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But do we think Frank Ocean signed a non-compete?
Maybe it’s a leg injury, maybe it’s the ice skating rink, maybe it’s Maybelline. Either way, Frank Ocean has pulled out of Coachella week two and we couldn’t help but wonder: did he sign a non-compete that prevents him from performing at Lollapalooza??
Non-compete agreements between workers and their employers prevent workers from accepting job offers at competing companies. Not to say they hold workers hostage, but… it’s hostage-adjacent, right? If another company is offering better pay, opportunity for growth, and Eras Tour tickets, it’s only right to have the option to consider the job. While employers say non-compete agreements protect trade secrets, they end up hurting workers by keeping them in lower-paying jobs and bad working conditions.
This week, Representative Pramila Jayapal joined the DFP blog to talk about a new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposal that would ban non-compete agreements (slay). Data for Progress finds 60 percent of voters support banning non-competes, including 67 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of Independents, and 55 percent of Republicans.
For a country that really pops off for capitalism, non-competes create an environment that suppresses competition and promotes exploitation. You can’t have it both ways!! It’s time to ban non-competes and allow workers to choose their own adventure.
Check out the polling here.
Here are some other highlights from DFP this week:
If you care about care workers, it’s time to get in formation (union formation).
Oh, you thought care workers were being paid a decent wage for all of the hard work and effort that they put into taking care of us and our loved ones? Cute!!! Silly goose, you thought wrong.
Data for Progress and the AFL-CIO find voters believe care workers get paid $20 an hour on average. While that’s still not ideal, it’s better than the reality: some care workers get paid as little as $13 an hour. Oat milk can cost more than $8 and we’re paying care workers $13 an hour?!? We quite literally can’t live in these conditions.
Voters believe that care workers should be making $27 an hour, which is a huge jump from the, quite frankly, insulting $13 an hour they currently make. Like c'mon, there are 15-year-old TikTokers making more than that on one eyeliner review video.
The Economic Policy Institute finds that with union representation and a collective bargaining agreement, care worker wages could rise to $22. Still not perfect, but much better.
So care working readers, this is why we need to organize and get in formation! With union representation, care workers could actually get paid a liveable salary that matches the insane cost of eggs and dairy-free milk (which is simply just better than dairy milk, sorry not sorry).
Read the full blog and polling here.
We’re tired, let us retire at 67.
As we continue on the slow drive towards the exhaustion of Social Security, Republicans continue to make this journey brutal by suggesting terrible ideas.
One of those ideas comes from Republican Presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, who is doing an incredible job at alienating an entire voting bloc with her suggestion to raise the retirement age for those in their 20s. Nikki, we’re going to spend the next 40 years holding this planet together with duct tape and you want us to retire later? Naur, sis.
Unsurprisingly, Data for Progress finds a majority of voters don’t feel like dedicating an extra 10 years to their little Zoom meetings throughout their little Big Four accounting / consulting / finance bro existence. Only 8 percent of voters — including just 5 percent of Democrats, 9 percent of Independents, and 9 percent of Republicans — believe the retirement age should be raised above 67. Forty-five percent of voters believe the retirement age should instead be lowered below 67, while 43 percent of voters believe the retirement age should stay the same.
In 40 years, 20-year-olds just want to be golfing in Florida (assuming it’s not underwater or existing on its own as a conservative dictatorship). And more seriously, raising the retirement age would prevent people from receiving crucial benefits that they’ll need if they’re not physically able to work or make ends meet. Rather than put them (us) through the wringer, Data for Progress finds 77 percent of voters support the proposed Social Security Expansion Act, which would extend the solvency of Social Security by 75 years and increase benefits for recipients by $2,400 per year.
Instead of raising the retirement age, why don’t we try protecting Social Security by raising taxes on the wealthiest of Americans? Twenty-year-olds can barely afford rent, our jobs are going to ChatGPT, and our planet will probably be up in flames anyway. Let’s not throw us under the bus quite yet.
Check out the polling here.
Every Day is [Insert New Home Planet] Day!!
Don’t be alarmed, but we think the Earth may be in trouble. She’s getting pretty temperamental, and before you say it, don’t be an asshole and just blame it on menopause. We’ve experienced wildfires, extreme weather, and we don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s getting pretty hot in here (more like 1 degree Celsius hotter than the global average across the twentieth century to be exact).
No one is worse to Earth Mommy than fossil fuel companies, who have been the problem child since day one. Data for Progress finds voters believe fossil fuel companies (52 percent) and large corporations (52 percent), along with other high-emitting countries like India and China (52 percent), share “a lot of responsibility” for addressing climate change.
There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about our planet’s well-being. We’re waaay past the point of a girl's trip to Italy and a Vespa ride with a guitar player named Paolo solving all of our problems. Voters have a laundry list of concerns, but floods and wildfires (39 percent), global food shortages (36 percent), and increases in the cost of living (32 percent) make the top three. What a fun list!
While there are little things we can do to make our planet happy, like recycling and trying to go vegan and then slowly breaking until you’re a pescatarian who eats cheeseburgers when you’re high, implementing large-scale action is critical for addressing the climate crisis. So, don't stop using your reusable tote bag, but let's make sure federal funding goes towards new energy projects and fossil fuel companies are held accountable.
Check out the polling here.
Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into raising taxes on Manhattan’s elite.
Spotted: Republicans who want to raise the retirement age and invest our Social Security funds in the stock market. Um, not in Joe Biden’s America!!
A recent Data for Progress poll of voters in NY-17, NY-19, and NY-22 finds voters want to protect and fund programs like Social Security and Medicare, and would support increased taxes on the wealthy to do so. Increased benefits for these programs will be life-changing for some people, and honestly, Connor Roy will survive an increase in taxes from his $63 million Upper East Side apartment just fine.
For example, 43 percent of voters in NY-17 support maintaining Social Security’s current funding while 48 percent support increasing it. Similarly, 33 percent and 39 percent support maintaining status quo funding for Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, while 51 percent and 32 percent support increasing funding. @ Republicans, it doesn’t seem like there’s huge support for cuts to funding or investing funds in the stock market, you might just want to note that.
Voters don’t mind raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations (or a wealthy family that’s also a large corporation à la the Roys/Murdochs) in order to achieve this goal. In NY-19, 81 percent of voters prefer raising taxes on the wealthy to maintain Social Security, including 97 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and 71 percent of Republicans.
If we’ve learned anything from Gossip Girl and Succession, let it be that we can sleep soundly at night having raised taxes on Manhattan's elite in order to increase benefits for Social Security and Medicare. xoxo.
Read the full NY-17 poll here, the full NY-19 poll here, and the full NY-22 poll here.
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