Media clips
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The amount my family could expect to spend with another child would increase by about 21% to about $94,500, according to the Family Budget Calculator from the Economic Policy Institute. Of course these results are generalized and certain line items may not apply to you — you’ll spend less on child care, of course, if a family member watches your kids.
Time Magazine August 26, 2015 -
A June report from the Economic Policy Institute said the chief executives of the nation’s largest companies make three times as much as they did 20 years ago, or 300 times more than typical working stiffs. Between 1978 and 2014, inflation-adjusted CEO compensation increased 997%, while a typical worker’s compensation increased 10.9%.
“This is not just something that might seem aesthetically displeasing to some,” said Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “It’s a matter of this group grabbing a larger share of our national pie, and by doing so, there’s less pie available to other people.” You hear the argument that CEOs are merely reaping the benefits of their brilliant leadership, but Mishel says compensation has been nearly double the growth of the stock market in recent decades. And don’t forget this: “People who make a lot of money get to keep most of it these days compared to Walt Disney. If you had doubled his salary, 70% or more of it would have gone to the treasury,” Mishel said, because that’s how high the income tax rate was before President Reagan came to the rescue of the wealthiest Americans.
Los Angeles Times August 26, 2015 -
Just getting by. Working class. Living paycheck-to-paycheck. Such often-used terms rarely have dollar amounts attached to them. So one person’s living paycheck-to-paycheck could be another’s middle class. In the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor metro area a two-parent, two-child family needs to bring in $60,900 a year “to secure a decent, yet modest standard of living,” according to the Economic Policy Institute’s online family budget calculator released Wednesday.
Cleveland Plain Dealer August 26, 2015 -
Robert Scott, the director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute—a labor-affiliated think tank—said Walker could have gone much further in pushing back against China. Scott said Walker could have filed an unfair trade practices complaint with the World Trade Organization or pressured the Treasury to do more about China’s currency manipulation. “I’ve heard no efforts from the governor or anyone else on that front, until last week,” Scott said.
A spokesperson for the Wisconsin governor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on if Walker had (or could have) pursued any of those remedies. Scott added that canceling Xi’s state visit “could cause China to overreact.” “The Chinese are very sensitive to saving face,” he said, “and I think if you were just to insult the Chinese president, just for the sake of insulting him, I don’t think it would be useful in improving the relationship.” “I think it could cause China to dig in his heels,” he added.
The Daily Beast August 26, 2015 -
Somehow, the opposite happened. According to the Economic Policy Institute, between 2001 and 2013, the trade deficit with China “eliminated or displaced 3.2 million U.S. jobs, 2.4 million of which were in manufacturing. These lost manufacturing jobs account for about two-thirds of all U.S. manufacturing jobs lost or displaced . . .”
New York Daily News August 26, 2015 -
“Does the recent stock market decline make it more likely the Fed holds off? Probably not. The Fed really shouldn’t be reacting to bad financial market days in setting interest rates. But, the Fed should hold off regardless. A September rate hike was a bad idea a week ago, and remains a bad idea today.” — Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute
Wall Street Journal August 25, 2015 -
There is ample evidence that, beyond the stock market hit, the U.S. economy is on solid ground. The unemployment rate has fallen to 5.3 percent, inflation remains low, and economic growth has rebounded from a disappointing first quarter to indicate the recovery is still underway. “The underlying health of the U.S. economy hasn’t really changed over the past week,” wrote Josh Bivens, research and policy director for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. “The stock market is a terrible gauge of overall economy-wide health.”
The Hill August 25, 2015 -
On a larger level, putting people’s Social Security contributions into private accounts makes them far more exposed to the irrationality of the market. “What’s beautiful about Social Security is that in the long the return workers get on contributions is linked to productivity growth and wage growth,” said Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Whereas markets are notoriously volatile and often behave in ways that are not based on the fundamental strength and weakness of the economy.”
Think Progress August 25, 2015 -
Fewer receive pension benefits and if they do, it’s generally a more risky 401(k) rather than a traditional defined benefit plan. American workers receive fewer days of vacation than their foreign counterparts, a quarter receive no paid vacation at all, and approximately 40 percent don’t even use all of their time off. “Benefits grew strongly from 1948-’73, not so much since then, and not much in recent years at all,” says Larry Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
The Boston Globe August 24, 2015 -
Children of shift workers have poorer academic results, worse behaviour and take more risks as teenagers, according to international research by the University of NSW and the US Economic Policy Institute. The impact is most pronounced in the children of low income shift workers with little control over their hours. Leila Morsy, of the school of education at UNSW, said higher status shift workers, such as health care workers, can mitigate the effect of their irregular hours on their children. Dr Morsy and Richard Rothstein of the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute studied the children of parents with unpredictable schedules and found significant impacts spanning the toddler years through to adolescence.
Sydney Morning Herald August 21, 2015