Washington can afford no more spending for coronavirus relief

Washington can afford no more spending for coronavirus relief

Congress may be out of session this week, but when lawmakers return, we all know they will get back to their favorite pastime of spending taxpayer dollars. The phase four coronavirus relief bill, which will almost certainly be in the ballpark of $1 trillion or more, is inevitable. In addition to increasing the deficit, lawmakers, particularly Democrats, are willing to incentivize Americans to stay far more than six feet away from the economy.

The Cares Act provided enhanced federal unemployment benefits of $600 a week for up to four months. These enhanced unemployment benefits, which expire in two weeks, have […]

Ethiopia: Technology’s Impact On the Labor Market

Ethiopia: Technology's Impact On the Labor Market

Though an outright conclusion cannot be reached on the argument that technological surge affects the labor market adversely and put millions of labors out of the loop, there are many concerns that technological innovation will lead to increased unemployment, suppressed wages and greater inequality.

New technologies, as they hold immense promise, are also seen as a threat, potentially disrupting labor markets and contributing to income inequality. The biggest public fear is that robots and Artificial Intelligence /AI/ will replace human jobs on a large scale, resulting in mass unemployment or underemployment–and, consequently, widespread impoverishment around the globe. In fact, labor […]

A New UBI Pilot is Targeting Former Foster Kids in Silicon Valley

A New UBI Pilot is Targeting Former Foster Kids in Silicon Valley

A Los Angeles High School student leans on a vending machine. (Photo by Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) “From freshman year to senior year I was in 21 different placements — group homes [and] foster homes. It was hard to go to school, especially. It also really affected me because I never really felt like anywhere was home.” Kody Hart, an upbeat person with a positive outlook, will be 25 in August. He aged out of the foster care system when he was 18, after six years of state-run care. He doesn’t have family money to fall […]

COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What’s happening Thursday, July 16

COVID-19 on P.E.I.: What's happening Thursday, July 16

Whisperwood Villa was put on lockdown after a case of COVID-19 was found to be linked to a worker at the home. Restrictions were put in place, but are now being lifted after two rounds of negative tests for all staff and residents. (Travis Kingdon/CBC) A proposal by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs to extend the Atlantic bubble to include part of Quebec is getting a cool response from his Atlantic colleagues, including P.E.I. Premier Dennis King.

P.E.I. will not even begin to think seriously about expanding beyond the Atlantic bubble before August, says Premier Dennis King.

Whisperwood Villa is now […]

Coronavirus: how lockdown exposed food insecurity in a small Bangladeshi city

Coronavirus: how lockdown exposed food insecurity in a small Bangladeshi city

The food market in Mongla in October 2019: it was shut during the COVID-19 lockdown. Credit: Hanna Ruszczyk, Author provided The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as far more than a health crisis for the world’s poor and marginalised , exposing faultlines in food systems around the world . The UN’s World Food Programme warned in early July that 270 million people will face food insecurity before the end of 2020.

Our ongoing research in Mongla, a small coastal city of 106,000 people in southwestern Bangladesh, is exposing just how vulnerable many people are to food insecurity. If a family spent […]

Mark Cuban says schools shouldn’t reopen until there’s a coronavirus vaccine

Mark Cuban says schools shouldn't reopen until there's a coronavirus vaccine

As Trump pushes schools nationwide to reopen in the fall , billionaire Mark Cuban took to Twitter to voice a different action plan: wait until there’s a vaccine.

In a long thread, Cuban argued that pushing the academic calendar year back could be largely beneficial, and far less dangerous and expensive than the alternative.

The newfound time could be used to plan an informed and safer "segmented school year that goes year round" instead of the current scenario in which schools are "effectively winging it." Cuban didn’t provide an answer for how parents could absorb the cost of caring […]

Call for Norwich to pilot new scheme giving monthly income to all in city

Call for Norwich to pilot new scheme giving monthly income to all in city

Green city councillor Jamie Osborn (left) and Labour city councillor Karen Davis (right), have both tabled motions about Universal Basic Income. Picture: Ella Wilkinson/Supplied by Jamie Osborn Everyone in Norwich should get a monthly income to cover their basic costs of living, say councillors who want the city to be a pilot for radical reform.

Labour city councillor Karen Davis. Picture: Ella Wilkinson Two motions will go before Norwich City Council on Tuesday, July 21, asking the authority to back a pilot of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), paid to everyone, regardless of employment status, wealth or marital status.

Councillors […]

Lincoln National’s Solution to Serve Retirees Amid Volatility

Lincoln National's Solution to Serve Retirees Amid Volatility

Lincoln National Corporation LNC recently rolled out a retirement solution — Lincoln PathBuilder — which is an in-plan guaranteed income option. The new solution aims to provide benefit to retirement savers across the United States, who are investing in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Lincoln PathBuilder has been primarily designed to convert defined contribution retirement plan savings into a lifetime source of monthly income. Per a study conducted by Secure Retirement Institute, 61% of workforce presently saving in employer’s defined contribution plan is likely to contribute to a guaranteed lifetime income investment option. We believe the new solution has also been launched […]

Employable Skills in Case Robots Take Away Jobs

Employable Skills in Case Robots Take Away Jobs

What skills you will need to compete with the Robots in case they take away 50 million jobs in the next decade?

We had of late debated how will be the impact of Robotics in the employment scenario, and what will happen in case they take away our rule-based jobs, leaving the human labour in quandary. The fear of the unknown has taken unprecedented numbers- automation puts 51 million jobs at risk over the next decade.

Recent research from McKinsey suggests that over 90 million workers across Europe accounting to about 40% of the total workforce may have to […]

Move Eskom Debt to Government’s Balance Sheet, Says Ex-GS Head

(Bloomberg) —

South Africa can fix the balance sheet of its loss-making power utility by transferring its guaranteed debt to the government’s balance sheet, according to the former chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in sub-Saharan Africa.

Seen as the biggest risk to the nation’s economy, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. has received 133 billion ($8 billion) in bailouts since 2008 and is due to get another 112 billion over the next three years. Instead of sinking that money into a hole, the utility’s guaranteed debt should be moved onto the government’s books after negotiating for better terms with bondholders, […]