The financing deals are more generous this Labor Day weekend, he said, thanks to today's low interest rate environment, but you could have received more cash back last year.
For example, higher taxes to finance a more generous EITC might reduce labor supply of some (presumably higher-income) groups.
Higher wages, more generous benefits to workers, and greater labor market protections are good for other labor market objectives but they are not good for the objective of generating employment.
"If you say, 'We have a $48 million surplus, so you can be more generous with constituencies or doling out labor contracts,' that would be a huge mistake," Mr. Kessel said.
The recent prosperity, however, may mean that coal producers will have to pay higher royalties to mine owners -- and it certainly means the renegotiation of labor contracts to more generous levels, according to Mr. Beall.
Since the 1970s, the poverty rate has fluctuated, but has persistently been two or three times higher than in most European societies, which have much more generous social welfare policies and stronger labor unions.
In early July, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which administers the program, granted the carrier the loan guarantee on the condition that it obtain concessions from labor and that the airline give more generous stock warrants to the government.
"Unfortunately, the battle we've been fighting over pensions is how to keep them from getting even more generous and expensive," said Edward Skyler, the deputy mayor who oversees labor negotiations.
On July 10, the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, which administers the program, granted the carrier the loan guarantee on the condition that executives wring concessions from labor and that they in turn give more generous stock warrants to the government.
Moreover, in some countries, individual labor contracts may contain provisions that are more generous than those offered by national law.
