Bloomberg via Wealth Management: Americans have been warned for years of an impending retirement crisis. Yet the situation is getting worse. Even when everything was going right — inflation was nonexistent, interest rates were low and stocks were in an extended bull market — there was a multi-trillion dollar savings shortfall. Then came a pandemic,… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Economy
The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score
The New York Times: “Across industries and incomes, more employees are being tracked, recorded and ranked. What is gained, companies say, is efficiency and accountability. In lower-paying jobs, the monitoring is already ubiquitous: not just at Amazon, where the second-by-second measurements became notorious, but also for Kroger cashiers, UPS drivers and millions of others. Eight… Continue Reading
The 6th National Risk Assessment on Hazardous Heat
“New research from First Street Foundation analyzes the the prevalence of increasing extreme temperatures and dangerous heat wave events throughout the contiguous United States, with a key finding being the incidence of heat that exceeds the threshold of the National Weather Service’s (NWS) highest category for heat, called “Extreme Danger” (Heat Index above 125°F) is… Continue Reading
Constitutional Limits on States’ Power over Foreign Affairs
CRS Legal Sidebar – Constitutional Limits on States’ Power over Foreign Affairs, August 15, 2022 – “The Constitution gives the federal government the primary power to manage the United States’ foreign relations. Article I, Section 10 prohibits states from engaging in a set of activities that implicate international affairs, while the Supremacy Clause, Foreign Commerce… Continue Reading
Massachusetts just passed a massive climate and clean energy bill
Washington Post: “Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on Thursday signed a major climate and clean-energy bill that contains sweeping policies targeting renewables, transportation and fossil fuels — a move that lawmakers and advocates say is critical to supporting the state’s goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Baker’s decision to sign the bill, which was… Continue Reading
How a False Claim About Wikipedia Sparked a Right-Wing Media Frenzy
Slate “…The article was thrust into the limelight on July 28, when the Commerce Department released data showing that the U.S. gross domestic product had shrunk for a second straight quarter, meeting a common shorthand definition of a recession. Republicans, seeking to highlight the economy’s weakness as part of a case against Democrats ahead of… Continue Reading
Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
Suggested citation: Jenkins, J.D., Mayfield, E.N., Farbes, J., Jones, R., Patankar, N., Xu, Q., Schivley, G., “Preliminary Report: The Climate and Energy Impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” REPEAT Project, Princeton, NJ, August 2022 “This report describes the national-scale energy system and greenhouse gas emissions impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as… Continue Reading
What We Gain from a Good Bookstore
The New Yorker – It’s a place whose real boundaries and character are much more than its physical dimensions. “…You may have heard that we’re experiencing a renaissance of the independent bookstore, but the situation is far from rosy. In 1994, when Deutsch started his career as a bookseller (and Amazon was founded), the U.S.… Continue Reading
Research: We Make More Virtuous Choices When Using Pen and Paper
Harvard Business Review: “From ordering food to buying a new book to making a charitable donation, more and more decisions that used to be made on paper are now being made on digital devices like tablets, phones, and computers. And this trend toward digitalization has many advantages, in particular when it comes to efficiency and… Continue Reading
Feds’ pay lags 22.5% behind private sector
Federal News Network – “Salaries for federal employees fall significantly behind the private sector, the Federal Salary Council reported [August 5, 2022]. The council reported the pay disparity between public and private sector employees, on average, was 22.47%. In late 2020, the council calculated the pay gap at 23.11%. The pay disparity is calculated based… Continue Reading
This is the Salary You Need to Buy a Home in 50 U.S. Cities
Visual Capitalist – “Depending on where you live, owning a home may seem like a far off dream or it could be fairly realistic. In New York City, for example, a person needs to be making at least six figures to buy a home, but in Cleveland you could do it with just over $45,000… Continue Reading
How Misinformation About COVID Vaccines and Pregnancy Took Root Early On and Why It Won’t Go Away
Pro Publica: “Before coronavirus vaccines were even released, a disinformation campaign used a moment of national and personal vulnerability to prey on those who were pregnant or who planned to become pregnant.But that was only the beginning. Misinformation seeped into every corner of social media, onto Facebook feeds and into Instagram images, pregnancy apps and… Continue Reading
