A Failed Experiment, Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Nov 21/12 “Since the 1950s, the top federal income tax rate has fallen from 90 percent or more to 35 percent. Capital gains […]
Trends
The real Welfare Queen
Walmart: America’s real ‘Welfare Queen’, Paddy Ryan, Daily Kos, October 2012 ” As many as 80 percent of workers in [U.S.] Wal-Mart stores use food stamps.” Inequality, exhibit A: Walmart and the […]
Take from the poor, give to the rich
Further to my comments about homeowners subsidizing industrial power, here is an extract from the blog of Vancouver lawyer Jim Quail, Site C and the Kitimat LNG Export Terminal: Christy Clark’s Program […]
Pay equity in British Columbia
Things that still make you go "Hmmm"
This is a replay of a piece from last spring. It fits today’s subject since it demonstrates that BC’s most senior public officias aren’t playing catch-up. Washington State schools enrol just over […]
Words to ponder
“In any society where wealth and income concentrate overwhelmingly at the top, the affluent will almost always come to sneer at public services and the men and women who provide them.” – […]
Tax avoidance, crippled services, monster deficits
“The Republicans have got the facts backward. A rising tide definitely raises all boats. They somehow believe that rising boats raise all tides.” William O. Beeman, commenting on Bill, Barack and Us […]
One reason why the rich stay that way
Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney ‘Didn’t Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years’, Huffington Post, July 31, 2012 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has what he […]
Liars believe their own lies
Corporation That Paid Nothing In Taxes For Four Years Tells Congress It Pays Too Much In Taxes, Think Progress, July 20, 2012 “Over a four years period from 2008 to 2011, Corning […]
A bubble of deference and flattery
Pathos of the Plutocrat, Paul Krugman, New York Times, July 19, 2012 “…Mr. Obama always bends over backward to declare his support for free enterprise and his belief that getting rich is […]
It is an old and cruel tactic
The Battle of Blair Mountain, Chris Hedges, Truthdig: …Reduce wages and benefits to subsistence level. Break unions. Gut social assistance programs. Buy and sell elected officials and judges. Fill the airwaves with […]
Rewards for success or failure
Paying Workers More to Fix Their Own Mess, David Leonhardt, New York Times, March 2009 ” ‘We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the […]
Work newly attributed to Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens identified as author of mystery article, Alison Flood, The Guardian, June 25, 2012An article championing the rights of the working classes, published in one of the journals edited by Dickens […]
Message to the Harper government
IMF chief Christine Lagarde warns world risks triple crisis, The Guardian, June 12, 2012 “Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the world risks a triple crisis […]
Serving humankind
Christine Lagarde, scourge of tax evaders, pays no tax, Kim Willsher, The Guardian, May 29, 2012
Advance of fascism
Perhaps my concern in an earlier blog post about trending toward fascism missed an important proof. In July 2010, the chairman and cofounder of the Blackstone Group, one of the world’s largest […]
Jason Alexander considers joining the 99%
http://www.funnyordie.com/embed/ef4258cacb Jason Alexander Joins the 99% from Jason Alexander http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?app_id=138711277798&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funnyordie.com%2Fvideos%2Fef4258cacb%2Fjason-alexander-joins-the-99&send=false&layout=button_count&width=150&show_faces=false&action=like&height=21 h/t Monica S.
Mostly, it’s the schlemiels paying tax
Many working stiffs watch a third and more of every extra dollar earned disappear as income tax. Then, we’re hammered again with user fees and consumption taxes when we spend shrunken dollars […]
Fraud, fear and greed
If Romney Hates Government And Its Workers So Much Why Is He Running For President?, Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future Mitt Romney says government workers are paid too well and in […]
The .01% wages war on the rest
From Robert Borosage, Campaign for America’s Future, March 29, 2012: In 2010, as the economy began its slow recovery from the Great Recession, a new study shows the richest 1 percent of […]
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…