"Words that make actions speak louder."
They came, they saw, they took it all. Welcome to the world where thieves have no honor and those most honored — with lavish rewards — hone their talents hammering the rest of us. Hard times can be good times — for the aggressively avaricious. Where others see pain, they see opportunity. In desperation, they […]
The tax cut pact the Obama administration announced last week has angered a good many Americans. But the pact’s lavish generosity toward America’s rich should not have given anyone a surprise. Most of the chatter on the tax cut deal the White House has bargained out with GOP leaders in Congress has revolved around the […]
The National Archives has just released a once-secret report that helps us understand how incredibly much we today coddle the wealthiest among us. Our political order in the United States, a host of observers have noted over recent years, tends to tilt toward the rich. Last week, that tilting went severe. On Monday, the White […]
Over across the Atlantic, reformers have begun a year-long probe that has the fire-power — and credibility — needed to challenge the sacred cows of the global executive compensation status quo. U.S. corporate profits, the Commerce Department reported last week, have just hit an all-time quarterly high. This year’s corporate executive pay will likely set […]
The national statistics on the economic and social gaps that divide us, suggests new research two years in the making, actually understate how unequal American life has become at the more local level, where people live it. “The United States today is a country of great and increasing socioeconomic inequality, with unimagined wealth living side […]
The rich, many Americans have come to believe, rule. But how? The current hubbub over the federal budget deficit opens a welcome window to understanding just how our rich keep riding so high. How can you tell whether you live in a plutocracy? Easy. Just conduct this simple test. First, identify a “pressing problem” that […]
Localities the nation over can’t afford to fill potholes or keep libraries open. Yet top corporate execs are continuing to stuff their pockets with our tax dollars. Here’s how we can start the unstuffing. Americans don’t like the idea of their tax dollars making anybody rich. That’s why TV ads bashing members of Congress for […]
How much does inequality cost us? The United States holds far more wealth than any other nation in the world. Yet average people in 11 other countries, says landmark new UN research, are enjoying a higher standard of living than Americans. Twenty years ago, in 1990, the United Nations began publishing an annual Human Development […]
Newly victorious lawmakers have wasted no time rushing to show they really do care — about keeping Wall Streeters lavishly rewarded. All in all, not a bad week for Wall Street. On last Tuesday, voters gave friends of high finance a lock grip over the U.S. House of Representatives. On Thursday, a top Wall Street […]
Let’s try to get more precise. America’s super rich aren’t ‘buying’ our elections. They’re making an ‘investment’ in prosperity. Their own. And so what have Americans learned from the now-concluded 2010 mid-term election campaign, aside from the existence of an Aqua Buddha? Not much. In fact, given the gap between the severity of our current […]