Economic Security & Prosperity Blog
Raising Albuquerque’s minimum wage will create jobs
The question to raise the city’s minimum wage will be on the ballot for the November 6th general election. While this in itself is a victory, there is still a lot of work and education to be done before election day. Opponents have caused great confusion about how a minimum wage increase would affect employment. The fact is, it would create jobs.
The progressive ‘Budget for All’ and Ryan’s budget for the 1 percent
Both budget proposals claim to balance the federal budget within 10 years, however, a new report released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that while Ryan’s budget reduces the deficit over the short term, it increases it over the long term. The CPC’s budget does the opposite.
This Christmas, what our children really need
The number of children experiencing homelessness in New Mexico is growing fast. We have 16,260 homeless children—that’s enough kids to fill The Pit, UNM’s basketball arena. These children are often hungry, frequently sick, and always fearful of what each new day may bring. They never know how long they’ll stay in one place and many of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or other emotional problems. They live in a world basically invisible to most of us. They have no power and no voice to be heard by the policy-makers who could help.
The unlevel playing field
I see the “playing field” as a metaphor for life—that is, life as a marathon. If the playing field was level, everyone would begin from the same starting point and would run on the same equally smooth or equally rugged track. Everyone would have to jump the same number of equally high hurdles. You reach the finish line by becoming the best person you can be, as well as an engaged and accepted member of society where you make a positive contribution. In that sense, the finish line isn’t really the end of the race—but a goal to be achieved along the way.
When it Comes to Political Rhetoric, Seeing Can be Believing
Politicos on both sides of the aisle make accusations about the “other side” all the time. What’s almost as bad as the ugly partisanship is the fact that they’re making very simple claims about very complex subjects. So it’s refreshing when some group puts down the basic facts in a simple-to-follow format like the charts referred to below, which have lately been making the rounds on the Internet.
Don’t Crash the Economy Over the Myth That Spending is Out Of Control
Some members of Congress are driving the United States and the world to the brink of economic disaster on the grounds that they have to stop “out-of-control” government spending. This is a dangerous myth and it’s about to steer us over a cliff – completely unnecessarily.
Sliding-Fee Child Care Slips Out of Reach
Finding high-quality affordable child care remains one of the biggest challenges for New Mexico’s working families. Three out of five New Mexico children need care outside the home while their parents work. And as any parent knows, child care is expensive.
An Intelligent (and Humane) Approach to Deficit Reduction
Everyone should take a close look at The People's Budget, published on the website of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It is very readable and it offers a reasonable and humane alternative to both the Ryan and the Obama plans for deficit reduction.
It’s Time to Rethink Child Care Funding
For some time now, New Mexico has been in the midst of a child care crisis. A tough economy led to this crisis but a lack of leadership from Santa Fe has made it worse. Over the last year, lawmakers have drastically cut the amount of child care assistance available to low-income working parents, while increasing their co-pays by 10%.
Proposals That Could Have Softened the Blow for the Most Vulnerable New Mexicans Were Never Heard
The most notable thing about the recently finished 60-day legislative session is not what was signed or not signed by the Governor. It was also not what passed and didn’t pass. Much more interesting are the bills that were never even given a fair hearing. Most – if not all – of the bills that would have raised revenues to share the pain of the current fiscal crisis were never allowed to come to a full vote in either chamber.