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| Welcome to Wonkbook, Wonkblog's morning policy news primer byMax Ehrenfreund (@MaxEhrenfreud). Send comments, criticism or ideas to Wonkbook at Washpost dot com. To read more by the Wonkblog team, click here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. |
| A hard week ahead for Greece after a last-minute deal |
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Patricia Arquette, who was named best actress in a supporting role at Sunday night's Academy Awards, used her acceptance speech to call for equal pay for women. "It's time for us to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women," she said.
Overall, U.S. women earn roughly 78 cents for every dollar men earn, a figure that has held steady for more than a decade, according to the American Association of University Women. To be sure, some of that gap is due to women's own decisions about whether to spend time at home with children and which fields to work in. For example, women are more likely to work as teachers, who are often seen as underpaidgiven their credentials. Yet the association's most troublesome evidence of discrimination against female workers comes from its study of recent college graduates. Just a year after graduating, women still earn only 82 percent of what men earn. Those women who majored in computer and information sciences make just 77 cents on a male peer's dollar. These discrepancies are difficult to explain away. They are not the result of women choosing to study less remunerative subjects, and they're not likely to be a consequence of women spending more time with the kids instead of in the office.
Also at the ceremony, the artists Common and John Legendargued for criminal justice reform. They won the award for the best original song, "Glory," in the film "Selma." Listen here.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) What's next for Greece 2) Opinions, including Krugman on education 3) A few political statements at the Oscars, and more
Chart of the day: One in eight American workers is bound by a non-compete contract, with the highest proportion in the information sector. Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
Greek and European officials resolved some of their differences late Friday, and it looks as though Greece will remain in the euro zone. "The agreement, in doubt for much of this week, avoids a potentially catastrophic exit by Greece from the euro zone. This latest deal continues, with a few changes, the terms of the November 2012 financial rescue that had given Greece money in exchange for tough reforms to the country's economy, including sharp tax hikes and budget cuts. Those harsh measures helped push Greek unemployment over 25 percent, and they ultimately brought the new left-wing party Syriza to power last month with its promises to end the onerous terms of the old agreement." Matt O'Brien in The Washington Post.
Now the Greeks must submit a proposal to their creditors for economic reform. "If the EU and IMF do not approve of the Greek measures as 'sufficiently comprehensive to be a valid starting point' for completing the current bailout, eurozone officials have agreed that another Brussels meeting of finance ministers will be needed on Tuesday. Without approval, Greece’s EU bailout will expire on Saturday. Athens is expected to send a more detailed submission on Monday, but there were already concerns the plan from Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, could run into resistance." Peter Spiegel and Kerin Hope in The Financial Times.
The government must find a way to mollify popular opinion, too. "Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, was elected on a pledge to tear up Greece’s bail-outs and leave austerity behind. Mr Varoufakis has spent the last few weeks seeking a 'bridging arrangement' as an explicit alternative to a bail-out extension. ... Greece has secured no change to the terms of its epic debt, which stands at over 175% of GDP. Its behaviour will continue to be supervised by the institutions formerly known as the troika. It is obliged to refrain from passing any measures that could undermine its fiscal targets; that appears to torpedo vast swathes of its election manifesto, which included all manner of spending pledges." The Economist.
The country's new leaders were in a tough spot. "Faced with escalating bank runs and rapidly deteriorating public finances, Athens finally bowed to the inevitable and did what it had vowed not to do: request an extension to the country’s current bailout program—and commit in good faith to completing it. In doing so, the new Greek government has averted certain economic collapse and bought itself time to break yet another promise as it tries to secure a new bailout. Little was agreed upon at Friday night’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers that couldn’t have been agreed on the day the government took office. Athens invested the better part of a month in the pursuit of the legally as well as politically impossible fantasy of unconditional loans from the European Central Bank and eurozone taxpayers." Simon Nixon in The Wall Street Journal.
EL-ERIAN: The game has only just begun. "The agreement will be subject to approval by the parliaments of several euro-area members. These political discussions will be lively... There is much at stake because a rejection by just one national parliament could derail the deal at the European level. ... Friday’s accord was necessary but far from sufficient. Its emphasis -- on maintaining the flow of official European funds to Greece pending comprehensive agreement on the complicated and controversial remix of austerity, structural reforms and debt relief -- is important but narrow. The larger challenges ahead to resolve the Greek crisis will be more difficult to overcome, by many orders of magnitude."Bloomberg View.
KRUGMAN: You can't blame the struggles of working people on a lack of education. "Just to be clear: I’m in favor of better education. Education is a friend of mine. And it should be available and affordable for all. But what I keep seeing is people insisting that educational failings are at the root of still-weak job creation, stagnating wages and rising inequality. This sounds serious and thoughtful. But it’s actually a view very much at odds with the evidence, not to mention a way to hide from the real, unavoidably partisan debate." The New York Times.
LUCE: Criminal records are keeping people out of work and holding back the economy. "America’s steep rate of incarceration must be high on the list of what keeps Janet Yellen up at night. ... High quality global journalism requires investment. Almost one in three adult Americans, about 75m people, are included on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal database. Details for roughly half those names are incomplete. To enter the FBI’s list, you need not have been convicted in a court — merely arrested at one time or another. Most employers carry out background searches on job applicants and screen out those with criminal records." The Financial Times.
DOUTHAT: How do you tell if a G.O.P. presidential hopeful is serious about policy? "Just look at what he proposes on two issues: taxes and health care. ... Precisely because there’s real money on the table, they are places where being a reformer requires more than lip service. One reason issues like immigration and education are appealing to Republican politicians looking to change their party’s image is that policy change in these areas seems relatively cheap — more green cards here, new curricular standards there, and nothing that requires donors and interest groups to part with their favorite subsidies and tax breaks. But you can’t reform the tax code or health care that easily, which is why those issues offer better, tougher tests of whether a would-be conservative reformer should be taken seriously." The New York Times.
CROVITZ: The upcoming vote on net neutrality will be catastrophic for technology. "The permissionless Internet, which allows anyone to introduce a website, app or device without government review, ends this week. On Thursday the three Democrats among the five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission will vote to regulate the Internet under rules written for monopoly utilities. ... Utility regulations let dominant companies complain that innovations from upstarts fail the 'just and reasonable' test — as truly disruptive innovations often do." The Wall Street Journal.
Workers at ports on the West Coast have reached a deal with management. "The owners of 29 West coast shipping terminals and the union of dockworkers that staff them reached a tentative deal for a new contract, after nine months of negotiations that culminated in four days of meetings with two cabinet secretaries. The ports can now resume normal operations -- or at least start working on the backlog of stalled goods that have been waiting to move in and out."Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
To persuade the Supreme Court to gut Obamacare, Republicans need an alternative. "For Republicans, winning the potentially decisive vote of Chief Justice John Roberts to gut a centerpiece of Obamacare could hinge on persuading him that the health care system won't descend into chaos if he grants them their wish. So Republican leaders are eager to convey to the chief justice, who is protective of the Supreme Court's institutional legitimacy, that they will be ready to act. There's virtually no chance Republicans will have a contingency plan ready by March 4, when the justices will meet privately to decide the case, and doubtful that they'll be able to rally around a solution by the end of June, when a ruling is expected." Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's reforms have eviscerated public-sector unions. "Unions representing teachers, professors, trash collectors and other government employees are struggling to stem plummeting membership rolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start. ... Recalling the benefits that union membership might have brought before the 2011 law stripped most public-sector unions of their collective-bargaining rights is difficult when workers consider the challenges of the present. 'I don’t see the point of being in a union anymore,' said Dan Anliker, a 34-year-old technology teacher." Robert Samuels in The Washington Post.
Walker is now seen as a leading contender for the G.O.P. presidential nomination. "The second-term governor is in an unusual position today. Only a few months ago, his prospects of winning the Republican nomination were judged somewhat equivocally. Today he is touted in the media and Republican circles as a serious long-distance runner in the presidential marathon. ... Walker gave a barn-burner of a speech to a conservative gathering in Iowa last month that, more than anything this year, has created buzz around his prospective candidacy. Since then, his moments in the spotlight have produced a more mixed record." Dan Balz in The Washington Post.
Overall, U.S. women earn roughly 78 cents for every dollar men earn, a figure that has held steady for more than a decade, according to the American Association of University Women. To be sure, some of that gap is due to women's own decisions about whether to spend time at home with children and which fields to work in. For example, women are more likely to work as teachers, who are often seen as underpaidgiven their credentials. Yet the association's most troublesome evidence of discrimination against female workers comes from its study of recent college graduates. Just a year after graduating, women still earn only 82 percent of what men earn. Those women who majored in computer and information sciences make just 77 cents on a male peer's dollar. These discrepancies are difficult to explain away. They are not the result of women choosing to study less remunerative subjects, and they're not likely to be a consequence of women spending more time with the kids instead of in the office.
Also at the ceremony, the artists Common and John Legendargued for criminal justice reform. They won the award for the best original song, "Glory," in the film "Selma." Listen here.
What's in Wonkbook: 1) What's next for Greece 2) Opinions, including Krugman on education 3) A few political statements at the Oscars, and more
Chart of the day: One in eight American workers is bound by a non-compete contract, with the highest proportion in the information sector. Lydia DePillis in The Washington Post.
1. Top story: Greece, Europe reach deal
Now the Greeks must submit a proposal to their creditors for economic reform. "If the EU and IMF do not approve of the Greek measures as 'sufficiently comprehensive to be a valid starting point' for completing the current bailout, eurozone officials have agreed that another Brussels meeting of finance ministers will be needed on Tuesday. Without approval, Greece’s EU bailout will expire on Saturday. Athens is expected to send a more detailed submission on Monday, but there were already concerns the plan from Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, could run into resistance." Peter Spiegel and Kerin Hope in The Financial Times.
The government must find a way to mollify popular opinion, too. "Alexis Tsipras, the prime minister, was elected on a pledge to tear up Greece’s bail-outs and leave austerity behind. Mr Varoufakis has spent the last few weeks seeking a 'bridging arrangement' as an explicit alternative to a bail-out extension. ... Greece has secured no change to the terms of its epic debt, which stands at over 175% of GDP. Its behaviour will continue to be supervised by the institutions formerly known as the troika. It is obliged to refrain from passing any measures that could undermine its fiscal targets; that appears to torpedo vast swathes of its election manifesto, which included all manner of spending pledges." The Economist.
The country's new leaders were in a tough spot. "Faced with escalating bank runs and rapidly deteriorating public finances, Athens finally bowed to the inevitable and did what it had vowed not to do: request an extension to the country’s current bailout program—and commit in good faith to completing it. In doing so, the new Greek government has averted certain economic collapse and bought itself time to break yet another promise as it tries to secure a new bailout. Little was agreed upon at Friday night’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers that couldn’t have been agreed on the day the government took office. Athens invested the better part of a month in the pursuit of the legally as well as politically impossible fantasy of unconditional loans from the European Central Bank and eurozone taxpayers." Simon Nixon in The Wall Street Journal.
EL-ERIAN: The game has only just begun. "The agreement will be subject to approval by the parliaments of several euro-area members. These political discussions will be lively... There is much at stake because a rejection by just one national parliament could derail the deal at the European level. ... Friday’s accord was necessary but far from sufficient. Its emphasis -- on maintaining the flow of official European funds to Greece pending comprehensive agreement on the complicated and controversial remix of austerity, structural reforms and debt relief -- is important but narrow. The larger challenges ahead to resolve the Greek crisis will be more difficult to overcome, by many orders of magnitude."Bloomberg View.
2. Top opinions
LUCE: Criminal records are keeping people out of work and holding back the economy. "America’s steep rate of incarceration must be high on the list of what keeps Janet Yellen up at night. ... High quality global journalism requires investment. Almost one in three adult Americans, about 75m people, are included on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal database. Details for roughly half those names are incomplete. To enter the FBI’s list, you need not have been convicted in a court — merely arrested at one time or another. Most employers carry out background searches on job applicants and screen out those with criminal records." The Financial Times.
DOUTHAT: How do you tell if a G.O.P. presidential hopeful is serious about policy? "Just look at what he proposes on two issues: taxes and health care. ... Precisely because there’s real money on the table, they are places where being a reformer requires more than lip service. One reason issues like immigration and education are appealing to Republican politicians looking to change their party’s image is that policy change in these areas seems relatively cheap — more green cards here, new curricular standards there, and nothing that requires donors and interest groups to part with their favorite subsidies and tax breaks. But you can’t reform the tax code or health care that easily, which is why those issues offer better, tougher tests of whether a would-be conservative reformer should be taken seriously." The New York Times.
CROVITZ: The upcoming vote on net neutrality will be catastrophic for technology. "The permissionless Internet, which allows anyone to introduce a website, app or device without government review, ends this week. On Thursday the three Democrats among the five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission will vote to regulate the Internet under rules written for monopoly utilities. ... Utility regulations let dominant companies complain that innovations from upstarts fail the 'just and reasonable' test — as truly disruptive innovations often do." The Wall Street Journal.
3. In case you missed it
To persuade the Supreme Court to gut Obamacare, Republicans need an alternative. "For Republicans, winning the potentially decisive vote of Chief Justice John Roberts to gut a centerpiece of Obamacare could hinge on persuading him that the health care system won't descend into chaos if he grants them their wish. So Republican leaders are eager to convey to the chief justice, who is protective of the Supreme Court's institutional legitimacy, that they will be ready to act. There's virtually no chance Republicans will have a contingency plan ready by March 4, when the justices will meet privately to decide the case, and doubtful that they'll be able to rally around a solution by the end of June, when a ruling is expected." Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's reforms have eviscerated public-sector unions. "Unions representing teachers, professors, trash collectors and other government employees are struggling to stem plummeting membership rolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start. ... Recalling the benefits that union membership might have brought before the 2011 law stripped most public-sector unions of their collective-bargaining rights is difficult when workers consider the challenges of the present. 'I don’t see the point of being in a union anymore,' said Dan Anliker, a 34-year-old technology teacher." Robert Samuels in The Washington Post.
Walker is now seen as a leading contender for the G.O.P. presidential nomination. "The second-term governor is in an unusual position today. Only a few months ago, his prospects of winning the Republican nomination were judged somewhat equivocally. Today he is touted in the media and Republican circles as a serious long-distance runner in the presidential marathon. ... Walker gave a barn-burner of a speech to a conservative gathering in Iowa last month that, more than anything this year, has created buzz around his prospective candidacy. Since then, his moments in the spotlight have produced a more mixed record." Dan Balz in The Washington Post.
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