policies

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

It’s Not The Whole Story But Safety Net Policies Are Helping Reduce The Number Of Americans Below The Poverty Line

On The Record Elena Delavega, University of Memphis CC BY-ND The share of Americans living in poverty shrank to an estimated 9.2% in 2020, according to the Urban Institute, a think tank that closely tracks this rate with a widely used model. There were 29.3 million Americans living below the poverty line, the institute’s researchers found. Another 10.3 million appear to have been kept out of poverty through government efforts to cushion the blows from massive economic upheaval triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This new estimate contradicts many prior predictions and is significantly lower than the 10.5% of the U.S. population the U.S. Census Bureau said was in poverty in 2019, the most recent official data available. If confirmed when the government agency releases official 2020 numbe...

‘Food Apartheid’ In US Cities Created By Urban Planning And Housing Policies

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

‘Food Apartheid’ In US Cities Created By Urban Planning And Housing Policies

Hunger is not evenly spread across the U.S., nor within its cities. Even in the the richest parts of urban America there are pockets of deep food insecurity, and more often than not it is Black and Latino communities that are hit hardest. As an urban planning academic who teaches a course on food justice, I’m aware that this disparity is in large part through design. For over a century, urban planning has been used as a toolkit for maintaining white supremacy that has divided U.S. cities along racial lines. And this has contributed to the development of so-called “food deserts” – areas of limited access to reasonably priced, healthy, culturally relevant foods – and “food swamps” – places with a preponderance of stores selling “fast” and “junk” food. Both terms are controversial and have...

Policies That Encourage Workers To Show Up Sick Are Legal – Meatpacking Plants Have Been Deadly COVID-19 Hot Spots

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Policies That Encourage Workers To Show Up Sick Are Legal – Meatpacking Plants Have Been Deadly COVID-19 Hot Spots

Working in meatpacking plants has always been dangerous. A recent study shows that it became deadlier in the era of COVID-19, even as company profits soared. This analysis, published in December 2020, estimates that 6%-8% of all COVID-19 cases and 3%-4% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were tied to meat and poultry plants. Workers in these facilities stand close together on processing lines, which makes social distancing difficult. At the same time, companies like Tyson, which produces chicken, beef and pork, and JBS, which produces beef and pork, are reporting high earnings despite COVID-related challenges such as plant closures. I am a law professor and have written about links between lax state and federal enforcement of health and safety laws and increased rates of COVID-19 infect...

In Early 20th Century Segregation Policies In Federal Government Harmed Blacks For Decades To Come

13Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

In Early 20th Century Segregation Policies In Federal Government Harmed Blacks For Decades To Come

Economic disparities in earnings, health and wealth between Black and white Americans are staggeringly large. Historical government practices and institutions – such as segregated schools, redlined neighborhoods and discrimination in medical care – have contributed to these wide disparities. While these causes may not always be overt, they can have lasting negative effects on the prosperity of minority communities. Abhay Aneja and I are researchers at University of California, Berkeley, who specialize in examining the causes of social inequality. Our new research examines the U.S. federal government’s role in creating conditions of racial inequality more than a century ago. Specifically, we researched the harmful impact of government discrimination against Black civil service employees. W...

Generous Unemployment Benefits Job Policies Create More Happiness For Everyone

6Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS

Generous Unemployment Benefits Job Policies Create More Happiness For Everyone

Losing one’s job undoubtedly makes someone less happy, a feeling tens of millions of people around the world are experiencing right now. Even as the labor market recovers, as we saw in the latest U.S. employment report on Nov. 6, the number of people who have been without a job for more than 26 weeks continues to increase. Governments have implemented a wide variety of labor market policies to address the pandemic’s impact, from beefing up funding of existing unemployment policies to supplemental income programs like the US$600 checks that the U.S. sent out during part of the pandemic. While these policies are intended to alleviate the economic pain of losing one’s job, we, as happiness researchers, are more interested in how they might affect people’s well-being during the pandemic. Br...

Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with disabilities – and lasted into the 21st century

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Forced sterilization policies in the US targeted minorities and those with disabilities – and lasted into the 21st century

In August 1964, the North Carolina Eugenics Board met to decide if a 20-year-old Black woman should be sterilized. Because her name was redacted from the records, we call her Bertha. She was a single mother with one child who lived at the segregated O'Berry Center for African American adults with intellectual disabilities in Goldsboro. According to the North Carolina Eugenics Board, Bertha had an IQ of 62 and exhibited “aggressive behavior and sexual promiscuity.” She had been orphaned as a child and had a limited education. Likely because of her “low IQ score,” the board determined she was not capable of rehabilitation. Instead the board recommended the “protection of sterilization” for Bertha, because she was “feebleminded” and deemed unable to “assume responsibility for herself” or her...

Why companies as diverse as eBay, IKEA and Mars are increasingly supporting US clean energy policies

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Why companies as diverse as eBay, IKEA and Mars are increasingly supporting US clean energy policies

The big idea My new analysis of companies that seek to buy renewable electricity finds that business is becoming a powerful new ally in the U.S. political battle to stop climate change. Driven by pressure from environmental groups and by the increasingly competitive prices of wind and solar, many companies have pledged to power their operations with clean energy. But the legal and technical complexity of U.S. electricity markets has stalled corporate progress on their clean power goals. This has prompted companies as diverse as eBay, Mars, IKEA and Walmart to push for public policies that expand the generation of renewable energy in the U.S. and make it more accessible through mandates, incentives and other regulations. Why it matters Politically powerful fossil fuel interests have long st...