Chris Christie Is In The Minority On Minimum Wage

August 31, 2016 Hanna Brooks Olsen

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Yesterday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did two things that surprised no one: He went to a Springsteen concert and he shot down the NJ legislature’s attempt to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15. What do these two things have in common? Both Springsteen and raising the minimum wage are very popular with The Common Person. And while Governor Christie appears to be on the right side of history with his love of the Boss (he claims to have seen the man in concert over 100 times), he’s swimming upstream in his opposition to an increased minimum wage. Chris Christie knows all the words A video posted by Luc Cohen (@luccohen92) on Aug 30, 2016 at 9:32pm PDT In his statement about the decision, Christie cited speed of the increase—to $15 over five years— as his reason for vetoing the bill, stating that it “fails to consider the capacity of businesses, especially small businesses, to absorb the substantially increased labor costs it will impose” adding that it would be responsible for “killing jobs and erasing gains of more than 275,000 private sector jobs since 2010.” Aside: He said “killing jobs”! Do a shot! The New Jersey business community immediately rushed to express support for the decision; the New Jersey Business & Industry Association agreed with Christie, calling the proposed increase “too much, too fast.” Which is basically exactly what business leaders always say—whatever you propose, regardless of the phase-in period or any other considerations, it’s too much and it’s too fast. How much of a minimum increase would be just right? That’s a little harder to pinpoint (since, you know, trickle-downers are pretty slippery) but thanks to leaked polling from this spring, we know that the support—even in the business community!—is definitely there; 80% of respondents to a survey for business owners said they supported an increase to their state’s wage. If business owners are anything like regular people—and let’s
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Daily Clips: August 31st, 2016

August 31, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

Why is Mexico’s president sitting down with Trump? I’m surprised Barry O hasn’t picked up the phone and called President Enrique Peña Nieto. Why is he inserting himself into American politics? It really doesn’t make sense to me. The Atlantic‘s conclusion is probably the closest to the truth: The visit confirms an essential truth about politicians: Unpopular leaders will try all sorts of risky maneuvers to improve their standing. Democrats really might have a shot at taking the House: Vox’s analysis indicates that if Hillary Clinton wins by 6 percentage points that victory would put 50 Republican-held House seats in play. Why is hatred of government most intense among people who need government services most? This is the central question of Arlie Hochchild’s new book, Strangers in Their Own Land . She travels to Louisiana and there she talks to “people who identify with the Tea Party and its implacable hostility to ‘big government.'” Share buybacks are down: Some intriguing facts here. U.S. company stock buybacks are down 21 percent in the first seven months of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to TrimTabs Investment Research, a fall driven in part by five consecutive quarters of year-over-year earnings declines among S&P 500 stocks. Tweet of the day: The American people need their legislators to be dedicated to solutions, not obstruction. #DoYourJob pic.twitter.com/mrTXe8sti6 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 31, 2016

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No, Paid Sick Leave Isn’t “Government Intervention”

August 30, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Economics

Bloomberg View usually offers economics-heavy reporting with right-of-center viewpoints. Today, Tyler Cowen continued this trend. He takes issue with Hillary Clinton’s chief economist, Heather Boushey, and her reliance on government-mandated solutions. After reading Boushey’s “thoughtful and intelligent book” ( buy it here ), Cowen believes she has some troubling remedies for rebalancing the work-life conflict. He thinks her policy proposals, like “paid sick leave, paid parental leave, subsidized child care and better care for the elderly” are “an extensive set of government interventions.” (In the interest of full disclosure, Heather is a friend of Civic Skunk Works and has appeared on one of our podcast episodes .) Think about how Cowen frames these, let’s be honest, pretty generic policies. Interventions. Just reading it makes me think of a greedy government bureaucrat coming for my private property. But how can someone genuinely call policies like paid sick leave an intervention? If you were to say that in any other developed country, you’d be laughed out of the room (as we pointed out in our latest podcast — listen to it !). These interventions are merely acts by government to fix problems that the free market hasn’t touched. That’s what FDR addressed with the Fair Labor Standards Act, where he intervened and imposed dreadful policies like the minimum wage and limiting child labor. Just like then, it’s not as if Americans today haven’t given the market enough time to deal with these issues. The market clearly just doesn’t care. How else can you explain why 40% of private sector workers don’t have access to paid sick leave? Note to Cowen: sometimes the government needs to set a minimal standard so that the market cannot continue to undermine the best interests of our society. Whereas Cowen thinks Boushey “holds too much faith in mandated and centralized solutions,” the same can be said for Cowen and the free market. He
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Daily Clips: August 30th, 2016

August 30, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

Don’t be scared of a health-insurance public option: Noah Smith provides a thorough investigation of the public option, noting the good and the bad. One downside he focuses on, in particular, caught my eye: A downside of government health care would be higher taxes. Currently, small business can claim a tax credit for giving their employees health insurance; if government took over, the effective tax rate on these businesses would rise. That’s a good point and one I had not considered before. Donald Trump’s tax proposals could double the trade deficit: What? You mean cutting taxes for our wealthiest citizens leads to a bigger deficit? In defense of Chicago University: Jonathan Chait takes a long look at the variety of responses to Chicago University’s “safe spaces” letter. He does an excellent job of questioning people on his “own political team”, as he puts it. Amazon is looking at 30-hour work weeks: It will be interesting to see if this experiment works out. Tweet of the day: Chris Christie just vetoed a bill that would have gradually increased minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021. 975,000 would've benefited — igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) August 30, 2016

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Daily Clips: August 29th, 2016

August 29, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

Trickle down is on its way to history’s dustbin: So tax cuts for the rich, deregulation for the powerful, and wage suppression for the 99% aren’t winning the economic battle anymore. That much is clear. And that’s great. But what is filling the economic void in America? According to Felicia Wong and Dorian Warren: The emerging progressive economic agenda , which calls for rebalancing power at the top, strengthening our labor market by creating strong floors of standards and greater access for the most vulnerable workers at the bottom, and investing in public goods and economic security through a more robust role for the state, is the antidote to neoliberal tax-cutting. Solid US consumer spending boosts prospect of Fed rate hike: US consumer spending increased for the fourth straight month. An interest rate hike looks more and more likely, as a result. The snooze economy: Gotta say, catchy headline there, Robert J. Samuelson. His analysis is less praiseworthy, but its always intriguing to see how right-of-center thinkers view the economy. I like how he points out that “if you’re not confused [about the economy], you’re not paying attention.” Tweet of the day: Remember: Senate Republicans are holding a Supreme Court seat open for Donald Trump to fill. — Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) August 29, 2016

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Daily Clips: August 26th, 2016

August 26, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

Want economic prosperity? Go to a Democratic state: An excellent overview from the NYT on economic indicators of individual states. Here’s one of their conclusions: Red states dominated by Republicans embrace cut and extract. Blue states dominated by Democrats do much more to maintain their investments in education, infrastructure, urban quality of life and human services — investments typically financed through more progressive state and local taxes. And despite what you may have heard, blue states are generally doing better. Americans are embracing transgender rights: Wow – a recent poll found 72 percent of Americans favor laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. Most welfare dollars don’t go directly to poor people anymore: Ugh. Yellen says case for rate hike has “strengthened in recent months”: I plead ignorance over whether or not this is sage judgement. David Brooks is a moron: He lectures Clinton on her lack of “grace”, but doesn’t say a word about…oh, you know…the white nationalist representing his party. What the f*** is he thinking? Tweet of the day: 6 in 10 WA #minimumwage workers are women. On #WomensEqualityDay let's find ways to lift up women– #YesOn1433 is one pic.twitter.com/HoH4mRnH8A — Raise Up Washington (@Raise_Up_WA) August 26, 2016

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Daily Clips: August 25th, 2016

August 25, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

The Federal Reserve needs new thinking: When the Wall Street Journal starts questioning the status quo, you know economic thinking is in flux. Democratic women can take the Senate back: “In five of the seven states where Democrats have a strong chance of picking up seats, the candidates are women.” The plight of the over-worked nonprofit employee: Here at Civic Skunk Works we feel quite strongly about overtime pay—by that I mean, we think it’s a basic labor right. Crazy, I know. Not everyone shares this view with us, however. Many nonprofits think they should be exempt from Obama’s new overtime rule. But that seems…odd. Listen to how a nonprofit veteran explains the situation: Too often, I have seen the passion for social change turned into a weapon against the very people who do much—if not most—of the hard work, and put in most of the hours…Because they are highly motivated by passion, the reasoning goes, they don’t need to be motivated by decent salaries or sustainable work hours or overtime pay.” Tweet of the day: A sneak peek at cover of WA Voters' Pamphlet you'll receive about Oct. 8. Online version also avail. #BeReady16 pic.twitter.com/h6V6koPGRf — Secretary of State (@secstatewa) August 25, 2016

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The Free Market Doesn’t Care If You Live or Die

August 24, 2016 Paul Constant

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Economics

This Associated Press story about the tanning industry is so terrible you just have to stare at it for a second, slack-jawed: Business owners around the country say the little-noticed 10 percent tax on tanning in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul has crippled the industry, forcing the closing of nearly 10,000 of the more than 18,000 tanning salons in the U.S. It’s like a hideous traffic accident, this thing. The unnamed reporter quotes a tanning salon owner from Kentucky with a sentence that is basically Trickle Down 101: “When I go to vote, I’m supporting candidates who are pro-business and who want less government involvement, less government regulation.” Uh-huh. So the tragedy of over-regulation is killing your business. Got it. But why is the mean old government targeting these brave entrepreneurs? What does Obama have against innocent small business owners? The story buries the lede way down in the fifth paragraph: “The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network says those who use tanning beds before age 35 increase their lifetime risk of melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, by 59 percent.” That is a staggering figure. Not even cigarettes claim that kind of cancer rate. But could you imagine a similar story featuring cigarette manufacturers complaining about rampant government intervention? Of course you can’t, but that’s because we’ve passed a tipping point—in modern American society, smoking is no longer widely acceptable. Our leaders made it so cigarette manufacturers couldn’t advertise to children, our governments taxed cigarettes, they made smoking indoors in public spaces illegal, they funded studies to explore the health impacts of smoking. It was the work of multiple generations of leaders, and it will save millions of lives in the long run. Could you imagine a libertarian free market solution to smoking? Or what our nation’s health would look like if we allowed
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Daily Clips: August 24th, 2016

August 24, 2016 Nick Cassella

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Daily Clips

Texas has highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world: “Pro life” policies. The feudal origins of property tax: Property tax was first instituted by William the Conqueror in 1066, and King James “made sure that this system traveled overseas with the first settlers at Jamestown, so that he could partake in the profits of exploration of the new land.” Why didn’t the Founding Fathers, who were looking to unshackle themselves from the norms of European monarchy get rid of property tax? In short, they needed the cash. Berkeley put a tiny tax on sodas. Consumption went down 21%: How can you not be excited by these findings? Such good news. The long-term impact on obesity is still unknown, but this is a great first step. Cost of U.S. healthcare now 800% higher per person than it was in 1960, even when adjusted for inflation Tweet of the day: Reality check: This is what deporting 11 million people would actually look like. https://t.co/KfFEShVsdA pic.twitter.com/c4p4cR48lC — Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) August 24, 2016

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Remember the High Costs of Unpaid Sick Leave When You’re Voting This Fall

August 23, 2016 Paul Constant

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Initiative 1433, Policy, The Other Washington

This fall, Washington state will vote on Initiative 1433 . Many Washingtonians know that a “yes” vote on 1433 will raise the state minimum wage to $13.50 by the year 2020. But fewer people know that 1433 also provides up to seven days of paid sick and safe leave for workers per year. This is so important. Over a million Washington workers have no access to paid sick leave, which means that a missed day of work results in the disappearance of one-fifth of a weekly paycheck for those who work 40 hours a week. Many minimum-wage workers simply can’t afford that kind of a hit to their weekly pay; an unpaid sick day could mean the difference between paying rent or driving up credit card debt yet again. And many of these workers are in the food service industry, which means that when they show up to work sick, they put all their customers’ health at risk. For the latest edition of our podcast, The Other Washington, we talked with 46th District State Representative Jessyn Farrell about why she supports paid sick and safe leave. She makes a great case for the initiative to provide sick leave for food service workers, but she also makes a strong, personal case for family leave: Farrell was born with a quarter-sized hole in her heart, and the economic impact of that birth defect was hugely consequential in her family. We also talked with food safety lawyer Bill Marler about the nearly quarter-century he’s spent fighting companies that make customers sick. Marler is one of the world’s leading experts on foodborne illnesses, and he provides a compelling case for allowing sick workers to stay home. The tiny amount that employers like Chipotle are saving by not providing sick leave is insignificant when viewed in comparison to the millions—even billions—that companies pay out to sickened
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