Other signatories to the letter include Demos, the Economic Policy Institute, the U.S. chapter of Friends of the Earth, Global Witness, the National Consumer Law Center, RootsAction.org, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Common Dreams
July 3, 2019
Facebook’s recently unveiled Libra cryptocurrency is facing pushback from groups concerned by unanswered questions about the digital coin. In an open letter Tuesday, more than 30 groups — including the Economic Policy Institute and US PIRG — urged Congress and regulators to impose a moratorium on Libra until the “profound questions” raised by Facebook’s proposal are addressed.
CNET
July 3, 2019
The latest group to call for the company to stop whilst regulators to learn more about the crypto asset project is an ad hoc coalition of 33 consumer advocacy groups. Amongst them are Public Citizen; the Economic Policy Institute; and the Center for Digital Democracy.
News BTC
July 3, 2019
La recién revelada criptomoneda de Facebook, Libra, ya enfrenta la resistencia de ciertos grupos preocupadas por todas las dudas que están sin esclarecer relacionadas a la moneda digital. En una carta abierta emitida el martes 2 de julio, más de 30 grupos, que incluyen al Economic Policy Institute y US PIRG, instan al Congreso de Estados Unidos y a las autoridades reguladoras que impongan un moratorio sobre Libra hasta que se aborden los “profundos cuestionamientos” que surgen de la propuesta de Facebook.
CNET
July 3, 2019
Unscrupulous businesses stole an estimated $429 million in wages and overtime pay from Michigan workers between 2013 and 2015, impacting more than 2.8 million workers, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. Meanwhile, Michigan taxpayers are shortchanged $107 million a year in revenue through tax fraud when businesses misclassify workers by reporting employees as self-employed independent contractors or paying them off the books as a way to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, a Michigan State University study found.
Michigan.gov
July 3, 2019
Payroll fraud cost Michigan workers more than $400 million in lost wages and overtime pay between 2013 and 2015, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A Michigan State University study found tax fraud, specifically businesses paying workers and contractors under the table, costs the state more than $100 million in revenue every year.
FOX-47 News
July 3, 2019
This lower level, the liberal Economic Policy Institute calculates, would cost 8.2 million workers $1.2 billion in extra annual pay. By their estimates, more than 60 percent of those adversely affected are non-college educated whites.
The Hill
July 3, 2019
Congress hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage since 2009, when it was set at $7.25 an hour. A study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that low income workers have lost $3,000 a year ever since, when rising costs of living are taken into account. Other studies have shown that there has been no meaningful rise in wages for most American workers since the 1970s when inflation is accounted for.
Splinter News
July 3, 2019
If that federal rate seems a bit low, it might be because it hasn’t been raised for the past decade. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “the last time Congress passed an increase was more than 12 years ago–in May 2007. That’s when legislation was passed to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. (This took effect two years later, in July 2009).
Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council
July 3, 2019
Another meta-analysis comes in a new research paper by economists at the University of Massachusetts, University College London, and the Economic Policy Institute. They studied data from 138 cities and states that raised the minimum pay between 1979 and 2016. The conclusion is that low-wage workers received a 7 percent pay bump after a minimum wage law went into effect, but there was little or no change in employment.
The current $7.25 minimum hourly rate was set in 2009, right in the middle of the Great Recession. Since then, America’s lowest-paid workers have lost about $3,000 a year when you consider the rising cost of living, according to calculations from the Economic Policy Institute.
VOX
July 3, 2019