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March 22, 2023 | The Sling

Dylan Gyauch-Lewis

Op-Ed Department of TransportationExecutive BranchIndependent AgenciesLabor

Too Big To Rail: Railroads, Safety, and Accountability

Unfortunately, America’s rail workers are all too familiar with the consequences of how the railroad industry has been operated over the past 30 years. Precision scheduled railroading (PSR) has made the difference. PSR is a business model focused on reducing overhead costs and generating returns for shareholders. Similar to many other business models driven by financialization, it’s effectively  a scheme by giant railroad operators to cut staff and backup resources, push the remaining equipment and personnel to the breaking point, and funnel as much of the cash as possible to Wall Street. And by increasing market concentration even further, the recently approved rail merger between Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS) promises to make the situation even more dire — for railroad workers, for the communities our rail lines pass through, and for the American economy.

March 02, 2023

Henry Burke

Blog Post Economic PolicyExecutive BranchFederal ReserveFinancial RegulationLarry Summers

Workers Beware: Biden’s Potential Fed Pick Prescribes Unemployment & Reduced Social Security Benefits

Karen Dynan has been reported as one of a few economists on Biden’s shortlist to replace Lael Brainard on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. While her proponents have highlighted the Harvard-trained economist’s perfect centrist resume, her recent statements on how best to tackle inflation should concern workers and their allies. And this blithe analysis concerning unemployment should come as no surprise – Dynan, like Biden’s foils in the GOP, believes cuts to Social Security benefits are likely.

March 01, 2023 | The American Prospect

Hannah Story Brown

Op-Ed Climate and EnvironmentConsumer ProtectionCorporate CrackdownExecutive BranchGovernanceGovernment Capacity

Calling Deficit Squawks’ Bluff on Environmental Enforcement

A 38-car train wreck. Toxic chemicals seeping into water and soil, and a black plume rising in the sky. Sick people, sick pets. As the Prospect’s Jarod Facundo wrote last week, the national spotlight remains fixed on the ecological consequences of the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.

In the context of this ecological disaster, arguing for a reduced budget for federal investigators, air and water quality testing, and programs that hold polluting corporations accountable for proper cleanup and restitution is sheer madness. But that’s exactly what the current right-wing push for massive government spending cuts in the name of deficit reduction would entail.

February 01, 2023

Toni Aguilar Rosenthal

Blog PostNewsletter Executive Branch

The State Of The Union, And The Year That Followed

President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address is next Tuesday. Amid an uprising sparked by yet another horrific video of police violence, deep uncertainty about U.S. fiscal and monetary policy, and continuing wars and threats around the world, the nation — or at least, the politics junkies in the nation — will gather to hear the President lay out his agenda to a Congress absolutely no one reasonably expects will deliver on it, or likely even take it all that seriously.