By Rachel Goldfarb, originally posted on Next New Deal
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Prisons are Shrinking. That Won’t Necessarily Last. (WaPo)
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal questions whether the Great Recession has had an effect on our incarceration system. It seems that the slow decline in incarceration rates started before the recession, but we could use this moment to continue that trend.
Why Progressives Hate the Idea of Larry Summers for Fed Chair (MSNBC)
Ned Resnikoff speaks to Mike Konczal about all the reasons Larry Summers isn't the right choice for the next Federal Reserve Chair. Mike points out that Summers has never shown any great interest in monetary policy to begin with.
The Cost of Austerity: 3 Million Jobs (MoJo)
Kevin Drum reports that Republican austerity policies since 2011 have reduced employment by nearly 3 million. The unemployed aren't any better off with this obstructionist, anti-growth behavior, but with a Democrat in the White House, he says Republicans don't care.
Helping America’s Renters (Reuters)
David Abromowitz questions how much profit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to make before we can fund the National Housing Trust Fund. The fund was created to support low-income housing just before the crash, but has never had actual funds to work with.
Fighting Back Against Wretched Wages (NYT)
Steven Greenhouse looks at the low-wage workers nationwide who have decided they are tired of corporations who refuse to pay a living wage. But as one CEO quoted says, there is no such thing as too-high profits, and apparenty there's no need to pass that on to the workers.
Fast Food Strikes Intensify in Seven Cities (Salon)
Josh Eidelson looks at the expansion of fast food worker strikes that is coming today. The short-term strikes in seven cities are aimed to decrease risk for strikers, because fast food corporations haven't taken well to employees who dare to mention unions.
How to Ease Inequality on the Cheap (Pacific Standard)
Michael Fitzgerald appreciates the sentiment behind President Obama's call for universal Pre-K, but there may be a cheaper option in the short run. A World Bank working paper finds that weekly hour-long sessions with a childcare aid can have a massive effect on the child's adult income.