WHITE POLICE FRATERNAL ORDERS ARE NOT UNIONS
Police union PACs have spent $510,000 targeting The Squad, but may not be aiming to unseat them as much as raise funds for themselves, report says

kvlamis@insider.com (Kelsey Vlamis) 

© Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) listen during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2019 in Washington, DC. Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images

Police union PACs have spent $510,000 on text messages attacking The Squad, Axios reported Sunday.

The Squad, four US representatives that are women of color, are deeply unpopular with Republicans.

The attacks seem aimed at fundraising off of their unpopularity rather than unseating them.

Two political action committees affiliated with a national police union have spent $510,000 on text messages that attack The Squad, Axios reported Sunday.

The groups are affiliated with the International Union of Police Associations, which is based in Sarasota, Florida, and represents 20,000 people in law enforcement.

The PACs, Law Enforcement for a Safer America PAC and Honoring American Law Enforcement PAC, have spent $127,500 on each member of The Squad, records reviewed by Axios showed. In total, the outlet said it marks the "largest independent political expenditure of the 2022 cycle to date."

The specific content of the text messages was not clear.

"The Squad" refers to a group of four US representatives that are women of color: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Known as some of the most progressive members of Congress, they have drawn the ire of conservatives, including former president Donald Trump.

None of the members are especially at risk of losing their seats, prompting Axios to report that the police union's attacks seem less aimed at unseating them than at raising funds for the PACs themselves by capitalizing on The Squad's unpopularity with Republicans.

Debates over policing are also high on Republicans' minds after the racial justice protests of last year and calls for police reform. Squad members split on a recent vote in Congress to expand funding for Capitol police in the wake of the insurrection. Omar and Pressley voted against the measure, while Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib voted present, ultimately allowing the bill to pass by one vote.

Peru's socialists cheer election win as conservatives pledge to fight on

By Marco Aquino 20 hrs ago

© Reuters/ANGELA PONCE Peruvians await presidential election results

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru's socialist party and presidential candidate Pedro Castillo have cheered their likely victory in the Andean country's tightly-contested election, despite right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori's pledge to fight on until the last vote is counted.

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© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA Peru's presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori looks at supporters while leading a demonstration in Lima

The polarized contest, a crossroads moment for the mineral-rich nation, seems set to tilt Peru sharply to the left, which has rattled the political establishment, markets and miners in the world's no. 2 producer of the red metal copper.

Castillo, a former teacher, is leading with 50.14% of the vote with 99.935% of ballots tallied, with the route back for Fujimori, who has made unfounded allegations of fraud, looking increasingly unlikely - barring an unexpected late twist.

© Reuters/SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA Supporters of Peru's presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori gather during a demonstration in Lima

"The people have already chosen their path," Castillo told hundreds of his followers on Saturday night in Lima and asked the authorities to wrap up the count as fast as possible.

"No more polarization in the country. Let us leave it to the authorities so that once and for all these things are no longer prolonged and so the popular will is respected."

Thousands of Peruvian supporters of both Castillo and Fujimori marched in Lima on Saturday as anxiety over the painstaking vote count has continued to build.

The gap between the two candidates is less than 0.3 of a percentage point, or some 49,420 votes. Fujimori, the heir of a powerful political family and daughter of ex-President Alberto Fujimori who is in prison for human rights abuses and corruption, has insisted on claims of fraud and sought unsuccessfully to annul as many as 200,000 votes.

"I am a person who never gives up," Fujimori, 46, told hundreds of supporters as she led a protest on Saturday in downtown Lima, many of her backers holding the red and white Peruvian flag.

Castillo's party has rejected accusations of fraud and international observers of the process in Lima have stated that the elections were transparent.

© Reuters/ALESSANDRO CINQUE A supporter of Peru's presidential candidate Pedro Castillo holds a sign reading "#Fujimori never again" in Lima

Castillo, 51, has already received congratulations from some leftist Latin American leaders, prompting official protests from Peru's current interim government who has asked everyone to wait until the electoral body formally announces the result.

 

© Reuters/ALESSANDRO CINQUE Supporters of Peru's presidential candidate holds signs during a demonstration in Lima

Peru's new president should come into office on July 28, facing the challenge of steering the country beyond the world's deadliest COVID-19 outbreak per capita, healing a divided nation and reviving an economy amid rising level of poverty.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Dave Sherwood and Adam Jourdan; editing by Diane Craft)

Congress remains a hurdle as Biden sells 

G-7 on global tax

By Oneindia Correspondent

| Published: Sunday, June 13, 2021

Washington, June 13: President Joe Biden might have persuaded some of the world's largest economies to hike taxes on corporations, but the U.S. Congress could be a far tougher sell.




White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that leaders of the Group of Seven which also includes the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan agreed with Biden on placing a global minimum tax of at least 15 per cent on large companies.

The G-7 leaders, participating in a three-day summit in England, affirmed their finance ministers who earlier this month endorsed the global tax minimum.

America is rallying the world to make big multinational corporations pay their fair share so we can invest in our middle class at home, Jake Sullivan, the president's national security adviser, said Friday on Twitter.

A minimum tax is supposed to halt an international race to the bottom for corporate taxation that has led multinational businesses to book their profits in countries with low tax rates.


This enables them to avoid taxes and encourages countries to slash rates. The minimum rate would make it tougher for companies to avoid taxes, and could possibly supplant a digital services tax that many European nations are imposing on U.S. tech firms that pay at low rates.

Biden administration officials believe the use of overseas tax havens has discouraged companies from investing domestically, at a cost to the middle class.

PM Modi may have the first in-person meeting with Joe Biden later this year

The president hopes a G-7 endorsement can serve as a springboard for getting buy-in from the larger Group of 20 complement of nations.

The agreement is not a finished deal, as the terms would need to be agreed upon by countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and implemented by each of them.

The president needs other countries to back a global minimum tax to ensure that his own plans for an enhanced one in the U.S. don't hurt American businesses.

It has the potential to stop the race to the bottom," said Thornton Matheson, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

"It would be a huge sea change in the way things have been going in corporate taxes for the last three decades.

The idea of an enhanced global minimum tax is also an integral part of Biden's domestic agenda, but it faces resistance in Congress.

The president has proposed using a global minimum tax to help fund his sweeping infrastructure plan.

His budget proposal estimates it could raise nearly USD 534 billion over 10 years, but Republicans say the tax code changes would make the United States less competitive in a global economy.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen framed the agreement as a matter of basic fairness after the finance ministers' meeting.

We need to have stable tax systems that raise sufficient revenue to invest in essential public goods and respond to crises and ensure that all citizens and corporations fairly share the burden of financing government, she said.

Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, said GOP lawmakers would fight tooth and nail against the tax.

Republicans view lower taxes as encouraging companies to invest and hire, putting little stock in Biden's argument that improved infrastructure and better-educated workers would help increase growth.

It is an economic surrender," Brady said Friday. President Biden has managed to do the impossible -- he has made it better to be a foreign company and a foreign worker than an American company and an American worker.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has repeatedly said his party will oppose any measures that undo the 2017 tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The 2017 overhaul did create a new way to tax companies' foreign profits with what is known as global intangible low-taxed income.

Congressional Democrats said that framework encouraged firms to invest in foreign countries, instead of at home.


Biden has proposed raising that rate to 21 per cent among other changes to the code. The administration views the G-7's 15 per cent as a floor rather than a ceiling for rates.

But the G-7's plan varies from what Biden has proposed and there are details to be finalised, with tax experts noting that there appear to be gaps in rates and the treatment of assets such as buildings and equipment.

Democrats want to dig into the fine print of any agreement before giving their full-throated approval of what comes out of the G-7, which means that Biden will have to keep making the sale to U.S. voters and their representatives.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden of Oregon favors the general idea of a global minimum tax.

But Wyden said in a statement with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts that they need to dig into the agreement to see if Americans would really benefit.

We are optimistic that a strong multilateral agreement can be reached to harmonize our international tax rules, end the race to the bottom and put a stop to digital services taxes, the two Democratic lawmakers said.

"We look forward to working with the administration and evaluating the outcome of these negotiations for American workers, businesses and taxpayers.

This Awkward-AF Photo Of The G7 Leaders Went Viral For All The Wrong Reasons

Helena Hanson 

 NARCITY

JUNE 13,2021


Bring on the memes! A photo of the G7 leaders has gone totally viral this weekend, thanks to a gloomy background, awkward smiles and some weird socially-distanced poses.

© Provided by Narcity

The group — which included world leaders like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — posed for the picture on June 11, the first day of the G7 summit in Britain.

Despite the seriousness of the summit in general, it didn't take long for the internet to start poking fun at the bizarre image.

Twitter users from all over the world took the opportunity to transform the original photo into memes or to add hilarious captions to the image.

CBS's Late Show host Stephen Colbert got involved in the fun, sharing the image and asking, "Before I order these figures, does anyone know if you can take them out and play with them or are they glued to the display stand?"

Jimmy Kimmel compared the group to the lost souls from the TV Series Lost, referring one of the show's final episodes by saying, "We have to go back."

Other creative Twitter users also made America's Next Top Model, Love Island and Avengers references.

It's not the first time the G7 summit has gotten a little weird. Back in 2019, Melania Trump was spotted lovingly gazing at Justin Trudeau, and the Canadian PM was also accused of going for a "fake" run.

Pikachus gather at G-7 summit, call on Japan to stop burning coal

Joseph Choi 12 hrs ago

A group of protesters dressed as the popular Japanese animated character Pikachu gathered at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Cornwall, England, and called on Japan to stop burning coal.

© Getty Images Pikachus gather at G-7 summit, call on Japan to stop burning coal

The Independent reports that the demonstration was organized by the No Coal Japan coalition. The group called on Japan to stop using fossil fuels by 2030. Pikachu, an icon from the massive Pokémon franchise, is a character that is known for generating electricity.

The organization is made up of over a dozen civil society groups from around the world, according to its website, and is dedicated to preventing the "reckless rise of new coal plants."

"While the rest of the world moves towards safe, reliable renewable energy, Japan is considering funding a fleet of new coal-fired power stations in Southeast Asia and beyond," the coalition's website says.

This demonstration was one of several environmentally-minded actions that took place near the G-7 meeting this past weekend.

As The Guardian reports, the environmental NGO Greenpeace created a massive 3D show in which it displayed endangered animals walking along the coast of Cornwall through the use of hundreds of drones.

A second-hand electronics retailer based in the UK, musicMagpie, also commissioned an enormous sculpture to be built in the style of Mount Rushmore, composed of electronic waste from around the area. The sculpture was built across the beach from where the summit was being held.

The sculpture, made by noted British artist Joe Rush, was meant to bring attention to how electronics need to be more easily recyclable and reusable.

On Sunday, the G-7 countries agreed to increase their contribution to meet a spending pledge of $100 billion a year from rich countries to poorer countries to help cut down on carbon emissions.

 As Reuters reports, however, only two countries - Canada and Germany - made firm commitments to expanding their contributions to the fund.

G7 reaffirmed goals but failed to provide funds needed to reach them, experts say

Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent 
THE GUARDIAN JUNE 13,2021

The G7 summit ended with rich nations reaffirming their goal to limit global heating to 1.5C, and agreeing to protect and restore 30% of the natural world by the end of this decade, but failing to provide the funds experts say will be needed to reach such goals.

Boris Johnson badly needed a successful G7 deal on climate finance to pave the way for vital UN climate talks, called Cop26, to be held in Glasgow this November. Climate finance is provided by rich countries to developing nations, to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of climate breakdown, and was supposed to reach $100bn a year by 2020, but has fallen far short.

© Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock From L to R, front: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, US president Joe Biden, UK PM Boris Johnson, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Merkel. From L to R, rear: European Council president Charles Michel, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga, Italian PM Mario Draghi and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace, said: “The G7 have failed to set us up for a successful Cop26, as trust is sorely lacking between rich and developing countries.”

Without stronger commitments on climate finance, Johnson will face an uphill struggle in getting support for any Cop26 deal from the developing world, who make up the majority of countries at the UN climate talks and who will make or break any deal there.

The prime minister was left to re-announce previously allocated cash, in the form of a £500m blue planet fund for marine conservation, already set out last year, while the other G7 members refused to stump up funds. About $2bn is to be provided to help countries phase out coal-fired power generation, but it is not clear whether this is new money.

The communique promised only: “We welcome the commitments already made by some of the G7 to increase climate finance and look forward to new commitments from others well ahead of Cop26.”

Malik Amin Aslam, climate minister of Pakistan, said: “The G7 announcement on climate finance is really peanuts in the face of an existential catastrophe. It really comes as a huge disappointment for impacted and vulnerable countries like Pakistan – already compelled to ramp up their climate expenditures to cope with forced adaptation needs.”

Poor countries argue that the rich world did most to create the climate crisis, but the most vulnerable nations also face rising debt burdens from Covid-19, and have no money to invest in clean energy, low-carbon infrastructure or ways to adapt to extreme weather.

Aslam warned of the impact on the Cop26 talks: “At the least, countries responsible for this inescapable crisis need to live up to their stated commitments, otherwise the upcoming climate negotiations could well become an exercise in futility.”

Insiders said some of the G7 nations may make further promises on climate finance before Cop26, but were wary of doing so in Cornwall amid an atmosphere of mistrust engendered by the rows over Brexit, on which Johnson is accused of reneging on his commitments, and the UK’s decision to cut overseas aid, from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP, which experts said undermined the UK’s call on other nations to increase their climate finance.

The G7 also fell short of campaigners’ hopes on fossil fuels. Last month, the International Energy Agency, the world’s gold standard for energy data and advice, said countries must halt all new fossil fuel exploration and development from the end of this year, to keep within the 1.5C threshold.

Despite committing to an end to financing coal overseas, and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, the G7 stopped short of calling a halt to the exploitation of new fossil fuel resources.

Laurie van der Burg, senior campaigner at the pressure group Oil Change International, said: “The G7 has failed to commit to what leading economists, energy analysts, and global civil society have shown is required: an end to public finance for all fossil fuels. Our climate cannot afford further delay, and the failure of the G7 to heed these demands means more people impacted by the ravages of our climate chaos.”

Advocates call for more rights for migrant workers amid deaths on the job

TEMP WORKERS ARE USED TO AVOID WORKERS RIGHTS
It’s dawn in Batangas, a city more than a hundred kilometres north of the Philippine capital city of Manila, when Eric Gutierrez recalls memories of his college best friend Efren Reyes.

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

Reyes was smart and unassuming, and they would play pool, eat fast food and hang out in the early 2000s. Gutierrez jokingly says without Reyes, he probably would’ve failed all of his courses.

The last time they spoke three years ago, Reyes had just arrived in Canada and told him about his new job working as a chicken catcher and his hope of making the country a permanent home for his family.

But on May 26, while on the job at a poultry farm in Wetaskiwin, Alta., Reyes was struck by a Bobcat machine and died on the spot.

“There are a lot of bad people in the world,” Gutierrez says in Filipino. “Why does it have to be him?”

Reyes was not the first migrant worker to suffer this fate.

According to Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, there hasn’t been a national assessment on the number of migrant workers who have died on the job in Canada. However, in the shadow of the pandemic, these deaths and the rights of migrants have found their way to public discussions.

Migrant Workers Alliance says four migrant workers have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Canada last year.

Hussan said in 2021 alone, there have been at least 10 migrant workers who died of various causes on farms. One of those, Mexican migrant Fausto Ramirez Plazas, died of COVID-19.

Ramirez Plazas arrived in Canada shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for international arrivals. Five workers, including Ramirez Plazas, have died while in quarantine, but there has been no assessment of the causes of death for the other four migrants, Hussan said.

He said, based on families asking the organization for assistance and on cases it hears about, the number of migrant workers’ deaths in workplaces is severely underreported. Employers are more likely to violate these workers' rights due to their temporary status and fail to report accidents, he said.

In some cases, he said, migrant workers were sent back to their country of origin and ended up dying outside of Canada. In other instances, when migrant workers develop sickness, like cancer due to years of exposure to pesticides, they are sent back to their country and not invited back, he said.

“It’s very difficult to count all of the people who have died as a direct result of working in Canada,” Hussan said, but he believes the numbers are “quite astonishing.”

When a migrant worker gets injured, they are typically supposed to make a claim along with their employer to their province’s workers’ compensation board. However, Hussan said there’s little to no data when it comes to injured migrant workers or one that accounts for the number of deaths.

The federal government, on the other hand, only regulates a number of industries such as airline attendants, interprovincial truck drivers and federal employees.

Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer for the advocacy group Justice for Migrant Workers. He said in some cases when a worker dies on the job, workers’ compensation provides support for the family.

Depending on the number of years the person has been working in Canada, their family could also get survivor benefits from the Canadian pension plan.

“It’s also incumbent on the provincial Ministry of Labour to both prosecute and hold employers accountable,” Ramsaroop added.

In Reyes's case, his family will receive benefits from his employment insurance and from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration in which he’s an active member.

All Filipino temporary foreign workers need to register with OWWA before they work outside the Philippines to ensure coverage in case of their deaths. It also co-ordinates repatriation of remains.

Calgary’s Philippine Consulate General Zaldy Patron said his office, along with OWWA, is in touch with Reyes’ workplace, Elite Poultry Services, with regards to supporting Reyes’ family and in finding a funeral home to lay his body before repatriation to the Philippines.

In a statement, Elite Poultry Services says it’s still investigating the accident and co-operating fully with authorities.

“We are saddened by the loss of one of our team members,” it reads. “Our sympathies and condolences go out to the family and those involved in the incident.”

Hussan says there needs to be a greater push to improve the lives of migrant workers in Canada.

“We have a federal government who are well aware of what the crisis is and what the solutions are,” Hussan said. “Most people will tell you not having permanent residency is the reason people don't have full rights.”

“The question we need to ask is,” Hussan added, “what is politically stopping the decision-makers from doing the right thing?”

When asked who takes responsibility for migrant workers’ deaths in Canada, he answered, “Nobody takes responsibility. That’s the problem.”

“That’s why our people keep dying, and all you get are platitudes.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as well as Employment and Social Development Canada did not respond in time for publication to requests for comment on the federal government's role when a migrant worker is injured or dies on the job.

Gutierrez recalls Reyes telling him how tough his job as a chicken catcher was. When grabbing chickens for processing, he would hold five of them in his right hand and four in the left.

“He said he felt three times more exhausted in his new job compared to the last one,” Gutierrez remembers. “But he said it was all worth it for his family.”

He wants Reyes to be remembered as a kind friend who had big dreams not just for himself but for his family.

Mostly, his family.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 13, 2021.

Arvin Joaquin, The Canadian Press

Companies like Chipotle are boosting prices, but CEOs multimillion dollar pay packages aren't getting any smaller

mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com (Mary Meisenzahl) 

© Provided by Business Insider Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Chipotle recently raised prices about 4% across the board.

The company says price increases are due to increased employee wages.

CEO Brian Niccol made $38 million in 2020.

Chipotle raised prices across the menu by about 4% in June, a move the company says was prompted by increased wages for workers.

The average Chipotle meal will cost 30 to 40 cents more than it did before, and a spokesperson told Insider that the price hike will compensate for the recent wage increases for workers. In April, the fast casual chain said it would raise average hourly wages to $15 per hour by the end of June, an increase of $2 over the $13 an hour average pay.

While Chipotle attributes raising menu prices to the growing price of labor, some analysts point to high CEO compensation as another factor. In 2020 CEO Brian Niccol took home $38 million, $1.24 million of which was his base salary. The rest was made up of other incentives and an annual bonus.

"Brian Niccol 's annual compensation package is based on a competitive analysis of CEO pay levels within our peer group and is designed to pay for performance," a Chipotle spokesperson told Newsweek when the pay report was released.

Niccol 's compensation was 2,898 times more than the median Chipotle worker's $13,127 salary in 2020, based on an employee working 25 hours a week in Illinois. Companies are required to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of a median employee. At Chipotle, that ratio is 1,129 to one. Across the board, the pay ratio of CEOs to workers averaged 830 to 1 in 2020, according to the Institute for Policy Studies.

Higher labor costs do eventually lead to higher prices for customers, but experts say the difference isn't as stark as some might expect. A study from California State University San Bernardino found that for a minimum wage increase of 10%, food prices increase by just 0.36%.

According to Chipotle's proxy statement, executive compensation is aimed at maintaining "a level where we can successfully recruit and retain industry leading talent critical to shaping and executing our business strategy and creating long-term value for our shareholders."

Video: Why Chipotle raising prices may be a good thing for its stock (Yahoo! Finance)

"For 2020, Brian's compensation includes the value of a one-time modification that is not reflective of his ongoing pay package," a Chipotle spokesperson told Newsweek. Niccol made $33.5 million in 2019, an increase of about 13%.

Read more: Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol answers 9 questions about the chain's future including the fight for delivery profits, menu innovation, and franchising

In 2020, Chipotle's revenue grew 7.1% to $6 billion, with much of the growth attributed to an explosion in digital sales. In a year that was disastrous for many restaurants, Chipotle opened 161 new locations, expanded its Chipotlane drive-thru footprint, and stock prices increased 65.7%.

The distance between worker and CEO pay grew wider than ever during the pandemic of the past year, The New York Times reported. The largest CEO compensation packages are for tech company executives. Chipotle does stand out among fast food and fast casual restaurant compensation, though. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson took home $14.7 million. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski received $10.8 million.

Critics of sky-high CEO pay, like the Economic Policy Institute, say the enormous compensation packages are "a major contributor to rising inequality that we could safely do away with."

"This escalation of CEO compensation, and of executive compensation more generally, has fueled the growth of top 1.0% and top 0.1% incomes, leaving less of the fruits of economic growth for ordinary workers, " EPI said in a report released last year.

Labor costs might have increased for restaurants over the last year, but so did the price of ingredients. Staple Chipotle items, like corn and avocados, grew more expensive this year as demand rose and shipping delays drove prices further up.

"Ingredient costs, there's talk about it. We'll see where that leads," Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung said at the Baird Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference. The company says there are no plans to further increase prices right now.

#15PERHOURNAFTAWAGE

There's a simple solution for the labor shortage: raising the minimum wage, a former Obama economist says

insider@insider.com (Juliana Kaplan,Madison Hoff) 

 An employee of McDonald's protests outside a branch restaurant for a raise in their minimum wage to $15 an hour, in Fort Lauderdale on May 19, 2021. Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

The economy is reopening but millions are still jobless as openings sit at record highs.

In response to this 'labor shortage,' 25 GOP-led states are ending federal unemployment benefits early.

Ex-Obama administration economist Heidi Shierholz says the minimum wage should go up instead.

Everywhere you look in the economy, there seems to be a shortage. The important things missing from shelves can be explained by factors like backed-up supply chains and a shipping crisis.

But another shortage that's emerged - with increasing prominence as America's recovery continues its long and winding path - is labor. Millions of workers are still out of work, even though businesses are reopening and want to hire.

One solution has to do with wages, and simply whether they're enough to get people to do certain jobs after a pandemic. May's jobs report showed wages on the rise for leisure and hospitality workers, but also showed workers quitting at the fastest rate documented in 20 years. While they saw significant pay jumps - by 7.2% from January to May - that only brought average hourly earnings up to $15.68.

"The wage growth that we've seen, say in leisure and hospitality, over the recent months, it's so little more than just getting those wages in that industry back to where they would have been if COVID hadn't happened," Heidi Shierholz, the director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told Insider. She said talk that such workers are getting more leverage may be "overstated," and it probably won't be sustained or permanent.

GOP governors in 25 states have decided that it's too much leverage anyway, and that federal unemployment benefits in place for much of the pandemic have run their course. They've moved to end them months before their September expiration in President Joe Biden's stimulus. It's a decision that JPMorgan said is "tied to politics, not economics," noting that many of these states didn't have more job openings than jobless people.

Shierholz, a veteran of the Obama administration as chief economist at the Department of Labor, said broad reform is necessary in the labor market, and raising the minimum wage is a key aspect. That could both bring workers back and let higher wages stick, even after enhanced unemployment benefits taper off in September.

"That's smart, and it's good economics," Shierholz said. She also said that things like passing the PRO Act - legislation that could both strengthen unions and offer greater protections to nonunionized workers - would aid recovery.

Shierholz previously told Insider that prematurely ending unemployment benefits could stifle the recovery, especially since workers receiving those benefits are putting that money back into the economy. She said that if the concern is higher benefits keeping workers from work, ending benefits may not be the best route.

"You could quote unquote 'deal with that' by cutting off unemployment insurance benefits, which has all these terrible implications" - like stifling recovery and leave millions without income - "or you could do something like raise the minimum wage," she said

Boosting wages to $15 may be helping with hiring and retention

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the businesses that did raise wages to $15 an hour succeeded in luring in new workers and boosting morale while cutting turnover. The Washington Post's Eli Rosenberg spoke with several business owners who had done just that. Progressives have long wanted to raise the federal minimum wage to exactly that $15-per-hour number.

At the 5th Street Group - which owns several restaurants in Charlotte and Charleston - raising starting wages to $15 an hour, and enacting new tipping measures for staffers who aren't normally tipped, helped the group go from being 50% to 60% staffed to nearly fully staffed in a matter of three weeks, according to the Post.

However, the likelihood of a $15 minimum wage being enacted anytime soon is low. Progressives led by Sen. Bernie Sanders pushed for its inclusion in President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, but the measure ultimately didn't survive under reconciliation rules. Eight Democrats voted against it, signaling even party-line support was not quite there. Talks on what, exactly, a minimum wage hike should be have also stalled recently.

The federal minimum wage is still $7.25. Although the above map shows that many states have opted to increase the minimum beyond that level, several remain at the federal rate.

Rhode Island recently passed a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2025, becoming the ninth state to pass a $15 minimum wage.

"Take a look at nationally - right now, states that are taking away the unemployment benefit of $300," Gov. Dan McKee said in a press conference after signing the minimum wage bill into law. "Those states are at $7.25 cents an hour. So Rhode Island is a leader on this."

But while raising the minimum wage might be key to an equitable recovery, according to Shierholz, it doesn't look like the proposition is going anywhere anytime soon - even if it could help solve the labor shortage that's holding back a full economic recovery.

STATE MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Toshiba's chairman says wants to stay on, says new directors needed
By Makiko Yamazaki 

REUTERS

 Reuters/KIM KYUNG-HOON FILE PHOTO: The logo of Toshiba Corp. is seen at the company's facility in Kawasaki,

TOKYO (Reuters) -Toshiba Corp's chairman of the board on Monday pushed back against investor calls to resign, saying he wanted to help right the crisis-hit Japanese conglomerate and would bring in new directors.

Toshiba has come under fierce scrutiny after an independent investigation last week revealed management colluded with Japan's powerful trade ministry to block foreign investors from gaining board influence, in what one leading shareholder has called the world's worst corporate scandal in a decade.

In response to the investigation, the once-storied conglomerate said over the weekend it would no longer be putting forward the names of two directors for re-election and that two other executives would also resign.

Those changes were not enough for proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) which on Monday reiterated that Board Chairman Osamu Nagayama should step down - a call that has been echoed by other investors.

At a news conference, Nagayama apologised and said there were lapses in governance, but the former pharma executive said he wanted to stay on and help reconstruct management at Toshiba.

The company needs directors with a "global perspective" and a background managing similar firms, he said, adding Toshiba would call an extraordinary general meeting and speed up plans for a strategic review.

Toshiba said on Sunday the chair of its audit committee, Junji Ota, and another committee member, Takashi Yamauchi, will retire as directors. The audit committee has come under criticism from investors for failing to take action even after its members became aware of the collusion against shareholders.

The two other company executives who will depart allegedly reached out to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) seeking support in Toshiba's battle against foreign shareholders over board nominees ahead of an annual general meeting last July, according to the investigators' report.

Though oft-battered by scandal, as a manufacturer of nuclear reactors and defence equipment Toshiba remains hugely important to the Japanese government. Japan's trade minister on Friday denied his officials directed an adviser to lean on Toshiba's foreign shareholders.

THE BLAME GAME

The shareholder-commissioned investigation has marked an explosive turn in a long battle between the company's management and foreign shareholders and has renewed concern about governance in the world's third-largest economy and its openness to foreign investors.

Toshiba's second-largest shareholder, 3D Investment Partners - one of the investors that the investigators' report said was targeted by METI - on Sunday also called for the resignation of Nagayama, Ota, Yamauchi as well as another audit committee member, Nobuyuki Kobayashi.

Nagayama blamed Toshiba's former CEO, Nobuaki Kurumatani, for helping pitch the company into crisis.

"There was a somewhat confrontational stance towards shareholders brewing from some time ago," Nagayama said, when asked about the responsibility of the former chief executive.

"That's an underlying cause in one sense for the current state of affairs."

Nagayama on Monday said some of the information detailed in the investigators' report had been previously been mentioned in an earlier internal Toshiba report - an acknowledgement that provoked ire from some investors.

"It rings hollow for Chairman Nagayama...to try and shift the blame to just Kurumatani alone. If anyone should resign to take responsibility over the governance failures in monitoring management, it should be him," said an investor in Toshiba declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Since the push by activist shareholders this year for greater accountability, Toshiba has faced and dismissed a $20 billion bid from CVC Capital. But leading shareholders have called on it to explicitly seek offers from potential suitors.

Nagayama said the company has not received offers from private equity funds since CVC but a planned strategic review committee would be looking at various options including taking Toshiba private.

He added that he wanted to include two of the company's foreign directors in the four- or five-member committee. Toshiba currently has four foreign directors among its 11-member board.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

State monopoly capitalism - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_monopoly_capitalism

The theory of state monopoly capitalism (also referred as stamocap) was initially a Marxist thesis popularised after World War II. Lenin had claimed in 1916 that World War I had transformed laissez-faire capitalism into monopoly capitalism, but he did not publish any extensive theory about the topic. The term refers to an environment where the state intervenes in the economy to protect larger mon…