Obama Moves On Overtime Pay
WH announces executive order directing Labor Dept to expand overtime pay: "Today, only 12 percent of salaried workers fall below the threshold that would guarantee them overtime and minimum wage protections (compared with 18 percent in 2004 and 65 percent in 1975). Many of the remaining 88 percent of salaried workers are ineligible for these protections because they fall within the white collar exemptions. Many recognize that these regulations are outdated, which is why states like New York and California have set higher salary thresholds."
Business lobby lashes out. The Hill: "Trade associations already battling the White House over a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour said they were blindsided by the announcement ... The action would expand the sphere of eligible employees to include, for instance, fast food shift supervisors and some office workers now being denied overtime pay."
Obamacare Popularity Up
Obamacare's popularity rises in Bloomberg poll: "Fifty-one percent of Americans favor retaining the Affordable Care Act with 'small modifications,' while 13 percent would leave the law intact and 34 percent would repeal it. That’s the highest level of public acceptance for the law yet in the Bloomberg poll."
"Paul Ryan Admits The GOP Won’t Rally Around A Single Obamacare Replacement Plan" reports ThinkProgress: "As New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait pointed out last month, the Republican leadership’s promise to offer a big Obamacare replacement bill has become increasingly vague and hazy. Ryan’s comments today appear to confirm Chait’s warning that Americans shouldn’t expect a comprehensive GOP health care plan anytime soon."
Feds Worry Banking Culture Rotten
Difficult road ahead for housing finance reform bill. Bloomberg: "The Senate’s Democratic leadership remains lukewarm on the proposal and there is little enthusiasm for taking up the issue this year, said a Senate Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity."
Regulators explore whether banking industry is fundamentally corrupt. NYT: "It is a concern recently voiced by William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the institution that has more day-to-day contact with Wall Street than any other arm of the government. 'There is evidence of deep-seated cultural and ethical failures at many large financial institutions,' Mr. Dudley said in a speech that sent a chill through the financial industry last year. In a recent interview, Mr. Dudley explained why he decided to make such a loaded point about bank culture: 'To make it clear that "too big to fail" isn’t the only problem ... I don’t want senior bank management to feel, "Oh gee, if we solve 'too big to fail,' we’re done."'"
Fed Nominee Backs Continued Stimulus
Fed nominee backs continued monetary stimulus. Bloomberg: "...in remarks prepared for his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Banking Committee [Stanley Fischer says:] 'Achievement of both maximum employment and price stability requires the continuation of an expansionary monetary policy -- even though the degree of expansion is being gradually and cautiously cut back as the Fed reduces its monthly purchases' of securities."
"The Fed Absolutely Shouldn't Give Up on the Long-Term Unemployed" argues The Atlantic's Matthew O'Brien: "The new inflation hawks argue that these headline numbers overstate how much slack is left in the economy ... [But] we don't know what will happen, and it's worth risking a little inflation to try to get people back to work. There's a chance that the returning labor force dropouts will keep wages from rising too much, and we'll all live happily ever after. But there won't be any chance of them returning if the Fed prematurely raises, or says it might raise, rates."
Parties still far apart on jobless aid, but talks continue. Politico: "Prospects for a Senate vote this week on unemployment benefits dimmed Wednesday as the chamber prepares for next week’s recess ... Democrats and Republicans are no closer to a resolution on how to pay for a five- or six-month retroactive restoration of long-term benefits that were cut off in December. There’s no agreement on which, if any, structural reforms need to be made to the UI program."`
Breakfast Sides
"America’s Gas Infrastructure Is Getting Dangerously Old" finds Time's Katy Steinmetz: "America’s use of natural gas goes back to the early 1900s, and some of the pipes funneling gas beneath city streets today go back that long, too ... the average age of that pipe, according to a report from the Center for an Urban Future, is 56 years old, much of it made of old materials that are more prone to leaks."
NYT's Gail Collins slams Paul Ryan's attack on free school lunches: "Most American mothers feel remarkably successful when everybody gets off to school with matching socks. Now Paul Ryan wants to tell them they’ve committed child abuse by failure to fill a brown bag."
