Trade
INTA Committee Chief sets ‘red lines’ for TTIP – ahead of EP rentrée bilaterals.org ...Bernd Lange, the head of the EP’s international trade committee, made explicit his ’red lines’ for the ongoing transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) negotiations. He added that he would settle for a much less ambitious trade deal than the one currently planned...
State Battles
Bob McDonnell Isn't the Only Politician Taking Bribes reader supported news ...Gov. Walker gave Ashley Furniture a $6 million tax break that allowed the Wisconsin-based company to fire half of its in-state workforce. Ashley Furniture’s executives then donated a combined $20,000 to Walker’s re-election campaign...
STUDY: Workers in “Right-to-Work” States Receive 24% More Government Assistance We Party Patriots ...Our study found that right-to-work laws weaken state economies and strain public budgets. Right-to-work laws not only sap government revenue in the form of reduced tax receipts, but they also increase government spending in outlays for food stamps and the earned income tax credit...”
War on Workers
Did Corruption in the Construction Trades Blunt the Impact of Obama’s Stimulus Package? naked capitalism ...A review of public records in 28 states uncovered widespread cheating by construction companies that listed workers as contractors instead of employees in order to beat competitors and cut costs. … The problem known as misclassification is so well-understood in the U.S. economy that government has vowed to fix it for years...
Stop and seize Washington Post ...A thriving subculture of road officers on the network now competes to see who can seize the most cash and contraband, describing their exploits in the network’s chat rooms and sharing “trophy shots” of money and drugs. Some police advocate highway interdiction as a way of raising revenue for cash-strapped municipalities...
The Lost Generation – Millennials Angry Bear ...The median family headed by someone under 35 earned $35,300 in 2013, down 6 percent from 2010 and down nearly 20 percent from 2001. Those figures may understate the magnitude of the problem...
Research: Much of Recent Decline in Labor Force Participation Rate due to "ongoing structural influences" Calculated Risk ...participation rates among youths have been declining since the mid-1990s, in part reflecting the higher returns to education documented extensively by other researchers, but also, we believe, some crowding out of job opportunities for young workers associated with the decline in middle-skill jobs and thus greater competition for the low-skilled jobs traditionally held by teenagers and young adults...
AFL-CIO goes after Koch brothers in ad campaign Associated Press ...The AFL-CIO campaign features sisters named Joyce and Karen Koch, who aren't related to big-spending Charles and David Koch. The women criticize the Koch brothers and their network of conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity and Generation Opportunity...
Worker killed in construction accident in New Albany WDRB.com ...The sheriff's department says LG&E was working to pull new power lines on new towers when a rope holding a pulley snapped. The pulley fell about 100 feet and hit the worker in the head...
Worker killed in accident at Denver scrap yard Associated Press ...Police are investigating after a worker at a Denver scrap yard was killed while he was trying to free material from a jammed baler...
