Dispatches

UNEMPLOYMENT FALLS TO HALF-CENTURY LOW, BUT WAGE GROWTH AND INFLATION SLOWS. The December employment report showed a very strong labor market but much less evidence of inflationary pressures than in prior months, economist Dean Baker noted at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (1/6). The unemployment rate fell back to 3.5%, its half-century low. The U-6 measure of underemployment, sasonally adjusted, fell to 6.5%, its lowest level on record.

At the same time, wage growth moderated. There was a sharp downward revision to the November data. With 0.3% growth in the average hourly wage reported for December, the annualized rate over the last three months is just 4.1%, a sharp slowing from the 6% rate at the start of the year.

It also looks like we will see very good productivity growth in the fourth quarter of 2022. The index of aggregate hours fell 0.1% in December after falling 0.2% in November, leaving hours growing at an annual rate of 1.1%. GDP growth likely to be over 3% in the quarter suggests strong productivity growth, although a jump in reported self-employment will dampen the number.

With the increase in December, more than 4.5 million new jobs were added in 2022, making this year second only to 2021 when it comes to adding more people to the employment roles, Mark Sumner noted at DailyKos (1/6). In just the last two years under President Joe Biden, the United States has added 10.5 million new jobs—a truly astonishing number. Those two years alone would put Biden in the top three presidents overall when it comes to job growth.

At the same time, inflation in the third quarter of 2022 was less than half what it had been in the first half of the year. It dropped to only 0.1% for the month of November.

DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS PUSH BIDEN TO PROTECT RENTERS. Democratic lawmakers are calling on President Joe Biden “to pursue all possible strategies to end corporate price gouging in the real estate sector and ensure that renters and people experiencing homelessness across this country are stably housed this winter.”

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spearheaded the letter to the president, which commends actions his administration has taken so far but also stresses that soaring rent rates are affecting millions of people and more must be done to help them take on profit-driven corporate interests, Jessica Corbett reported at CommonDreams (1/9).

The letter highlights various government statistics, including that the cost of shelter rose 0.8% last October, the highest rate in 40 years; median asking rents have jumped 31% while house prices have soared 48% in recent years; and a $100 increase in median rent is tied to a 9% rise in homelessness.

“The cost of rent for Americans is simply too high,” Warren said in a statement. “In addition to making robust investments to address the housing shortage, we must use all our tools to protect tenants and reverse consolidation in the housing market that has given corporations unchecked power to inflate rents.”

“This is why Rep. Bowman and I are encouraging the Biden administration to make use of these tools and adopt a whole-of-government approach to address the housing crisis in America,” she explained.

Specifically, the letter—which comes just three weeks after Biden unveiled a plan to reduce homelessness 25% by 2025—calls on the administration to:

• Direct the Federal Housing Finance Agency to establish protections for renters at properties financed with government-backed mortgages;

• Order the Federal Trade Commission to craft a regulation defining excessive rent hikes as a practice that unfairly affects commerce;

• Require the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to issue guidance on anti-rent gouging and fair housing to cities and counties receiving federal funds;

• Urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice, and HUD, to investigate corporate landlords accused of illegally discriminating against tenants;

• Encourage states to enact renter protections as well as use American Rescue Plan funding to invest in affordable homes and emergency rental assistance programs;

• Activate Federal Emergency Management Agency resources to help people experiencing homelessness secure permanent, affordable housing and provide longer-term rental assistance; and

• Create a Federal Interagency Council on Tenants’ Rights to identify actions that can be taken to support renters, coordinate policy implementation, and engage with underserved communities.

Along with the 50 lawmakers across both chambers of Congress, the letter is backed by more than 80 housing, climate, education, and immigration groups, including the Center for Popular Democracy Action, Debt Collective, Groundwork Collaborative, National Low Income Housing Coalition, People’s Action, Revolving Door Project, Sunrise Movement, and Youth Alliance for Housing.

DURING BIDEN VISIT TO BORDER, ABBOTT CRIES HE ‘DESPERATELY NEEDS MORE MONEY’ AFTER WASTING BILLIONS ON STUNTS. President Joe Biden traveled to the southern border for the first time during his term Jan. 8, meeting US border officers and local elected officials at El Paso’s busiest port of entry and making an unannounced stop at the border wall, Gabe Ortiz noted at DailyKos (1/9).

While the president didn’t meet any migrants on the heels of announcing a widely-condemned proposal further restricting the US asylum rights of migrants, he toured the El Paso County Migrant Services Center, which aids newly arrived migrants processed and released by federal immigration officials.

Republicans have been obsessed with the topic of Biden not yet visiting the region during his presidency. It’s a disingenuous obsession; their immigration plans consist mostly of border stunts. But, they finally got their wish. Biden went to the border. Their reaction? Predictable projection. Speaker-for-now Kevin McCarthy called the visit a “photo op,” falsely claiming the administration has created “the most dangerous border crisis in American history.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was prepared with a letter, which could easily have been sent to Washington. But he wanted to give it to the president on the tarmac, in front of cameras and eyes, because Republicans love their photo ops. Projection.

The governor “told media he’d given President Biden a letter with proposed solutions,” El Paso Matters’ Bob Moore tweeted. The political letter was loaded with demands that the president is already carrying out, like continuing to enforce the debunked Title 42 policy. Abbott also falsely claimed Biden is “sandbagging the implementation of the Remain-in-Mexico policy.” The Supreme Court said the president acted lawfully in attempting to end that policy. While a right-wing judge has since said the president can’t end it, Remain in Mexico can’t be fully reinstated without Mexico’s cooperation, and Mexico has said it’s done with the policy.

Abbott told reporters that his state “desperately needs more money.”

“I know the Republicans in the US House have committed to providing Texas the money that we need,” Abbott said, according to Business Insider. “We just finished over the past two years spending 4 billion of Texas taxpayer dollars for Texas to fill the gap caused by the Biden administration.”

This financial hole has been caused by Abbott, who has carried out immigration-related stunt after immigration-related stunt that’s cost the state’s taxpayers billions and led to huge business ramifications for the state. Remember the disastrous stunt where Abbott forced truckers to undergo inspections by state police after their vehicles had already been inspected by US officials? The losses to vegetable and fruit producers alone were estimated at over $240 million.

Overall, the redundant inspections cost his state $4 billion in losses and turned up nothing. While state inspectors cited a couple of hundred drivers for minor infractions that included under-inflated tires and oil leaks, no migrants or drugs were uncovered. Mexico, by the way, as a result of these shenanigans, decided to reroute a proposed railway through New Mexico instead, pissed off over the stunt.

None of these even touches on the unrelated, illegal Operation Lone Star, which has cost the state another $4 billion and is currently under investigation by both the Justice Department and the Treasury Department for possibly operating with misused federal pandemic funds. But we’re not quite done yet, folks, because Abbott’s busing of migrants—including sick children—has also cost as much as $20 million, Business Insider said.

No one, including Republicans, truly believe that a border visit really does anything to immediately begin fixing our inhumane immigration system. “But talking to people on the ground, organizations working with asylum seekers, to get a sense of what they need and are seeing, is helpful,” tweeted America’s Voice Campaigns Director Mario Carrillo.

“We were happy to have President Biden come and see first-hand the situation we are facing in El Paso,” said Maria Torres, Senior US Border Program Manager for Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, said in a statement received by Daily Kos. “While we know there is not an immediate fix or one that comes from the President alone, hopefully, his visit will shine a light on the dire situation we face and that the President will better understand the realities migrants and asylum seekers face. We urge him to work closely with Congress to develop a long-term solution.”

FED COURT ORDERS SC TO REDRAW RACIALLY GERRYMANDERED CONGRESSIONAL MAPS. A portion of South Carolina’s Republican-drawn congressional map discriminates against Black voters and must be redrawn, federal judges ruled (1/6) to applause from civil rights groups, Brett Wilkins reported at CommonDreams.

A three-judge panel of the US District Court for South Carolina in Columbia found that “race was the predominant motivating factor in the General Assembly’s design of Congressional District No. 1 and that traditional districting principles were subordinated to race.”

“Charleston County was racially gerrymandered and over 30,000 African-Americans were removed from their home district,” the judges added.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in December 2021 by the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and voter Taiwan Scott, who are represented by the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the ACLU of South Carolina, Boroughs Bryant LLC, Arnold & Porter, and the General Counsel’s Office of the NAACP.

South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District is represented by Republican Nancy Mace. Murrell Smith, the GOP speaker of South Carolina’s House of Representatives, said he believes the judges’ ruling will be appealed, and that the congressional map was drawn “without racial bias and in the best interest of all the people of this state.”

Federal courts have recently struck down congressional maps in Alabama and Louisiana for racial gerrymandering. The U.S. Supreme Court has intervened to block the Alabama and Louisiana rulings, sparking fears it will do the same with South Carolina.

FTC PROPOSES BAN ON NONCOMPETE CLAUSES. Progressive advocacy groups and lawmakers celebrated (1/5) after the Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that, if finalized, would prohibit employers from including noncompete clauses in employment contracts, which the agency described as “a widespread and often exploitative practice that suppresses wages, hampers innovation, and blocks entrepreneurs from starting new businesses.”

Given the prevalence of noncompete agreements, which prevent roughly one in five U.S. workers from freely changing jobs, the FTC estimates that “the new proposed rule could increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans,” Kenny Stancil noted at CommonDreams (1/5)

The American Economic Liberties Project (AELP) called the FTC’s 3-1 vote to initiate a rulemaking process to ban the use of noncompete clauses “a victory for American workers and fair, competitive markets.”

“Millions of workers, future new business owners, everyday consumers, and the American economy overall will be better off because of the FTC’s vote today,” AELP executive director Sarah Miller said in a statement. “For too long, coercive noncompete agreements have unfairly denied millions of working people the freedom to change jobs, negotiate for better pay, and start new businesses.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) noted that “noncompete clauses give companies unfair power over workers” and commended the FTC for moving to ban them.

Miller, meanwhile, said the proposed rule “makes clear that the use of noncompetes to undermine fair competition for workers and prevent new businesses from entering the market is also an illegal practice under the antitrust laws.”

REPORT SHOWS PROMISE OF GREENER JOBS FOR FORMER FOSSIL FUEL WORKERS. A new analysis shows how a just transition towards a green economy in California—one in which workers in the state’s fossil fuel industry would be able to find new employment and receive assistance if they’re displaced from their jobs—will be “both affordable and achievable,” contrary to claims from oil and gas giants and anti-climate lawmakers.

The study published (1/3) by the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) notes that a majority of workers in the oil and gas sectors will have numerous new job opportunities as California pushes to become carbon neutral by 2045 with a vow to construct a 100% clean electricity grid and massively reduce oil consumption and production, Julia Conley noted at CommonDreams (1/3).

“The state will need to modernize its electrical grid and build storage capacity to meet increased demand for electricity,” reads the report. “Carbon management techniques, plugging orphan wells, and the development of new energy sources such as geothermal will all come into play, providing economic opportunities to workers and businesses alike.”

GEPI analyzed the most recent public labor data, showing that the oil and gas industries in California employed approximately 59,200 people as of 2021 across jobs in production, sales, transportation, legal, and executive departments, among others.

The group examined potential job opportunities for fossil fuel workers “in all growing occupations, not solely in clean energy or green jobs,” and found that about two-thirds of employees are likely to find promising opportunities outside of fossil fuel-related work.

“Our findings show that a sizable majority (56%) of current oil and gas workers are highly likely to find jobs in California in another industry in their current occupation, given demand in the broader California economy for workers with their existing skills,” the report says.

Roughly a quarter of oil and gas workers are employed in jobs that are projected to decline over the next decade, while 18% work in production and extraction, sectors which will contract as the state begins to move away from fossil fuel extraction.

“For all declining occupations in oil and gas industries, there are available jobs in similar occupations in California that would allow workers to transition without the need for retraining,” GEPI reported.

About 16,100 people who will be at risk of displacement into lower-paying jobs over the next two decades will be able to benefit from income subsidies and relocation assistance, which GEPI estimated would cost the state $68.9 million or less annually—far less than a 2021 estimate by the Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, which said aid for displaced oil and gas workers would cost up to $830 million per year. Importantly, PERI’s estimate included pension guarantees and income-level guarantees while GEPI’s factored in only financial aid for people who face pay cuts.

GEPI’s study showed that “California can achieve a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels for oil and gas workers,” said the Los Angeles-based advocacy group Climate Resolve.

WHO COULD RUN TO SUCCEED SEN DEBBIE STABENOW? PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY. While Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s retirement announcement (1/5) came as a surprise, it took very little time for news outlets to report that several Michigan politicians from each party were eying the contest, Jeff Singer noted at DailyKos (1/5). On the Democratic side, the New York Times relays that Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who represents the competitive 7th District, “called allies in the state on Thursday saying she was preparing to announce her candidacy for the Senate as soon as next week.” Multiple publications also say that fellow Rep. Haley Stevens is considering the idea.

Another congresswoman, Debbie Dingell, told the Times she wanted to wait to see whom she’d back or if she’d even jump in herself. While Dingell didn’t indicate how interested she was in campaigning to succeed Stabenow, though, Politico says that she’s indeed “seriously considering” the idea. An unnamed source also tells NBC that Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist isn’t ruling out a campaign.

Meanwhile, newly-elected Rep. Shri Thanedar says he has “no plans” to seek a promotion, which may not be quite a no; a spokesperson for former Rep. Andy Levin, who lost last year’s primary to Stevens, said the same thing about his boss.

NBC and Politico have also named several other potential candidates as possibilities, though we’re still waiting to hear if any are thinking about it:

• Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson

• State Sen. Mallory McMorrow

• Attorney General Dana Nessel

• Rep. Rashida Tlaib

In the no column are:

• U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

• Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan

• Rep. Dan Kildee

• Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

For the Republicans, there was also immediate talk that John James, who came close to beating Sen. Gary Peters in 2020 two years after falling short against Stabenow, could wage a third bid for the Senate. James, who won an unexpectedly tight House race last year, didn’t dismiss the idea, saying, “Look, I haven’t even been sworn into Congress, yet! So here’s my plan: Get sworn in and get to work serving the people of Michigan’s 10th district.” Former Rep. Peter Meijer, who will not be getting sworn in, responded with a mere, “No comment” when asked about his interest.

Another possibility is Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Candice Miller, a former congresswoman who disappointed Republicans by turning down the chance to run for governor last cycle. Miller’s former chief of staff, though, says she is “seriously considering” a Senate bid.

There are also several people who did run for governor last time that could get in. A spokesperson for Tudor Dixon, who lost to Whitmer 54-44 last year after a disastrous campaign, tells the AP she isn’t ruling out a Senate bid. The Times, meanwhile, says that wealthy businessman Kevin Rinke, whom plenty of party members probably wish had beaten Dixon in last year’s primary, is telling allies he’s interested.

We could also see the return of real estate agent Ryan Kelley, who was arrested in June on misdemeanor charges related to his role in the Jan. 6 riot as he was running for governor. Kelley, who responded to his fourth-place primary showing by making evidence-free allegations against the state party and Dixon, said last year he was thinking about campaigning against Stabenow.

Media outlets also named plenty of other possibilities:

• 2022 MI-07 nominee Tom Barrett

• former Rep. Mike Bishop

• former Attorney General Mike Cox

• Rep. Bill Huizenga

• 2022 gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson

• Rep. Lisa McClain

• RNC chair Ronna McDaniel

• 2018 gubernatorial nominee Bill Schuette

• former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey

• former Rep. Fred Upton

Inside Elections’ Nathan Gonzales also lists former Rep. Justin Amash, a Republican-turned independent-turned Libertarian, as a potential contender.

From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2023

Populist.com