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In OtherWords: December 6, 2017
This past week, the Senate passed the GOP tax bill we've been railing against for weeks at OtherWords. (Clearly many senators need to read better op-eds.) This week, we pile on some more: Jim Hightower explains that this bill is really, really bad for you if you make...
The GOP Tax Plan Is Igniting a Movement for a Moral Economy
If you’re expecting a gift card from your boss as an end-of-year bonus, enjoy it this year because you probably won’t get one in 2018. The Senate tax bill would ban such rewards. Why? Because Republican lawmakers are determined to prevent ordinary workers from...
Everyone Hates This Tax Bill
As the Trump tax cuts fly through Congress at breakneck speed, one has to wonder: What’s the big rush? Surely a body known for gridlock and deliberation would want to hold hearings, interview stakeholders, and gather public input before restructuring the world's...
Skip the Slip This Holiday Season
Everyone's familiar with the typical holiday waste we’re left with every year after the festivities end — wrapping paper, uneaten food, disposable cutlery, among other things. But something we often don’t consider is that as purchasing skyrockets from Thanksgiving to...
Our Social Structure is Rigged
“It's structure vs. agency,” my professor said to me, as if that cleared everything up. It didn't. It was my first week of graduate school in sociology, and I had no idea what he was talking about. Fast-forward three years, and I'm now teaching an into sociology class...
If You Make Under $75,000, You Lose
Sam Rayburn, a legendary speaker of the U.S. House in the 1940s and '50s, offered this piece of ethical advice for lawmakers who were conflicted over whether to vote for the people or the lobbyists: “Every now and then,” he said, “a politician ought to do something...
Michael Who?
This Tax Plan Is Going to Cost a Lot More Than Advertised
House Republicans and Donald Trump are ballyhooing the wonders of their new tax plan. It’s called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," which we’re told will mean "More Jobs, Fairer Taxes, and Bigger Paychecks." Hallelujah! We can see the Promised Land! But before we pop the...
Your Taxpayer Dollars Are Funding Corporate Propaganda
While Congress hasn’t accomplished much in 2017, it did manage to pass a budget resolution — and within that budget, a sum of $3 million stands out. Congress appropriated that $3 million to fund the Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative. That's...
Cubans Are Starting Small Businesses, but the U.S. Is Hurting Them
On November 8, just as President Trump was clinching new business deals with the repressive Communist government of China, the Trump administration announced new rules rolling back President Obama’s opening with Cuba. The new regulations are supposed to punish hotels,...
