'For employers and their workers, welcome to a minefield'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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'It's going to be a fraught political year. Let's be respectful of each other at work.'
Chicago Tribune editorial board
This year's rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will be "among the most divisive elections ever," says the Chicago Tribune editorial board. "The us-versus-them rhetoric on both sides is disturbing." Walgreens shareholders recently rejected a call for "special protections for politically conservative employees." But employers and workers need to be ready for politics to turn the workplace into a "minefield." We'll need "self-discipline and our best instincts" to get through it.
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'College costing nearly $100,000 a year? Forgiving loans is the least we can do.'
LZ Granderson in the Los Angeles Times
"President Biden is at it again with student loan forgiveness," says LZ Granderson. The Supreme Court last year blocked Biden's ambitious plan to forgive federal student loan debt. This week Biden unveiled a new plan to "lift a financial burden off the shoulders of more than 30 million people" trying to pay off college debt while living "check to check." Conservatives accuse him of "trying to buy votes" but he's merely keeping a promise to make college affordable again.
'Trump's Dobbs strategy'
The New York Sun editorial board
Former President Donald Trump has "adopted a wise strategy in respect of abortion," says The New York Sun. His call to return the question of abortion law to the states, without supporting a national ban, was met with "disapproval from not only the pro-choice left but also the pro-life right." But in these "early days in the Dobbs era" following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Trump has merely "chosen to put his faith in the American federalist system."
'More Americans now prefer hybrid over fully remote work, survey finds'
Emily Peck at Axios
More workers now "prefer hybrid work arrangements than fully remote setups," says Emily Peck. Hybrid work appears "the clear winner in the post-pandemic work world, a surprise from a few years ago when it seemed like a fully at-home revolution was underway." People with hybrid schedules report increasing "engagement" with work, while those working fully in-person or at home are heading the other way. "Most people still work in person, though that doesn't mean they like it."
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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