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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
Daniel Costa and Heidi Shierholz, Researchers - Economic Policy Institute
Stephan:
The Republican cult spews out the most egregious crap about immigrants. The facts are that immigrants are not displacing American citizens from jobs. Here are the facts, the information you never hear a Republican say. The truth is without immigrants the cost of your food, for instance, would be much higher.
MIgrant workers grow your food. Credit: iStock
The immigrant share of the labor force reached a record high of 18.6% in 2023, according to our analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.1 Anti-immigration advocates have been out in full force, using this as a talking point for deeply misguided commentary and analysis that roughly translates to “immigrants are taking all our jobs.”
The reality is that the economy does not have a fixed number of jobs, and what we see today is a growing economy that is adding jobs for both immigrants and U.S.-born workers. Here are six key facts that show immigrants are not hurting the employment outcomes of U.S.-born workers.
The unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers averaged 3.6% in 2023, the lowest rate on record. Obviously, immigration is not causing high unemployment among U.S.-born workers.
The share of prime-age U.S.-born individuals with a job is at its highest rate in more than two decades. In 2023, the prime-age (ages 25–54) employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) for U.S.-born individuals was 81.4%, up from […]
The Republican cultists who rage on about immigration in Red states all over America are doing everything they can to take the United States back 100 years to when child labor was permitted. This story from Kentucky is one of a dozen such stories I could have picked about child labor, each from a different state. What the Republicans are doing, in my opinion, is disgusting. We have one political party that is utterly lacking in ethics. They are openly working on the dismemberment of the laws protecting children from being employed in slaughterhouses and factories by corporations that are equally devoid of integrity. This lack of integrity is becoming a growing factor in American society.
Child Labor in America
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY — Kentucky’s Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to remove state restrictions on child labor, allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work all night and during school hours.
House Bill 255 repeals Kentucky’s state-specific restrictions on employment for 14- to 18-year-olds and removes the power of the state commissioner for workplace standards — part of the governor’s administration — to issue regulations to protect children in the workplace.
Supporters said it will be easier for employers to comply with federal law that applies nationwide concerning child labor rather than Kentucky’s more restrictive policies, and that removing state restrictions will instill valuable work ethic in teenagers.
Rep. Phil Pratt, R-Georgetown, the owner of a landscaping business, said it’s an “economic imperative” to remove “barriers” to teens working because of national “labor crisis.”
“Work has value, and teenagers who want to work or need to work … shouldn’t have the Kentucky government stand in the way,” Pratt, the lead sponsor of the bill, said on the House floor Thursday.
Democrats decried the policy as opening the door to child exploitation for the convenience of fast-food and other low-wage […]
One hundred and fifty-one years ago Yellowstone was established as the world’s first national park by an act of Congress and signed into law on March 1, 1872, by President Ulysses S. Grant. Since that time national parks have grown to a system of 400 properties, and this network has become one of the assets that have made the United States a nation admired around the world. If you have ever been to one of the parks it is easy to understand why this is true. Now the greed and lack of ethics of the Republican cult has begun corrupting this legendary asset. Read this report; it will help you understand what is happening.
In Montana’s Crazy Mountains, private landowners have restricted access to public lands, including in the Sweet Grass Creek drainage, shown here. Credit: Bruce Gordon / EcoFlight
We had followed the trail for a half mile when it ran headlong into a fence.
Signs nailed to the trees blared messages of unwelcome: “Private Property” and “No Forest Service Access.” They were emphatic: The trail ends here.
Our map — the official map of the Custer Gallatin National Forest — said different: The trail continued for another seven or eight miles, a substantial orange line winding through the foothills of Montana’s Crazy Mountains.
The signs, though, had the desired effect. On the other side of the fence, the trail grew faint.
This trail, known as the Porcupine Lowline, had been marked on U.S. Forest Service maps for nearly a century — the earliest I’ve seen is dated 1925. But, like many trails in the Crazies, it crossed private land to reach the National Forest. And, like many trails here, landowners had taken to putting up “No Trespassing” signs, fences and padlocked gates at those crossing points. The […]
Anna Phillips, National Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan:
Another report of greed, lack of ethics, and stupidity. America’s builders don’t seem to understand what climate change is going to do to this country. They prefer short-time profit to the long-term wellbeing of the country in which they live. Short-term profit is even more important to them than the wellbeing of their own children. It is amazing.
Illustration by Emily Sabens / The Washington Post / iStock
“Out in the middle of nowhere” in Moore County, N.C., developer Ron Jackson said he is building what America needs — more affordable homes for the nurses, police officers and teachers struggling to find housing they can afford amid a nationwide shortage.
That’s why Jackson and others from North Carolina’s home building industry say they came out in force last year against a state plan to tighten energy efficiency building codes so new homes would waste less energy, reducing their carbon footprints. The builders succeeded in blocking the new standards, helping to maintain the status quo.
“All that energy code was going to do in my price range is make it to where the working man and woman would not be able to buy a home,” Jackson said. He sells homes in the $250,000 range and estimated the changes would have increased his costs by more than $20,000 — afigure that comes from a survey of North Carolina builders conducted by the state branch of the National […]
I have to go in for another surgery Thursday, so there will be no Friday edition of SR. I should be back to work for a Saturday edition. I ask that you hold me in healing intention so that this can all go without problems.
Because of the tax laws in the United States an oligarch class has emerged so wealthy they literally live in another society, effectively governed by different uses of the laws. This group is also increasingly taking control of the media to make sure only their views are espoused by the newspapers, magazines, television channels, and credit card and banks they own. We are becoming a fascist-controlled nation, and I don’t think most Americans have any real comprehension of what is happening.
The Baltimore Sun front page is seen, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Baltimore. David D. Smith, executive chairman of the Sinclair broadcasting chain and an active contributor to conservative causes, has bought Baltimore Sun Media from the investment firm Alden Global Capital. Credit: Lea Skene / AP
David D. Smith, leading stockholder of Sinclair, Inc., announced on January 15 that he was purchasing what is left of the Baltimore Sun, once regarded as the crown jewel of the Maryland city’s media (AP, 1/15/24).
Sinclair is a multi-billion dollar Fortune 500 company and one of the largest owners of television stations in the country. The company has been criticized for its conservative and not always accurate TV news coverage (Salon, 7/21/17; New Yorker, 10/15/18). In 2018, the company compelled local TV news anchors around the country to read on air the same copy parroting President Donald Trump’s claims about “fake news” (Deadspin, 3/31/18).
The decline of the Sun has been happening for years before Smith’s purchase. The outlet was […]
Yet another report describes how a tiny group of oligarchs increased their control over the American economy. Seven tech companies alone, as this report describes, would by themselves be the second largest stock market in the world. The wealth of the individuals who control these companies is only possible because of what the Republicans have done to rig the tax structure to favor the rich.
The so-called “Magnificent 7” U.S. tech behemoths encompass Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla.
In a research note Tuesday, Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted that the Magnificent 7′s combined market cap alone would make it the second-largest country stock exchange in the world.
However, this level of concentration has led some analysts to voice concerns over related risks in the U.S. and global stock markets.
The so-called “Magnificent 7” now wields greater financial might than almost every other major country in the world, according to new Deutsche Bank research.
The meteoric rise in the profits and market capitalizations of the Magnificent 7 U.S. tech behemoths — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — outstrip those of all listed companies in almost every G20 country, the bank said in a research note Tuesday. Of the non-U.S. G20 countries, only China and Japan (and the latter, only just) have greater profits when their listed companies are combined.
Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted that the Magnificent 7′s combined market cap alone would make it the second-largest country stock exchange in the world, double that of Japan in fourth. Microsoft and Apple, individually, have similar market caps to all combined listed companies in each of France, Saudi Arabia […]
Oliver Laughland, Southern Bureau Chief9 - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
Republican voters put Jeff Landry into office as governor. Now he is moving Louisiana, which is basically except for New Orleans a third-world country, further into christofascism. The state already has horrible social wellbeing stats, and they will now get worse. It amazes me to watch people vote into office fascists who destroy their democracy, healthcare, education, and general wellbeing. And to observe evangelicals say and actually believe that criminal Trump is God’s choice for president. IS the UNited States going to survive as a democracy with racial and religious equality? I’d say the answer to that question is far from settled.
Jeff Landry became governor of Louisiana last month. Credit: Evan Vucci / AP
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA — Louisiana’s Republican-dominated state legislature is poised to enact a swathe of new criminal justice measures as a special legislative session convenes on Monday, leaving reform advocates concerned about soaring rates of incarceration that may follow.
The session, called by the state’s new far-right governor, Jeff Landry, will consider two dozen items including broad restrictions on parole eligibility, measures to resume executions, the lowering of the age limit for adult prosecutions, and changes to post-conviction procedures often used to remedy wrongful convictions or excessive sentences.
Landry, the state’s former attorney general, came to office in January after a campaign centered on hardline law and order. A former sheriff’s deputy, he was sworn into office in a ceremony […]
