The number of incarcerated people in Louisiana who were granted parole has reached a 20-year low during Gov. Jeff Landry’s term. It comes after the governor and Legislature created new laws in 2024 that banned parole for new inmates and gutted good-time credits. Richard A. Webster of Verite News explains: 

Prior to Landry’s changes to parole, the defense attorneys said they highlighted their clients’ accomplishments in prison to the board: earning a college degree, attending Bible school, repairing relationships with their children. But “none of that crap matters now,” said one of the defense attorneys in southeast Louisiana, adding that the only factors the board cares about now is the crime detailed in the police report and victim opposition. 

Louisiana’s parole ban makes us an outlier and returns us to failed policies of the past: 

(S)ome states have passed new laws that put parole eligibility further out of reach, but none have been as aggressive as Louisiana, which eliminated parole entirely for nearly all newly incarcerated prisoners. While 17 states have abolished parole, Louisiana is the first in 24 years to do so. … “Tough on crime doesn’t work,” said Pearl Wise, who was appointed to the parole board by [Gov. John Bel] Edwards and served from 2016 until 2023. “All it produces is mass incarceration, which costs us more than rehabilitating the individual and making them taxpayers, not tax burdens.”

Gov. Jeff Landry’s “standstill” budget proposal for next fiscal year calls for $35 million in new spending on state and local prisons. 


Revamped student internship tax credit

A new version of a state tax credit aims to incentivize companies to hire young people. The Work-Based Learning Tax Credit, which is tied to new accountability standards for high schools, doubles the amount of income-tax breaks corporations can get for hiring interns or apprentices. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Wesley Muller reports: 

“The change in the accountability system has prompted school districts and superintendents to consider more ways to involve students in internships and other work-based learning experiences in high school, so hopefully it will be a win-win,” Leaders for a Better Louisiana’s chief policy officer, Barry Erwin,said in an email, “Help meet school performance goals for students and provide employers a stronger incentive to hire them.” 

Here’s how the credit will work:

The amount of the credit is $2.50 per hour worked, up to a maximum of $2,500 per eligible worker per year. Students must work for their employers for at least 100 hours in the tax year for the business to qualify for the credits. The old credit offered $1.25 per hour worked and required businesses to employ the student for at least 250 hours per year. … Employers can claim the credit on their tax returns beginning in 2027. Total tax credits are capped at $1 million the first year but are allowed to grow to a maximum of $7.5 million in future years if participation grows.

America’s fragile economy

By traditional metrics, such as unemployment rate and consumer spending, the U.S. economy appears strong. But as the Washington Post’s Abha Bhattarai and Alyssa Fowers explain, a macro-level view of the economy is a facade: 

The unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, is near historic lows. But the bulk of the job market’s recent gains has come from one industry: health care. Health care and social assistance positions accounted for 97 percent of the 733,000 private-sector jobs created across the economy last year. … (H)aving nearly all job growth concentrated in one sector is risky for the economy, [Chief Economist at Glassdoor Daniel Zhao] added. It’d be much better if gains were spread across a variety of industries, especially given that health care hiring has slowed in recent months.

Consumer spending is being driven by wealthier households: 

The top 10 percent of Americans — those earning $275,000 or more — now account for a record 45 percent of all spending, up from about 39 percent before the pandemic, according to Moody’s Analytics. … That dynamic is worrisome, [Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark] Zandi said — both because it leads to growing disparities, and also because so much of the wealthiest Americans’ recent spending power is tied to the whims of the stock market.

The many benefits of unions

Unions have a proven track record of increasing wages and protecting workers. The Economic Policy Institute explains how unionization leads to higher – and fairer – wages and income: 

  • Reduced racial wage gaps: Black workers represented by a union are paid 12.6% more than their nonunionized Black peers, and Hispanic workers represented by a union are paid 16.4% more than their nonunionized Hispanic peers.
  • Higher wages for women: Wages for women represented by a union are, on average, 9.8% higher than those of nonunionized women with comparable characteristics.

Unions also lead to stronger social insurances: 

  • Greater access to health insurance: The share of people without any form of health insurance was 5.7% in states with higher union densities, compared with 9% in states with lower union densities.
  • Greater access to paid sick leave: 70.6% of states with the highest union density have enacted paid sick leave legislation, compared with just 11.8% of low-union-density states.

Number of the Day

75% – Percentage of U.S. voters who say they cannot afford the life they feel like they should be able to afford. (Source: New York Times/Siena poll)