Archive
Fast-Tracking Misery
When it comes to trade policy, President Barack Obama is mimicking the same policies he criticized when he served in the Senate. As a presidential candidate, Obama promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), recognizing the enormous loss...
From Canada, a New Gold Standard
The 32,400 employees at Goldman Sachs averaged $383,374 each last year, the Wall Street banking giant has just disclosed. Typical employees at Goldman, of course, didn't take home anything near that $383,374. Bank clerks nationally only average $24,100 a year. In...
The Perils of Watered-Down Regulations
"There's a folksy saying my grandma taught me: 'If it smells like licorice and tastes like licorice, it must be licorice.' Now it has a corollary: 'Or it could also be a 4-methylcyclohexane methanol spill into your water supply, so grab the children and run for your...
Lawmakers Are Free Not to Become Narcissistic Jerks
Mark Twain spoke for me when he said: "I'm opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position." One danger that such wealth brings is that many who have it become blinded to those who don't. Thus, the news that more than half of our Congress...
Obama’s Taxing Problem
Does getting tipsy make it easier for you to bear President Barack Obama 's State of the Union addresses? Try taking a sip of beer, wine, or a mixed drink every time he says the words "tax" or "taxpayer" this time around. It's not as extreme as doing it when Obama...
Congress Discovers Inequality in America
The Moral Monday Moment
Rosa Parks became a powerful symbol of courage and defiance in the Civil Rights Movement by simply refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus, as the racist culture of that time dictated she was supposed to do. Only, there was nothing...
Omnibushed
At 8 p.m. on Monday January 13, there was no $1.1 trillion spending bill for fiscal year 2014. At least not one that the public or the vast majority of lawmakers had seen. Less than 70 hours later, large majorities in the House and Senate (332 to 94, and 72 to 26,...
Net Neutrality Is Dead. Here’s How to Get It Back
This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post. Three judges in D.C. just killed Net Neutrality. This could be the end of the Internet as we know it. But it doesn't have to be. The big news: A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications...
This Week in OtherWords: January 15, 2014
This week in OtherWords, Sam Pizzigati explains how inequality weakens the government's capacity to ever win the War on Poverty and Bob Lord brings the racial wealth divide into focus. Donald Kaul is still on leave. Do you want to make sure you don't miss the latest...
