What the Media’s Saying About Overtime (or, Why You Shouldn’t Trust Passive Voice in Reporting)

July 7, 2015 Paul Constant
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Policy

Compared to the dramatic Supreme Court victories of last month, the Obama administration’s new proposed overtime rules have been underreported. Thankfully, most of the coverage overtime has gotten has been thoughtful and additive to the national conversation. If you’re looking for a substantive crash course in what it all means, you should read Noam Scheiber’s story on overtime at the New York Times, which explains how many people will benefit from these changes:

The first category includes workers in the $23,660 to $50,440 salary range who, under the current federal rules, are legitimately exempt from receiving overtime pay because their jobs involve some professional, managerial or supervisory duties. The administration estimates that there are nearly five million workers who fit this description, and that many companies will simply raise their salaries above the new threshold to keep them exempt. Others will become eligible for overtime or have their hours cut back, or both.

The second category includes workers in the targeted salary range, like clerks, who should already be eligible for overtime pay because their jobs feature no bona fide managerial or supervisory component and no independent responsibility, but whom employers have misclassified and denied overtime pay.

The third category includes workers in the targeted salary range who are eligible to receive overtime and currently receive it, but who are vulnerable to such reclassification.

Scheiber rightly identifies overtime changes as a good starting point in the battle against income inequality, not a conclusion:
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No, Rand Paul, Taxes Are Not “Slavery”

July 7, 2015 Paul Constant
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2016

Pop quiz: Who has a red tie and doesn't understand that his slavery metaphor is intrinsically offensive? I'll give you one guess.

Pop quiz: Who has a red tie and doesn’t understand that his slavery metaphor is intrinsically offensive? I’ll give you one guess.


I’m old enough to recall a time—just a year ago!—when lots of people assumed that Senator Rand Paul was going to be a serious presidential contender. That Senator Paul talked openly about his desire to attract minorities to the Republican Party. He won liberal fans with his defense of civil liberties. He seemed to want to build a new coalition of Republicans, one that actually included young people and social moderates.

Then Paul actually started running for president, and we quickly realized that all those signals amounted to nothing. Rand Paul has run a spectacularly bad campaign so far, going back on his word on civil liberties, doubling down on evangelical Christian talk, and offending minorities.

The latest sign that Paul is a dunderheaded campaigner comes from Andrew Kaczynski at BuzzFeed:

“I’m for paying some taxes,” continued Paul. “But if we tax you at 100% then you’ve got zero percent liberty. If we tax you at 50% you are half slave, half free. I frankly would like to see you a little freer and a little more money remaining in your communities so you can create jobs. It’s a debate we need to have.”

First of all, I can’t even believe I have to say this, but it’s blatantly offensive to compare paying taxes to slavery. In one case, you have some money removed from your paycheck every week. In the other, your dignity and personhood is stripped away and you’re declared a piece of property.

Secondly, this ridiculous Ludwig von Mises-style claptrap might be appealing to a small percentage of the population (mostly college freshmen and the sorts of people who own those terrible Atlas Shrugged movies on DVD) but most Americans understand that taxes pay for roads and firemen and education and all the other benefits that define a civilization.

Paul’s rant sounds like the unreasonable claims of someone who thinks that money is the ultimate expression of liberty. But the correlation to this belief is that the top one percent and large corporations—in other words, the sorts of people who would most benefit from a Paul-style libertarian system—are more free than the rest of the country. They can buy freedoms that ordinary people simply couldn’t afford: the right to pollute, the right to infringe on the rights of other people, the right to get away with crimes. That doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

Daily Clips: July 7th, 2015

July 7, 2015 Nick Cassella
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Daily Clips

Voting access is dismal throughout the South: In a new report released by Center for American Progress today, the authors look at voter accessibility in all 50 states. To determine this, they divide “the question of how to rate the health of our democracies in the states into three categories: Accessibility of the ballot; how representative government is; and whether undue influence is being sufficiently curbed.” It’s safe to say, the south didn’t fare well – at all. Just look at this map:

Spot the problem area.

Spot the problem area.

Paul Allen unveils sustainable seafood program for restaurants: The Microsoft co-founder has created a “Smart Catch” program to better monitor restaurants’ use of seafood. It should be thought of much like the Heart Foundation Tick you find on many grocery products. Under Allen’s program, restaurants would only get the Smart Catch approval if 90 percent of the fish they serve is sustainable. It’s a high bar, but it is one worth setting.

In order to determine a restaurant’s level of sustainability, Smart Catch will use “Monterey Bay Aquarium and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) data to rate the percentage of sustainable items on the menu, rather than the volume served.”

Median home prices of King County surge: According to the Seattle Times, King County single-family houses shot up 10.3 percent in the last year, making the new median price over $500,000. These staggering figures may lead one to believe Seattle is in the midst of a bubble, but that may not be the case.

“I wouldn’t say we’re in a bubble,” said Alan Pope, a real-estate appraiser in Redmond. “I would say the balloon is growing, and I can’t tell when it’s going to stop.”

For the sake of the area, let’s hope the balloon is big. And the drastic increases in home prices isn’t just limited to King County. The median price of single-family homes in Snohomish County increased six percent over the last year ($360,125) and Pierce County’s prices jumped nine percent ($257,000).

McDonald’s isn’t loving this survey: The American Customer Satisfaction Survey Index has ranked McDonald’s in last place for all fast food restaurants. Robert Gibbs can’t be elated with such news – but then again, it can’t get worse from here! Interestingly, the average score among fast food companies is down four percent since 2014. This said, the survey found that Americans still eat out an average of four times per week, sending a clear message to fast food companies: “even if your service is crap, we’ll still eat there.”

American Foreign Policy Needs a Feminist Overhaul

July 6, 2015 Paul Constant
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Policy

At Political Animal, Nancy LeTourneau writes about the importance of a feminist American foreign policy. She notes the existence of an upcoming United States Institute of Peace forum in which…

…experts from civil society, the United Nations, academia, and the U.S. government will discuss ways to include women in efforts to counter violent extremism. The debate will directly inform U.S. government officials preparing for major international conferences on these issues this fall.

LeTourneau smartly labels this a move in the right direction. She says “…the more violent a state and its citizens are toward women, the more violent that state is likely to be over all, both internally and in its dealings with outside world.” She cites a study proving that “the very best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level of democracy, or its ethno-religious identity; the best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is how well its women are treated.”

We can advance a feminist agenda at home and overseas. It's just good business!

We can advance a feminist agenda at home and overseas. It’s just good business!


Another point is that nations where women are more equal are economically stronger, too. This makes sense: economies are stronger when everyone is allowed to participate. Nations where woman are punished or penalized for the “crime” of being born a woman are effectively shutting down half their workforce and crippling half their consumer base.

Of course, America doesn’t exactly lead the world when it comes to women’s issues. We still haven’t reached pay equity, for example. We’re the only nation in the developed world that doesn’t guarantee paid maternity leave. And the burden of child care still falls heavily on women here.

On that last note, there’s at least a glimmer of hope. Greg Sargent at Plumline says “Universal child care is becoming a central pillar of the liberal agenda,” claiming that Senate Democrats are about to put forth a universal pre-K proposal. If that doesn’t get by congressional Republicans, Hillary Clinton will likely make it a centerpiece policy of her campaign. This is a good move. It’s important that we advance a feminist agenda overseas, but we also need to form a more perfect feminist agenda here at home, too.

Daily Clips: July 6th, 2015

July 6, 2015 Nick Cassella
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Daily Clips

Richard Kirsch gives a nice overview of Nick Hanauer & David Rolfe’s “Shared Security” piece: Last week, Hanauer and Rolfe offered a bold and innovative upgrade to the employer/employee contract of the 21st century. The Roosevelt Institute’s Senior Fellow, Richard Kirsch, took to Huffington Post to put down his thoughts on their article. By and large, he is very enthusiastic about their approach. He specifically notes (in middle out economic terms, I must add):

Raising wages, providing time to care for yourself and your family, and having affordable health insurance and retirement security is not just about being fair, and it’s not just about rewarding workers for their contributions to a business. It’s the exact opposite of conservative economic theory. At its root, it recognizes that people with the security of a good, middle-class job drive our economy forward.

3 Surprising Beneficiaries of the Minimum Wage: The Motely Fool have published an unusual piece on the minimum wage, with analysts claiming that senior citizens, banks and the retail chain Conn could benefit from an increased minimum wage. You’re probably sick of reading the same old talking points when it comes to this issue, so if you want to spice up your life a bit, give this article a read.

Members of Congress push for minimum wage increase, but don’t pay their interns: An astonishing 94 percent of the 205 House and Senate sponsors of the Raise the Wage Act do not pay their interns…at all. Not even a stipend. But free labor is pretty handy and well, pretty darn cheap, too. So, don’t hold your breath as you wait for these politicians to see their blatant hypocrisy.

Side note: I interned at the Center for American Progress last summer and although they didn’t pay me minimum wage, they at least gave me a small stipend every week. Yes, this is largely just a stop-gap measure. But it really is appalling that over 90 percent of our elected officials can’t even practice what they preach. In a time where economic inequality stifles the participation of those at the bottom of our society, it doesn’t make sense to set up internships which clearly favor those individuals whose families have the money to enable a summer of unpaid work. That will not establish full and robust participation of America’s youth in the halls of Congress. Rather, it will just ensure that upper middle class kids who have the necessary economic security can obtain these prestigious (and very useful) internships.

The failed Kansas’ experiment continues…well, failing: Over at TaxJustice.org, Kelly Davis provides analysis on the recent tax increases in Kansas (yes, Governor Brownback is actually raising taxes now). She finds that:

…those with an average income of just $13,000, will pay an average of $197 more in taxes in 2015 as a result of the Gov. Brownback tax changes, and, even with the increases Gov. Brownback is expected to sign into law today, the richest 1 percent are still paying about $24,000 less.

The Sunflower State is just the latest example of trickle down economics and its devastating impacts for the 99 percent.

Business Lobby Says Overtime Rule Is Bad for Workers or Something, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah

July 2, 2015 Goldy
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Uncategorized
Overworked and underpaid? The Obama Administration wants to help. (Image courtesy of marcolm at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

Who cares if you’re overworked and underpaid as long as you get to call yourself an “Assistant Manager”? (Image courtesy of marcolm at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

As both Paul and Cass have pointed out, the conservative response to President Obama’s proposed new overtime rule has been uncharacteristically muted. We’ve heard barely a peep from the hundred-or-so GOPers running for president, while what little pushback we’ve seen from the business lobby has been vague and generic.

The proposed overtime rules would “negatively impact our workforce,” whines the National Restaurant Association. A higher overtime threshold would “negatively impact small businesses,” the US Chamber of Commerce reflexively argues. Any change to the current rules would “harm job creation,” warns the National Retail Federation.

Blah, blah, blah.

Sound familiar? This is the same tired old argument the business lobby has long used against every proposed labor standard (minimum wage, child labor, abolition, etc.); there’s nothing particularly overtimey about it. Makes me wonder if their spokespeople are being paid by the hour, because they sure don’t seem to be working any overtime on this one.

If there’s anything novel about the anti-overtime rhetoric, it’s their weird argument that raising the threshold would somehow harm workers by removing the existing incentive for employers to misclassify workers as managers—as if the non-monetary reward of the “Assistant Manager” title is compensation enough for the 20-hours-a-week of unpaid overtime that often comes with it. (Spoiler alert: it isn’t!) But of course, there’s nothing in the proposed rule that prevents employers from handing out fancy job titles and paying overtime. So any threat to punitively take these titles away from newly non-exempt “managers” just comes off as kind of dickish.

Apart from that, it’s same old same old. Which is fine by me. The more the business lobby relies on the same rhetoric with which it is losing the Fight for $15, the less overtime I’ll have to put into tearing their arguments down.

Daily Clips: July 2nd, 2015

July 2, 2015 Nick Cassella
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Daily Clips

US adds 223,000 jobs in June: This month’s job report marks the 64th consecutive month of private sector job growth and the 57th consecutive month of overall job growth in the US. According to Daily Kos, 12.8 million new jobs have now been created during the Obama administration, a significant increase over the Bush administration’s record.

FiveThirtyEight is quick to point out that America hasn’t seen a job streak like this since World War II. As they further note: “It has now been three years since the U.S. had a definitively bad month for job growth.”

While wages still remain frustratingly flat and the 5.3 percent unemployment rate is helped by those who have stopped looking for jobs, these job numbers represent another win for both America and the Obama administration.

NEW STUDY: According to new research by UC Berkeley’s Emmanuel Saez:

Bottom 99% incomes grew by 3.3% from 2013 to 2014, the best annual growth rate since 1999. Top 1% incomes grew even faster by 10.8% from 2013 to 2014…Top 1% families still capture 58% of total real income growth per family from 2009-2014, but the recovery from the Great Recession now looks less lopsided than in previous years. By 2014, bottom 99% families have recovered slightly less than 40% of the 2007- 2009 Great Recession losses.

Clearly, the recovery has been asymmetrical. The top 1%’s incomes have grown three times as much as the bottom 99%. That’s

4 pro-growth reforms that conservatives and liberals can agree upon: Ignore the overly hopeful title and look at the four areas of reform Timothy Lee at Vox promotes:

  1. Let developers in coastal cities build more
  2. Boost high-skilled immigration
  3. Reform copyright and patent laws
  4. Liberalize occupational licensing rules

Do you think these are bi-partisan reforms which could actually be achieved? I’m not holding my breath.

Chicken little economists sing the same old song on overtime reform

July 1, 2015 Nick Cassella
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Ridicule Project

I’m sorry to report that overtime standards have not been universally heralded. According to the opposition, this “crackpot legislation…is utterly impractical…[and] would be much more destructive than constructive to the very purposes which it is designed to serve.”

Others have said it “constitutes a step in the direction of communism” and some even say it “will destroy small industry”.

One particularly indignant opponent asked, “[how could business] find any time left to provide jobs if we are to persist in loading upon it these everlastingly multiplying governmental mandates and delivering it to the mercies of multiplying and hampering federal bureaucracy?”

If this sounds to you like the same trickle-down fear-mongering that you’ve become accustomed to, you’re correct. In fact, every quote you just read was said in 1938.

That’s right. 75 years ago.

Is it just me or is the sky not falling?

Is it just me or is the sky not falling? (Image courtesy of Gualberto107 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

The above quotes were in response to the Fair Labor Standards Act which (among other important provisions) implemented federal overtime rules. They were not in response to Obama’s recent expansion of overtime eligibility.

Such is the timeless and unchanging rhetoric of the “chicken little economics” crowd. They merely insert the latest labor standard of the day into their formulaic responses and hope no one will notice the fact they’ve been employing the exact same talking points since gas cost 10 cents per gallon.

You have to hand it to them: fear works. They’ve repeatedly convinced Americans that pursuing any advancement in labor standards will actually hurt the people they’re intended to help. They are perpetual defenders of the status quo. And their points remain immutable throughout time and changing circumstances in our nation.

Here are some of the most recent quotes on Obama’s overtime expansion from the business lobby opposition. Do you see any similarities with the arguments of their ideological forefathers?

  • “It seems as if these proposed rules have the potential to radically change industry standards and negatively impact our workforce.” – National Restaurant Association
  • “[Overtime] will not guarantee more income, but instead will negatively impact small businesses and drastically limit employment opportunities.” – US Chamber of Commerce
  • “Supporters of these regulations say they want to increase Americans’ take home pay, but these sweeping changes to the rules could mean anything but. If these regulations stand, that mobility and adaptability of employee schedules, which make our industry appealing, will be severely diminished.” – National Restaurant Association

It’s time we unveil chicken little economists’ talking points for what they are: blatant scare tactics, not grounded in economics or a concern for the welfare of workers.

Every time the government attempts to help the middle class and implement overtime benefits, business responds with the same portentous squawks. And yet, every time these overtime standards are established, businesses somehow manage to endure. The sky doesn’t, in fact, fall. And so they’ll go silent for awhile. But rest assured, when the time comes for another overtime reboot they’ll be back with their usual doom-laden arguments.

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