Resurrect the Estate Tax

Dan Duncan died at the end of March. The Houston gas pipeline mogul left behind a spouse, four children, four grandkids, and a fortune worth $9 billion. Duncan, a prominent philanthropist who supported cancer research and the Boy Scouts, left behind another...

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...

King Coal and Big Oil are in Trouble

The true cost of fossil fuels is getting harder to ignore. When a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, killing 11 workers and unleashing a catastrophic spill, the coal-mine explosion in West Virginia that killed 29 miners hadn’t yet faded from...

Consumer Protection and Corporate Purses

In this period of painfully partisan politics, it’s too easy for the focus to be on who won today, instead of the American people’s needs. We’re witnessing just that in two roiling debates–one over the proposed Consumer Financial Protection...

Record Bank Profits and the American Dream Foreclosed

JP Morgan Chase launched the 2010 Wall Street Bonus Sweepstakes last month. The bank is still losing money on consumer services, but well-heeled investors and financial traders more than made up the difference. The bank announced $11.7 billion in profits and $26.9...