Economy and Business
A Rigged Game Only Amazon Will Win
In September, the giant retail monopolist Amazon announced its intention to build a second corporate headquarters in Someplace, North America. Where's that? Aha, that's the trick in a corporate game called "Fleece the Taxpayer." CEO Jeff Bezos demanded that cities...
Trump’s Gift for the Unemployed: Kicking Them Off Health Care
On January 11, the Trump administration issued a cruel announcement: If you can’t find a job, don’t count on being able to get health care. Under an unprecedented new policy, the administration will let states kick people off Medicaid for the crime of being...
Law, Order, and the Dreamers
Put yourself in the shoes of a typical “Dreamer” — one of the hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth brought here as small children. When you were six years old, your mother crossed the Mexican border and carried you into the United States. Although you’ve been...
This CEO Wants a Key to Your House
Would you give your house key to a complete stranger, letting that person (whose name you don't even know) walk right into your home when you're not there? One stranger who's brazenly asking you and millions of other people to do just that is Jeff Bezos. He's the head...
The Rise and Fall of America’s Middle Class
Ever since 1776, the "common yeoman" — America's middle class — has been hailed as the virtuous heart and backbone of our nation. How ironic, since it took 150 years before we actually created a broad middle class. Before the 1930s, most Americans were poor, or near...
Putting the Heat on What Takes the Edge Off
Help For Struggling Millionaires Is On the Way
It isn’t easy being a millionaire these days, especially if you’ve got less than $20 million. Fortunately, Congress is watching out for you. Yes, the Republican tax cut bonanza targets lower end millionaires for special relief. Now those struggling to scrape by with...
America’s Farmworkers Face Poverty, Neglect, and Now Deportation
Every decade or so, America’s mass media are surprised to discover that migrant farmworkers are being miserably paid and despicably treated by the industry that profits from their labor. Stories run, the public is outraged, assorted officials pledge action, then…...
Tips Should Go to Workers, Not Their Bosses
Thea Bryan is a single mother putting herself through graduate school. She spends her days at an unpaid internship for her social work program. At nights, she bartends for tips. Sometimes, the pay is lucrative. But around October, her work — and money — started to...
After Moore, the Deluge
The defeat of Roy Moore in the Alabama senate race tells us something about voters. Women — especially black women — made the difference. Some 57 percent of Alabamian women voted against Moore, while 56 percent of mostly white men stuck with him. That also tells us...
