Economy

Davos, Switzerland (AFP) – The world’s 26 richest people own the same wealth as the poorest half of humanity, Oxfam said Monday, urging governments to hike taxes on the wealthy to fight soaring inequality. A new report from the charity, published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, also found that billionaires around the […]

Employment

80% of Workers live Paycheck to Paycheck, and Federal ones are no Different

Chuck Collins

(Otherwords.org) – Unemployment is low, but federal employees are lining up at food banks. They aren’t alone. As the government shutdown drags on, the image of federal workers lining up at food pantries has dramatized just how many workers live financially close to the edge. By one estimate, almost 80 percent of U.S. workers live […]

Banking

Not the Onion: Ivanka Trump in running for World Bank Head

Juan Cole

WASHINGTON (Ma’an) — Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, are reportedly among possible US candidates to replace the outgoing World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. Earlier this week, Jim Yong Kim announced he would be stepping down as the World Bank’s president three […]

Donald Trump

Could Trump’s Gov’t Shutdown send US Economy into Tailspin?

AFP

By Douglas Gillison | – Washington, DC (AFP) – The US government shutdown on Saturday became the longest in history and is taking a growing bite out of the world’s largest economy with each passing day, economists say. While most of the 21 “lapses” in government spending since 1976 left barely a scratch on economic […]

Inequality

Is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Right that Tax Justice is Key to our Democratic Prospect?

John Buell

There is surprisingly widespread support for higher taxes on the rich. Americans have typically felt that one should keep what one earns. Many are also convinced that they will one day become rich, hence the popularity of lotteries, which reflect and help sustain that belief. Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic Policy and […]

Democratic Socialism

Rashida Tlaib and Working Class Authenticity v. Trump’s Plutocrat Pretense

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Why does Donald Trump get a pass on speaking and acting obscenely but Rashida Tlaib is pilloried for calling him a Mofo? It is because US corporate media and political elites expect the wealthy to do bad imitations of working class profanity (so as to fool the rubes into voting […]

Inequality

How Corporate Monopolies and High Prices are Making you Poor and Rich Richer

Sam Pizzigati

(Inequality.org) – Andrew Leigh, a member of the Australian parliament, has a side gig. He just happens to be a working economist. Other lawmakers may spend their spare hours making cold calls for campaign cash. Leigh spends his doing research — on why our modern economies are leaving their populations ever more unequal. Leigh’s latest […]

Banking

Wall Street, Inequality and the Anger of the People

Nomi Prins

( Tomdispatch.com ) – As we head into 2019, leaving the chaos of this year behind, a major question remains unanswered when it comes to the state of Main Street, not just here but across the planet. If the global economy really is booming, as many politicians claim, why are leaders and their parties around […]

Plutocracy

Trump’s Trade Czar, The Latest Architect of Imperial Disaster

Alfred W. McCoy

Trump’s Trade Czar, The Latest Architect of Imperial Disaster Five Academics Who Unleashed the “Demon” of Geopolitical Power By Alfred W. McCoy ( Tomdispatch.com ) – As Washington’s leadership fades more quickly than anyone could have imagined and a new global order struggles to take shape, a generation of leaders has crowded onto the world […]