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Soaring food prices and supply chain crunches for meat and other staples during the Covid-19 pandemic drew attention to the highly consolidated agriculture sector, in which key sectors like meatpacking are dominated by a handful of “Big Ag” behemoths. Biden entered office promising to crack down on food monopolies and support small and midsize U.S. farmers, whose numbers have cratered in recent decades.
President Barack Obama late in his second term oversaw a regulation that called for workers making up to $47,476 to be automatically entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay. The move infuriated businesses and Republicans, who sought to block the rule in both Congress and the courts. Donald Trump’s election and a Texas judge’s ruling in 2016 led the Labor Department to revisit the matter and set a significantly lower threshold of $35,568.
Biden touted his campaign to eliminate so-called junk fees — the hidden charges that often come as a surprise to the consumer, taking aim at the fees levied by airlines, cable companies, concert ticket-sellers and hotels, among other businesses. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2022 launched an initiative to expand the crackdown to target financial fees, training its scrutiny in particular on credit card late charges and the insufficient-fund fees that banks impose.
In 1977, Congress passed a law to combat a practice known as redlining, where for decades the government had discouraged lenders from extending mortgage loans to borrowers in Black neighborhoods. The law requires banks to lend to creditworthy lower-income people in the same neighborhoods where they have branches that take deposits. But the growth of the internet and mobile banking have made those rules increasingly obsolete. Banks, in effect, had a major presence in many neighborhoods where they had no branches.
Never mind luxury travel, now some airline passengers pay extra just for the basics. But getting your money back when a flight gets canceled or significantly delayed is one effort the Biden’s administration’s Transportation Department has tried to address as part of a new tough stance on the airline industry, especially after multiple instances of air travel gone awry.
Federal labor law has been essentially frozen since the Taft-Hartley Act passed over President Harry Truman’s veto in 1947, leaving Republicans and Democrats to engage in decadeslong trench warfare at the National Labor Relations Board to nudge legal precedents and enforcement standards in their preferred direction. The result has been an ever-escalating series of policy shifts when the balance of power in Washington flips from one party to the other that puts the fate of disputes between employers and workers in the balance.
Explore the potential economic impact of Universal Basic Healthcare in the United States. Despite logistical challenges, recent studies project annual savings of $500 billion, challenging the notion that UBH is a financial burden. Discover how administrative efficiency, preventive care, and negotiating power could revolutionize the nation’s healthcare system, leading to a healthier population and substantial cost savings for American taxpayers.
Explore the transformative impact of Universal Basic Income (UBI) on human dignity. Discover how UBI, by ensuring every individual’s access to basic needs, fosters autonomy, reduces stigma, and enhances mental well-being, creating a more inclusive and harmonious society. Join the conversation on how UBI can be a catalyst for positive change and a pathway to a dignified and equitable future.
Discover the transformative power of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in our latest article. Explore how UBI offers a flexible response to economic changes, shielding citizens from vulnerabilities, fostering resilience, and promoting innovation in the face of uncertainties.
Explore how the soaring costs of higher education, driven by inflated tuition fees, student debt, and extravagant construction projects, are contributing to broader economic inflation. Delve into the interconnected factors shaping the financial landscape of education and discover the potential ripple effects on the economy.
