Economy and Business
The Real Obama Emerges Again
If you're having political déjà vu as Obama's second term in the White House gets underway, you're not alone. The supposedly populist candidate — who won re-election promising to tax the rich, protect Social Security, and make the economy fair — has morphed back into...
Making the Tax Code Safe for America’s Aristocracy
Can a democracy survive if its richest people can pass on to their heirs, generation after generation, the vast bulk of their fortunes? In the United States, that question first became a top-tier topic of debate back over a century ago. Huge fortunes were then...
Giving Away the Store
Sure, I'll move My business here; Whisper tax breaks, In my ear. There's a certain political irony surrounding WWE, that unrivaled producer of violence and misogyny for fun and profit. As a significant employer with 700 workers here in otherwise dowdy Connecticut, the...
Let’s Pay Our Bills
Sometimes when I get a bill I don't feel like paying it. But I do, because I'm a responsible adult. If I don't pay my bills, I get in trouble. It's true for a family and for a government. Republicans in Congress are creating another manufactured default crisis....
When Uncle Sam Pays Dividends
Who won the New Year's Eve budget standoff? In one sense, everyone scored a "victory." The deal that Congress eventually blessed includes scores of provisions. Most Americans can point to at least one that works to their financial favor. But the real winners don't...
Obama’s Inauguration Sells Out
He did it. Unfortunately. Sadly. Disappointingly. President Barack Obama, reversing his own honorable precedent for his first inaugural, has chosen this time to have corporations pay for his second round of big shindigs. This multimillion-dollar infusion of corporate...
The Dropped Ball
Millions of Americans watched the ball drop on New Year's Eve. The glitzy one in Times Square symbolized joy and hope for the New Year. Just a few hundred miles to the south, Congress dropped another ball — one that no doubt sent champagne glasses clinking among the...
Our Nation, on Its Knees
My favorite part of the budget negotiations is when a glum-looking John Boehner — backed by the vulpine Eric Cantor, eyes blazing — steps in from of the cameras and accuses Barack Obama of “not negotiating in good faith." And he does it with a straight face....
Wakeup Call for the Gun Business
Wall Street financial hucksters can be downright satanic in their pursuit of killer profits, but here's one that puts its hellishness right in its name: Cerberus Capital Management. In Greek mythology, "Cerberus" is the name of a 3-headed dog that guards the gates of...
Making Haste to Buy Stuff That Makes Waste
At long last, our dream has come true, freeing us from the drudgery that has oppressed so many people over the past 500 years or so — namely, having to use our hands to open a bottle of wine. Yes, the electric corkscrew is here, and just in the nick of time for that...
