 10.3% last year, where it was in 2019. Density rose in 2020 because more nonunion workers lost their jobs in the covid crisis than their unionized counterparts, but 2021’s return to employment undid that. For the private sector, just 6.1% of workers were unionized last year, down from 6.3% in 2020, an all-time low for a series that goes back to 1900. (Official numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics began in 1983; I’ve assembled figures for earlier years from various sources.) Public sector density also fell, from 34.8% to 33.9%, not quite a record low. But the number of government workers organized in unions fell by 2.7%, almost four times as much as private sector members. The full history is graphed below.

Financial Superbubble Meets Political Dystopia

January 29, 2022 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. Educate! Bubble, Capitalism, Economic crisis, Finance and the Economy

Because only fools believe they can predict the short-term fluctuations of the economy, let’s follow in the style of Descartes and just retreat to the most basic possible prediction that we are certain will come true. Which is: The current boom in asset prices — high prices not just in one asset, but in stocks, financial assets, real estate, luxury goods, crypto, NFTs and any other hastily invented place where money can flow — will come to an end. Whether that end comes tomorrow or in six months or in a year or in five years is impossible to know for sure, but we do know that the economy moves in cycles, and the current cycle is (very far) on the upside. And what goes up will, inevitably, come down.

Unions Have The Potential And Responsibility To Advance A ‘Just Transition’

January 25, 2022 C.J. Polychroniou, Truthout. Create! Finance and the Economy, Just transition, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The idea of a “just transition” has emerged as an absolute requirement for any progress toward a clean energy future. An energy transformation will impact workers in the fossil fuel industry but will also affect regions and communities differently. A just transition must be designed to ensure that the benefits of greening the economy are shared widely and that no worker is left behind.

Student Leaders Call On Biden To Cancel Student Loan Debt

January 19, 2022 Students Cancel Debt. Resist! Finance and the Economy, Joe Biden, Student Activism, Student Debt

We, the undersigned 111 student government leaders representing over 1.4 million students, write to urge you to exercise your executive authority, as designated by the Higher Education Act of 1965, to cancel all federal student loan debt immediately. As student leaders, we have seen the harrowing financial, social, and mental health impacts that the crushing weight of student loan debt imposes upon students and alumni by exacerbating the financial insecurity, social inequities, and economic stagnation which impacts over 44 million borrowers in the United States. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government recognized the burden of such debt on borrowers, pausing student loan repayments and lowering the interest rate to 0%.

‘Smoking Gun’ Analysis: US Sanctions Produce ‘War Time’ Economy

January 16, 2022 Anya Parampil, The Grayzone. Resistance Report Finance and the Economy, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela

Red Lines Host Anya Parampil Speaks With Francisco R. Rodríguez, The Executive Of Oil For Venezuela, About A Study He Recently Published Which Analyzed The Impact Of US Sanctions On Venezuela’s Economy. Rodríguez shares data which prove sanctions have directly contributed to a major economic contraction in Venezuela, driven mainly by a significant drop in the country’s oil production as a result of the measures. Rodríguez also addresses common arguments made by individuals who seek to obscure the impact US sanctions have had on Venezuela’s economy. Read the study: https://sanctionsandsecurity.org/publications/sanctions-economic-statecraft-and-venezuelas-crisis/

A Program For A Future Society That We Will Build In The Present

January 14, 2022 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Class Struggle, Finance and the Economy, Poverty, Transformation

In October 2021, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released a report that received barely any attention: the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2021, notably subtitled Unmasking disparities by ethnicity, caste, and gender. ‘Multidimensional poverty’ is a much more precise measurement of poverty than the international poverty line of $1.90 per day. It looks at ten indicators divided along three axes: health (nutrition, child mortality), education (years of schooling, school attendance), and standard of living (cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets). The team studied multidimensional poverty across 109 countries, looking at the living conditions of 5.9 billion people.

We Know The Silver Bullet To Ending Poverty And Destitution

January 14, 2022 Lee Camp, Scheer Post. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Health Care, Poverty, Universal Basic Income

Here’s how the world should operate in simple terms: A certain country or region or city or township or Hobbit hole tries something in order to help their society or group or hovel — if it works, other places then do it. If it doesn’t work, other places don’t do it. It’s like when you were a kid and you saw your brother slide down the banister and rack himself on the newel post — You then thought, “Maybe that activity is not for me.” But if he didn’t nail himself in the jewels, you probably thought, “I think I’ll try that.” That’s how the United States government should work, but it doesn’t. For-profit healthcare, corporate personhood, the drug war, funding terrorists overseas that we call “moderate rebels,” etc. — all of these things have been tried, they fuckin’ suck every time, and we keep doing them.

Despite Historic Minimum Wage Increases, The South Still Trails Behind

January 14, 2022 Rebekah Barber, Facing South. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Florida, Minimum Wage, Worker Rights and Jobs

2022 marks 10 years since fast food workers in New York first went on strike to demand higher wages, better working conditions, and the right to unionize — sparking the Fight For $15 movement. Since that time, the movement has gained traction, with California raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour and several other states passing legislation that will gradually do so. As the ongoing global pandemic has drawn attention to the fact that the people who keep the country running are overworked and underpaid, workers have continued to strike for higher wages and union rights. In many cases, their demands are being met. Showing the tremendous strides made by Fight for $15, a record number of states and localities are raising their wages this year.

Is A Program To Foster Sustainable Farming Leaving Out Small-Scale Growers Of Color?

January 7, 2022 Anne Marshall-Chalmers, Inside Climate News. Educate! Environment, Farming, Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture

Even when there are funds available, the soils program can be difficult for farmers who grow many crops, as well as immigrant farmers who may not speak English fluently, to access or make use of. It’s also hard for lower-income growers who lease their land year to year to successfully complete an application, because the program requires a three-year commitment for all who participate. And HSP takes a largely prescriptive approach—requiring that one practice be applied to the same plot of land for the entire time. But smaller operations tend to grow a diverse range of crops that require intricate rotation and the ability to swap out crops due to weather, water availability and other factors.

Capitalist Bonanza: Share Buybacks Reached Record High In 2021

January 5, 2022 Otto Fors, Left Voice. Educate! Capitalism, COVID-19, Finance and the Economy, wealth inequality

The coronavirus pandemic continued to wreak havoc in 2021, with the Omicron and Delta variants, supply chain disruptions, and inflation battering the global working class. In the United States, companies continued to put profits before worker well-being while the Biden administration refused to provide relief like continuing the child tax credit. Amid much bad news for workers last year emerged a key victor: wealthy shareholders. Share buybacks hit a record high last year. Companies in the S&P 500 — a market index which tracks the stock prices of 500 leading U.S. companies — repurchased shares worth over $245 billion in the third quarter alone. These exorbitant buybacks helped U.S. stock market indices reach record peaks: the S&P 500 broke 67 records in 2021 and increased its value by 25 percent.

The Cruel Failure Of Welfare Reform In The Southwest

January 3, 2022 Eli Hager, Propublica. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Health Care, Welfare

ProPublica has taken this moment to examine the present state of cash assistance in the U.S., focusing on the Southwest, where massive population growth and a surging cost of living for low-income parents have collided with the region’s libertarian attitude toward government help for the poor. What ProPublica discovered is an abundance of overlooked stories of bizarre — and mean-spirited — practices on the part of state governments, which were handed near-complete responsibility for welfare under the 1996 law.

Raises From Coast To Coast In 2022

January 1, 2022 Yannet Lathrop, NELP. Educate! Fight for 15, Finance and the Economy, Wages

In 2022, a record number of states and localities will increase their minimum wages—10 years after fast-food workers first went on strike to demand $15 and a union. These record increases are the result of underpaid workers organizing, demanding, and winning higher wages. This movement has not only led to the adoption of higher state and local minimum wages but has helped seed new worker activism and mobilization across our economy. On January 1, 2022 (December 31, 2021 for workers in New York), the minimum wage will increase in 21 states and 35 cities and counties. In 33 of those jurisdictions, the wage floor will reach or exceed $15 per hour for some or all employers. Later in 2022, four additional states and 22 local jurisdictions will also lift their wage floors—17 of them to $15 or more.

Retail Workers Are Organizing And Speaking Out

December 31, 2021 Sydney Pereira, Prism. Organize! Finance and the Economy, Low wages, Retail, Worker Rights and Jobs

In a petition Indianapolis Target employee Andrew Stacy drafted, one of the key demands is for a minimum $17 per hour, but when Stacy and their coworker were posting the flyers in the break room and distributing them, they were caught. Management confiscated the flyers and human resources held one-on-one meetings with workers about working conditions and higher-ups at the location—a move that Stacy saw as an illegal effort to shut down organizing and find out more about the union activity. In response, they filed a National Labor Review Board complaint on Dec. 15. Prism has reached out to Target for comment on the concerns raised by workers as well as the complaint.

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