Economy and Business
Let’s Measure the Job Market the Way We Gauge Stock Market Health
Have you noticed that the Powers that Be employ a different standard for measuring the health of America's job market than they use for the stock market? They're currently telling us that the job market is "improving." What do they mean? Simply that the economy is...
Fighting for the Right to End Inequality
Fast-food workers in hundreds of cities across the country and the world went on strike in mid-May to demand higher pay and better working conditions. These workers targeted the richest and most powerful fast-food corporations such as McDonald's and Burger King....
Recipe for Ripoffs
President Barack Obama is a surprisingly devout disciple of so-called "free trade." During his first presidential bid he promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), indicating some concern over the U.S.-Canada-Mexico pact. A month after...
Success in Seattle
At last, our political leaders in Washington are taking action for low-wage workers and the middle class, striking a bold blow for America's historic value of economic fairness. Gosh, I hope you don't think I meant Washington, D.C. No, no. The same old corporate...
Walmart’s Top-to-Bottom Taxpayer Subsidies
Low-income families weren't the only ones hurt by cuts to food stamps last fall. Top Walmart executives also took a hit. The cutbacks ate into the discount giant's sales because so many of its low-income customers rely on this public assistance program to help pay for...
Putting Main Street in the Driver’s Seat
As we know, the barons of Wall Street haven't hesitated to raid our public treasury and haul off trillions of dollars worth of government bailouts and special tax breaks to subsidize their "free market" ventures. So guess who's the major force pushing policymakers to...
Too Big to Sue
The range of abuses and crimes committed by banks seems to grow without end. As soon as one predatory practice fades from the headlines, another appears moments later. Remember bank payday loans, a kind of short-term lending with annual interest rates of up to 365...
A New Front in the CEO Pay Wars
Have you heard about Domino's Pizza CEO J. Patrick Doyle? He pocketed $43 million over the last three years running an operation that stiffs low-wage workers and rakes in taxpayer subsidies. That news prompted the New York Post to open its coverage with a rather...
Striking Gold for Doing Wall Street’s Bidding
First, Wall Street's government bailout restored the banksters who wrecked our economy to full prosperity. Now, it's paying off very handsomely for the bank overseers who orchestrated the bailout. For example, as chairman of the Federal Reserve for eight years, Ben...
Scrimping on Women’s Pay
Republicans in the Senate blocked a vote on the minimum wage earlier this month — no surprise there. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee was the only Republican who stood aside. But don't believe the issue is dead. Democrats will make sure that raising the minimum wage...
