Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
The December jobs report falls right in line with the course the Fed is trying to chart for its monetary policy, and the upshot is that the numbers mean the Fed is most likely not going to hike rates any earlier than April, WSJ chief economics correspondent Jon Hilsenrath said this morning on the MoneyBeat…
There is little empathy at the top. Most of America’s richest think poor people have it easy in this country, according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country’s most financially secure citizens…
Another month, another attempt by the BLS to mask the collapse in the US labor force with a goalseeked seasonally-adjusted surge in waiter, bartender and other low-paying jobs. Case in point: after a modest rebound by 0.1% in November, the labor participation rate just slid once more, dropping to 62.7%, or the lowest print since…
President Obama said in a video released Thursday that he would propose a plan to make the first two years of community college free during a speech in Tennessee scheduled for Friday. (The White House/YouTube) President Obama on Friday will propose making community college tuition-free for “responsible students,” launching what officials described as an ambitious…
W ithin the first few weeks of his participation this fall in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Lab — a semester-long program run by two University of Pennsylvania professors that helps social entrepreneurs incubate ideas to improve the city — Jim MacMillan had a sense of where he could have improved the Gun Crisis Reporting Project….
The New York Times editorial board has reacted to the raw data of the NYPD slowdown with sweater-vested histrionics. “The madness has to stop,” the editorial states. A lack of Broken Windows policing won’t “unleash chaos,” they argue, it’s that “cops who refuse to do their jobs and revel in showing contempt to their civilian…
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee, charged with advising on improvements to FOIA administration, has begun its deliberations. As part of the process, the committee has established a website with a “submit comments” option. Here is the link if you would like to make your voice heard on FOIA administration: https://ogis.archives.gov/foia-advisory-committee/contact-us-submit-comm…. If you…
Cliff Sloan on Closing Gitmo by Deborah Pearlstein In case you missed it Monday, departing U.S. State Department special envoy for closing Guantanamo had a sharp op-ed in the N.Y. Times, marking the administration’s recent successes at moving detainees out of the prison and urging that further progress be made. Among other things, Sloan highlights…
PARIS—Following the fatal terrorist attack Wednesday at the offices of French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, sources confirmed this afternoon that it is sadly not yet clear whether this very article will ultimately put human lives at risk. According to totally and utterly depressing early reports, given the tragic deaths of 12 people, it is impossible to…
The Chicago Tribune published an op-ed by the CEO of Caterpillar, a manufacturer of large construction equipment, which advocated for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline but failed to disclose Caterpillar’s significant financial stake in the pipeline’s construction. The January 7 op-ed in the Tribune by Caterpillar chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman advocated for…