Archive
Why I’m Fed Up with Summers
Will America ever get rid of Robert Rubin? The Wall Streeter became a top economic witch doctor for Bill Clinton in the 1990s. During his tenure, he convinced old Gullible Bill to Drop his campaign promise to help working families by raising the minimum wage. Push...
Waiting for Wendy’s
Don't eat at Wendy's this week. Across the country, people are picketing restaurants, calling corporate offices, and signing petitions against the fast food chain through August 11. What's this Week of Action against Wendy's about? For years, the company has bucked...
This Week in OtherWords: July 31, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Bob Lord explains why cutting IRS spending is counter-productive and Jill Richardson weighs in on the government's latest efforts to do something about food safety. Sam Pizzigati is still taking some time off. Do you want to make sure you...
Exploited by Your Tax Dollars
McDonald's really stepped in it this summer when the fast food empire created a budget for its underpaid employees to help them make ends meet on the low wages they bring home after flipping burgers all week. At first, the McBudget didn't include any money for food or...
The Real IRS Scandal
For weeks, we watched Representative Darrell Issa and the conservative media circus concoct a "scandal" surrounding the IRS's handling of applications by tea party groups for tax-exempt status. The California Republican and his allies then sought to tie the Obama...
An Opportunity to Work with Iran
This August, Hassan Rouhani will take office as Iran's next president, and the world will have a new face to confront on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. Rouhani, a moderate cleric, won a landslide victory in Iran's June presidential elections. He'll replace the...
The Bully Party
If our government were a card game, the American people would surely have realized by now that they're playing with a marked deck. The Republicans are cheating. In the 2012 elections, Democratic candidates for House seats collectively won about five percent more votes...
Beefing Up Food Safety
In a 1968 comedy called The Secret War of Harry Frigg, Paul Newman is captured during World War II in Italy. After the prisoner of war spends several weeks trying to escape, his captor tells him some great news: The guards now have bullets in their guns. The Food and...
Steve Cohen, Meet Al Capone
Al Capone was a bad boy. How bad? He cheated on his income taxes. He went to prison in 1931 for that. Not for the people he gunned down, nor for any of the other gross illegalities the guy committed as a notorious Chicago mobster. Tax evasion landed Capone in the...
Just Follow the Oil
Like the United States and most other world powers, Iran foolishly wants to be in the nuclear power business. Atoms offer energy diversity and national prestige, plus a lot of bucks for somebody. There are plenty of environmental and safety reasons to oppose the...