By Rachel Goldfarb, originally published on Next New Deal
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The Voluntarism Fantasy (The Majority Report)
Sam Seder speaks with Roosevelt Institute Fellow Mike Konczal about Mike's new piece in Democracy Journal. Mike says the social safety net has always depended on the government.
The Tyranny of the On-Call Schedule: Hourly Injustice in Retail Labor (The Nation)
Michelle Chen explains the ways that retail scheduling has harmed workers' ability to plan their lives. On-call schedules mean not knowing how much you'll make or when you'll work, ever.
Journalists’ and Activists’ Strange Approach to Low-Wage Workers (WaPo)
Sarah Jaffe calls out the habit of representing low-wage workers as poor, unfortunate Others in need of our help. Any one of us could share the concerns and needs of low-wage workers.
Why Not Peg EITC Benefits to the Local Cost of Living? (PolicyShop)
David Callahan suggests President Obama could do better than simply increasing the earned income tax credit. For low-income workers living in high-cost areas, it would make a big difference.
Janet Yellen's Rookie Mistake: Speaking Too Clearly (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Janet Yellen, the new Federal Reserve Chair, needs to speak with less specificity, writes Peter Coy. Attaching a six-month timeframe to a vague written statement set off a market selloff.
The Key Question for Yellen: Is This Economy As Good As It Gets? (FiveThirtyEight)
Andrew Flowers considers the ways to measure economic potential, and what the Federal Reserve ought to do if we agree that the U.S. is still falling short.
Do We Need to Force People to Live in the Homes They Own? (Pacific Standard)
Real estate that isn't actually lived in may be a good investment, but it isn't good for a city, writes Kyle Chayka. He suggests that residency requirements could control rising rents.
New on Next New Deal
There's More to Fixing the Minimum Wage Than Just Raising It
Azi Hussain, Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network Senior Fellow for Economic Development, says that instead of tying the minimum wage to annual inflation, we should peg it to inflation over the business cycle to ensure flexibility.