A blog article posted by the union-funded Economic Policy Institute in August carried the title “It’s the beginning of the school year and teachers are once again opening up their wallets to buy school supplies.”
The article cited a federally funded survey of teachers that reported the average Michigan teacher spends $628 a year on school supplies and is not reimbursed for that expense. Only teachers in California claimed to have spent more ($664).
Michigan Capitol Confidential
February 21, 2020
The Economic Policy Institute has gone through one exercise along this line. How much income would middle class Americans be making today, EPI researchers asked, if the United States had the same distribution of income today as our nation had back at the end of the 1970s?
The Good Men Project
February 21, 2020
According to the independent, non-profit Economic Policy Institute, privatization of TVA would divide its electric power system into independent, and no longer accountable or coordinated, component parts. The new private owners of these assets would immediately raise electric power rates claiming there would be additional cost – yes, like profits and more managers. Right now, BPA and TVA sell power at cost. You can’t get better than that.
Forbes
February 21, 2020
Even when workers can afford to attempt a strategy of mass filings, they might find that firms that conduct arbitrations cannot readily supply hundreds or thousands of arbitrators at once. This means the Dashers might wait years for their cases to go forward, unless they reach a settlement with DoorDash first. (DoorDash sought to stay the case until it reaches a settlement in a separate class-action case, a request Alsup rejected.) A recent study by the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimated that about 55 percent of non-union private-sector workers are subject to individual arbitration clauses. This translates to millions of employees who are required to resolve their workplace disputes in a system that lacks the infrastructure to do so.
The Washington Post
February 21, 2020
Technically, the bill is a reintroduction of the earlier “I-Square” bill, but it includes enough revisions to be considered new. It increases the H-1B visa cap to 195,000 (instead of an earlier 300,000 cap), and eliminates the cap on people who earn an advanced degree in a STEM (science, technology, education and math) field.
Hatch, who is the No. 2 ranking senator in the GOP-controlled chamber, was joined by co-sponsors Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in backing the legislation.
…
“This bill is basically a wish list for the tech industry,” said [EPI’s Daniel] Costa.
Breitbart
February 21, 2020
GOBankingRates used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey and the Economic Policy Institute’s income inequality report to determine the average income for each state, plus Washington, D.C. Whether you want to be part of the rich and high-salaried or you have different feelings about them, here’s a look at how much you need to be “rich” in each state, based on the results of the data.
GoBankingRates
February 21, 2020
Lynn Rhinehart, Silver Spring
The writer is a former general counsel of the AFL-CIO and a senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute.
The Jan. 31 “Candidate issues quiz” [Campaign 2020 special section] was very interesting, but not for the issues it analyzed. It was interesting that climate change did not make the list. This existential threat to the planet receives so little focus that even a paper as sophisticated as The Post doesn’t consider it within the top 10 issues. Maybe climate change was No. 11.
The Washington Post
February 21, 2020
University of Iowa history professor Colin Gordon points to other national trends that he said have affected the state. He said executives have created strategies to “union-proof” their businesses, hiring contractors through staffing agencies instead of permanent employees and bringing in advisers to sway workers against organizing. (In an article last month, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that U.S. companies spend $340 million a year on “union avoidance” consultants.)
The Hawk Eye
February 21, 2020
In a pair of newly published opinion pieces, USA Today’s editorial board debates such an expansion with Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank. Here’s a summary of the arguments:
These proposals are a gift to Trump and the GOP: “Republicans know that large segments of the electorate would be repelled by Sanders’ vast expansion of government spending at a time when Uncle Sam is already running $1 trillion annual deficits and is more than $23 trillion in debt,” the USA Today editorial board says.
The Fiscal Times
February 21, 2020
Childcare costs an average of $900 a month in the Kingsport-Bristol metro area, according to the Economic Policy Institute. It’s a few dollars cheaper in the Johnson City metro area. That makes sense. There a more children age 5 and under in Kingsport-Bristol than in the Johnson City area.
Don Fenley
February 21, 2020