Economy and Business
Nuts to First Class
I recently had the occasion to fly first class. As a poet and director of a small non-profit organization, this was a rare treat indeed. So why couldn’t I enjoy myself? It started with the warm nuts. I’d settled in with my free cocktail, having mastered the...
Fighting Inequality at the Local Level
Inequality isn’t a condition. It's a creation. Inequality is produced by thousands of decisions deliberately made by bosses, bankers, and big shots to siphon money and power from the many to the few. We see Wall Street and Washington doing this, but the deepening...
Mitch McConnell’s War on Iran — and Boeing?
Republicans in Congress may have failed to stop the landmark nuclear accord with Iran, but that doesn’t mean they’ve finished bloviating. As the news came in that President Barack Obama had secured enough votes to override any objections to the deal from Congress,...
Chicago’s Taxpayer-Funded Ode to Robber Barons
History, as the old adage goes, is written by the winners. Even though many "winners" are losers as human beings. For a clear example of this irony, check out the new national monument to corporate greed created by our Park Service in Chicago. It's on the site of what...
The Go-to Guy for Corporate Moochers
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker says he should be America's next president because he's a proven budget whacker. And yes, by golly, he’s dressed down teachers, slashed funding for higher education, busted unions, and gone after welfare recipients. He's the Koch...
The Only Game in Town
The stock market is down. It must be some crazy thing China has done. Those Communist countries just don’t understand how capitalism works. No, wait! The market just went up. Did China fix its capital markets already? Not really. More likely it’s that our Federal...
My Brush with Elon Musk
About five years ago, a close friend of mine and I had an idea for a television news program. As luck would have it, my friend had gone to high school with a guy who, at the time, just happened to be the president of NBC. We arranged to have drinks at a fancy hotel...
The Stock Market Breaks into Cold Sweats
Making America Work for Working People
For millions of working parents like me, the juggling act between our homes and offices gets even more frantic as our kids head back to school. My daughter just started kindergarten. Some days, I’m proud of how my husband and I manage the demands of our jobs while...
Greening America’s Energy Workforce
Oil permeates the whole economy. Even if you telework in a solar-powered home and tote your groceries home by bicycle, the price of petroleum affects what you spend on goods and services. This impact, of course, is uneven. The collapse from $105 per barrel last summer...
