Labor & Employment Law

Big Bankers Howl?and Other Tidbits

By Tula Connell

Finally, some good news on the jobs front. The Council of Economic Advisers announced that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has now created or saved between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs. The economic recovery package also added several percentage points to the growth of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Other tidbits: 

? President Obama yesterday announced his intention to propose a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee that would require the largest and most highly levered Wall Street firms to pay back taxpayers for the extraordinary assistance provided so that the TARP program does not add to the deficit. Even before the announcement, Big Bankers were squealing like stuck pigs. From Think Progress: 

Edward Yingling, president and chief executive, American Bankers Association: “To impose yet another burden on the industry would obviously decrease their ability to lend.” 

In fact, big banks haven’t been lending much, and now they’re focused on taxpayer-funded Bonus Time for Wall Street CEOs. As American Prospect’s Tim Fernholz pointed out, the TARP law does stipulate that any losses be recouped from the banks. 

? The rate of private-sector wage growth likely will remain at or below historic low levels in the coming months, according to the final fourth quarter Wage Trend Indicator released Jan. 14 by the Bureau of National Affairs (subscription required). Said Kathryn Kobe, an economic consultant who maintains and helped develop BNA’s WTI database: 

Although the unemployment rate has stabilized recently at a high level, the prospects of substantial wage gains in 2010 for most workers look grim. 

? At The Nation, Katha Pollitt takes a look at how women have fared in the past decade. One finding: The percentage of female-headed households in poverty worsened from 28.5 percent in 2000 to 31.4 percent in 2008. Don’t count on a big block of female votes anytime soon in Congress, either:  In 2000, women were 13 percent of the House and Senate; in 2009 they were 17 percent. Writes Pollitt: 

If women have to make up about 30 percent of leadership before they can move a feminist agenda, we’re looking at 30 more years of political marginality.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 15, 2010 (boomark / email).