Economy
Trump Gets An F From Workers
Photo credit: White House / Shealah Craighead / cc Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “great negotiator” and author of “The Art of the Deal,” promised to use his bargaining skills to help the American worker. Trump vowed to rewrite trade deals, stanch the offshoring of...
We Need A Real Trade Deal With China, Not Just A Truce
Trump crows the “Phase One” trade agreement with China is a "promise kept" to his supporters to rebalance trade between the two nations. But it is really just a temporary truce in his trade war. This truce may not last long or deliver anything close to the outcomes he...
Congress Needs To End War Profiteering Now
The prospect of war with Iran is terrifying. Experts predict as many as a million people could die if the current tensions lead to a full-blown war. Millions more would become refugees across the Middle East, while working families across the U.S. would bear the brunt...
Are America's Rich Getting Tired of Winning?
L-R: Alan Greenspan, Paul Volcker, Ben Bernanke. Photo credit: U.S. Federal Reserve / cc The obituaries for Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chair who died December 8 at age 92, almost all echoed a noble, even heroic narrative. Between 1979 and 1987, as one...
How America Broke Up With The Democratic Party
FDR signs the Banking Act of 1935. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Many grassroots Democrats separated from their party in the 1990s, and the 2020 election may be the last chance to save the marriage. While the GOP has been trying to establish a semi-permanent ruling...
Payday Lenders Use Installment Loans To Evade Regulations
Installment loans seem like a kinder, gentler version of their “predatory” cousin, the payday loan. But for consumers, they may be even more harmful. Use of the installment loan, in which a consumer borrows a lump sum and pays back the principal and interest in a...
Is It Time To Regulate Or Nationalize Facebook?
I was oblivious to the real significance of Facebook in everyday life until the company disabled my personal, private thomhartmann account. The list of “possible” reasons they posted for doing this included “impersonating a celebrity,” so maybe they shut me down...
Will The 2020 Contenders Take On Inequality?
Is America’s political discourse on inequality finally getting real? In the early going of the 2020 presidential campaign, this has become a question worth asking. White House hopefuls have been condemning the maldistribution of America’s income and wealth with an...
Medicare For All, Or Endless War? It's Our Choice
Photo credit: Markeith Horace/MCoE PAO / cc If you’re following the presidential race, you’ve heard plenty of sniping about Medicare for All and whether we can afford it. But when it comes to endless war or endless profits for Pentagon contractors, we’re told we...
A Star-Spangled Knockoff
Photo credit: futureatlas.com / flickr / cc An American flag made in China is not an American flag. It’s a knockoff. New York Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara wants a guarantee that flags flown at New York events and on New York poles are made in America. He has...
