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It is really terrific to see retailers here giving critical attention to the Demos study. As a former business owner in the health services industry, I do realize that these problems are more than just abstract theory. That's one of the reasons why Demos and I thought it would be useful to evaluate the possibilities for adopting this business model across the retail sector, especially as the importance of retail to the US economy continues to grow.
From Burger King to Walmart, the low-wage workers we depend on to staff America’s consumption-driven economy are tired of being overworked and underpaid, and they are letting their bosses know.
As deficit talks continue to make little progress, we should revisit how a carbon tax would not only help raise badly needed revenue but could also be essential to fighting the climate crisis. A recent Congressional Research Service report found that a tax of $20 per metric ton of carbon dioxide would generate enough revenue to cut the 10-year budget deficit in half.
At least one form of rampant speculation has been closed down. Mary Schapiro will step down from the Chairmanship of the SEC by the end of the year. One of her fellow Democratic Commissioners, Elise Walter will take over, leaving a vacancy on the five-member Commission and an even split between Democrats and Republicans. Commissioner Walter is extremely close to Schapiro, virtually an alter ego.
Exit polls taken on election day leave little doubt that Americans care much more fixing the economy than lowering the defict. Nearly 60 percent of voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country; just 15 percent named the deficit.
Only a few days into the Doha climate negotiations and the prospects for meaningful action seem dim. Russia, Japan, New Zealand, and Canada have already expressed their resistance to extending the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Without an extension, Kyoto will expire at the end of this year.
Top Democrats and leading progressives are arguing that Social Security shouldn't be part of negotiations over the fiscal cliff. As Senator Richard Durbin plans to say in a speech later this morning:
Social Security doesn't add a penny to the debt and should not be part of any deficit reduction talks. We can and must do what we can to ensure its solvency for another 75 years, but that is another topic for another time.