Category: Economy
For USA Today, Illegal Settlements Are a Matter of Opinion
by Peter Hart | Feb 9, 2014 | Economy, Foreign PolicyThe football game part of the Super Bowl was a non-event, but there was serious controversy over one of the commercials: Actress Scarlett Johansson was appearing in an ad for SodaStream, a maker of carbonated beverage dispensers whose main factory is in the West Bank, Palestinian territory that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. […]
Are We Doomed to Ever More Inequality?
by Sam Pizzigati | Feb 9, 2014 | Economy(Thomas Piketty) America’s ongoing debate over economic inequality may be turning a new page. Starting in the 1980s, during the debate’s first chapter, pundits and policymakers battled over whether the United States was in fact becoming more unequal. This initial debate is over now. No serious analyst argues any longer that the gulf between America’s […]
Obamacare Will Raise Wages
by Polly Cleveland | Feb 9, 2014 | EconomyAccording to New York Mayor Bill De Blasio, “If we’re subsidizing companies, we have every right to demand a living wage for the people they pay.” He’s referring to conventional Democratic Party wisdom that taxpayers subsidize Walmart and other large low-wage employers by providing employees with food stamps, health care, and other public assistance. For […]
Sustainability Squared
by Polly Cleveland | Feb 7, 2014 | Economy(Source: Mother Jones) How can the world attain a decent, sustainable lifestyle, one that doesn’t wreck our land, water, and air? In fact, we already have the necessary technology, technology that can create more and better jobs. Here are examples from farms, cities, and businesses. Back in 1985, economists Yujiro Hayami and Vernon Ruttan estimated […]
The Real Retirement Crisis Is in the Private Sector
by Alicia H. Munnell | Feb 1, 2014 | EconomyLast year, legislators in Illinois passed a law that decreases pension benefits for public employees, and in Detroit a bankruptcy judge required municipal employees to get in line with other creditors owed money by the bankrupt city. The focus on these trouble spots feeds a misperception that public pensions, generally, are in crisis. In reality, […]