Today’s News & Commentary — April 18, 2017
President Trump will sign an executive order today to make it harder for tech companies to recruit foreign workers, according to the New York Times. Trump often vowed to end the H-1B program on the campaign trail. Though this order falls well short of that goal, it represents a significant step towards following through on the president’s economic nationalist vision.
Alyssa Battistoni, writing in Dissent, argues that despite all its positives, the left should be wary of embracing universal basic income during the Trump administration. She writes, “[I]t’s hard to imagine any way a basic income program implemented in the Trump era would be anything but a vehicle for dismantling the remains of the welfare state while simultaneously reinforcing nationalism by excluding non-citizens from shared prosperity.” The piece was highlighted in the New York Times roundup of high quality partisan writing.
New York City plans to force Uber to allow customers to tip through its app, according to the Boston Globe, and California may soon follow suit. Uber has long resisted allowing tips, even as competitors have permitted users to add gratuities to their fare. In Uber news unrelated to tipping, the Washington Post summarizes the company’s recent struggles in the wake of yet another executive leaving his post.
Bloomberg dove into some labor market numbers to analyze what made the German economy the best in the developed world for workers. Two theories emerged. First, the country’s strong labor unions have been willing to think long term with regard to wages. Second, Germany has seen a steady rise in exports that is at least in part attributable to the country benefiting at the expense of the weaker economies in the euro zone.
