Media clips
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On the other hand, there is a rational basis for worrying about the state of America’s steel industry. Steel production remains a significant source of employment in the United States, and one that serves a national-security function: Relying on cheap metal from China is all well and good while the U.S. is still the dominant superpower, and Washington and Beijing are at peace; but it would be nice to keep some industrial capacity on the shelf, just in case those conditions change. If you want a quick outline of the case for Trump’s tariffs, here’s an excerpt from a report the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute released in January: (features several bullet points)
New York Magazine March 5, 2018 -
Robert Scott, senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said tariffs that failed to distinguish between America’s trade allies and countries like China, which the U.S. has accused of illegal trade practices, could make it more difficult resolve trade disputes. “The best of options is higher tariffs on steel from unfair traders and quotas on everyone else,” Scott said. “The advantage to that approach is it would allows us to work with other countries to impose similar tariffs on these unfair traders.”
NBC News March 5, 2018 -
Trump’s tariff announcement drew qualified praise from some on the Left. Robert E. Scott, director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the union-backed Economic Policy Institute, urged the Trump administration to coordinate with other countries to counter unfair trade in aluminum and steel. “Trade remedies for steel and aluminum were long overdue. Trump promised quick action after announcing investigations of the national security threats imposed by steel and aluminum imports nearly a year ago,” he said in a statement. “Delays worsened the import crisis for thousands of U.S. steel and aluminum workers, many of whom are facing layoffs and plant closing announcements.”
Lifezette March 5, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute, which released its own study on the 50th anniversary of Kerner Commission’s findings, reports that in 2017 black unemployment was higher than it was in 1968, and it remained around twice the rate of white unemployment. The rate of incarcerated individuals who are black also tripled since the 1968 report came out. And the wealth gap has also increased. Today, the median white family has 10 times the wealth of the median black family.
Smithsonian Magazine March 5, 2018 -
Business recap: Week of Feb. 26
The Washington Post
Fifty years after the historic Kerner Commission identified “white racism” as the key cause of “pervasive discrimination in employment, education and housing,” there has been no progress in how African Americans fare in comparison to whites when it comes to homeownership, unemployment and incarceration, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In some cases, African Americans are worse off today than before the civil rights movement culminated in laws barring housing and voter discrimination, as well as racial segregation.
The Washington Post March 5, 2018 -
A look at black America, fifty years after the Kerner Commission The nation was in remarkable racial turmoil in 1968. After riots roiled Newark, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, or the Kerner Commission, prepared a landmark report for President Lyndon B. Johnson, to better understand the continuing struggle of African American communities. They named “white racism” as the root cause of the discrimination leading to unemployment, under-education and inadequate housing for black citizens. This update reveals a very mixed picture of black progress. The good news: black people are better educated now, with 90% of younger Americans graduating high school compared to half in 1968. “With respect to homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration, America has failed to deliver any progress for African Americans over the last five decades,” they find. Click through for the numbers. Read more about the astonishingly candid Kerner report here.
Fortune March 5, 2018 -
Among African Americans, the homeownership rate is unchanged over the past 50 years. At 40 percent, it trails whites by 30 points, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute.
Seattle Times March 5, 2018 -
According to a new study from the Economic Policy Institute, “The substantial progress in educational attainment of African Americans has been accompanied by significant absolute improvements in wages, incomes, wealth, and health since 1968. But black workers still make only 82.5 cents on every dollar earned by white workers, African Americans are 2.5 times as likely to be in poverty as whites, and the median white family has almost 10 times as much wealth as the median black family.”
Atlanta Black Star March 5, 2018 -
Looking at some key statistics, you might not guess that the federal government banned housing discrimination 50 years ago. The African American homeownership rate is no higher than it was when the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, while the wealth of the typical African American family is only one-tenth the wealth of the typical white American family, according to new figures compiled by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The black homeownership rate was 41.2 percent in 2016, virtually unchanged from 41.1 percent in 1968, EPI reported. During the same period, white homeownership increased 5.2 percentage points to 71.1 percent in 2016. This inequality reflects the legacy of African American exclusion from wealth-building housing programs; inadequate enforcement of fair lending and housing laws; and the disproportionately negative impact of the mortgage meltdown on communities of color, said Lisa Rice, executive vice president of the National Fair Housing Alliance, a cons… (appears to be whole story, paywalled).
Inman March 5, 2018 -
Una de las mejores noticias de 2017 es que por fin se registraron aumentos salariales a todos los niveles. Como explica la economista Elise Gould del Economic Policy Institute (EPI) “la mayoría de los trabajadores está cobrando más por hora que en 2007”, el momento más elevado de ingresos por trabajo anterior a la Gran Recesión. No obstante no hay suficientes motivos para que la celebración sea larga porque a pesar de la mejora, la desigualdad salarial, que lleva cuatro décadas creciendo, no consigue frenarse a todos los niveles. Según Gould, sigue habiendo muchas diferencias, y algunas crecientes, dependiendo del género, la educación y raza/etnia. (whole story, and in El Diario )
La Opinion March 5, 2018