Friday, August 7, 2015

LOCAL

► In the P.S. Business Journal — Bernie Sanders expects avid Seattle crowds Saturday — It will be the first Northwest appearances for the Vermont senator, who’s been Hillary Clinton’s most vigorous challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination. His first event is at Westlake Park for a 1 p.m. “celebration” of Social Security and Medicare.

ALSO at The Stand — Sanders to attend Social Security, Medicare event Aug. 8 in Seattle

► In today’s Seattle Times — Presidential candidate Sanders to find friendly territory in Seattle visit — Sanders’ visit contrasts with recent secretive stopovers by other candidates. Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Jeb Bush each slipped into the Seattle area this year to mingle at penthouses and mansions with donors who paid thousands of dollars to attend.

TRADE

► From the Hill — Senators accuse State Dept. of picking politics over human trafficking — Senators in both parties accused the State Department on Thursday of protecting trade goals over victims of human trafficking, and they threatened a subpoena over the agency’s analysis. Instead of taking Malaysia and other countries to task over abhorrent practices allowing sex slavery and human trafficking, the Obama administration backed off in order to smooth through a looming trade deal (TPP) and accomplish other diplomatic goals, according to members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

► In the Christian Science Monitor — Are free trade agreements like TPP really a tool for fixing labor rights abuses? — Experts say the president is exaggerating the extent to which trade pacts can force countries to address labor issues and human rights concerns… Many rights groups that say there is no direct link between free trade and stronger labor rights, such as the freedom to organize independent unions or protections against forced labor and human trafficking. The solution, they say, is stronger enforcement mechanisms in future trade deals, including the TPP.

ELECTION 2016

► From AP  — Democratic presidential hopefuls woo labor in Iowa as front-runner Hillary Clinton skips event — Democratic presidential contenders wooed Iowa union members Thursday with talk of raising wages and protecting jobs. But front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has drawn scrutiny over her positions on trade, skipped the event because of a scheduling conflict.

► In today’s NY Times — Donald Trump steals the show, mixing politics and pizazz — From the opening moments of the evening, when he flashed a wry grin and a mischievous victory sign at the boisterous crowd, Trump remained his irrepressible self: aggrandizing, unapologetic and cutting.

► In today’s NY Times — From Trump on down, the Republicans can’t be serious (by Paul Krugman) — If you pay attention to what any one of them is actually saying, as opposed to how he says it, you discover incoherence and extremism every bit as bad as anything Trump has to offer. And that’s not an accident: Talking nonsense is what you have to do to get anywhere in today’s Republican Party.

► From Gawker — Americans, please stop begging Howard Schultz to run for president

NATIONAL

► From USA TODAY — 9 CEOs paid 800 times more than their workers — The average CEO of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies were paid 216 times more than the median employees at their companies, according to a USA TODAY analysis. But nine CEOs, including David Zaslav of media company Discovery Communications, Chipotle co-CEOs Steven Ells and Montgomery Moran and Larry Merlo of CVS Health, were paid 800 times or more than the average worker at these companies.

► In today’s NY Times — Why putting a number to CEO pay might bring about change — Because the rule will generate an easily graspable and often decidedly shocking number, it may energize a cadre of new combatants in the executive pay fight. And because these newcomers — company employees, state governments and possibly even consumers — will most likely be more vocal on the matter than institutional investors have been, the executive pay bubble might actually start to deflate.

► From Bloomberg — Unintended consequence of Walmart’s raises: unhappy workers — Wal-Mart employees are calling the move unfair to senior workers who got no increase and now make the same or close to what newer, less experienced colleagues earn. New workers started making a minimum of $9 an hour in April and will get at least $10 an hour in February. Some workers also said they suspect their hours are being cut and annual raises reduced to cover the cost of the wage increase for newer workers.

► From BuzzFeed — America’s most union-friendly bank just raises minimum wage to $15/hour — Under their freshly negotiated contract, tellers and all other workers at union-owned Amalgamated Bank will make at least a $15 an hour as a starting wage.

► From Politico — Democrats galvanize around voting rights — President Barack Obama and Democrats who want to succeed him used the anniversary of the landmark Voting Rights Act to highlight more contemporary threats to ballot access — and motivate the Democratic base to overcome them.

► In today’s NY Times — The real voter fraud is Texas’ ID law — A practically non-existent problem has become an excuse to discriminate against the poor, blacks and Latinos.

► In the Washington Post — The surprising number of parents scaling back at work to care for kids — More than three-quarters of mothers and half of fathers in the United States say they’ve passed up work opportunities, switched jobs or quit to tend to their kids, according to a new poll.

► In the Washington Post — Netflix and parental leave: Today a PR move. Hopefully tomorrow, the norm? (by Amy Joyce) — Is there a chipping away at the lack of paid-leave policies that don’t exist in this country? Piece by piece, perhaps, companies are finding ways to make work work for parents. And, more clearly, they’re learning that it’s getting them some good attention.

T.G.I.F.

► Today, the Entire Staff of The Stand serves up some sweet nostalgia guaranteed to put a smile on your face, courtesy of Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment. It’s Bumbershoot-bound Chance the Rapper’s ode to his grandma, who’s “hand made, pan fried, sun dried, Southside, and beat the devil by a landslide.” Enjoy.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.