Last week, the US Department of Labor proposed new rules which would restore overtime protections to 3.6 million salaried workers by raising the salary threshold for overtime exemption to about $55,000 a year. This means that when these new rules take effect, salaried American workers earning up to $55,000 per year will automatically earn time-and-a-half pay for every hour worked over 40 in a week, just like hourly workers do. The threshold could have been raised much higher — restoring overtime protections to historic levels would have meant ensuring overtime pay for salaried workers who make up to about $85,000/year. But it’s obvious the new Biden threshold represents a significant gain for American workers… 

Unless, of course, you’re writing PR statements for a business lobby group like the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity. The PPWO unites the likes of the hotel lobby, the restaurant lobby, and the US Chamber of Commerce, and they argue that restoring overtime protections “will lead to a substantial reduction in access to entry level… salaried positions” and that it will “reduce opportunities, especially for recent graduates and younger professionals hoping to begin their careers.” Now that you’ve read that, take a moment to recall again what these rules do — protect workers getting paid less than $55,000 a year from being made to work 50, 60, or even 70 hours a week without any additional pay. And then look back at that quote again, and you might be able to digest that, yes, they are arguing that “access” to good jobs is dependent on making people work long hours for no additional pay. And that unpaid work is an “opportunity” that would be tragic to lose. And that’s the best argument they could come up with. 

Make it make sense.

A fairly new data series from the Census Bureau tracks the formation of new businesses via new applications for Employer Identification Numbers — a necessary step before a new organization hires any employees. These figures took a sharp jump during the height of the pandemic as extreme workplace churn led an abnormally large number of people who lost work to give a whirl at starting a new business. But the numbers have remained quite elevated, with an increase of about 150,000 new businesses a month over the pre-pandemic normal. Consider also the recent finding that stepped up antitrust enforcement — as we’re seeing now — increases the formation of new businesses — and it’s hard to see this as anything but a ringing endorsement of Bidenomics.

Partisan commentary is generally tedious and unfulfilling, and energy spent analyzing political strategies is generally better spent on pretty much anything else. But it’s impossible to resist noting the extraordinary Republican strategic decision to run head-on against the idea of the government negotiating with big pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices paid by Medicare and Medicaid for ten key medicines. Lower drug prices are, of course, extraordinarily popular, and drug companies are not popular favorites with anyone who they don’t directly fund. But Republicans are nonetheless determined to “go after” the idea of price negotiations, and what they’ve got is the idea that if Big Pharma makes slightly less money, it will “stifle innovation.” Could this be one of trickle-down’s last stands?

Civic Action
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