Editorial Roundup: United States
Excerpts from recent editorials in
The
The post-pandemic hiring surge is over. Job seekers in nearly every industry are having a harder time finding employment. As the latest jobs report showed on Friday, the unemployment rate has ticked up to 4.3 percent. Though that is low by historical standards, it’s a significant jump from 3.5 percent a year ago. More than 7.1 million people — each of them requiring housing, food and security — are now out of work. That’s up by more than 1 million from last summer. Americans without college degrees have been especially hard-hit.
Since the post-pandemic inflation spike, the
Fed officials still have time to prevent a downturn. Economists rely on what’s known as the Sahm Rule to gauge when a recession arrives. It’s based upon the observation that when the unemployment rate rises significantly in a year, it has always heralded a
These periods of low unemployment have led many companies and government agencies to drop college-degree requirements for many jobs. This has opened up career prospects for the 119 million Americans who have no college degree of any kind. The trend of more flexible jobs — including work-from-home and part-time shifts, even in factories — have particularly helped women with kids.
Having a job is about more than a paycheck. It brings dignity. New research from economist
All of this is why it’s concerning to see signs that the labor market is turning, with unemployment rising and hiring slowing sharply outside of health care and government. That’s a major change from last year, when almost every sector was hiring robustly. It’s notable that the unemployment rate for Americans without a high school diploma is now 6.7 percent (up from 5.3 percent a year ago). For people who graduated from high school but not college, the unemployment rate has shot up to 4.6 percent (from 3.3 percent a year ago).
“I would not like to see material further cooling in the labor market,” Federal Reserve Chair
ONLINE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/02/unemployment-rise-warning-sign-fed/
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The choice that scared
Mr. Walz’s progressive bona fides will please Sen.
But as Governor since 2019 Mr. Walz has moved
• Increasing taxes, though
• Making an estimated 81,000 illegal immigrants in the state eligible for driver’s licenses, along with health insurance through the MinnesotaCare public marketplace.
• Funding “the North Star Promise Program, which provides free college for students with a family income under
• Creating a state system for paid family and medical leave, capped at a combined 20 weeks a year and funded by a 0.88% payroll tax.
• Mandating that public utilities generate 80% carbon-free electricity by 2030, ramping up to 100% by 2040. He’s a fervent believer in “climate action.”
• Subsidizing electric vehicles by “requiring EV charging infrastructure within or adjacent to new commercial and multi-family buildings,” as the Governor’s office bragged.
• Passing one of the nation’s most permissive abortion statutes that has essentially no limits and no age consideration for minors.
• Declaring Minnesota to be a “trans refuge,” with a law saying that the state will ignore a “court order for the removal of a child issued in another state because the child’s parent or guardian assisted the child in receiving gender-affirming care in this state.”
• Establishing automatic voter registration and letting Minnesotans sign up for a permanent absentee ballot option.
No wonder
Did he hesitate to send in troops? Why is
Despite her four years as Vice President,
But her choice of a running mate is her first presidential-level decision, and it confirms the views she expressed in 2019 when she ran for the
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The
In an address to the nation last week about abandoning his reelection campaign,
In an initiative endorsed by Vice President
Biden’s proposals would benefit a court that has undermined its credibility with major decisions in which Republican appointees vote one way and Democratic appointees another. Further damage to the court’s image has been inflicted by a selection process for justices that has been marred by naked partisanship and the use of court appointments to engineer desired results. Trump, who said in 2016 that he would appoint “pro-life” justices, has boasted that “I was able to kill Roe vs. Wade,” the landmark abortion rights ruling that was overruled in 2022 in a decision joined by his three appointees.
Term limits would bring stability to the selection of justices. Biden’s proposal would have presidents appoint a justice every two years to an 18-year term. It’s ridiculous that Trump was able to appoint three life-tenured justices in a single term. He was abetted, of course, by
Rep.
Biden’s proposal for an enforceable ethics code for
Finally, Biden’s endorsement of a constitutional amendment to rein in presidential immunity faces considerable hurdles. But the court invited such an effort with its reckless ruling this month on presidential immunity that could let Trump off the hook for some charges related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and embolden future presidents.
Predictably,
Biden and Harris shouldn’t let such rejection deter them from educating the public about the value to the country of
The
ONLINE: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-31/biden-supreme-court-reform-term-limits
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The stakes of November’s election are real.
Campaign communications should be, too.
Yet in this era of ever-accelerating artificial intelligence, the manipulation of audio and/or video — and, most profoundly, the manipulation of voters — is an existential threat to our democracy.
And it’s not enough to depend on self-regulation from media entities. That much was clear when, on
While the original altered video contained a disclaimer that it was a parody, the version Musk reposted to his 192 million followers did not. Instead, in what experts say is a clear violation of X’s (and thus Musk’s) policies, he wrote “This is amazing” and added laughing emojis on his repost. It wasn’t until days later that Musk — who has endorsed Harris’ opponent, former President
Amazing, indeed. But not in the way Musk means. And it’s no laughing matter.
“This video illustrates the kind of problem that’s going to become commonplace unless we put protective rules in place,”
Twenty states, including
While the
Accordingly, she’s worked across the aisle to get
The second bill, co-sponsored by her Democratic colleagues
Last week, Klobuchar took to the
That’s good news for every American. As technological transformations and the malevolence of homegrown and offshore actors evolve, laws to protect democracy need to evolve as well.
ONLINE: https://www.startribune.com/deepfakes-require-a-real-federal-response/600818426
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The Guardian on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in
Dim hopes that a ceasefire in
It came hours after
But if
At other crisis points over the last 10 months – such as in April, when
Meanwhile,
A year ago, with former political and military leaders from the US,
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AM Best Downgrades Issuer Credit Rating of Jubilee General Insurance Company Limited
Stock market rebounds after tough start to the week
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