EPI in the news

• Trump threatens new tariffs against China days after calling off Mexico tariffs

  President Trump is threatening new tariffs on Chinese goods if Chinese President Xi Jinping does not meet with him at the upcoming G20 Summit. Robert Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at The Economic Policy Institute, discusses the state of U.S. trade tensions.

  Cheddar | June 12, 2019
• Trump is trying to ‘murder’ Huawei when he can just ban it, head of US-China business group says

  On the same panel, Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, strongly condemned Trump’s use of tariffs in negotiating a trade deal.

  CNBC | June 12, 2019
• Digging in for a long fight, China isn’t about to say ‘uncle’ in the trade war Trump started

  “China appears to believe that it has an inalienable right to control its own domestic economy, and its international economic environment… irrespective of any commitments it has made under the WTO or other international agreements,” said Robert E. Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute.

  ThinkProgress | June 12, 2019
• Social in-security

  The Economic Policy Institute reports that 41% of baby boomers aged 55 to 64 have no retirement savings at all. If you’re part of that statistic, then you need to step up your retirement contributions now.

  HoweStreet.com | June 12, 2019
• Murray, Brown, Scott, Takano reintroduce bill to expand overtime pay for millions of workers

  According to the Economic Policy Institute, a preliminary calculation suggests that well over half of the workers who would have gotten new or strengthened overtime protections under the 2016 rule would be left behind by this proposed Trump administration rule. This means the administration’s rule would leave out millions of workers.

  U.S. Senate Committee on Health | June 12, 2019
• Why are so many music festivals total disasters?

  While that story is, again, extreme, the common thread here is, uh, exploitation. Even South by Southwest, the longest running and largest festival/conference hybrid in the country, would likely not be able to turn a profit if not for some questionable labor practices. Thousands of “volunteers” and “interns” work for free every year, at an event that sells tickets in the four figures and benefits a for-profit company. In 2014, a Salon report quoted Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute as saying, “I can’t see how what they’re doing is legal. They’ve opened themselves up to a class-action lawsuit, which involves attorney fees and could involve liquidated damages, meaning double back pay for everyone.”

  VOX | June 12, 2019
• Employment & Immigration: States sue over Sprint-T-Mobile merger

  The merger would reduce the U.S. wireless market to three major players (the others are AT&T and Verizon). The state AGs’ objections echo those of 37 House Democrats who sent a letter to federal regulators earlier this year arguing the deal will “destroy jobs and drive down wages.” The Communication Workers of America estimates the consolidation will eliminate 30,000 jobs, and researchers at the Economic Policy Institute and the Roosevelt institute, two left-leaning think tanks, estimate it will lower wireless workers’ average weekly earnings by up to 7 percent in affected labor markets. Read a press release on the lawsuit here. More from POLITICO here.

  Politico | June 12, 2019

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