Retirement security, business competitiveness go hand-in-hand with an UVRA

A financially secure retirement is part of the American dream - but about 50% of all working Americans are not covered by a retirement plan at their place of work. Employees of small- and medium- sized businesses are most at risk of going without access to a workplace-based retirement plan.

This is not surprise, given the dearth of low-cost options available to these employers. Time spent on paperwork and administration aside, most plans require an employer contribution or match. Those that don’t typically have high fees, while cheaper plans either offer fewer choices for workers or have long vesting periods.

Today’s small businesses and their workers need access to a retirement plan that is:

1. Efficient (low-cost);
2. Safe (well-managed); and
3. Flexible (scalable and portable).

In response, a growing number of states are picking up on the idea of an UVRA to meet those needs.

Um, a what?

Family leave and shared prosperity: YOYO vs. WITT

Cognitive dissonance is both a fascinating and terrifying ride. Case in point: responses to Carolyn McConnell’s article in Crosscut.com about Washington’s Family Leave Insurance program. McConnell writes:

Two-thirds of comments expressed the same feeling: The legislation is “a token for the irresponsible,” a “confiscation of my tax dollars” for “social parasites.” One reader even called the legislation morally depraved…

How can a program that makes it easier for parents to take care of their own children be called irresponsible? The culprit is the YOYO (”Your On Your Own”) fallacy.

Stopping the minimum wage merry-go-round

Over on Crooked Timber and The Atlantic, Kathy G. and Megan McArdle are locked in a full-on, spirited debate on the merits, or lack thereof, of a minimum wage.

It’s getting kind of medieval, with writers and readers hurling graphs - and words like “monopsony” - like rocks from a catapult against massive walls of text.

The collective weight and academic nature of their posts seem to defy easy summary - but Ezra Klein has put together a few accessible paragraphs that are worth taking a few minutes to read.

A better gift for moms on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is about love. But it’s also about flowers. And cards. And apparently, columnists.

Dean Calbreath notes in the San Diego Union-Tribune that paid family leave insurance would be perhaps a less personal, but more welcome gift for many mothers:

A string of studies last week suggested that American mothers – particularly working mothers – are getting the short end of the stick in today’s weakening economy. More than their male counterparts, mothers are feeling the effects of rising medical costs, threats to retirement coverage, lack of maternity leave and so on, the studies say.

The Seattle Times also calls for public policy adjustments to better serve moms, specifically to Social Security and taxes:

Mothers need something more important than chocolate, restaurant reservations and flowers. They need relief from tax policies that single their gender out for pain. … Social Security benefits based on income and years in the work force weigh against women, raising the need for a “mommy benefit” that takes into account women’s often-uncompensated work.

While the Seattle Post-Intelligencer speaks up for healthier mothers internationally, it rather glaringly omits the fact that the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 - along with Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea - that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave.

Sleight-of-hand economics to make even Houdini jealous

This is a bit of trickery that might have made even Houdini jealous.

First comes a “nothing up my sleeve” assessment of the dismal state of the economy:

We’re still shedding jobs, consumer confidence remains down, and discretionary spending shrinks as gas and grocery prices rise.

Second, a little “abracadabra” (i.e., mumbo jumbo that really means nothing):

May’s promise of spring has yet to lighten the spirits of working people and the somber solons who represent us.

Then right before your eyes, the sleight-of-hand:

As JFK famously observed, a rising tide lifts all boats. Now, however, the tide has gone out. And those left behind by the receding waters of recession are eagerly courted.

Notice how this economic downturn is portrayed as something natural, even inevitable? Nothing we can do about it - we all know what happened to King Canute, right?

But play this paragraph back in slow motion, and you can see the magician at work. The misdirection (essential for any trick) is in these two phrases: “a rising tide lifts all boats” and “the tide has gone out.”