Trade
TPP negotiations to resume in late January 2015 Vietnamnet …The next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will take place in New York in late January, taking up outstanding issues that were not solved at the previous talks in Washington in December 2014...
American Manufacturing Just Can’t Compete Economy in Crisis … “Free trade,” as it is practiced by China, Japan, Mexico and some others, translates to unrestricted access to buy, sell, undercut, or put out of business any company we own (which has been happening at an accelerated rate)...
War on Workers
Six Days on Fumes: A Trucker's Search for Starbucks and Sleep Bloomberg …[Tracy] Livingston is among the nation’s 2 million truckers, who endure back-to-back 14-hour days to deliver everything from aluminum cans to clothing to Christmas cookies. They practice an occupation that kills more of its practitioners than any other, with 525 dying on the road last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Truckers pushed to their physical limits contribute to accidents in which almost 4,000 Americans die each year...
Paid Leave is Vital to Families’ Economic Security Economic Policy Institute …Mandatory paid sick time would mean that the many employers that already provide paid sick days would have a level playing field with their competitors, and all employers would be able to more easily maintain healthy workplaces. While any new labor standard generates concerns about the business climate and job creation, the evidence from jurisdictions that require paid sick days has all been positive...
The Key to $10 Billion in U.S. Human Smuggling: Big Banks Bloomberg ...Major banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo, have been used as financial conduits for the smuggling industry, according to evidence in a federal criminal case against a gang of 15 human smugglers and warrants from prosecutors in Arizona, Maryland and Texas...
Richest 1% to own more than rest of world, Oxfam says BBC News …The charity's research shows that the share of the world's wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year. On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world's wealth by 2016...
Five Causes of Wage Stagnation in the United States AFL-CIO … "Since the late 1970s, wages for the bottom 70 percent of earners have been essentially stagnant, and between 2009 and 2013, real wages fell for the entire bottom 90 percent of the wage distribution."...
The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have Next New Deal …The CEO-Employee Paycheck Fairness Act stops corporations from claiming tax deductions for “performance pay” for executives – e.g. stock options and stock grants – “unless their workers are getting paycheck increases that reflect increases in worker productivity and the cost of living.”...
Miscellaneous
Icezilla: Ice storm leads to hundreds of accidents from Philly to New York and Connecticut CNN ...After crashing into at least 20 cars piled up on Interstate 76, one person was killed after getting out of a car and being hit by an oncoming vehicle, authorities said...
