The new trend of companies rewarding employees more often with one-time bonuses and less often with permanent pay increases has drawn greater attention in the aftermath of the Trump tax cuts, as corporations have made flashy announcements about how they are delivering one-off rewards to employees (though not all employees). The New York Times had […]
Justin Miller
Justin Miller covers politics and state government for the Texas Observer. He is a former Prospect writing fellow, and has also written for The Intercept, The New Republic, and In These Times. Follow @by_jmiller
Posted inEconomic Policy
It’s Time to Ban Stock Buybacks
The Trump tax cuts have exposed how the Shareholder First economy benefits Wall Street investors and CEOs at the expense of everyone else.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Scott Walker Doubles Down on Foxconn-omics
It was just a few months ago that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker unveiled a massive deal that would give the Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn $3 billion in tax subsidies to open a $10 billion LCD TV factory, promising to bring 13,000 jobs to southeastern Wisconsin. That’s a public cost of $230,000 per job. Initial estimates […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
The Proof Is in the Jobs Report: Minimum-Wage Hikes Work
The first jobs report of 2018 is out, and overall the news is pretty good. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans will certainly try to take credit for the job growth and higher wages. But it would be more accurate to attribute this uptick to state labor policy—not the superiority of MAGAnomics and massive tax […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Labor Department Covered Up Evidence That New Tipping Rule Could Lead to Wage Theft
In December, President Trump’s Department of Labor announced that it would roll back an Obama-era rule that limited when tipped restaurant workers would have to share their tips with other employees. Worker advocates warned that undoing the rule would allow employers to use tips from waiters and bar staff to subsidize the low wages of […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
ExxonMobil Plays Trump Like a Fiddle
President Donald Trump—the great dealmaker—has an ego fueled by flattery, which is allowing corporate America to play him like a fiddle. Since the passage of his massive tax cuts, Trump has trumpeted the news of one-time bonuses, wage hikes, capital investment projects, and job creation promises as affirmations of his genius. His State of the […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Good Riddance, Sam Brownback
The governor may be (finally) leaving Kansas, but his trickle-down legacy has saddled us all.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Mick Mulvaney Leads the Race for Worst Cabinet Official
Mick Mulvaney has been busy—and for those who believe that the federal government can improve Americans’ lives, that’s not a good thing. Mulvaney, who is both President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, introduces himself to others as a right-wing nutjob. And as a South […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
One Year Later, Trump’s Promise to American Steel Workers Is Unfulfilled
With a deadline looming, pressure mounts on the president to make good on his campaign promise to curb Chinese steel dumping.
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
For Banks, Double the Trickle-Down Delight
Trump’s tax cuts and deregulation are a bonanza for Wall Street.