Working Life

   When last seen on the American political scene in 1995, Bob Packwood was forced to resign from the U.S. Senate because of charges of sexual harassment, assault and abuse–charges he continued to deny even though the evidence was pretty compelling (for those of you with political recall, you might remember the endless struggle over […]

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   We keep avoiding the elephant in the room. It’s fine for the president to do this: President Obama on Monday called for curbing offshore tax havens and corporate tax breaks to collect billions of dollars more from multinational companies and wealthy individuals. The move would appeal to growing populist anger among taxpayers but is […]

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   I imagine that I risk the ire of at least the most die-hard fringe Northern Ireland para-military forces or perhaps people who still revel in the Revolutionary War-era spanking of the redcoats but I’ve been carrying around this article from about a week ago that got a little attention and, then, floated out of […]

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  Let’s deal with some facts. The richest one percent of Americans are paying taxes that are too low–and Republicans are pushing budget proposals that would shovel even more money into the hands of the wealthiest Americans. Here are the facts.   Citizens for Tax Justice has released a series of studies in the past […]

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   Here are some poll questions that I’d like you to consider: 1. If you knew that taking a deep breathe would kill you, would you inhale? 2. If picking your nose caused cancer, would you allow you child to ever go digging for that gold? 3. If George Steinbrenner was a left-wing Democrat, would […]

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Now, c’mon, this is entirely absurd. We already have the widest gap between rich and poor in many generations. Republicans (and some Democrats) are trying to cut the Administration’s proper and wise investments in infrastructure and wise energy efficiency programs. And, in the midst of all that, the Senate does what? Votes to cut the […]

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Probably the toughest mountain to climb in this country is reversing the three-decade Reagan-era damage to the notion that paying taxes is part of what we do to live in a decent society. One of the cornerstones of the anti-responsibility meme is rich people will flee a state that raises taxes. The problem is that […]

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You break the law. You hide your money. You abandon any pretense to having any loyalty to your community. And, now, you sue to keep all the quiet. That’s what a group of rich Americans are doing.   I caught this in The New York Times and have yet to see it elsewhere but this […]

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  I have to say this would all make for a great movie–thriller, farce, comedy?–if the plot lines didn’t actually mean that millions of people have been screwed by crooks, greedy elites and incompetent CEOs. Today, there is just a plethora of news on the "free market" scam front, all courtesy of The Wall Street […]

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   Yes, as the president said, the bonuses taken by Wall Street bankers are shameful. But, there is an even larger shame happening in the country: the plundering of America by the richest Americans and our unwillingness to call for significantly higher taxes on the elite.   Buried in the business section of The New […]

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