Economy and Business
The 0.01 Percent’s ‘I Reap All’ Accounts
Do you remember when Mitt Romney's IRA made headlines during his failed 2012 presidential campaign? That outsized retirement stash estimated at between $20 and $102 million probably led President Barack Obama to propose limiting the buildup of IRA values. It turns out...
You Just Got ‘Richsplained’
Tiffany Beroid, a mother and Wal-Mart employee in Laurel, Maryland, was forced to drop out of college because of her employer's low wages and erratic scheduling practices. When she spoke out about the problems she faced, Wal-Mart fired her. Since then, Beroid has...
America’s Grand Fortunes Go Overboard
Imagine yourself part of the typical American family. Your household would have, the Federal Reserve reported in September, a net worth of $81,200. That's not a whole lot of money. But half of America's households would actually have less wealth than you do. Now...
Olive Garden Execs Parachute Away
Imagine the Three Stooges as waiters. Curly's pouring hot soup in laps, Moe's sneezing in the spaghetti, and Larry's lighting a well-coiffed woman's hair on fire with the bananas flambé. When their boss finally gives them the boot, the customers cheer. And if the...
Try to Buy a Baloney Sandwich with That
As an old popular song asks: What do you get if you "work your fingers right down to the bone?" Boney fingers. As housekeepers in the sprawling Marriott hotel chains know, that's more than a cute lyric. It's the truth. These "room attendants," as they're called, are...
Let Them Eat Tips
Just when you thought the plutocratic profiteers running America's exploitative, low-wage economy couldn't get any more clueless, self-serving, pious, and mingy — along comes Lady Maria of Marriott, magnanimously saying: "Let them eat tips." Marriott International...
Make Your Investments Fuel Change
People around the world are pressing their leaders to act on climate change and fueling change on their own. With U.S. political leadership on climate policy in a shambles, many Americans are taking matters into their own hands. Nearly 400,000 people marched in New...
The Scourge of Siphon-Up Economics
When the Census released the latest data on inequality, most mainstream media outlets shrugged it off. That's quite a contrast from earlier this year when inequality was all the rage. Reporters were scrambling to write about it. In January, President Barack Obama made...
The Little Train That Won’t
I love groups with the gumption to take on big tasks and do what needs to be done — can-do groups that can, and do. But, uh-oh, here comes The Little Train That Couldn't. I'm talking about Congress. Since the earliest days of our US of A, the most basic task of this...
Destroying a Bridge to Somewhere
