The U.S. Spends Far Too Little On Social Welfare

The US government has a spending problem. Given the country’s level of wealth, the government spends far too little — at least $1.6 trillion a year too little — on social welfare. This exacerbates problems like poverty and inequality, and makes life a lot harder for a lot of people — from families ... Read more

No CEO Should Earn 1,000 Times More Than A Regular Employee

The CEO of Marathon Petroleum, Gary Heminger, took home an astonishing 935 times more pay than his typical employee in 2017. In other words, one of Marathon’s gas station workers would have to toil more than nine centuries to make as much as Heminger grabbed in just one year. Employees ... Read more

Business Leaders Agree: Inequality Hurts The Bottom Line

A growing number of corporate leaders say it’s time for them to start sharing the wealth. For decades, big business leaders have warned that redistributing wealth is bad for business. Taxing the rich to pay for infrastructure and education, they say, will kill the goose that lays the ... Read more

The Wealthy, The Poor, The Vulnerable

In our deeply unequal age, we’ve become accustomed to talking about concepts like income and wealth, affluence and poverty. Researchers at the OECD, the developed world’s official economic research agency, would like to toss another concept into the inequality mix: economic vulnerability. Why do we need to ... Read more

How Rich Are The Rich? If Only You Knew

“If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.” Actor and comedian Chris Rock made this astute statement during a 2014 interview with New York magazine, referring to the yawning gap between rich and poor. In so doing, he stumbled upon a key challenge in the study of ... Read more

Why People Love ‘Assistance to the Poor’ But Hate ‘Welfare’

Last Spring, in a highly publicized meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, President Donald Trump received some startling news. One of the members mentioned to Trump that pushing forward with “welfare reform” would be hurtful to her constituents, “not all of whom are ... Read more

Raising Consciousness About The Color Of Law

In it, he documents how racial segregation in housing did long-term damage to African-American family wealth, income, job opportunities, and access to good public education. More than sixty years ago, when Ford Motor Company closed its Richmond, CA assembly plant, Frank Stevenson was among 250 ... Read more

Janet Yellen Was Great Fed Chair. So Why Is Economy Still Broken?

When President Barack Obama reluctantly nominated Janet Yellen to the most powerful economic post on the planet in October 2013, Republican Party leaders, backed by much of the economics establishment, warned of looming economic ruin. As Federal Reserve chair, Yellen would lead the ... Read more

Richest 1% Bagged 82% Of Wealth Created Last Year

Oxfam’s report outlines the key factors driving up rewards for shareholders and corporate bosses at the expense of workers’ pay and conditions. These include the erosion of workers’ rights; the excessive influence of big business over government policy-making; and the relentless corporate drive to ... Read more

A Deep Vein Of Poverty Runs Through U.S.

In the United States, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, 41 million people are living in poverty. Professor Philip Alston, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, wants to know why. In a new feature published by The Guardian, Alston leads reporter Ed Pilkington ... Read more