Daily Policy Digest
Economic Issues
| U.K. Experience Casts Doubt on Viability of Keynesian Remedies The U.K. economy has contracted by 0.5 percent cumulatively since September of 2010 -- a time span in which even Spain managed modest growth... |
| World Trade Grows, but Protectionism Still a Concern The global banking firm HSBC predicts that world trade will grow by close to 90 percent over the next 15 years... |
| Minimum Wage Myths that Keep Our Teens Out of Work In July 2007, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-old workers was 15.3 percent; three years later, following a 41 percent increase in the federal minimum wage, the rate was 25.9 percent, says Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis... |
| Poverty Levels on Rise The official poverty rate is expected to rise from 15.1 percent in 2010 to as high as 15.7 percent in 2011 -- levels unseen in nearly half a century... |
| American Economic Mobility Readily Measurable By age 60, nearly 51 percent of Americans will have lived in a household earning $150,000 for at least one year; more than 32 percent at $200,000 for a year; and nearly 21 percent at $250,000 for at least one year... |
| Companies Turn to Developing World for Financial Returns China's annual trade and investment in Africa has increased from $10 billion 10 years ago to $120 billion today... |
| The Pathology of Privilege The continued dominance of the U.S. Postal Service is a vestige of monopoly power and government intervention to favor one firm over another... |
| Income Inequality in the United States In 1950, wages made up 95 percent of total compensation, while benefits comprised only 5 percent; by 2004, wages were only 81 percent, versus 19 percent for benefits... |
| The One Percenters' Fortress City In 1980, only 3 percent of Washington residents had incomes of $200,000 or more in today's dollars; this figure has since increased to 13 percent... |
| Student Debt Hits the Middle-Aged Since 2005, the number of Americans in their 50s with student loans has doubled to 4.6 million, and borrowers in their 60s and older more than tripled to 2.2 million... |
