Some thoughts on the UAW strike

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/19/uaw-strike-demands-too-high-automakers/

 

From Catherine Rampell:

 

[R]ight now, the Detroit Three automakers shoulder about $64 per hour per worker, including all wages and benefits. The UAW’s suite of compensation-related demands would roughly double that total hourly labor bill to about $130, according to calculations from Colin Langan, an analyst at Wells Fargo.

 

Now consider these firms’ competitors. Foreign automakers operating in the United States (Toyota, Hyundai, etc.) pay their workers about $55 per hour all in. Tesla is estimated to pay workers somewhere in the mid-$40s.

 

In other words, the legacy manufacturers are already at a significant cost disadvantage compared with their biggest competitors. Doubling employees’ total compensation costs would make them even less competitive.

Diversity and college admissions

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/09/15/supreme-court-admissions-elite-schools-00116087

 

Interesting guest column from Marc Novicoff:

 

“There’s only one race-neutral method that would work to increase racial diversity on selective college campuses, and it happens to align with the supposed social-justice goals of highly selective schools: giving a clearly defined, substantial boost to low-income applicants. Neither the University of Michigan nor the University of California embraced that method, and so far, it seems likely that no other university will try it either.”