Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior…
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More Legal Shenanigans from the Biden Administration’s Department of Education

Among the foremost threats to individual freedom in America is the abusive and oftentimes lawless behavior of federal administrative agencies, whose vast armies of overpaid bureaucrats remain unaccountable for their excesses.

Among the most familiar examples of that bureaucratic abuse is the Department of Education (DOE).  Recall, for instance, the United States Supreme Court’s humiliating rebuke last year of the Biden DOE’s effort to shift hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt from the people who actually owed them onto the backs of American taxpayers.

Even now, despite that rebuke, the Biden DOE launched an alternative scheme last month in an end-around effort to achieve that same result.

Well, the Biden DOE is now attempting to shift tens of millions of dollars of…[more]

March 19, 2024 • 08:35 AM

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Study: Obama Recovery Built on Low-Wage Jobs Print
By Ashton Ellis
Thursday, May 01 2014
Millions of Americans are worse off now than they were four years ago.

Rather than address a labor market increasingly characterized by low-wage jobs, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are trying to distract voters by highlighting a series of issues that will do almost nothing to improve economic opportunity. 

Those issues include votes in the U.S. Senate to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, eliminate the so-called pay gap between men and women and justify greater redistribution policies in the name of fighting income inequality. 

Each issue is designed to inflict maximum damage on the Republican brand ahead of the 2014 midterm elections by making it seem as though Democrats are the only party that cares about promoting economic opportunity. 

But in every instance, Democrats ignore damaging facts in order to prop-up their weak agenda. 

Conservatives often resist increasing the minimum wage – not because they oppose a pay raise for low-skill workers – but rather because they believe it will cost jobs. For proof, look no farther than Byron York’s recent reporting on the effects an Obama edict is having on civilian employment at military bases. 

In February, Obama signed an executive order mandating military contractors like McDonald’s to pay the $10.10 minimum wage starting in 2015. Since military contracting laws prohibit vendors from charging prices higher than what prevails in the local community, McDonald’s and others can’t pass on the cost of compliance to consumers. In response, the restaurants are shutting down stores on bases. 

Now consider the so-called compensation gap between men and women. The number most often cited is that women make only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. But as my colleague Troy Senik explains, that number is meaningless. It doesn’t account for the fact that women choose to work in low-paying jobs in higher numbers than men; that men tend to work longer hours; and that women often take time off from work to raise children. When these realities are factored in, the pay gap virtually disappears. 

A similar dynamic occurs with the issue of income inequality. The left likes to compare income percentiles, focus on the wide disparity between the top and bottom, and then call for redistribution policies to level the playing field. But this tendency ignores the fact that income mobility is what matters. Recent studies show that 73 percent of Americans were in the “top 20 percent” for at least a year during their working lives.  

Scratch below the surface, and the Democrats’ 2014 campaign strategy looks like little more than class warfare resting on false premises. 

The real problem that liberals refuse to face is the stunning drop in quality employment since President Barack Obama came to office. 

“We find that during the labor market downturn (measured from January 2008 to February 2010), employment losses occurred throughout the economy, but were concentrated in mid-wage and higher-wage industries,” says a new study by the National Employment Law Project. “By contrast, during the recovery (measured from February 2010 to February 2014), employment gains have been concentrated in lower-wage industries.” 

In particular, “lower-wage industries constituted 22 percent of the recession losses, but 44 percent of the recovery growth.” To compare, “higher-wage industries constituted 41 percent of recession losses, and 30 percent of recovery growth.” 

That translates into “nearly two million fewer jobs in mid- and higher-wage industries than there were before the recession took hold, while there are 1.85 million jobs in lower-wage industries.” 

Here’s the killer stat: Over the last four years, fully 39 percent of all private sector job growth has been in low-wage industries like food service, retail and administrative support. 

No wonder Democrats aren’t talking about an economic recovery. Millions of Americans are worse off now than they were four years ago. 

The swing from high-wage to low-wage job growth is a serious problem for the nation’s economy. In the short term, it marks a decisive shift away from quality employment – the kind that makes it possible to save for the future, buy a home and improve one’s standard of living. 

The longer term impact of a labor market tilted increasingly toward low-wage jobs is even more troubling. The possibility for career advancement shrinks, robbing people of the incentive to gain skills and improve their paychecks. Stuck in a low-paying job with no signs of economic growth to spur perseverance, many come to resent their situation, with all the negative externalities bad attitudes bring. 

The dearth of good financial prospects also stunts the maturation process of young workers. Lack of opportunity forces people to move back in with parents, delay marriages and postpone children. An economy dominated by low wages cannot provide the kind of financial resources necessary to form families and raise self-sufficient adults. 

The tragedy of the Democrats’ distraction strategy is that it fails to engage government officials in the kind of economic policy work they are uniquely positioned to do. Business owners cannot reform tax rates and regulatory burdens. A head of household cannot create the conditions for quality employment opportunities to spring up. Until liberals understand that prosperity cannot be legislated into existence, the American job market will continue to worsen. 

Notable Quote   
 
"Americans do not trust several major U.S. institutions, including the national news media.The recently released Center Square Voters' Voice poll found that 43% of Americans say the media is trustworthy, compared with 54% who said it is not trustworthy.Younger people were more likely to trust the media, with 47% of those ages 18-34 saying they trust it and 46% saying the opposite.The numbers steadily…[more]
 
 
— Casey Harper, The Center Square
 
Liberty Poll   

Do you believe the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately reject the new Biden administration automobile emissions rule as beyond the scope of administrative agency authority?