Vice President Pence’s “never dine alone with a woman” rule isn’t honorable. It’s probably illegal.

This issue was brought into the news this week when the Washington Post ran a piece on Karen Pence, the wife of our current vice president, and reminded readers of something Mike Pence said in 2002: He does not eat alone with a woman or attend an event where alcohol is being served unless his wife is present. The Twittersphere lit up like a Christmas tree with jokes and rants about Pence’s wife-rule. It’s not clear whether Pence still adheres to this practice, but there are men who do.

The Atlantic reports, such arrangements are especially common within marriages between religious conservatives of various stripes. (It need not be only men who follow such strictures, but the emphasis is often on male temptation.) On Capitol Hill, where the work days are long and individuals spend long hours away from their families, some Congressmen will not travel alone in a car with a female staffer, the National Journal has reported. Some politicians set gender-neutral rules that have a side effect of keeping them from being alone with women — such as excluding any staff from the office before 7 am or after 7 pm — but others clearly apply special rules to women.

Employers are not permitted to classify employees on the basis of gender without proof that sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for a particular job. A Pence-type rule could never satisfy this test. A male boss cannot casually separate certain jobs, tasks, or opportunities for men only.

Women have been shut out of equal employment opportunity for all of history. It’s long past time the doors to power and opportunity were opened, whether after hours, on a trip, or, in Pence’s world, working dinner with a male boss.

Economy grew 2.1% in Q4, faster than believed

This article mentions how there is strong economic growth in Q4. Specifically, the article mentions how consumer confidence (CC) has reached an all time high since the last sixteen years. This high consumer confidence suggests that the economy is in spending mode and not in saving mode. This high consumer confidence suggests that the economy is in expansionary mode and thus economic growth will be present.
          The article also mentioned how exports fell 4.5% and imports grew more than 9%. Since there is an increase in imports, this suggests that the dollar is strong and that other countries/currencies prefer to export to USA to receive income in dollars rather than import from USA.
          However, it will be interesting to see what will happen to the economy next in terms of economic growth and if consumer spending will continue to increase or will a hike in interest rates lead to a more saving and investment culture? I think that when inflation increases then the government needs to implement a contractionary policy so as to get the economy into saving mode and to combat inflation. 

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/03/30/economy-grew-21-q4-faster-than-believed/99793582/

E.U. Blocks Third Merger Try of London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Borse

With the impending event of Brexit, many uncertainties exist. The London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Borse, since 2000, have tried to merge three times. They hope to create a influential European stock market to compete with their American counterparts. On Wednesday, the European Commission blocked the deal with the leader of the commission, Margarethe Vestager citing concerns of a monopoly as reason for the block. Another problem with the merger was its planned location in London despite the uncertain trade relationship between Britain and the rest of the EU.
The announcement was highly anticipated but it did not come as a surprise. Critics of the decision say an opportunity to harness European economic power has been missed, but supporters of the decision point out uncertainty in the market over Great Britain's looming exit. The European Commission stands by its decision asserting that it would have created a monopoly in the clearing of bonds and other European fixed income products as well as removing horizontal competition for the clearing of single-stock equity derivatives. This decision will probably be the first in many decision made in light of Britain's exit from the European Union.

Source: NY Times, March 30, Chad Bray

Evidence that robots are winning the race for American jobs

I thought that this article was very interesting because the technology is increasing in the world but I never thought it would end up taking our jobs. With technology increasing it will be interesting to see if and how many years it takes till robots take over all the jobs. another thing that I am interested in is when robots do take over the majority of the jobs how will the economy respond to this due to a increase in unemployment because robots are doing all the work. the one thing that is interesting is everyone wants to have bigger and better technology but what this is doing is making the need for human labor to decrease. it will be interesting to see how long it takes until technology runs the majority of the market.

link: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/29/evidence-that-robots-are-winning-the-race-for-american-jobs.html

Trump climate change executive order

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that ends the Obama's administrations attempts to help the environment and that will help bring more coal jobs to America. Trump described it as an order that will get rid of job killing regulations. This act will undo the clean power plan, which is an initiative to lessen carbon emissions at coal powered power plants. This really hurts the US in trying to meet the benchmarks set at the Paris Climate Change Accord.

The White House believes that this will create more jobs and help the economy. However it is unclear if it will bring more jobs back because of the rise in demand of clean energy and the pressures on the coal industry.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/27/politics/trump-climate-change-executive-order/index.html

UK Introduces New Super-Secure One Pound Coin

The Royal Mint just recently introduced a new One Pound Coin that has been called the most secure coin in the world. The 12-sided coin includes high security features to foil counterfeits. It is non-symmetrical, and is bi-metallic.

"It's been designed to be fit for the future, using security features that aim to safeguard our currency, and currencies around the world, for years to come," said Adam Lawrence, chief executive of the Royal Mint.

This appears to be related to Brexit uncertainties. The coin has been released to 33 banks and post offices around the UK. It will be interesting to see if other countries follow the UK's lead throughout this time of uncertainty.

Link to Article

Free Exchange: The best policy

           This article details arguments for and against immigration, making a strong economic case for a continued flow of immigrants around the world. While it is true that those in lower-skilled jobs can suffer from immigration due to decreased wages, this fact misses the point that many of these workers are also subsequently pushed to specialize in other qualitatively better occupations. More significant, however, are the numerous economic benefits that come from sustained and higher levels of immigration. Among these is that immigration provides a urgently needed, yet not commonly discussed, solution to the demographic problem of an aging baby-boomer generation. Specifically, legal immigrants pay into Social Security thereby helping to secure retirement for U.S. citizens. Similarly, though a zero-sum argument is sometimes made that immigrants use healthcare services thereby excluding native-born individuals this analysis ignores several key facts. Namely, it is often migrants who end up staffing healthcare institutions like the NHS in Great Britain and, within the U.S., only legal immigrants are eligible for the healthcare benefits contained within the Affordable Care Act.
            Another compelling and frequently made argument is the so-called "Steve Jobs" case for immigration. This is the idea that, over time, migrants and their children invariably contribute to advances in the sciences, arts, and other realms due to the entrepreneurial spirit and energy they bring with them. In response, critics of immigration such as the Trump administration's Michael Anton make some version of the argument that immigrants cannot help but bring a "third-world" culture and values that are simply incompatible with the Western, liberal democratic values that have permitted our higher standards of living. Ultimately, this is nothing more than thinly-veiled prejudice masquerading as an actual economic argument given that such concerns were similarly raised about groups such as Catholics and Jews at various points in history. All of this is to say nothing of the fact that immigrants themselves almost always enjoy substantial benefits from immigration as the potential ceiling for income is vastly raised. By moving to a more developed country with the kinds of necessary infrastructure and institutions already in place, immigrants gain access to economic opportunities otherwise available. Importantly, as this article highlights, this move provides reciprocal benefits too that, in the end, raise the aggregate quality of life for everyone.


http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21718873-whatever-politicians-say-world-needs-more-immigration-not-less

         

Congress Wasn't Ready to Repeal Obamacare

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/25/politics/pence-health-care-speech/index.html

Despite the ongoing debate between the repeal of the Health Care system or not, this article makes me wonder how this road block is going to affect the timeline that Trump has promised on strengthening our economy.  The article states that the decrease in corporate taxes is next on the list after the doing away with Obamacare, however, I wonder if they are going to put the Health Care refinement on the back burner or if they are going to delay the rebuilding of the corporate tax structure.  Since Trump is already walking on eggshells with this country, his word is what can build his credibility, so this will be interesting  to see how he handles the pressure and the short term affects of our economy.

Democrats, Buoyed by G.O.P. Health Defeat, See No Need to Offer Hand

The Times article goes into detail about a worrying habit that the habit which is forming in the Democratic party. The United States has not been as unified as it could be, under the Obama administration the GOP fought against anything that the Democrats proposed. Now it seems that with Trump in power the Democrats are trying out the same tactics that the Republicans used. The combination of grassroots protests and political gridlock could make the next four years shockingly unproductive. The worst part about this is the success the Democrats have seen, not because it's a bad thing when a liberal agenda is in place, but because it means that politics are going to divide even further. "Being the party of no can pay its dividends." It's tough to see the political system turn into a childish argument but if the first few months are an indicator then it will be a long four years.

Republicans pull their health-care bill

Republicans pull their health-care bill

For about seven years Republicans have had strong resistance to the Affordable Care Act and have made efforts to change to a new healthcare policy.  With President Trump taking office in January, one of the first priorities was to fast-track a plan to do away with ACA and install a new healthcare bill.  Though many may criticize the current ACA, a concrete plan of replacing it has had difficulty materializing, and ultimately receiving wide spread support.  This statement has been supported to be true from many Republican not voting on the recent bill pushing for the American Health Care.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stated "We are going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future," this attest to the uphill battle of repealing ACA and implementing a new healthcare care.    I am curious to hear others thoughts on this.




For full article, click here.