Category: Economy
A Long, Gilded Life
by Sam Pizzigati | Mar 28, 2014 | EconomyLet us pause now to pay our respects to Bunny Mellon. She died in mid-March on her Virginia horse-country estate. But no tears, please. Bunny — nobody called her by her given name Rachel — lived a long and rich life. Very long. Very rich. One hundred and three at her death, Bunny Mellon […]
You Get What You Don’t Pay For
by Ryan Alexander | Mar 28, 2014 | EconomyNo matter how hard lawmakers try to close their eyes, click their heels, and hope for the best, they can’t make highway funding magically appear. But that doesn’t stop them fiddling and flailing as they burn through the Highway Trust Fund. The Highway Trust Fund was created in 1956 to provide the nation’s surface transportation system with a […]
The Paid-What-You’re-Worth Myth
by Robert Reich | Mar 20, 2014 | EconomyIt’s often assumed that people are paid what they’re worth. According to this logic, minimum wage workers aren’t worth more than the $7.25 an hour they now receive. If they were worth more, they’d earn more. Any attempt to force employers to pay them more will only kill jobs. According to this same logic, […]
Education as Answer to Inequality?
by Jack Metzgar | Mar 18, 2014 | EconomyThe Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a study of U.S. occupations every two years, showing the number of jobs in each occupation, its educational requirements, and how much it pays. Though the specifics change, every two years the study shows that a large majority of jobs now and in the future require no education […]
Wall Street Bonuses vs the Minimum Wage
by Sarah Anderson | Mar 13, 2014 | EconomyPurveyors of Ferraris and high-end Swiss watches keep their fingers crossed toward the end of each calendar year, hoping that the big Wall Street banks will be generous with their annual cash bonuses. New figures show that the bonus bonanza of 2013 didn’t disappoint. According to the New York State Comptroller’s office, Wall Street […]