The Friday 5

We’re listening; and we want to hear from you!
August 16, 2017
Prosperity: The Upstate’s Trade With Canada
August 22, 2017
We’re listening; and we want to hear from you!
August 16, 2017
Prosperity: The Upstate’s Trade With Canada
August 22, 2017

The Friday 5

If it’s Friday, it’s time for Friday 5, when we highlight interesting articles you may have missed from this week. This week, we’re passing on more articles about Nazis, because there is no gray area when condemning groups that forment hatred, division, and racism (and because we’re highlighting the things “you may have missed”). As Senator Tim Scott tweeted: “The moral authority of this nation rests upon clarity of convictions & actions that reinforce our commitment to the greater good for all!”

(As more and more legitimate news sites charge for their content, we apologize if many of these articles are behind paywalls. You have to pay for good journalism.)

  1. Anyone want a utility? For Sale: One state-run public utility complete with a fleet of power plants, 174,000 direct customers, almost 5,000 miles of power lines, $8 billion in debt and a 45 percent interest in two incomplete nuclear reactors.
  2. Healthcare: “I’m not dead yet.” Senator Graham is still pushing his plan to block-grant Medicaid to the states.
  3. New Study on Minimum Wage. A new study on minimum wage increases shows that every dollar negatively impacts workers in “automatable” jobs. The study comes from the National Bureau of Economic Research (a group known chiefly for setting the official markers of the beginning and end of recessions). In addition, minimum wage increases disproportionatally affect women and African-Americans, and it will get worse as more jobs are automated. Log this in the long canon of minimum wage research.
  4. Another week, another tweet. We can’t go one week without a story from President Trump’s Twitter feed, right? This time, he takes on Senator Graham.
  5. GOP thinks it has winning message on tax reform. Healthcare reform didn’t work out, but GOP leaders think they have the right idea now. Which reminds us, have you lent your name to our call to action? Do it today!

Bonus:  No solar eclipse party is complete without the right playlist; at the last solar eclipse in March of 2016, Spotify reported a 75% increase in plays of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” by Bonnie Tyler.