Simply put, the Fed's interest rates are now at highly contractionary levels—they are rates you'd want if your goal was to substantially slow the pace of aggregate demand growth (say b/c you were trying to quickly reduce inflation). Today’s economy does not need that. 🧵3/5

These two facts might strike some as being in tension—normally we want the Fed to cut interest rates to stimulate a weak economy. Why then, if the labor market is quite strong, do we need them to cut? 🧵2/5

Two things are true right now for the U.S. economy, says EPI's Elise Gould: 1️⃣ The labor market is extraordinarily strong 2️⃣ The Federal Reserve is behind the curve in cutting interest rates and should start cutting them at their meeting next week 🧵1/5 www.epi.org/blog/the-lab...

The labor market remains strong yet the Fed should cut rates in September

Two things are true right now for the U.S. economy:  The labor market is extraordinarily strong when judged by any historical benchmark.  The Federal Reserve is behind the curve in cutting i...

The federal minimum wage hasn't been raised in more than 15 years and has lost 29% of its value during that time. The failure to raise minimum wages "has suppressed wages for millions of low-wage workers trying to make ends meet," says Zipperer. 🧵2/2 www.epi.org/blog/most-mi...

Most minimum wage studies have found little or no job loss

There is always a great deal of political heat around minimum wage increases, largely driven by concerns about job losses. After a minimum wage increase, the story goes, many employers will not be abl...

🤔 Does raising the minimum wage lead to job loss? According to a new review by @arindube.bsky.social@benzipperer.orgwww.epi.org/blog/most-mi...

Most minimum wage studies have found little or no job loss

There is always a great deal of political heat around minimum wage increases, largely driven by concerns about job losses. After a minimum wage increase, the story goes, many employers will not be abl...

Whether they are exploiting workers or consumers, it’s clear that corporations are willing to throw us all under the bus to increase their profits. We need to constrain excess corporate power. 🧵3/3

Shifting the burden to customers is a new tactic, but corporations exploiting others to gain a profit is an old playbook. However, in the past, corporations mostly boosted profits by suppressing workers’ wages. After the pandemic, this changed to raising prices for customers. 🧵2/3

Did rising corporate profits contribute to the post-pandemic inflation spike? Absolutely. Corporate leaders have lined their pockets by raising prices—at the consumer’s expense. 🧵1/3 www.epi.org/blog/profits...

Profits and price inflation are indeed linked

Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released data on corporate profits in the second quarter of 2024. Perhaps surprisingly, profit margins still have not started moving meaningfully closer to p...

Expanding UI eligibility to school support staff during the summer is "an easy way to help stabilize K–12 school staffing, improve learning environments for students, and provide economic security for this essential group of workers," says @dskamper.bsky.socialwww.epi.org/publication/...

Summer unemployment benefits could increase K–12 support staff incomes by $1.2 billion nationwide

Instead of punishing workers for wanting to serve in public schools, states should follow Minnesota’s lead by providing school support staff—who are disproportionately Black and brown, women, and olde...

If the rest of the country enacted similar policies, support staff incomes would increase by $1.2 billion per year, providing critical support to these low-paid workers and their families. 🧵5/6