Oct
2012 1
2012 1
CHART: Labor Income in Steady Decline
Last Wednesday’s Reuters Chart of the Day was from Margaret Jacobsen and Filippo Occhino of the Cleveland Fed. It commented on labor’s declining share of income and rising inequality. According to the commentary: Household income comes in two types: labor income, which includes wages, salaries, and other work-related compensation (such...
Sep
2012 28
2012 28
ALEC Jr. — “NFIB uses the name of small business to advance an agenda that helps big corporate interests.”
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is becoming a major player in the dark money funding of the 2012 election. Despite its name, the group is a front for a big business, partisan agenda according to a new website, NFIB Exposed. The group, which is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Affordable ...
Sep
2012 27
2012 27
Researchers: System for Determining CEO Pay Is Ineffective, Artificially Drives Up Salaries
There is a theory in corporate America that CEOs must be paid top dollar for their skills in order to keep them from constantly shopping their skills to the highest bidder. But a new study by Craig K. Ferrere and Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the ...
Sep
2012 21
2012 21
STUDY: U.S. Spends $59 Billion on Social Welfare…$92 Billion on Corporate Welfare
A recent blog post by Mike Sinn for Think by Numbers questions if the government spends more on social welfare or corporate welfare. The GOP has attempted to turn the political discussion surrounding the upcoming election into a debate about President Obama and social welfare, while progressives have done the same with Mitt Romney and ...
Sep
2012 14
2012 14
GRAND OLD MODEL LEGISLATION: Republican Study Committee, ALEC Look to Ramp Up Relations
After years of heavy flirting, a date at the conservative Heritage Foundation may be the place where the GOP and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) finally announce they are going steady. The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 160 conservative lawmakers in the House of Representatives, is looking to engage in an official...
Sep
2012 3
2012 3
Rallies Mount Against Trans-Pacific Partnership Which “Has Almost Nothing to Do With Trade”
Dean Baker, writing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for The Guardian, suggests that the deal revolves around anything but free trade. He paints beltway insiders with a brush of humorous reality: “Free trade” is a sacred mantra in Washington. If anything is labeled as being “free trade”, then everyone in the...
Aug
2012 29
2012 29
Six More Monster Corporations Leave ALEC
The unpopularity of laws crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has brought the total number of companies abandoning the hyper-corporate lobby to 38. General Electric, Western Union, Sprint Nextel, the maker of Norton anti-virus Symantec, Entergy, and Reckitt Benckiser Group (maker of a wide range of products from...
Aug
2012 24
2012 24
From ’07 to ’10, Corporate Executive Tax Deductions Cost the U.S. $30,000,000,000
In recent years, the labor community has rightfully hammered corporate executives for their rising compensation and tax dodging while employees are asked to make larger and larger concessions (see Caterpillar, Verizon, Boeing, etc.). Now, the Economic Policy Institute has issued a new report showing the effect executive tax deductions have had on...
Aug
2012 20
2012 20
13 Texas Lawmakers Leave ALEC, No More Democrats are Affiliated with the Organization in the State
Since its public ousting in the wake of the Trayvon Martin scandal, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has seen 32 corporations, four non-profits and 56 lawmakers disassociate from their anti-environment, anti-union, and anti-democracy agenda. Last week, 13 Texas lawmakers (10 Republican and 3 Democrat) dropped out of ALEC as well:...
Aug
2012 16
2012 16
Lawsuit Claims Wells Fargo Fired Employee to Avoid Paying Medical Costs of Dying Cancer Patient
According to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County, Wells Fargo allegedly fired an employee to avoid paying medical costs for his daughter, a cancer patient. Three days prior to an important surgery, the company terminated Yovany Gonzalez, a securities broker, after questioning his wife about the cost of their daughter Macenzie’s medical...
Jul
2012 26
2012 26
Offshore Bank Accounts, Tax Havens Costing the U.S. $280 Billion in Revenue
Mitt Romney’s offshore bank accounts, tax havens and other assorted money games are playing a major role in the opinion-building phase of this year’s Presidential campaign. On cue, a new report from Tax Justice USA shows that the amount of wealth being held in such accounts has skyrocketed, creating an economic black hole. The report ...
Jul
2012 18
2012 18
REPORT: Only 23% of Companies Plan to Hire New Employees in the Next 6 Months
A recent survey from the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) revealed that only 23 percent of US companies are planning to hire new employees in the next six months. This information is contributing to fears of a “lights out” moment for the US economy, according to the poll: NABE’s prior survey, conducted in late ...
