A new report released by the U.S. Department of Labor provides solid evidence that raising the minimum wage in states tends to spur job growth, the opposite of what conservative critics claim. The state-by-state hiring data, released Friday by the Labor Department, provides ammunition to the camp in favor of raising the minimum wage. In…
Hillary Clinton is currently the best known and best liked of 16 potential 2016 presidential candidates, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, due to her 91 percent familiarity score and plus 19 net favorable rating. The net favorable is based on her 55 percent favorable and 36 percent unfavorable ratings. In the…
By Robert Reich – Dozens of big U.S. corporations are considering leaving the United States in order to reduce their tax bills. But they’ll be leaving the country only on paper. They’ll still do as much business in the U.S. as they were doing before. The only difference is they’ll no longer be “American,” and…
By Glynn Wilson – MARION, Va. — The Council of Economic Advisers released a report on Wednesday detailing the negative effects on local economies and public health in states where Republican administrations failed to cooperate with the federal government and expand Medicaid. The report, entitled Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand…
By Robert Reich – A number of billionaires are flooding our democracy with their money, drowning out the voices of the rest of us. But Charles and David Koch are in a class by themselves. They’re using their fortune – they’re the fifth and sixth richest people in the world — to create their own…
By Robert Reich – Rather than confront poverty by extending jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, endorsing a higher minimum wage, or supporting jobs programs, conservative Republicans are taking a different tack. They’re peddling three big lies about poverty. To wit: Lie No. 1: Economic growth reduces poverty “The best anti-poverty program,” wrote Paul Ryan,…
How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday LifeANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades, according to a new research study from the Pew…
But Her Numbers Are Already Starting to Take A DiveBy Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Hillary Clinton takes the national stage as the early front runner in the presidential election of 2016, a majority of Americans, 54 percent, view her in a positive light, according to the Gallup Poll’s latest favorability rating survey.…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – If former Southern Baptist preacher and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee can float trial balloons and turn his attention to the presidential election of 2016 before the 2014 midterm elections are in the bag, what the heck? It’s about time we started talking about it anyway. Every other…
By Robert Reich – Mississippi used its new voter-identification law for the first time Tuesday — requiring voters to show a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID at the polls. The official reason given for the new law is alleged voter fraud, although the state hasn’t been able to provide any evidence that voter…
A Menace to Us and CreationBy David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Opposites appear at opposite ends of Alabama on June 5. At the upper extreme a rally in Florence is calling for tar sands mining to stop before it begins. Geologists have long known that gummy crude oil is locked into sandstone strata underlying…
By Robert Reich – For years Americans have assumed that our hard-charging capitalism is better than the soft-hearted version found in Canada and Europe. American capitalism might be a bit crueler but it generates faster growth and higher living standards overall. Canada’s and Europe’s “welfare-state socialism” is doomed. It was a questionable assumption to begin…
By Glynn Wilson – More Americans view the Democratic Party favorably than the Republican Party, although neither party is viewed favorably by a majority of the American people. According to the latest Gallup poll, 44 percent of Americans give the Democratic Party a favorability rating, while only 34 percent of those surveyed view the Republican…
Only 22 Percent of American Voters Say Members of Congress Deserve Re-election – By Glynn Wilson – With just six months to go before the midterm elections, 72 percent of registered voters in the U.S. say most members of the 113th Congress do not deserve to be re-elected, while only 22 percent say they do.…
Competitive Capitalism is the Answer, Not Socialism – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – If the film Reds is even close to an accurate historical portrayal of the relationship between Louise Bryant and Jack Reed, then there is a lesson here we can all use to plan the next phase of American democracy…
Alabama is No. 10 and Louisiana is Not Listed At All? – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – A new online celebrity tabloid is getting traffic from Facebook and Twitter for a story making the rounds claiming to rank the 10 most corrupt state governments in the United States based on “a national…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — While many local and state governments across the country are joining the federal government in turning away from the development of fossil fuel production in favor of clean, renewable energy to fight climate change due to global warming and create the good, high paying jobs of the future,…
By Robert Reich – We’re in a new gilded age of wealth and power similar to the first gilded age when the nation’s antitrust laws were enacted. Those laws should prevent or bust up concentrations of economic power that not only harm consumers but also undermine our democracy — such as the pending Comcast acquisition…
National Labor Relations Board to Begin Hearings on Workers Complaint Against Mercedes April 7 – By Glynn Wilson – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Union workers and members of the public who understand the important role organized labor plays in public affairs across America will be watching to see what happens when the National Labor Relations Board…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Watching a brain unravel is a terrible thing. So is watching a state and a country go down the drain, along with the ideals that created it. It is torture not only for the person who experiences the onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease but also the…
