Alexa Kissinger is a student at Harvard Law School.
President Obama returned to Elkhart, Indiana, a town of about 50,000 near South Bend, and the site of his first major domestic trip as president in 2009. At the time of his first visit, the county’s unemployment rate had soared to almost 20%, and the Administration presented Elkhart as a symbol of the many communities suffering due to the recession. In yesterday’s town-hall event, President Obama touted the economic gains seen in the small county, and towns like it, where joblessness has dropped to about 4% (lower than the national average), the foreclosure rate has diminished, and manufacturing has picked up.
The Federal Reserve released its latest Beige Book, reporting modest economic growth since the last Beige Book. The Fed found that since the number of jobs and people available to work has been shrinking, labor markets are tightening, pushing wages up. Providing regional economic anecdotes from its 12 districts, the Beige Book was not a comprehensive data release, but provided some insight into the Fed’s outlook on consumer spending, the housing market, manufacturing, inflation and other key areas.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.
July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.