Economy and Business
Steve Cohen, Meet Al Capone
Al Capone was a bad boy. How bad? He cheated on his income taxes. He went to prison in 1931 for that. Not for the people he gunned down, nor for any of the other gross illegalities the guy committed as a notorious Chicago mobster. Tax evasion landed Capone in the...
The Mother Teresa of Global Retail
Want to see pure altruism in action? Go to Washington, D.C. — not to the federal government's marble buildings, but to the real city, where ordinary folks live. There you'll find a business organization that wants nothing more than to serve the people, help improve...
Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation
After graduating from high school, I had two choices: I could earn a college degree while shouldering debt, or struggle in a highly competitive job market without one. I chose the former. And I'm not the only one. My generation is setting records in higher education....
Depending on the Kindness of Strangers
The other shoe finally dropped in Detroit. The once-proud city — variously known as "Motown," "the Arsenal of Democracy," and "the City of Champions" — filed for bankruptcy. There's a local effort to head off the filing, but most people don't think it will get...
Exceptionally Mediocre on a Global Scale
America the Beautiful! America the Greatest! We're No. 1, right? Absolutely, naturally, and indisputably. At least that's the theocratic pronouncement of far-right-wing nativists who preach the dogma of American "exceptionalism." They use the concept as a...
The Roaring Twenties Are Back
Not much left Worth fighting for; The rich already Won the war. Many of us who have reached Social Security age had a pretty good run. We lived through those heady days that followed the Great Depression and World War II, a delightful — though brief — moment in U.S....
Watch Out for Those Helpful Bankers
The word "help" is so uplifting. It conveys our best humanitarian values. How odd, then, to see it used in this New York Times headline: "Banks' Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills." I'll bet they did! We all know how altruistic, beneficent, and kindhearted...
Anti-American Budget Cuts
Families across the country recently celebrated the Fourth of July like they always do: with annual beach trips, barbecues, baseball games, and fireworks. But one of my favorite local traditions was canceled, courtesy of Congress. Every year on the Fourth, without...
It Can’t Happen Here
After paying a staggering $1,500 to a recruitment agency in her home country of Thailand, "Wen" was excited to come to the United States to be an au pair. Like all au pairs, she would live with a host family and provide childcare. This guest worker program is supposed...
Predistribute the Wealth
Sometimes we need new words to grasp new ideas. Frances O’Grady, Britain’s highest-ranking labor leader, has coined one of these handy new words: predistribution. Why does O’Grady, the general secretary of the UK’s Trades Union Congress, want us talking...
