Archive
Fast Food Giants Gorge on Subsidies
The fast food industry is notorious for handing out lean paychecks to their burger flippers and fat ones to their CEOs. What's less well-known is that taxpayers are actually subsidizing fast food incomes at both the bottom — and top — of the industry. Take, for...
This Week in OtherWords: November 27, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Marge Baker explains why Harry Reid took the "nuclear option," Jim Hightower weighs in on the Canton, Ohio Walmart's food drive for its own low-paid workers, and Tiffany Williams praises the new film Sunlight Jr. for its portrayal of the kind...
Finally, Hollywood Discovers the Drama in Everyday Poverty
I love movies, but they're usually about people I have nothing in common with. The new film Sunlight Jr. starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon so accurately portrays the difficult yet mundane lives of a working poor family in Florida that I was struck with a mix of...
We’re Not Broke — We’ve Been Robbed
With the Friday the 13th December deadline for a federal budget deal, the cries of "we're broke," and "we can't afford to keep spending," are ringing again. But we're not broke and acting like we are is making us poorer. One of the biggest common misunderstandings is...
The Other Government Shutdown
What do you do when a faction of the U.S. Senate simply refuses to do a critical part of its job? That's the dilemma that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faced in mid-November when the Senate's Republican minority tried once again to stall the work of government by...
The Retirement Deficit
Deck the halls, this holiday season, with scenes of hunger. Struggling families all across America now have less food on their tables. Budget cuts that kicked into effect November 1 have lowered the nation's average federal food stamp benefit to less than $1.40 per...
Islands in the Storm
Shortly after the extent of the damage of storm known as either Super Typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda became clear, the United States got to work sending much needed aid to the Philippines. With winds up to 195 miles per hour, it left more than 5,200 people dead and four...
Tiny Tim Time at Walmart
Who says Walmart isn't big-hearted? Just look at the chain's outlet in Canton, Ohio, where management set up bins for food donations, asking people to give generously to the poor who otherwise would not have a Thanksgiving dinner. But the bins weren't for customers —...
A Better Grip on Climate Change
Earth to climate change deniers: The vast majority of Americans are worried enough about global warming to want our government to help stop this scourge. This good news for people who believe science should drive our climate policy comes from a series of surveys...
Attack of the Budget Slashers
