by Roger Smith | Sep 11, 2014 | Blog
I'm a CEO with a GED, and I have walked in the shoes of a minimum wage worker. I know from experience that it's a tougher road today. The minimum wage buys fewer necessities now than it did when I needed it to survive. And as a successful capitalist, it pains me to...
by Martha Burk | Sep 11, 2014 | Blog
Let’s be clear. As the majority of the population, the majority of registered voters, and the majority of those who actually show up at the polls, women can determine the outcome of any election. In a year when abortion restrictions were piled on at the state level,...
by Editors | Sep 11, 2014 | Jobs and Growth, Minimum Wage, Progressive Vision
Amidst the lack of action on raising the minimum wage at the federal level, a vibrant city on the West coast has taken lead: Seattle. Just this June, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to increase the city’s minimum wage to reach $15 an hour by 2017. On...
by Bill Scher | Sep 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Syria Delays Vote To Keep Government Open House postpones vote to keep government open to weigh Syria request. The Hill: "A vote was originally slated for Thursday. But after the White House made a late request to Congress to include authorization to arm Syrian rebels...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 11, 2014 | Blog, Financial Reform
Two little-known rules on corporate reporting of executive pay are currently being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. While they have received almost no press coverage, these rules could have far-reaching consequences for our nation’s economy and the...
by Digby | Sep 10, 2014 | Blog
The political world is abuzz with the news that the upstart Zephyr Teachout campaign made a much more serious run at Andrew Cuomo last night than anyone anticipated. For a campaign with no money in the most expensive market in the nation, it's quite an achievement....
by Terrance Heath | Sep 10, 2014 | Conservatism, Economy, Jobs and Growth
Conservatives say marriage is the “ultimate anti-poverty program,” and claim that most of our economic woes would vanish if more people got hitched. A new study suggests marriage barely makes a dent in poverty. On the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, Sen. Marco...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 10, 2014 | Economy, Tax Reform
New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has introduced a bill aimed at fighting the corporate tax-dodging practices of "inversion" and "earnings stripping," which involve use of non-US affiliate companies. The bill would also apply to companies that have already...
by Editors | Sep 10, 2014 | Blog
The Heritage Foundation released a new Issue Brief this week: “Higher Fast-Food Wages: Higher Fast Food Prices”. Author James Sherk claims that if the minimum wage in the fast-food industry were to increase to $15 an hour, “the average fast-food restaurant would have...
by Bill Scher | Sep 10, 2014 | Uncategorized
Progressives Rattle NY Gov. Cuomo Progressive challenger to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo scores more than third of the primary vote. NYT: "Though she ran her campaign on a shoestring and with scarcely any organizational support, Ms. Teachout was on pace to record the...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 10, 2014 | Blog, Retirement Security, Winning Issues for 2014
A new poll confirms that voters don’t just want their Social Security benefits protected, they want them expanded – in overwhelming numbers, across geographical distances, and crossing all party lines. It’s not just “liberals” who feel that way. Three out of four...
by Dean Baker | Sep 9, 2014 | Economy
Are you worried about the government running deficits in the hundreds of billions of dollars and a debt in the TRILLIONS? If so, then you should be really angry at people calling for the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates. If the rate hikers get their way,...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 9, 2014 | Economy, Financial Reform
Are We the People the boss of the corporations, or are the corporations the boss of We the People? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) needs to be reminded which way that question is supposed to be answered. The SEC is the agency set up by We the People to...
by Bill Scher | Sep 9, 2014 | Uncategorized
WH May Act On Inversions Soon Treasury Secretary Lew says action on inversions coming soon. Politico: "...Lew promised on Monday to crack down on so-called corporate tax inversions 'in the very near future' though he offered few clues as to what may be in the offing...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 9, 2014 | Progressive Vision
Zephyr Teachout is slated today to lose the New York Democratic primary for governor to incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Many voters will be seeing her memorable name for the first time when they cast their vote. She has run a shoestring campaign against a powerful,...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 8, 2014 | Blog, Democracy
The Senate is scheduled to consider later today the Democracy For All Amendment to undo the damage the Republicans on the Supreme Court did with their Citizens United and other rulings that allow corporations and billionaires to purchase our elections. We the People...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 8, 2014 | Blog, Economy
Every three years, America’s Federal Reserve Board surveys just how well the nation’s families are doing economically. The Fed takes this surveying seriously. We’re not talking quickie public opinion polling here, several hundred dinner-time phone calls that last a...
by Bill Scher | Sep 8, 2014 | Uncategorized
Obama Holds Off On Immigration Obama delays immigration action after pressure from Senate Dems. NYT: "What had once looked like a clear political imperative for both parties — action to grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants — had morphed instead...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 8, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Winning Issues for 2014
Investors got some great news last Friday, even as the report for job seekers was far worse than expected. August job figures came in far below economists’ expectations (which, even if reached, would have been insufficient to bring a swift end to our employment...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 5, 2014 | Conservatism, This Is The GOP
With so many convictions, indictments, and investigations concerning corruption, it’s beginning to look like orange may be the new black for the GOP. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Bob McDonnell was one of the leading lights of the Republican Party. Being...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 5, 2014 | Economy, Jobs and Growth, Progressive Vision
At Michael Brown’s funeral, Rev. Al Sharpton lamented that America has “money to give military equipment to police forces,” but not to train and employ young people. Sen. Bernie Sanders is making good on a promise to remedy that. While eulogizing Brown, Sharpton...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 5, 2014 | Blog, Trade
On Thursday the Department of Commerce's July trade figures were released. Our enormous, humongous trade deficit continued another month and we even had an all-time record trade deficit with China. Today the jobs report came out and America's manufacturing sector did...
by Bill Scher | Sep 5, 2014 | Uncategorized
Job Growth Stalls Only 142,000 jobs created in August. NYT: "...August is the first month since January that hiring slipped below the 200,000 level, an important threshold to beat if the economy is going to be able to absorb new entrants ... There have been several...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 5, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
The Labor Department's August jobs report – headlined by a disappointing creation of 142,000 new jobs with the unemployment rate “little changed” at 6.1 percent – reflects our reality: a sustained but far too slow economic recovery. The August jobs figure is below the...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 5, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth, Winning Issues for 2014
“We’re a movement now,” fast-food worker Latoya Caldwell said Wednesday of the effort by employees in her industry to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour. That movement's latest action was a one-day strike which took place in 150 cities across the country on...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 4, 2014 | Progressive Vision
There's a war going on. While low-wage workers are take to the streets today to fight for livable wages, a battle is brewing in The Hamptons, where the wealthy and the super wealthy square off against one another over traffic. Helicopter traffic, that is. Campaign for...
by Isaiah J. Poole | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
A lot of eyes will be on the Federal Reserve Friday when the Labor Department releases its August unemployment statistics. But where will the Fed's eyes be focused? A group of activists are planning the next steps of their effort to keep the Fed focused on the...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 4, 2014 | Jobs and Growth
That old nursery rhyme we learned as children isn’t quite true anymore. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but your name can hurt your chances of getting a job. If you want to know why African Americans and Latinos have higher unemployment rates than whites, just...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog, Trade
The U.S. Department of Commerce released the July U.S. trade figures this morning. We reached a new job-sucking record with China. If you are a Wall Street or Chinese billionaire it's an occasion to break out the champagne. However, if you are not a Wall Street or...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog, Education
What will $12 million get you? How about a "conversation about education?" That's what a new organization ,Education Post, aims to get for its "initial grants," courtesy of, according to education reporter Lindsay Layton of The Washington Post, " the Broad Foundation,...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog, Health, Tax Reform
The Institute for Policy Studies has been releasing annual reports on CEO pay for 20 years now, and these "Executive Excess" studies have built up quite a following. One reason: The studies offer what few other CEO pay reports do: context. Anyone with the patience to...
by Bill Scher | Sep 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
Fast-Food Strikes Spotlight Minimum Wage Issue Fast-food strikes and protests planned in 150 cities today. Reuters: "'We're going to have walkouts all over the country,' said Kendall Fells, organizing director of the movement called Fight for 15. 'There are going to...
by Terrance Heath | Sep 4, 2014 | Economy, Jobs and Growth
The fast-food strikes are back, and bigger than ever. Today, workers in 150 cities will take to the streets to demand livable wages for themselves and their families, the right to organize, and a better economy for all of us. Last year, low-wage workers in over 60...
by Richard Eskow | Sep 4, 2014 | Blog, Reviving Strong Unions
[fve]http://youtu.be/zNqFTxCTCTY[/fve] Labor Day was last weekend. For the occasion we interviewed our own Robert Borosage on The Zero Hour radio program regarding his piece entitled "Inequality: A Broad Middle Class Requires Empowering Workers." That piece begins as...
by Bill Scher | Sep 3, 2014 | Blog
In late July, the head of the Republican House campaign committee predicted a "wave" election. And pundits have generally assumed it will be strong Republican year, arguing the Democrats are being weighed down by President Obama's low approval ratings. Republicans can...
by Dave Johnson | Sep 3, 2014 | Economy, Jobs and Growth
A study from Labor and Employment Relations professor Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois-Urbana and policy director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute Frank Manzo IV showed that states with anti-union "right-to-work" laws have lower tax revenue, and...
by Harvey J Kaye | Sep 3, 2014 | Blog, Jobs and Growth
President Obama came to Milwaukee's 2014 Laborfest this past Monday. He said he had come to celebrate Labor Day, to celebrate workers' pursuit of America's promise – or as he put it: "We’re here to celebrate something that sometimes the American people take for...
by Bill Scher | Sep 3, 2014 | Uncategorized
Cantor Move Typical Washington, But May Transform GOP Move to Wall Street typical. McClatchy: "The financial industry values the knowledge of Washington officials and politicians. Last year, former Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner joined private equity business...
by Richard Kirsch | Sep 3, 2014 | Jobs and Growth
Imagine your boss suddenly told you that from now on you were going to be considered an independent contractor. You’d have to pay for your office space, supplies, and equipment. Your employer would deduct those expenses from your paycheck. And you’d have to pay all...
by Dean Baker | Sep 2, 2014 | Economy
In recent decades the news for the country’s workers and the labor movement has been mostly bad. We’ve seen stagnant wages, declining unionization rates, anti-union court rulings, and for the last six years mass unemployment as the labor market is still far from...
