Economy and Business
A Main Street and MLK Boulevard Stimulus
“What good is having the right to sit at a lunch counter if you can’t afford a hamburger?” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked in 1968. Today, many of us who fought for lunch-counter rights have children and grandchildren who can’t afford a restaurant meal.
Racial Wealth Divide now a Vast Gulf
Tough Budget Choices
As in recent years, military spending accounts for over half of the 2011 discretionary request: 58 percent. In January, President Barack Obama announced plans to freeze spending for many discretionary programs for three years to control the government’s spiraling debt. However, he exempted from this freeze “security-related” programs including the Pentagon, foreign aid, veterans’ programs, and homeland security.
Wake Me Up When It’s June
After investigating the matter over the weekend officials now think it was a systemic glitch, which, under certain circumstances, can torpedo the market. But they’re going to fix it, probably. Great. Do you ever get the feeling that we’re shooting craps with the other guys’ dice and the dice don’t have spots on them?
No Fixing Housing Woes Without Dealing with Jobs First
Our country has plenty of housing. It’s just in the wrong place. There are lots of houses in Detroit, East St. Louis and rural spots where jobs have left. Cheap. But who wants to settle there?
Banks Put on Notice
The Senate has passed an amendment to the Wall Street reform bill to prevent lenders from earning money by deliberately steering homeowners to risky loans and mortgages they can’t afford.
CEOs Tip the Pay Scale
The CEO of TJ Max more than doubled his compensation to $14.8 million.
Exploiting the Unemployment Market
Yes, jobs are hard to come by these days, but don’t despair, for here’s a company that’s hiring–if you can stomach the work.
I Coulda Been a Hedge Fund Manager
When I was in high school, I had a guidance counselor named Mrs. Cameron. She was a sweet woman, gentle of manner, soft of voice. She ruined my life.
Now Foreign Corporations are Citizens Too
Having decreed that corporations have a free speech “right ” to spend unlimited sums from their massive corporate treasuries to elect or defeat candidates in our elections, the Supreme Court’s five-man corporatist majority has opened a colossal can of worms. One of those worrisome squigglies is this question: Does the Court’s newly fabricated political right extend to foreign corporations?
