The Fed’s pursuit of its 2% inflation target will slow economic growth, repress wage gains, make almost everyone’s job less secure, and put us at risk for a recession.
Workers haven’t gained as much leverage as a superficial examination might suggest. Advances thus far, such as they are, still leave miles to travel before the American working class recovers all the economic standing it has lost since the 1970s.
It would be irresponsible to create much higher unemployment – and the US economy could be pushed into recession. There is a strong argument for the Fed to take a break from its aggressive monetary-policy tightening.
The rise in the index of aggregate hours would be equivalent to more than 630,000 jobs with no changes in workweeks. Drop in unemployment in Novembers were largest for the groups that face labor market discrimination.
In March, 495,000 women entered the labor force, but the figures betray the harsher economic situation for Black women and many have dropped out altogether.
We need to bring back fairness to an economy plagued by an imbalance of power between workers and employers. At a time when our nation is engaged in a vital conversation about economic justice, we need to make union membership a civil right.
Will older, socially conservative voters care so much about culture-war issues in the midst of a pandemic? This Bronx election suggests political patterns might evolve more broadly among older voters in places like Florida and the Sun Belt.
The world economy, to the degree it still works at all, serves to benefit the few at the expense of the many. The author of the book under review does an economic deep dive into ways that can reverse that antidemocratic equation.
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