The kindergarten-readiness gap between low-income and high-income students has not closed in a generation, even though parents are more involved than ever in their children’s education and state-funded pre-K, nutrition programs, and prenatal care are more accessible now than in the late 1990s. That is the major finding of a new report by the Economic Policy Institute, in which researchers Emma Garcia and Elaine Weiss analyzed kindergarten readiness data for socioeconomic groups in 1998 and 2010 to see if gaps in academic readiness have shrunk over time. The researchers found that large gaps for both reading and math performance between kindergarteners of high and low socioeconomic status were nearly the same in 1998 and 2010 even though there are more anti-poverty programs than ever before. (whole story)
The Hechinger Report
October 31, 2017
America is not the highest taxed nation in the developed world and the argument that a lower corporate tax rate would result in more jobs and higher wages for middle-class Americans is not supported by evidence. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that cutting taxes for corporations does not boost wages, calling the claim “clearly wrong.”
Think Progress
October 30, 2017
Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute said in a statement that the topline growth number overstates the strength of the economy, with other indicators slowing and remaining in line with the Great Recession recovery period. “All in all, today’s report is consistent with an economy that has steadily improved since mid-2009, with the pace of improvement too-slow but steady,” he said.
Sinclair Broadcast Group
October 30, 2017
But not everyone is convinced that the numbers are as good as they seem. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the growth rate was better than expected given the particularly bad hurricane season. But measures like the final sales to domestic purchasers grew substantially slower in the third quarter. EPI research director Josh Bivens notes the economy appears to be growing at a rate consistent with past years. “Final sales to domestic purchasers—a measure of domestic demand growth that strips out the volatile component of inventories—grew substantially more slowly this quarter (1.8 percent), and this number seems like the more informative one about the underlying strength of the U.S. economy’s expansion: slow but almost exactly in line with the entire post-Great Recession period,” Bivens wrote.
Inside Sources
October 30, 2017
Josh Bivens, research director at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, noted that domestic final sales, a separate measure which tracks domestic demand but strips out the inventories segment, had seen only 1.8 percent growth, down from 2.7 percent in the second quarter. “This number seems like the more informative one about the underlying strength of the US economy’s expansion: slow but almost exactly in line with the entire post Great Recession period,” he said in a research note.
Agence France Press (AFP)
October 30, 2017
Stuart Hoffman of PNC bank says the “solid” growth data is likely to help corporate profits and reinforce the U.S. central bank’s determination to raise interest rates in December. Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute says the figures “overstate” growth, and he notes inflation is still below the Fed’s two percent target, making an interest rate hike unnecessary at this time.
Voice of America
October 30, 2017
How Republicans sold you down the river to Wall Street
The Week/Ryan Cooper
An Economic Policy Institute study found that customers got paid only 9 percent of the time in arbitration, while corporations did 93 percent of the time. And when consumers do get paid, they get vastly less than they do in class-action lawsuits.
The Week
October 26, 2017
Quick links: Economic Policy Institute report: Cutting corporate taxes won’t increase wages.
Politico
October 26, 2017
The August action wasn’t Trump’s first attack on the fiduciary rule. During the presidential campaign, one of his advisers, Anthony Scaramucci, likened the rule to the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision, which held that African Americans were not U.S. citizens. Soon after taking office, the Trump administration delayed implementation of the rule for 60 days. But the August action, which put key parts of the regulation on hold until July 2019, is the administration’s biggest step to thwarting the rule yet. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, has calculated that the delay will cost retirement savers approximately $10.9 billion in higher fees over 30 years.
The Atlantic
October 25, 2017
What’s more, the Economic Policy Institute found that the average consumer who goes to arbitration ends up actually having to pay their bank or lender $7,725 on average in fees. In terms of recovery, the numbers do not favor the consumer in arbitration.
The Hill
October 25, 2017