Blog - OtherWords

This week in OtherWords, John Cavanagh highlights Maryland's new approach to measuring well-being and Jim Hightower explains what's wrong with Paul Ryan's latest budget proposal. Here's a clickable summary of our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon. If...

Inequality Is Hurting Us All

by John Cavanagh

Inequality hurts us all. Imagine if you could go back 45 years to 1968. That year, after three decades of creative policy from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal through President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, the United States was one of the world's most...

One Nation, Without a Clue

by Donald Kaul

There was a time when we had a Greatest Generation. That would be my parents' generation. If you're a mere stripling of 40 or 50 or so, it probably was your grandparents' generation. You know the rap: They survived the Great Depression, won World War II, stood up to...

A Tale of Two Budgets

by Ryan Alexander

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times. In a single week, the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs unveiled their budgets for the 2014 fiscal year. According to Democrats, Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget was an unmitigated disaster that would destroy...

Are We Resigned to Living Vastly Unequal Lives?

by Sam Pizzigati

Billionaire Warren Buffett is still paying taxes at a lower rate than his secretary. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz pocketed $117.5 million last year. The life expectancy gap between Americans of affluent and modest means has widened by five years over the last three...

Eat Your Weeds

by Jill Richardson

You might not be a master gardener, but odds are you grow one of the world's healthiest vegetables in your yard every year. It's a superfood that packs more calcium, iron, magnesium, and Vitamins C, B6, E, and K than an equal amount (by weight) of spinach. And, if you...

The Plan to Turn Medicare into ‘WeDon’tCare’

by Jim Hightower

Apparently, Rep. Paul Ryan missed the outcome of last November's presidential election. Oh, wait — wasn't he on the ballot in that election as Mitt Romney's running mate? Well, yes, but less than five months later, the Wisconsin Republican seems to have forgotten that...

The Military-Industrial Threat to the Nation’s Well-Being

by Emily Schwartz Greco, William A. Collins

These days, the news cycle rotates between the deficit, bouts of extreme weather, horrific crimes, taxation, immigration, gun control (or the lack thereof), and a few other regularly reported crises. Lost in this shuffle is any heated discussion of the biggest threat...