Big Labor Wins
Obama administration caps summer of expanding labor rights. NYT: "In the last two months alone, the administration has introduced ... a rule that would make millions more Americans eligible for extra overtime pay, and guidelines suggesting that many employers are misclassifying workers as contractors ... A little more than a week ago, a federal appeals panel affirmed an earlier regulation granting nearly two million previously exempted home care workers minimum wage and overtime protections."
And NLRB gets aggressive. Politico: "...President Barack Obama’s Democratic appointees have issued a string of rulings that favor unions — including six pro-labor decisions in just the past few days. On Thursday, the NLRB issued a momentous 3-2 ruling along party lines that may make it easier for McDonald’s to unionize, reversing a 34-year precedent. The board subsequently issued five additional decisions ruling for unions on less-momentous matters ranging from whether a worker may demand that a union rep be present during a drug test (yes) to whether a employer may exclude union reps from voluntary peer review committees (no)."
Obama Urges Climate Action On Alaska Trip
Obama urges climate action on Alaska trip. NYT: "In remarks that bordered on the apocalyptic, Mr. Obama warned that the effects of global warming that have hit the Arctic the hardest would soon engulf the world ... Four times in a 24-minute speech, he repeated his assertion that 'we’re not acting fast enough.'"
Environmentalists still criticize Obama decision to allow some Arctic drilling. W. Post: "During his visit, Royal Dutch Shell, armed with permits from the Interior Department, will be drilling an oil-exploration well in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s Arctic coast ... 'The timing of the trip is ironic,' said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club ... The president has defended his decision to let Shell go ahead, saying that while the United States transitions to more renewable fuels, it will still need to tap oil, and that it is better to rely on U.S. sources and insist on environmental safeguards."
Trump Bashes Wall Street
Trump is "Winning Over Anti-Wall Street Republicans" says Bloomberg: "... a new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines RegisterIowa Poll reveals that a whopping 65 percent of Republican front-runner Donald Trump's supporters say they're 'unsatisfied' or 'mad as hell' at Wall Street ... he has proposed to end the 'carried interest loophole' [and] has broken with top Republican rivals by promising not to cut Social Security."
Conservatives recoil at Trump's rhetoric on taxes. NYT: "...Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on American companies that put their factories in other countries. He has suggested he would increase taxes on the compensation of hedge fund managers. And he has vowed to change laws that allow American companies to benefit from cheaper tax rates by using mergers to base their operations outside the United States. Alarmed that those ideas might catch on ... the Club for Growth, an anti-tax think tank, is pulling together a team of economists to scrutinize his proposals ... [But] Grover Norquist ... is holding out hope for Mr. Trump..."
Ben Carson ties Trump in Iowa poll. Politico: "Among those identifying with the tea party, 27 percent pledged their support for Trump ... Carson leads among evangelical voters, earning 29 percent to Trump's 23 percent..."
Republicans will actual experience in government struggle. HuffPost: "...Trump, Carson and Fiorina combined currently hold nearly 46 percent of the primary electorate in HuffPost Pollster's aggregate of national surveys ... the nine former and current governors running for the GOP nomination, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, take just about 27 percent combined..."
Sanders builds up Iowa operation. NYT: "It now has 53 people on staff, with a 'robust hiring plan' made possible by Mr. Sanders’s fund-raising success with small donors ... the campaign is hiring professionals to coordinate volunteers and their canvassing activities, but also to better build what [campaign manager Jeff] Weaver called a 'geographically diverse' base of support in the state."
