Sanders pressures Trump with anti-outsourcing legislation

[ HARPER NEIDIG | November 26, 2016 |The Hill] Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Saturday he will introduce legislation aimed at preventing major companies from sending jobs to foreign countries, similar to what President-elect Donald Trump proposed on the campaign trail. Sanders pointed to Trump’s promise to prevent Carrier, an air conditioning manufacturer owned by United Technologies, from shifting factory jobs…

WTO again rules against US law in Boeing case

[Reuters| November 28, 2016 |The New York Times] The World Trade Organization ruled on Monday that a tax break from Washington State to help Boeing develop its new 777X jetliner was a prohibited subsidy. The ruling was a setback for the aerospace giant as it seeks victory in a parallel case against its European rival, Airbus. The trade organization said the…

House GOP Business-Tax Plan Upends U.S. Policy, Bares Corporate Fault Lines

[Richard Rubin| November 24, 2016 |Wall Street Journal] WASHINGTON—Fault lines inside the corporate world are emerging over a proposed rewrite of the U.S. tax code, pitting importers against exporters. At the heart of the fight is a Republican plan in Congress that would impose corporate taxes on imports while eliminating them from exports, a move that would upend decades of tax…

Economists correlate China trade with more US deaths

[Max Ehrenfreund| November 23, 2016 |Washington Post] White Americans without a college degree are becoming more likely to die in middle age, reversing decades of progress toward better health. Researchers first noticed this worrisome trend last year. They pointed to increases in opioid abuse, obesity and suicide among the causes of death, but what caused these increases…

The working class election

By Michael Stumo While identity politics was a big part of the media’s election narrative, those issues did not actually drive voters’ election choices. Instead, exit polls showed they voted on the basis of the economy, not identity. There are still competing narratives about how the election was won. Some say racists prevailed to elevate…