**This post is by Tony Wikrent**
Economies Adding the Most to Global Growth in 2019
Barry Ritholtz [The Big Picture 3-19-19]
‘Full-Time Freelance’ Is Just the Industry Standard
[Splinter News 3-14-19]
On Monday, David Tamarkin, the site editor at Epicurious, a Condé Nast food publication, tweeted out a job posting for an editorial assistant. The position, Tamarkin wrote, was “full-time freelance,” meaning the person filling the job would work 40 hours a week and perform the duties of a full-time employee. After two days of online outrage and backlash, including users virtuously snitch-tagging the New York State Department of Labor, Tamarkin tweeted on Wednesday that the position would indeed be eligible for benefits.
Wage growth for low-wage workers has been strongest in states with minimum wage increases
Low-wage workers in states that increased the minimum wage between 2013 and 2018 experienced wage growth at a rate 50 percent faster than those in states with no minimum wage increases. Check out EPI’s new interactive map to see the count of workers in each congressional district that would receive wage increases if Congress passes the Raise the Wage Act of 2019.
Record U.S. trade deficit in 2018 reflects failure of Trump’s trade policies
By Robert E. Scott [Economic Policy Institute 3-18-19]
California Jury Finds Roundup Caused Man’s Cancer
[NPR 3-19-19]
A San Francisco federal jury unanimously agreed on Tuesday that Roundup caused a man’s cancer — a potentially massive blow to the company that produces the glyphosate-based herbicide currently facing hundreds of similar lawsuits…. The verdict is the second in the U.S. to find a connection between the herbicide’s key ingredient, glyphosate, and the disease. In August, another San Francisco jury determined Roundup had caused cancer in a former groundskeeper. It also decided Monsanto, the company that developed the popular weed killer, deliberately failed to warn consumers or regulators about the product’s risks.
Monsanto’s Weed Killer is “Substantial Factor” in Cancer, Says Jury
[Spinter News 3-22-19]
Monsanto is about to face 11,200 more trials over the potential carcinogen in Roundup, which has prompted legislation to limit the chemical’s use
Executives in custody as China chemical plant explosion death toll reaches 47, with 640 injured