Hey John, we're excited to introduce you to The Tapback, a new newsletter from Civic Action. Our scheme: keep you updated on the economic news you might have missed — and call out the B.S. Let us know what you think and what you'd like to see in future editions by replying to this email, or share your reaction here [[link removed]] .
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We’ve reached new territory in the conversation about what’s driving inflation when even the Wall Street Journal has finally acknowledged [[link removed]] that greedy corporations are raising prices to pad their profits, not to cover their costs . There’s a perverse feedback loop [[link removed]] at play here: reports of higher prices can lead prices even higher, because companies take advantage of expectations about inflation to jack up prices without consumer backlash. Even stock market peer pressure is a factor: [[link removed]] the few big companies which refrained from using inflation as an excuse for price hikes saw investors drive down their share prices until they joined the greedflationary trend.
But despite this increasingly well-documented dynamic of profit-driven price hikes, day-to-day economics reporting simply cannot seem to resist the bizarre idea that wage growth is the fundamental problem in the economy . And so we continue to drown in bizarre good-news-is-bad-news headlines like “ Wages grow steadily, defying Fed’s hopes as it fights inflation [[link removed]] ” and “ Why the jobs boom could worsen inflation and help trigger a recession [[link removed]] .” Somehow the business pages always find a way to celebrate rising profits, scold workers for getting raises, and fret that wages are just too damn high .
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$334 milion [[link removed]] would be taken from grocery workers in reduced pay if regulators allow the proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger to proceed, amounting to a “pure windfall” for greedy executives. Researchers at EPI found that the merger would increase market concentration so substantially that it would drive down grocery workers’ wages across the industry [[link removed]] .
305 children [[link removed]] were found working long hours as late as 2am in hazardous jobs at dozens of McDonald’s restaurants [[link removed]] . Fines for these violations of labor law totaled a paltry $212,754.
43 percent of office workers [[link removed]] report spending a quarter of their work-time on “productivity theater” intended to show their bosses they were doing stuff [[link removed]] , rather than actually doing stuff. Increased surveillance and constraints on remote work may be undermining efficiency rather than boosting it.
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The remarkably strong post-pandemic labor market has pushed the unemployment rate for Black Americans down to 4.7%, an all-time low. No doubt evidence of racial inequality still abounds: unemployment for white workers is an even lower 2.8%, for example, and racial income and wealth gaps remain gaping. Nonetheless, this happy milestone underscores the widespread benefits of our booming job market: more people are being included more fully in the economy, driving continued growth and innovation, which will in turn drive further inclusion in a virtuous cycle of economic growth from the bottom up and middle out.
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As outlined on Twitter by co-author Justin Wiltshire [[link removed]] , a groundbreaking new academic study of 47 counties where the minimum wage reached $15/hour by the first quarter of 2022 finds that raising the wage increased overall earnings in those counties and created jobs. Furthermore, when looking only at lower-wage counties which saw the minimum wage increase to $15/hour, the study finds “large, significant positive employment effects," confirming the common-sense understanding that when more people have more money, that means more customers for more businesses, which in turn leads to more hiring. Ten years after the birth of the Fight for $15, it’s time to finally stop talking about a high minimum wage as a “risk” or “experiment.” In fact, it’s an effective economic development strategy that raises incomes, boosts business, and creates jobs.
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