Trump Plans to Let Restaurateurs Confiscate Employees’ Tips

I had the misfortune of reading about a newly proposed Trump administration regulatory change. These regulatory changes happen constantly, but most of them fail to draw the heavy press and public attention that say, net neutrality has and does. It seems these regulations are least likely to get attention when the groups they harm are small and economically and politically weak. This latest regulation hits tipped employees especially hard, and its design is insidious and deeply misleading. Here’s how it works.

Continue reading “Trump Plans to Let Restaurateurs Confiscate Employees’ Tips” →

National Self-Determination is Overrated

I have a new piece out for Current Affairs about the importance of political unions in the 21st century. Here’s the link:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/11/national-self-determination-is-overrated

The original title was “In Praise of Unionism: What the European Left Can Learn From America,” but we souped it up a bit. It’s a bit longer and more comprehensive than the stuff I usually do here. The folks at CA are delightful to work with. They’re putting out some really terrific long-form pieces that dig into things more deeply than a lot of what we see on the web these days.

Arguments Against Minimum Wage Increases are Weaker Than Many People Think

Today I’d like to talk about the recent University of Washington study on the effects of the minimum wage increase in Seattle. The study claims to show that the increase in the wage from $11 an hour to $13 resulted in lower wages and job losses for workers at the bottom of the wage distribution. But this study–and the arguments surrounding it–kinda miss the point.

Continue reading “Arguments Against Minimum Wage Increases are Weaker Than Many People Think” →

Why Trump Cannot Bring Jobs Back With Tax Cuts

When I talk to President Trump’s supporters about how they anticipate the president will bring back lost manufacturing jobs, I tend to hear the same argument over and over. It goes something like this:

Trump will cut corporate tax and other taxes that primarily hit investors.
Firms and investment will return from abroad to take advantage of the low tax rates.

It is possible to demonstrate that this is false. Here’s how to do it.

Continue reading “Why Trump Cannot Bring Jobs Back With Tax Cuts” →

Angela Merkel is Not Fit to Lead the West

Each time there’s an international summit, I see the same articles over and over, arguing that America no longer leads the west–Germany does. It’s understandable why people make this argument–President Trump is rather uninspiring, to put it mildly, and Germany is the last of the major western powers to retain the leader it had before the 2008 financial crisis. Chancellor Merkel has been in power for nearly 12 years. In that time, the United States has had three presidents and Britain has had four prime ministers. Merkel seems to offer stability in a world that’s increasingly off its rocker. But seeming is not being–in truth, there is no western leader who has done more in the last decade to contribute to the political instability that has brought about Trump and Brexit than Angela Merkel.

Continue reading “Angela Merkel is Not Fit to Lead the West” →