“We are devastated for Kilmar and his family that his return has been delayed. But our call remains unchanged: The Trump administration must bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia home and grant him the due process that is his right.” Full statement: smart-union.org/smart-issues-m…

The construction industry has developed a series of schemes to deny workers pay and benefits, while shielding everyone up the contracting chain. Infuriating piece from Sarah Lazare, in conjunction with Workday Magazine.

I learned a lot from this. We have an exploitable class of labor and a bunch of middlemen playing games so the wages of that exploitable class are suppressed: prospect.org/labor/2025-04-…

Michael Thomas We have enough reasons to dislike what's going on with this administration, but this is a completely wrong take about Mnfg based on a look at construction spending. This is the expected pattern of spending. edzarenski.com/2024/11/21/the…

Sat. night housing post: I read again and again that labor is to blame for rising construction costs. Trades workers' comp costs in Calif grew at rates that *lagged* white-collar construction employee costs & gross operating surplus (gross operating profit)! (notes in alt txt)

Direct File gained major traction to provide an easy, free option to file taxes to people across the country. This a big win for Intuit's profits on TurboTax, but a big loss for the public. apnews.com/article/irs-di…

Chris Elmendorf I am actually a big fan of testing/measuring/evaluating. One reason I believe it's so necessary to create actual execution institutions + plans is -- you don't actually realize what trade offs are until you get into implementation. E.g. sometimes you find out that some

This move is a big deal for California's construction workforce, which included 240,000 unauthorized workers (2019). 146,000 California construction trades workers were enrolled in Medi-Cal or another government-paid insurance program in 2022-2023, *before* expansion.

My statement on the outrageous action taken against Senator Alex Padilla 👇

Gilead in FORT WORTH, TX #NoKingsDay

Heartbreaking. Working folks lost a champion today. We all did. The killing of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the brutal attack on Senator Hoffman and his wife, is an assault on everything we stand for.

.The Babylon Bee. If anyone messed with their kids, they'd go to the ends of Earth. But I'm LGBT, so my kids are - in their words "fair game" as they send laughing emojis. They pretend to be oh-so-religious. But there is a special place in hell for people who dox the kids.

American President raises taxes on Americans across a wide range of goods; European Union President announces tax cuts for Europeans across a narrow range of goods.

With 6 months we can compare 1st half of 2025 to the 2nd half of 2024 and note that, across the board, GDP and labor market, 2025 is doing worse. In 2024 everything looked great except for the unemployment rate; in 2025 everything looks worse except for the unemployment rate. /3

Big drop in investment in nonresidential structures in Q2, after a modest fall in Q1. So, that's not a correction (unlike imports etc.). What's behind that?

Much of the surge-and-drop in imports comes down to pharmaceuticals, which Trump has continually threatened with tariffs (though they remain exempt currently)

3/ The share of prime-working age Americans with a job fell to 80.4%, consistent with a soft household survey. But... this is well within the range since last fall. Not obvious we're falling outside of the stability band of the last 9-12 months.

In LA county, average annual pay for residential construction framing contractors' employees is the lowest of any detailed industry within the construction sector, and that pay has not risen in inflation-adjusted terms in 20 years. And LA needs to build how much more housing??!!

On Saturday August 9th, the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council (Nor Cal Carpenters Union) held its election for Executive Committee Officers. Please join us in congratulating your elected Officers! President- Lloyd Reber Vice President- John Belperio Executive

🚨 FINAL draft map CA-1 (LaMalfa) 🔴Trump +25 👉 🔵 Harris +12 CA-3 (Kiley) 🔴Trump +4 👉 🔵 Harris +10 CA-9 (Harder) 🔴Trump +2 👉 🔵 Harris +11 CA-13 (Gray) 🔴Trump +5 👉 🔵 Harris +0.3 CA-22 (Valadao) 🔴Trump +6 👉 🔴Trump +2 CA-25 (Ruiz) 🔵 Harris +2 🔵 👉 Harris +6 CA-27