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labor

The Conservative Case for Unions

Jonathan Rauch The Atlantic (July/August 2017 issue)
The decline of the business model of old-style industrial unions may have been economically inevitable, but the lack of any new model to replace it has been socially calamitous. Unions will not be easy to fix, but allowing them to innovate would be a first step, and possibly also a last chance. How a new kind of labor organization could address the grievances underlying populist anger.

A Case for Reparations at the University of Chicago

Ashley Finigan, Caine Jordan, Guy Emerson Mount, Kai Parker Black Perspectives
Reparations promise us a monumental re-birthing of America. Like most births, this one will be painful. But the practice of reparations must continue until the world that slavery built is rolled up and a new order spread out in its place.

books

Bill Clinton: His Career a Disaster for Black Americans

Nathan J. Robinson Jacobin
With all the toxicity coming out of the White House and the GOP-dominated Congress, it's important to remember how insufferable were the politics of the neoliberal Democrats in power under Bill Clinton. The book under review (an article derived from the book is below) should help us remember how malignant were the Clinton years when it came to economic and social justice.

Extreme Maps

Laura Royden, Michael Li Brennan Center for Justice
To gauge where this type of gerrymandering is taking place and its magnitude, this report used election results [from 2012, 2014, and 2016] in states with six or more congressional districts to assess the extent and the durability of “partisan bias” — the degree of systematic advantage one party receives over another in turning votes into seats . . . It also looked at the relationship between the body that drew the maps and the degree of bias observed.

State Unemployment Rates by Race and Ethnicity Show Recovery Expanding but Still Leaving Stubborn Pockets of High Unemployment

Janelle Jones Economic Policy Institute
The African American unemployment rate is at or below its pre-recession level in 11 states: Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina. However, a return to pre-recession levels in these states is barely a recovery: in all of these states, black unemployment rates were above 8.0 percent before the recession.

‘Competitive’ Distractions

Josh Bivens and Hunter Blair Economic Policy Institute
Cutting corporate tax rates will not create jobs or boost incomes for the vast majority of American families -- the facts you need to shred the myths.
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