Economy and Business
Port Strikes Mirror Organized Labor’s Roots
Port truckers in California walked off the job in November to protest their dismal working conditions. Required to lease trucks while paying insurance and maintenance costs, drivers often earn less than minimum wage. The strike came just days after big box retailers,...
What the U.S. Should Learn from Russia’s Collapse
After months of whispered warnings, Russia’s economic troubles made global headlines when its currency collapsed halfway through December. Amid the tumbling price of oil, the ruble has fallen to record lows, bringing the country to its most serious economic crisis...
Remembering the Greediest Americans this Holiday Season
Peace on Earth, good will toward men. We honor these noble values every holiday season — and some people actually work to advance them all year long. Other folks, by contrast, mock these values. They spend their days chasing after ever grander stashes of personal...
The Season for Mindless Consumerism
'Tis the season for mindless consumerism. I love giving gifts when they're from the heart. But I hate giving or receiving presents if they're things nobody needs, given out of a sense of obligation. Here’s a story that illustrates what I mean. Back in college, a...
‘Tis the Season to Over-Consume
The Haves vs the Have-It-Alls
In the spirit of holiday harmony and goodwill toward all, I say it's time for you working stiffs to extend your hands in a gesture of solidarity with America's millionaires. Why? Because we now share a common cause: inequality. You don't hear much about it, but...
For Retail Workers, Time Is Money
In late November, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a Retail Workers' Bill of Rights — the first law of its kind in the nation. The focus of the new law might surprise you. A bill of rights for workers is probably about wages, right? Think again. This new...
An Overdue Fix to Overtime
There are a lot of ways that businesses are squeezing worker pay. Here’s a big one. On the one hand, millions of Americans are stuck in low-paying part-time jobs that don't offer them enough hours. On the other, millions more are now routinely forced to work over 40...
Fueling Corporate Welfare
Getting something for nothing is a pretty sweet deal — at least if you’re the one getting something. Not so much if you’re the one receiving nothing in exchange. Oil and gas companies are extracting gas from federal lands and paying nothing for much of it, according...
Too Big to Ignore
Three years after the Occupy movement first directed long-overdue attention to the scourge of inequality in America, the gulf between rich and poor has gotten too big for even the Federal Reserve to ignore. As Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently pointed out,...
