Kerry: Nations Prosper When 'Citizens Have Faith in Their Governments'

    Speaking Tuesday at the 45th Annual Washington Conference of the Council of the Americas, Secretary of State John Kerry said that "countries are far more likely to advance economically and socially when citizens have faith in their governments and are able to rely on them for justice and equal treatment under the law." Kerry said that a "new kind of relationship" with Latin American countries, emphasizing democracy and human rights, will contribute to "our common agenda for the hemisphere." Here are Kerry's remarks in fuller context:

At the UN Human Rights Council last fall, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay joined the United States in sponsoring a resolution in support of LGBT rights. Our landmark Open Government Partnership, which the United States launched with Brazil five years ago, is now chaired by Mexico. And over the past three years, we have worked with partners, including Costa Rica, Mexico, Chile, and Jamaica, to help strengthen the independent bodies of the Inter-American Human Rights System. Many of the globe’s leading voices for human rights and the rule of law, obviously, share Spanish as their native tongue. 

Why does this matter? Well, it matters because countries are far more likely to advance economically and socially when citizens have faith in their governments and are able to rely on them for justice and equal treatment under the law. It matters because young people who have opportunities at home will stay and contribute to their societies instead of leaving in search of better luck elsewhere. It matters because freedom of thought and expression are the keys to innovation, which is how whole new industries begin. It matters because, in that most curious of ways, people who are given the liberty to be different are also the ones most likely to unite and band together in the face of shared threats.

    If faith in government is a necessary factor for a country's economic and social advancement, a recent Pew Research Center study, via the Washington Post, is not a good sign. The Post notes that the study found that only "23 percent [of Americans] trust the federal government to do the right thing 'at least most of the time.'"

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

BLS: Percentage of Hourly Workers Earning Minimum Wage or Less in 2013 Falls to 4.3%

    In the midst of the Obama administration's latest push to increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) had released an analysis showing the the percentage of hourly workers earning at or below the minimum wage is down to 4.3%, or 3.3 million workers.  The decrease continues a trend of more than three decades, beginning with a high of 15% back in the early 1980s.  The numbers have occasionally spiked in reaction to economic conditions, most recently in the so-called Great Recession from 2008 to 2010, but then resumed the downward direction.

    Women's gains in this area have been even more dramatic, falling from around 22% in the early 1980s to about 5% in 2013.  The percentage for men during the same time went from about 10% to about 3%.
    The largest segment of the workforce earning minimum wage or below is in food preparation and serving (21.7%) whose wages are often supplemented by tips.  Other industries represented in the survey include service occupations, such as healthcare and protective services (11.3%), and sales and related occupations (6.1%).
    A related report from the BLS includes other facts about minimum wage workers:

• Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the federal minimum wage or less.
• About 5 percent of Black workers, 4 percent of White workers and Hispanic or Latino workers, and 3 percent of Asian workers earned the federal minimum wage or less. 
• Among hourly paid workers age 16 and older, about 10 percent of those without a high school diploma earned the federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 4 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college) and about 2 percent of college graduates. 

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

Obama on Obama: "Too Many Americans Are Working More Than Ever Just To Get By"

    Here's a rather harsh assessment of the last four years under the Obama administration's economic policies:

Today, after 4 years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility remains stalled. Even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by—let alone get ahead. And too many still are not working at all.

    Though this may sound like Democratic criticism of a Republican president, in reality it is President Obama's assessment of his own record, taken from his 2015 Budget proposal just released today.  Prior to the paragraph above, the president does point out what he sees his accomplishments:

After 5 years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better positioned for the 21st Century than any other nation on Earth. We have created more than 8 million new jobs in the last 4 years and now have the lowest unemployment rate in over 5 years. Our housing market is rebounding. Our manufacturing sector is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. We now produce more oil at home than we buy from the rest of the world. We have cut our deficits by more than half since I took office. And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world’s number one place to invest; America is.

We have made great progress, but we must do more to rebuild our economy on a new foundation for growth and prosperity. I believe that what unites the people of this Nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all—the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead. That belief has suffered some serious blows. Over more than three decades, even before the Great Recession hit, massive shifts in technology and global competition had eliminated good, middle class jobs and weakened the economic foundations that families depend on. 

Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.

White House: Revised Numbers Show Economy Contracted in First Quarter 2011 [TWS]

    Wednesday, Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, wrote on the White House blog about revisions to economic statistics by the Bureau of Economic Analysis going all the way back to 1929.  Krueger largely interpreted the news as good, noting that the revisions "showed that the recovery from the Great Recession has been slightly faster than previously reported." However, one revision is going to put a crimp in the White House's economic talking points: economic growth has not been uninterrupted since the end of the Great Recession [emphasis added]:

While the annual rate of real GDP growth over the 83 years since 1929 was revised up just 0.1 percentage point to 3.3%, a handful of recent quarters were subject to large revisions. For example, real GDP growth in 2011:Q1, which previously had been reported at 0.1% at an annual rate, was revised down to -1.3%. The earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan in March 2011 disrupted critical supply chains, likely subtracting from growth in that quarter. In contrast, real GDP growth in 2010:Q2 and 2012:Q1 were both revised up by 1.7 percentage points to annualized rates of 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively.

    Just three months ago when the first quarter 2013 economic results were released, Krueger led off his blog post with the following:

Today’s report indicates that the economy posted its fifteenth straight quarter of positive growth, as real GDP (the total amount of goods and services produced in the country) grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

    Although today's report included a 1.7% increase in the economy in the second quarter of 2013, the revised first quarter 2011 decline means that the number of quarters of positive economic growth must be reset to nine.  Although Krueger has often used the straight quarter of positive economic growth phrase in the past, the line is missing from this quarter's report.


Note: A version of this article first appeared at The Weekly Standard.