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Economic Security for Working Women and Men

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Now that President Biden has been sworn in, it’s time to get down to business. I posted a week or so ago a list of five areas where I believe America needs to make some serious progress if we are to defuse some of the anger that pervades parts of our society and make economic and social progress toward an America that works for all of us and is sustainable.

The first of these areas is the need to provide economic security for working men and women. Over the past few decades, the share of income going to what we might call the ‘working class’ has declined significantly even while the cost of housing, education, child care and so forth have all increased. This issue has contributed directly to increased number of young people living with their parents, decline in the marriage rate and rapidly increasing levels of household debt. We urgently need to deal with this problem; here’s how.

Increase The Minimum Wage. The current minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour. In 1968, the minimum wage was $1.60. If the minimum wage had kept up with the increase in worker productivity, it would be over $19 today. We need to increase the minimum wage to at least $15/hour ($31,200/year). Further, we need to do this quickly and not put it off until 2025 or even later as some politicians seem to want. The minimum wage needs to be at $15/hour not later than January 1, 2022 and needs to be indexed to inflation from that point. This increase will affect between 20 and 30 million working Americans and help them feel they are being compensated fairly for their labor. They will be able to afford a life with dignity.

You will hear a lot of people say that increasing the minimum wage will cost jobs and, to be sure, some jobs will be lost. But the increase in purchasing power of the millions of Americans who receive pay increases will help offset that and create new jobs. A lot of business owners will say that they cannot afford to pay that much and will go out of business. To them I say that if your business plan depends on paying starvation wages to your employees, you need to make some changes. Some will say that the minimum wage in their state/county/city/region should be lower because wages there are lower than the rest of the country. But we don’t want to perpetuate pockets of poverty in our country. All Americans deserve a decent wage.

I should point out that by increasing the minimum wage, the government will save significant amounts of money in the cost of food stamps, rent subsidies, certain tax credits and so forth. We need to do this.

Limit Child-Care Costs for Families. Childcare costs have skyrocketed in the past decade. The average cost for a year of full-time care averaged about $9600 in 2019. The median wage in 2019 was about $35,000 and the median household income was about $68,000. You can see what a bite childcare can take out of a family’s budget, particularly if there is more than one child. The result is either poverty or one parent dropping out of the workforce (usually a woman) to care for children which further reduces the household income.

The Child Care for Working Families Act, introduced by Patty Murray in the previous congress would limit the amount that families pay for child care to 7% of their household income. It would also strengthen existing child care and fund training for childcare workers. It would also support universal access to quality pre-school programs. We need to enact this legislation for the sake of our children.

Housing Costs. Fewer and fewer American families can afford decent housing. There are a variety of reasons for this including the depressed wages of working class families. The increase in the minimum wage should help deal with that a bit. One of the largest contributors to the high cost of housing, though, is restrictive zoning and regulations. The most affordable housing to build are apartments but zoning in many places strictly limits the amount of land available for housing. Other local restrictions like parking requirements, height limits, minimum lot sizes and so on limit the amount of affordable housing that can be built. While zoning is a local issue, the Federal government can set certain standards and withhold funding from localities that have unreasonable restrictions.

Strengthen Unions. One of the reasons the country was more equal in the 1950s and 1960s was that unions were stronger. They were able to negotiate a fair share of the economy’s gains for workers. Unions helped improve working conditions and wages for everyone. But unions have weakened and the decline of the middle class almost exactly tracks the decline of unions.

Unions raise wages for all types of workers and improve benefits for workers including health insurance, retirement, paid sick leave and family leave. Unions are an important check on the power of corporations and the wealthy in our democracy. Unions support policies that help low and moderate-income voters. Corporate interest groups such as the National Restaurant Association, National Chamber of Commerce and oil companies almost always lobby against the interests of low and moderate-income voters.

Here’s what needs to be done to strengthen unions and help restore the middle class:

  1. Make it easier to join a union with a simple up or down vote. Right now, long delays and procedural hurdles give big employers plenty of time to whip up campaigns against unions, even threatening they’ll close down and move somewhere else if a union is voted in.
  2. Real penalties for companies that violate labor laws by firing workers or intimidating others. These moves are illegal, but nowadays the worst that can happen is employers get slapped on the wrist. If found guilty they have to repay lost wages to the workers they fire. Some employers treat this as a cost of doing business. Penalties should be large enough to stop this.
  3. Enact Federal Laws that pre-empt state ‘right to work’ laws. These laws are really ‘right to free-load’ laws. They allow employees to receive all the benefits of union representation without contributing to the cost of running the union. States that have ‘right to work’ laws have wages that are an average of $1500/year lower than other states. Workers in right-to-work states are also less likely to have health benefits and pension benefits.
  4. Allow Workers to strike, picket or boycott their own employers and other employers. Currently, unions can only negotiate or strike their own employers. Companies these days outsource work to other companies they control in order to limit the rights of employees to negotiate with their ‘real’ employer. Labor laws must be adapted to our current economy.

We’ve ignored our working women and men for too long. We need to take action to make our country more equitable and ensure that those who work in our country receive fair compensation for their labor and can afford to be a part of the American dream. These are my thoughts about how to do that and I’d love to hear yours.

Posted by Tom

Books

Some of you may be looking for last minute gifts or something to read over the holidays or next year. Here, in no particular order, are some books I particularly enjoyed this past year. I’ve tried to include a brief description of each and I’ve added a link to an outside review for those who want to learn more about a particular book.

What's next for Tommy Orange? He talks about 'There There' sequel - Los  Angeles Times

There There, by Tommy Orange is a wonderful book. It was one of NYT’s best books of the year in 2018. It’s set in Oakland and the title comes from the famous Gertrude Stein quoted about Oakland. It’s a wonderful, picaresque story about being a native american in the city about ‘Indians pretending to be Indians’ and searching for belonging. HERE’s the NYT review.

NPR Review: 'City Of Girls,' By Elizabeth Gilbert : NPR

City of Girls is by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. It’s an odd love story set in the New York City theater world of the 1940s and told from the perspective of an older woman looking back on her youth with pleasure and a bit of regret. There sex and promiscuity and a lot of fun. I found it an enjoyable read. Here’s the NPR review.

The Nickel Boys | Shop at Matter

In The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead tells the story of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in the Jim Crow era of Florida. It’s based on the infamous Dozier School where, at the time he was writing the book, archeology students were digging up and trying to identify the remains of students who had been tortured, raped, mutilated and buried in a secret graveyard. It’s a remarkable book that shines a light on a shameful part of American history. Here is the NYT review.

Squeeze Me (Skink #8) by Carl Hiaasen

Squeeze Me, by Carl Hiaasen offers, as you might expect, some wild escapism. Be warned though, if you are wearing a MAGA hat you might not like this one. The story takes place mostly in Palm Beach near the ‘Casa Bellicosa’ where the President, whom the secret service has code-named ‘Mastadon’ spends many a day and night. One of his neighbors, a prominent dowager falls drunk into a pond and is swallowed by a python. The entire book is too funny for words. Here is the NYT review.

Splendid & The Vile: 9780008274948: Amazon.com: Books

Erik Larson is an amazing writer of nonfiction events ranging from hurricanes to ship sinkings to crime. In The Splendid and the Vile he writes intelligently and in amazing detail about Winston Churchill and his family during the blitz. On Churchill’s first day as Prime Minister, Germany invaded Belgium and Holland and Dunkirk was just two weeks away. Despite this and a multitude of personal issues, he held the country together under the most trying circumstances and eventually prevailed. The book is very well written. Read the NPR review HERE.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips was a finalist for the National Book Award and other awards and one of New York Times ten best. One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls—sisters, eight and eleven—go missing. The search continues over a year in Kamchatka – a place with soaring volcanoes, dense forests, open tundra and where people still herd reindeer and are suspicious of outsiders. It’s a great read and full of interesting characters. Read the review at The Columbia Review HERE.

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang

I do read science fiction from time to time and I enjoy it but most don’t make the cut to be in my top twenty of the year. Exhalation by Ted Chiang certainly does. Chiang doesn’t write novels; he sticks to short stories and this collection of nine stories is his best. NYT made it one of the ten best of the year as did many other publications. Chiang proves that science fiction doesn’t have to be dystopian and these original, provocative and often poignant stories will have you questioning what it means to be human along with many other questions. Read the NPR review HERE.

Half of a Yellow Sun | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half of a Yellow Sun is a wonderful book by a gifted writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The title is an allusion to the flag of the short-lived Biafran republic. The book describes the events that led up to the secession of the Igbo-dominated Biafra from the rest of Nigeria and the war and famine that followed. We experience this tumultuous decade alongside five unforgettable characters: Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old houseboy who works for Odenigbo, a university professor full of revolutionary zeal; Olanna, the professor’s beautiful young mistress who has abandoned her life in Lagos for a dusty town and her lover’s charm; and Richard, a shy young Englishman infatuated with Olanna’s willful twin sister Kainene. We experience the hope of independence movements everywhere and see that hope dashed. Read the NYT review HERE.

Emory hosts Tara Westover, best-selling author of 'Educated,' in lead-off  event for Common Read | Emory University | Atlanta, GA

Educated is another one of the NYT ‘Best Books of the Year’ and winner of many awards. It’s the story of Tara Westover who grew up as one of seven children in a survivalist family in Southern Utah. She received almost nothing in the way of schooling and was subject to violence by her father and brother. Her father was so wary of government that four of her siblings didn’t have birth certificates. Despite all of this she decided to get out into the world and was admitted to Brigham Young University and eventually Cambridge University where she earned her doctorate in history. It’s an amazing story. Read the NYT review HERE.

A Burning” by Megha Majumdar. Deftly written, deeply relevant, A… | by  Vipula Gupta | The Riveting Review | Medium

A Burning, Megha Majumdar’s debut novel is tautly written and reads like a thriller. After a terrorist bombing of a train, Jivan, a young woman, writes a careless post on Facebook complaining about the ineffective police. Of course that targets her and three days later she is arrested and beaten into confessing to the bombing. We see other characters, a teacher who sees his political rise tied to Jivan’s fall and Lovely, an outcast who has the alibi to set Jivan free but speaking up would cost her everything. It’s a fast read and something you won’t forget. Here’s the WaPo review.

34 years after 'The Handmaid's Tale,' Margaret Atwood compels action in  'The Testaments'

In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘ we learned how The United States became a theocratic totalitarian state where women are treated as nothing but wombs, nonwhites and unbelievers are expelled, resettled or disposed of and race and class are used to divide the people. ‘The Testaments‘, Margaret Atwood’s stunning sequel set fifteen years later we learn that there are spies in Gilead, determined to bring it down. We also delve more deeply into its founding and possible end as the lives of three radically different women converge with explosive results. It’s a great read. Here’s the NYT review.

Americanah producer wins screen rights to Girl, Woman, Other. | Literary Hub

Bernadine Evaristo was co-winner of the Booker Prize last year (along with Margaret Atwood, above) for her novel Girl, Woman, Other. It’s a magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain. The story begins just hours before the debut of a play at the National Theatre in London, and it ends 450 pages later as the audience spills into the lobby. But during that brief window of time, Evaristo spins out a whole world. Novella-length chapters draw us deep into the lives of 12 women of various backgrounds and experiences. From a nonbinary social media influencer to a 93-year-old woman living on a farm in Northern England, these unforgettable characters also intersect in shared aspects of their identities, from age to race to sexuality to class. It’s witty and emotional and we hear voices that are often sidelined. I strongly recommend it. Here’s the WaPo review.

The Association of Small Bombs' is a tragedy that is familiar and alien at  the same time. – ThePrint

I recently wrote about The Association of Small Bombs in this blog. I liked it a lot. The book, by Karan Mahajan, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of many other prizes. When Mahajan was young, Kashmiri extremists set off a bomb in a market hear his home. In this book, separatists set off a bomb in a small market in Delhi killing, among others, two brothers and injuring their friend. We learn about how the survivors go on and we learn about the internal life of those who placed the bomb and why. It’s a fascinating and wonderfully written exploration and story. Here is the WaPo review.

Strangers and Cousins,' by Leah Hager Cohen - The Washington Post

Strangers and Cousins, by Leah Hager Cohen, is an enjoyable story about what happens when a large and chaotic family hosts an even larger and more chaotic wedding. It’s loud and funny and there are, of course, conflicts of all kinds but at the end problems find a way to be resolved and familial love perseveres. It was a WaPo ten best novel and it really is a lot of fun to read. Here is the NYT review.

Maaza Mengiste's new novel “The Shadow King” out on September 24.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste is a wonderful book to read. They language is lyrical and sometimes you want to read a sentence or a paragraph again just because of the feel of the words. It’s set in the first real conflict of World War II; Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia. At its heart is orphaned maid Hirut, who finds herself tumbling into a new world of thefts and violations, of betrayals and overwhelming rage. Hirut is a compelling hero. Fighting the Italian invaders and raging against the continued violation at the hands of her commander she finally, in the middle of a battle, loses her fear of death and runs toward the Italian army tapping her own chest and saying, ‘Boom’. There is no comedy or humor in this book but it is wonderful and you should read it. Here is the NPR review.

American Spy: A Novel" By Lauren Wilkinson | WAMC

American Spy, by Lauren Wilkinson is a kind of literary thriller. It certainly starts with a bang. On page 1 the narrator hears a noise in her bedroom and she grabs her handgun just before an armed man enters her room. She ends up with a few bruises, he ends up dead. It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is an intelligence officer with the FBI. She’s brilliant, but she’s also a young black woman working in an old boys’ club. Her career has stalled out, she’s overlooked for every high-profile squad, and her days are filled with monotonous paperwork. So when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes even though she admires Sankara. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American. It’s darkly funny and very good. Here’s the NPR review.

I hope this will give you some ideas. I selected these from many more that I read this past year. Please comment and let me know what you’ve been reading that you really like.

Posted by Tom

Monday Again

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Wine…

How to…

Bada Boom!

A woman goes to the doctor looking fantastic. Hair and makeup done by a professional, Gucci heels, Versace dress, and Prada purse. “I’ve been stung by a nasty insect of some kind,” she tells the doctor, “…but I’m ashamed to tell you where.” “It’s okay,” says the doctor. “Our communication is privileged; I won’t tell anyone.” “Okay,” says the woman, “It was at Walmart.”

Want to know where I store all my dad jokes? In a dad-a-base.

How do babies keep track of their fathers?They use an extensive dada-base.

I thought I got a job building Egyptian tombs.Turned out to be a pyramid scheme.

Do they allow loud laughing in Hawaii, or just a low ha?

Paddy says to Mick, “I found this pen. Is it yours?”Mick replies, “I don’t know, give it here.”He tries it and says, “Yes it is!”Paddy asks, “How do you know?”Mick says, “That’s my handwriting!”

Musical Moment

Today is the birthday (in 1939 in Greenwood, Mississippi) of Betty Everett. She is best known for her 1964 hit ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’. She had a number of other hits including the duet with Jerry Butler, ‘Let It Be Me’. Here she is. (If you’re getting this post by email you’ll have to click on the link to hear/see it.)

Posted by Tom

The Heart Goes Last

I just finished reading ‘The Heart Goes Last’, a novel by Margaret Atwood. Atwood is justly famous for her dystopian novels and that are rich in character but sometimes flow slowly. This one is different.

The Heart Goes Last can only be described as a rather kinky dystopian novel with some lead characters that have the internal monologue of a tape on an endless loop. It’s quite funny in parts and well-written and it’s clear she had some fun with this one.

Stan and Charmaine are victims of a vast economic collapse, living in their car and scrambling for gas and food money. When a prosperous planned community offers an escape from post-apocalyptic misery, they don’t question the details. That’s just as well, since the details of Consilience don’t follow any rational logic. The thriving city is built around Positron Prison, and residents like Stan and Charmaine are expected to alternate months as support staff and prisoners, with each group providing work and a rationale for the other. Consilience promises a meaningful life of luxury, in complete isolation from the outside world. The catch, of course, is that once you enter, you can’t leave; it’s the roach hotel of the postmodern world.

Charmaine and Stan love it at first. The months in the slammer aren’t too bad – Stan tends chickens and Charmaine has a job administering medicine. Things get complicated when Charmaine becomes obsessed with the guy part of the couple who inhabits their house when Stan and Charmaine are in prison. Also, she discovers that her ‘medicine administration’ is simply a death cocktail for the unlucky recipients.

Like all dystopias, there are big brothers spying on everyone and so forth but that’s not important. Things get a bit crazier when they get involved with an underground movement to bring down the rulers of the place and the ‘possibilibots’ which are basically very advanced sex robots. Stan escapes disguised as an Elvis sex robot and, if possible, things get a little crazier.

Atwood is a highly talented and gifted writer and she has fun with this. I imagine you will too even though it has its flaws. Give it a try! https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/books/review-margaret-atwoods-the-heart-goes-last-conjures-a-kinky-dystopia.html

Posted by Tom

COVID 19 Stimulus and Relief

When the CARES Act passed in April, it was an historic step by our government to mitigate the effect of the COVID pandemic on our people and economy. The $2.2 billion provided by the act supported enhanced unemployment benefits, stimulus payments to individuals and families, the Payroll Protection Plan to allow businesses to keep employees on the payroll, funds for state and local governments to cover COVID-related costs and support for students and renters to suspend student loan repayments and many kinds of evictions.

While the CARES Act was successful in many ways, most of the benefits have either expired or are about to expire even though unemployment continues at very high levels, business bankruptcies are growing, economic activity remains depressed, state and local governments are suffering from increased costs and decreased revenue and the threat of further bankruptcies and more economic and health damage continues.

FILE – In this May 21, 2020 file photo, a man looks at signs of a closed store due to COVID-19 in Niles, Ill. U.S. businesses shed 2.76 million jobs in May, as the economic damage from the historically unrivaled coronavirus outbreak stretched into a third month. The payroll company ADP reported Wednesday that businesses have let go of a combined 22.6 million jobs since March.AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

In light of this, the House of Representatives passed legislation two months ago to provide additional stimulus and relief totaling almost $4 billion for individuals, families, businesses, healthcare providers, state and local governments and others. the Republican-led Senate, however, has been unable to pass any corresponding legislation and the Senate leadership and the White House oppose most of the initiatives included in the House bill. This is creating a severe hardship for many Americans which can only get worse with further layoffs and business closings in the future and evictions and homelessness in the future for many of those whose unemployment benefits have been cut or the newly unemployed.

So I was heartened to see that a bipartisan group of representatives called ‘The Problem Solvers Caucus’ had proposed a framework for a COVID 19 relief package that might help move things along. I’m cautious because this group hasn’t really had much of an impact until now but perhaps this will go somewhere.

The package being proposed represents, of course, a compromise between the administration position and the legislation passed by the House. In my view it’s far from perfect but better than nothing. Here are the basic elements:

  • $100 billion for testing and healthcare, primarily for providers
  • $316 billion in support for families and individuals including increases in WIC/SNAP, direct stimulus payments as in the CARES Act, Rental assistance for the most needy and Student Loan forbearance through December.
  • $120 billion for unemployment assistance including $450 weekly supplement for 8 weeks followed by up to $600 but not to exceed previous salary for 13 weeks.
  • $290 billion for small businesses and nonprofits including a second PPP program with a focus on small and community banks and $50 billion for employee retention tax credits
  • $145 billion for schools and childcare including $15 billion for childcare providers, $100 billion for K-12 schools and $30 billion for higher education
  • $500.3 billion for state and local governments, most of it to make up for general revenue shortfalls.

I think in some of these categories there is not enough money but, as I said before – it’s better than nothing and nothing is what we will get if the current gridlock continues. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Posted by Tom