Unions are a great idea – until you have to join one

Plus: America's Adderall shortage, the racial murder gap and more. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a tiny and sophisticated snack of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Unions]( need a makeover, ASAP. - The US needs to get rid of its [Adderall cap](. - We need to break down the [racial murder gap](. The OUT (Olive-Union Theory) Here’s a question for you: Do you eat olives? If you do, congrats! But if you don’t enjoy ‘em, I have another question for you: Do you wish you liked olives? You do, right?? I can’t explain it, but even the [olive haters]( in this world still like the idea of them. The taste of olives might be polarizing, but the look of them is not. They’re a tiny and sophisticated snack! You can stuff them with Roquefort! Cannonball them in your martini! And all the other salty bar munchies — cheese straws, assorted nuts, kettle-cooked chips — are not nearly as fancy or sleek as an olive. Still, [some people]( can’t get over the fact that they have the texture of a dolphin and taste like oily, eyeball-sized capers: This brings me to unions — the olives of the working world. A lot of people will [say]( they’re all for unions. But in reality, they’re really only into the idea of unionizing, not the actual practice of it. For instance, plenty of individuals [support]( the [looming]( United Auto Workers strike. But when you start to ask Americans whether they’d be down to actually join a union, they become [less enthusiastic](, which is why Allison Schrager says so [many]( union [drives fail](. “Being in a union costs money,” Allison writes, and not just in the form of dues. “Unions work by compressing wages (and often the terms of advancement) in negotiations on behalf of all employees. This means very productive workers are paid almost the same as unproductive workers,” she explains. That may have worked back in the 1960s, when [olive-cheese porcupines]( were all the rage, but it’s not a great formula for today, as AI transforms the workplace. Instead, Allison argues that we should make unions “be less about collective bargaining and more like guilds that offer various forms of insurance — for health, retirement and even wages, which would pay out during periods of non-employment or retraining.” If that sounds familiar to you, it’s because it is: The Hollywood writers’ strike — which is over better working conditions and a pay floor for specific jobs — is a great example of how we can harness union power to better reflect trends in the broader economy. “They are fighting for money in an industry where the business model is changing because of technology,” she notes. The final result should give workers both flexibility and stability — a much-needed shift from the goals of the unions we had six decades ago. Some people will try and [train]( [their]( taste buds to be delighted instead of [disgusted]( by olives. But we don’t need to fool ourselves into liking unions. They aren’t serving us anymore! We can change the model entirely, with a bit of persistence. Read [the whole thing]( (which, unlike a union, is free!). Running Low on Addy At my middle school, there was a staff member who was in charge of monitoring lunch. I remember her fondly; she was like the fairy godmother of the cafeteria. She would roam around the lunch tables, speaking animatedly with students about everything under the sun: classes, the books they were reading, the sports tryouts that weekend. And she wore a green half-apron with pockets that were filled with utensils and napkins in case you needed anything. Let me tell you: Kids always need more napkins. Thus, her nickname — The Napkin Lady — was born. But nowadays, I imagine Napkin Ladies are [hard to come by](, given the ongoing shortage of [teachers](, [bus drivers]( and [school counselors](. And staffing issues aren’t the only thing plaguing the US educational system: “[Millions of children]( with ADHD are starting a new school year without regular access to their medications,” Bloomberg’s editorial board [writes](. The prescription shortage is happening at a time when more and more people rely on stimulants like Adderall to help them pay attention throughout the day: The irony of the [Adderall shortage]( is that it derived from a different scarcity — of people, not pills. “Strain on the supply of stimulants was exacerbated by a [worker shortage]( last summer that forced a large Adderall supplier to halt production, increasing demand for alternatives. Now those stocks are running low, too,” the editors write. While prescription stimulants are certainly [prone to abuse](, government quotas on [how much]( individual manufacturers can produce are unhelpful. The perfect storm of shortages puts a strain on both sides of the educational system: On one hand, it’s an added burden on teachers and school staffers, who are already running on empty. And on the other, it hurts students who are unable to concentrate in an already difficult learning environment. “Regulators should consider phasing out the quota in favor of more sophisticated tools to monitor abuse of controlled substances,” the editors suggest. The remaining Napkin Ladies of this nation are already short on patience. The last thing they need is a cafeteria full of students who are unable to take their Adderall. Telltale Charts Black Americans have a homicide rate of 29.8 per 100,000. The rest of America has a homicide rate of four per 100,000. Black Americans have a homicide rate of 29.8 per 100,000. The rest of America has a homicide rate of four per 100,000. No, that was not some copy/paste mistake. I wanted you to read it twice; to let that Big Yikes statistic sink into your bones until you fully understand just how ugly and alarming it is. “A homicide rate of four per 100,000 is still quite high by wealthy-nation standards,” Justin Fox [notes](, “but 29.8 per 100,000 is appalling, similar to or higher than the homicide rates of notoriously dangerous Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.” Even though Black Americans made up just 13.6% of the US population in 2022, they accounted for 54.1% of the victims of murder and non-negligent manslaughter. “Homicide is seventh on the CDC’s list of the 15 leading causes of death among Black Americans, while for other Americans it’s nowhere near the top 15,” he writes. As you can see in the above chart, the Black homicide rate in the US hit a fresh low in the early and mid-2010s. In that light, today’s sky-high Black murder rates need not be inevitable, and it can be instructive to look at places within the US that experience far lower and higher instances of homicide. “Look at a map of Black homicide rates by state, and the highest are clustered along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries. Southern states outside of that zone and Western states occupy roughly the same middle ground, while the Northeast and a few middle-of-the-country states with small Black populations are the safest for their Black inhabitants,” Justin shows. As it so happens, the parts of the country that are more deadly for Black residents are often the same ones where they are isolated in specific neighborhoods. If you break the data down even further into the biggest metro areas, you’ll find that St. Louis, Portland and Pittsburgh have the highest homicide rates for Black city-dwellers, while Boston, New York and San Diego have the lowest. Further Reading SoftBank’s [Arm IPO]( may look like a win for Masayoshi Son, but [hold your breath](. — Chris Hughes Ugh, looks like the US is headed for a [government shutdown]( again. — Jonathan Bernstein In Saudi Arabia, oil is already [$100 per barrel]( — and that’s just the start. — Javier Blas Hiding [the flags]( of some US Open players puts more — not less — emphasis on nationality. — Adam Minter US [inflation numbers]( are a tad disappointing, but they shouldn’t change the current calculus. — John Authers Christine Lagarde’s ECB clearly hasn't gotten the memo on [stagflation](. — Marcus Ashworth Solar is booming while [wind is sucking]( in the race to reach net-zero. — David Fickling Kim Jong Un may be a comical figure, but his [trip to Russia]( is not to be laughed off. — Marc Champion ICYMI David Weiss [indicted]( Hunter Biden. Taiwan is [very upset]( with Elon Musk. Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents are [elite](. Kickers [Vegan cats]( are healthier than meat-eating ones. Milk Bar baked a dangerously cheesy [layer cake](. Scientists learned more about mysterious [moonquakes](. Notes: Please a slice of Cheetos Cake and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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