“Whatever lame-duck agreement may happen, we already know that it won’t be nearly enough, so it’s still essential for the Democrats to sweep in Georgia for the kind of stimulus package that economists have a large consensus as being needed, can also be potentially passed,” Heidi Schierholz, the director of the Economic Policy Institute, told AlterNet.
AlterNet
December 7, 2020
Caroline Hyde, Romaine Bostick & Taylor Riggs bring you the latest news and analysis leading up to the final minutes and seconds before the closing bell on Wall Street and tackle Warner Bros. Films going to HBO Max, Brexit talks and the Bloomberg 50 list. Guests today: Diane Swonk of Grant Thorton, Stewart Butterfield of Slack, Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson, Orlando Bravo of Thoma Bravo, Stephen Trent of Citi, Leo Grohowski of BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Dennis Debusschere of Evercore ISI, Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute, Documentary filmmaker Jason Hehir.
Bloomberg TV
December 7, 2020
One of the three, Jared Bernstein, has been a respected face in progressive economic circles for decades. A long-time fixture at the Economic Policy Institute, Bernstein co-authored nine annual editions of EPI’s annual sourcebook on the status of America’s ongoing class war, The State of Working America, and understands the squeeze on America’s workers as well as any economist.
Inequality.org
December 7, 2020
The cost of infant care for one child can take up nearly a quarter of California’s median family income, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, child care workers in Los Angeles County make an average of $14.65 an hour.
LAist
December 7, 2020
According to an analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, if the pandemic unemployment insurance benefits were reinstated and the virus was brought under control, over 5 million jobs could be created or saved.
NBC News
December 7, 2020
Several key pandemic programs are set to expire in less than a month, including a suite of unemployment insurance programs established in the CARES Act. A recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found extending and reinstating enhanced jobless benefits through 2021 could save or create 5.1 million jobs, boost GDP by 3.5% and increase total personal income by more than $440 billion.
Housing Wire
December 7, 2020
There is scant evidence of considerable reshoring, stories of a new wave notwithstanding. One report from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute — which, like Trump, has been broadly supportive of reducing U.S.-China trade imbalances and reinvigorating U.S. manufacturing — detailed that between “inconsistent” trade measures and tax policies that “have encouraged outsourcing,” Trump’s China policies have actually “encouraged outsourcing.” Covid-19 may ultimately induce greater domestic production of medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, but that wouldn’t result from pre-2020 trade policy.
Washington Post
December 7, 2020
The real number of Americans out of work would total roughly 19 million, accounting for the number of officially unemployed, plus workers on temporary layoff, those who dropped out of the work force, and people who didn’t respond to the survey the jobs report is based on, according to Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute.
“If all these workers were taken into account, the unemployment rate would have been 11.2% in November,” Shierholz
wrote on Twitter.
CNN Business
December 7, 2020
Most financial fragility is caused by low pay, not the frequency with which low wages are paid. According to the Economic Policy Institute, wages have stagnating over the last 40 years (disclosure: I sit on the board of EPI). “From the end of World War II through the late 1970s, the U.S. economy generated rapid wage growth that was widely shared,” the institute reports. Since 1979 average wage growth has slowed sharply, with the biggest declines in wage growth at the bottom and the middle.
Forbes
December 7, 2020
How trickle-down economics works…for the one-percent. In the last 40 years, wages for the bottom 90% grew by an incremental 26%, while income for the top 0.1 percent shot up 345%…
Counterpunch
December 7, 2020