Archive
Bernie and Goliath
In OtherWords: September 13, 2017
A slew of research over the years shows that inequality has a way of sticking around for generations. This week in OtherWords, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Chuck Collins spell out some scary — and vital — new research they've done on America's persistent racial wealth...
Racial Inequality Is Hollowing Out America’s Middle Class
America's middle class is under assault. Since 1983, national median wealth has declined by 20 percent, falling from $73,000 to $64,000 in 2013. And U.S. homeownership has been in a steady decline since 2005. While we often hear about the struggles of the white...
AT&T and Verizon Need to Hang Up On Fossil Fuels
Smartphones are a huge part of our lives. We use them constantly for texts, social media, calls, directions, and finding information online. Even when we’re sleeping, they're still active, receiving data all night. But those little notifications we get on our phones...
Sometimes the Poor Make It Big. Usually They Stay Poor.
We all want to live in a country where all it takes is hard work and some talent for anyone to succeed. We tell ourselves that we do. We even see examples of people who "came from nothing" and ended up rich and famous. And it's true that it sometimes happens....
The Wall Can’t Keep Out Hurricanes
Donald Trump loves it when crowds at his raucous right-wing rallies stand and chant in red-faced fury: "Build that wall! Build that wall!" So he keeps fanning their fire by promising to wall off Mexico with a multibillion-dollar "big, beautiful" barrier on the border....
Natural Disasters Agree: It’s Climate Change
In OtherWords: September 6, 2017
While much of Houston and southeastern Texas remain underwater, another succession of hurricanes — first Irma and then potentially Jose — is bearing down on the Caribbean and Florida. Storms like these are expected to be more frequent and more severe as climate change...
Tax Cuts for the Rich Help the Rich, Not You
Soon you're going to hear about taxes. You’ll see images of families flashing across your TV screen while a soothing narrator assures you that the tax plan being debated in Washington really is good for you. The newspapers you read, the social media apps you scroll...
An Anti-Poverty Program That Makes It Pay to Work
Imagine a government-funded anti-poverty tool that encouraged people to work. Now imagine that it's popular with both Democrats and Republicans, in red states and blue. Turns out we've had just such a tool since 1975: the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. The EITC is...
