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Biden economist wants businesses to "step up and make investments” in the U.S.

Aug 31, 2023
Heather Boushey of the Council of Economic Advisers talks about the challenges of implementing the president's economic agenda.
Businesses are "not making the needed investments in the things that matter most," like clean energy infrastructure and chip manufacturing, says Heather Boushey of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

As the CCP celebrates its centennial, how communist is China's economy?

Jul 6, 2021
Starting in 1978, China’s ruling Communist Party has steadily embraced market reforms and transformed the country into the world’s second largest economy. What remains of the Chinese socialist system?
Young Chinese listening to punk music at the MIDI rock music festival in June.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Why employers are feeling more pressure to raise pay

Sep 7, 2018
New data from the Labor Department show 201,000 new jobs were created in August, which is about average, month-in, month-out, for the past year.  The unemployment rate was unchanged, at 3.9 percent. We’ve been sitting in that low-unemployment ballpark since mid-spring. Average hourly earnings for private sector workers accelerated in August.  They’re up 2.9 percent compared […]

Janus decision could hurt private-sector unions, too

Jun 29, 2018
The Supreme Court’s Janus decision only applies to public-sector unions, barring them from compelling nonunion members to pay agency fees that are meant to cover the costs of collective bargaining and other union services. But some powerful private-sector unions — including the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and the United Auto Workers — have organized a lot […]

Private sector wages and benefits are on the upswing, but economists caution celebrating

Jan 31, 2018
We are finally starting to see some signs that the tight labor market is pushing up wages. New numbers out today from the Department of Labor show wages and salaries in the private sector are up 2.8 percent from this time last year. That doesn’t leave too much extra cash for workers once you factor […]

No surprise: real estate a big winner in tax bills

Dec 6, 2017
There are major differences between the Senate and House versions of the GOP tax plan. And while corporate America writ large appears to be the big winner in both versions, not all corporations are treated equally. Here’s a look at which industries come out on top and which do not. Click the audio player above […]

Another spin of the revolving door between industry and Washington

Nov 13, 2017
President Donald Trump today announced his pick for HHS Secretary.
Alex Azar was U.S. deputy secretary of Health and Human Services in 2006 when this photo was taken in Paris with Alice Dautry, director of the Pasteur Institute, a French research laboratory.
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images

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Why we need anti-drone technology

Mar 9, 2017
Journalist Douglas Starr says 'regulations are lagging behind the technology that we need.'
The number of drones piloted by hobbyists has increased considerably since 2013, but more consumer drones could put us at risk, Douglas Starr says.
JOSEP LAGO/AFP/Getty Images

SpaceX launch could pave way for private sector funding

May 22, 2012
The private company SpaceX today launched an unmanned rocket into space this morning, carrying cargo for the international space station.