Archive
Celebrating 75 Years of Fair Labor Rules, And Waging The Next Fight
For most workers, today is a day worth celebrating. It marks the 75th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act, signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt, which set the minimum wage, requires time-and-a-half overtime pay, forbid minors from oppressive child...
Loan Refinancing Bill Offers New Hope For Students
A fresh possibility for helping to solve the student loan crisis has emerged – in the form of Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-Ohio) Refinancing Education Funding to Invest for the Future Act. The main goal is to create opportunities for student loan borrowers to take...
The Court, the Corporate Coup, and the Call to Struggle
Our democracy was under siege even before the Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday on the Voting Rights Act. This decision caps the Court's clean sweep on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce and is part of a concerted effort to seize democracy on behalf of...
Wage Theft At The Reagan Building: Our Tax Dollars At Work
Think of it as a two for one deal. Not only do our tax dollars subsidize low wages, but taxpayers also subsidize the wage theft that usually goes hand in hand with low-wage work. At least, that's what workers at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, DC are...
Will Obama's Climate Regs Spark The Next Wave of Green Jobs?
The centerpiece of President Obama's climate strategy is a planned package of Environmental Protection Agency rules that would cap carbon on all existing and future power plants, the biggest source of our greenhouse gas emissions. Such rules are essential to avert a...
The Latest Lie: "IRS Targeting Was Broader Than Thought"
Yep, we were "O'Keefed" again. It turns out that the IRS really was just doing its job -- scrutinizing all kinds of groups applying for special tax status, not "targeting conservatives" as has been widely reported. Of course anti-government scandal-mongers are trying...
'Up With Steve Kornacki' Asks What's Up With Home Care Worker Wages
The Fair Labor Standards Act – the law that gave us the minimum wage and the 40-hour work-week – turns 75 on Tuesday. President Obama could commemorate the day by taking a long-overdue action that would fulfill a campaign promise and heal a deep scar in the nation's...
Companies Creating American Jobs? "We've Seen This Dance Before"
Companies say they are being patriotic and responsible by bringing jobs and manufacturing back to the US. Is it true? And how come you can't buy clothes that fit anymore? At Netroots Nation the panel What We Can Do to Expose “Red, White and Blue-Washing” took a look...
A Congress Only CEOs Could Love
House Republicans, with help from some Wall Street-friendly Democrats, are rushing to repeal the most promising Dodd-Frank Act check on excessive executive pay. You won't believe their rationale. Only 10 percent of Americans now have confidence in Congress, Gallup has...
Finishing The March: African-Americans and the Jobs Deficit
In "The Unfinished March," the first in a series reports from the Economic Policy Institute, economist Algernon Austin outlines the "unfinished business" of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Progress on civil rights, such as voting rights and laws...
