Economy and Business
The Wealthy’s Free Pass
All of a sudden, almost everybody — in Congress at least — seems to want to talk about the IRS. Fine. We need a good debate about taxes. But let's have a debate that zooms in on the core issues. Like who's paying taxes in America today and who isn't. Interested in a...
The Irish Tax Blight
Now that Apple's shady-yet-legal scheme to funnel its income to low-tax Ireland is common knowledge, a question arises. Are its tactics connected to the concentration of massive wealth at the top of society while average Americans hang on by their fingernails...
Oklahoma’s Biblical Irony
There's an almost biblical irony to Oklahoma's latest tornado disaster. Not a funny irony, but the grim, tragic kind so common to acts of God. Four months before this twister, five of Oklahoma's seven members of Congress — including both of its senators — all...
These Hedges Need Trimming
They're hunkering down at SAC Capital, the hedge fund empire of billionaire Steven A. Cohen. Federal prosecutors have been picking off SAC's second bananas one by one, plea bargaining for information that brings them ever closer to Cohen. SAC coughed up $616 million...
The New Face of Poverty in America
Fifty years after poverty in America briefly became a front-burner issue on our nation's political agenda, it's time to move it off the back burner again. Even as those at the top of our society have grown fabulously richer, those in the economic middle have seen...
Walmart Sinks to a New Low
In the 14th century, the renowned Italian poet Dante detailed a horrendous descent through nine layers of eternal damnation that he had charted, with the bottom floor reserved for the most wretched of sinners. In recognition of today's realities, Satan has added a new...
Money Still Can’t Buy Happiness
What makes us happy? In America, we've been asking this question ever since 1776, the year we declared for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Back then, Americans seeking more happiness had little more than guesswork to go by. Now we have help: a new...
Uncle Sam: Please Tax the Titans
I’ve already told you the story of Mrs. Campbell, my well-meaning high school guidance counselor. In case you missed it, I’ll tell you again. High school seniors in Detroit, where I grew up, had career counseling before they were turned loose on society. You took...
A Primer for Taming Corporate Power
The 79-year-old corporate gadfly Robert Monks, the former top federal regulator over America's pension system, earlier this year opined that Corporate America operates "for the personal enrichment and glorification of its manager-kings." Too harsh a judgment? Hardly....
The Parched Truth about American Jobs
At last, some excellent economic news for folks long-mired in the stagnant labor market. "Jobs Spring Back," exclaimed a typical headline on recent reports that 165,000 private-sector jobs were added in April. Wow — the thunderous, three-year boom of prosperity that...
