(Source: Creative Commons) To reduce carbon emissions, we must tax fossil fuels—but, say the pundits, we can’t do so because the tax would be regressive, clobbering the poor. In general, sales taxes are indeed regressive; moreover, as I recently argued, sales taxes are partly “passed back” onto suppliers, hitting small businesses hardest. This article was […]

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(Source: ALA Care/Flickr/Creative Commons) They were to be neither nurses nor maids, but front-line careworkers whose efforts allowed frail elderly and disabled people to remain at home. They would cook and clean, groom and dress, lift and feed, even assist with medication. Sometimes they would run errands, accompany their charges to doctors, or take them […]

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(Source: CNNMoney) As the fast food workers’ minimum wage campaign gains momentum, another group of workers is expanding the fight to address one of the least-known economic outrages. You may not realize it, but the measly $7.25 an hour McDonald’s and other fast-food giants pay their workers is three times higher than what many large […]

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What is behind this big shift toward income inequality in New York? Income trends in the city represent an amplified version of our national problems: low-wage jobs without benefits are replacing middle-wage jobs that could support families. Nationwide, middle-wage jobs constituted 60 percent of the jobs lost during the Great Recession and only 22 percent […]

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(Source: Too Much) The future just keeps getting brighter for Americans with unique specialties. Randy Stearns has one such specialty: “home-tech integration.” Stearns helps people install and maintain high-tech gadgets. But we’re not talking “geek squad” and hooking up home networks here. We’re talking rich people—and electronic toys that can cost more than houses. This […]

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