The data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that annual wages for the top 1% in 2021 in the U.S. reached $819,324 on average. Those considered to be in the top 0.1% earned an average of $3,312,693 annually.
Meanwhile, those in the bottom 90% earned an average income of $36,571 annually, EPI data showed.
FOX 10 Phoenix
July 29, 2024
The tipped wage exploits workers by design. It’s part of a more nefarious Southern economic development model—characterized by business deregulation, opposition to unions, minimal worker protections, poverty wages, low tax rates, and regressive austerity measures shouldered by the working-class—that experts say is rooted in racism.
“The goal of the [Southern economic development] model is to get labor for as cheaply as possible,” says Chandra Childers, senior policy and economic analyst at the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at the Economic Policy Institute, and the author of a report on the model. Childers says the origins of the tipped wage date back to the period following the abolition of slavery, when businesses like the Pullman Company trains didn’t have to pay Black porters and maids, if customers tipped.
The American Prospect
July 29, 2024
Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced the Stop Corporate Capture Act (SCCA) alongside senators like Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker on Tuesday. The legislation would undo the Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn the Chevron doctrine, which allowed federal agencies to reasonably interpret ambiguous laws
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Organizations sponsoring the bill include: Physicians for Social Responsibility; the Union of Concerned Scientists; Public Citizen; the Economic Policy Institute; Rise Economy; and the Sierra Club.
MLive
July 29, 2024
Claim: “I do believe our teachers do God’s work. They teach other people’s children and God knows we don’t pay them enough.”
Fact Check: True. Economic Policy Institute confirms this claim by highlighting a significant pay gap between teachers and other similarly educated professionals.
WISN (Wisconsin)
July 29, 2024
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 31 million U.S. workers are paid less than $17 an hour.
Common Dreams
July 29, 2024
A second Donald Trump presidency is likely to drive up inflation, research organization EPI Action said, arguing that tax cuts and tighter immigration policies would likely undermine progress towards lower prices.
The think tank said in a report on Wednesday that a second Trump administration was likely to push for the same policies as the first- namely large tax cuts for higher earners, reduced immigration, and higher trade tariffs.
But with a changed economic environment from the first administration- in that upside risks to inflation are a lot more prevalent under current conditions- these policies would be likely to drive up inflation. Trump is also expected to roll back the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Investing.com
July 29, 2024
Meanwhile, at least another 10 states are considering passing similar legislation, potentially covering more than 60 million workers around the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
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In lieu of a national ban, unions and other pro-labor groups have been pushing state lawmakers to step in and outlaw the mandatory meetings. The Economic Policy Institute notes that “at-will employment” prevails in the vast majority of states, giving employers broad discretion to fire workers, although it is illegal to retaliate against someone for trying to form a union.
“State lawmakers have the power to fight back against employer coercion and address gaps in weak, outdated federal laws,” the think tank urged in April.
Huffpost
July 29, 2024
Tennessee has spent just 10.5% of the $3.7 billion it received in fiscal recovery funds in 2021. While other states have rebuilt infrastructure and supported working families, Tennessee has done almost nothing.
While the state rolled out an ambitious plan for using the money, very few of those paper plans have been approved by the legislature, and even less money has gone out the door. $500 million was allocated for broadband, but only $44.6 million has been spent. $1.3 billion was budgeted for wastewater infrastructure – just $36 million has been spent. $15 million was earmarked for Habitat for Humanity to support low-income housing, but none of those funds have yet been appropriated by the legislature.
It’s an open question whether they ever will. Tennessee only has until Dec. 31 to formally obligate the funds, or it loses them forever. Now is the time for the governor and the state legislature to use the money they have to make things better for working families. If they don’t, they will have wasted a once-in-a-generation chance to do good.
Tennessean
July 29, 2024
But the think tanks achieved deficit reduction in dramatically different ways. Not surprisingly, the groups generally considered farther to the right — the American Action Forum (AAF), American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the Manhattan Institute (MI) — focused primarily on spending reductions. The groups generally considered farther to the left — the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Economic Policy Institute (EPI) — relied more heavily on tax increases, as did the more centrist Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), though to very different degrees.
Forbes
July 29, 2024
Although women are more likely to graduate from college than men and more likely to receive a graduate degree than their male counterparts, they are paid less than men at every education level, the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, says.
MarketWatch
July 29, 2024