Blog - OtherWords

Corporations Score another Supreme Court Victory

As a physician, I find it very odd that the debate over the Affordable Care Act has focused on the effect the law will have on the presidential election rather than the impact it will have on patients, health professionals, and health outcomes.

50 Years of Gutting America’s Middle Class

by Stacy Mitchell

Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas, 50 years ago this month. Sprawled along a major thoroughfare outside the city’s downtown, that inaugural store embodied many of the hallmarks that have since come to define the Walmart way of doing business. Walton scoured the country for the cheapest merchandise and deftly exploited a loophole in federal law to pay his mostly female workforce less than minimum wage.

Save Austerity Measures for the Next Boom

by Donald Kaul

There are two competing theories on how to pull us out of the economic slump we’re in, but you’d hardly know it from the debate going on in Washington. Conservatives, who want us to cut our way to prosperity, keep drowning out those who think we should be pumping money into the economy by spending more on teachers, research, roads, bridges, and other public works.

The Best Little Chicken Sanctuary in Texas

by Jim Hightower

Some people complain that their town has gone to the dogs. Bastrop, Texas has gone to the chickens — and Bastropians are proud of it.

Papers, Please

by Khalil Bendib

Our Nation’s Failing Prisons

by William A. Collins

You can tell there’s good money in prisons these days — Wells Fargo is investing in them. And why not? Since America incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other country, jails look like a safe bet.

This Ruling Is Good for Your Health

by Elizabeth Rose

The most conservative Supreme Court in history just upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional. This is a victory for American families. It means lower costs, more coverage, and that insurance companies can’t rip us off anymore. It’s the law.