This week, Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute -- the largest oil and gas industry trade group -- claimed that not approving the Keystone XL pipeline would be against the wishes of the “vast majority” of Americans.
The Washington Post has a striking analysis of the growing wealth gap between members of Congress and average Americans. It finds that the "median net worth of a member of the House in 2009 was more than 2 1 / 2 times greater than it was in 1984 — $725,00 vs. $280,000 — when adjusted for inflation. . . .
Where is John Maynard Keynes when you need him? While mainstream economists have long agreed that government spending is crucial for stimulating demand amid economic downturns, many elected leaders have pushed for the exact opposite approach—trying to slash government spending just when we need it most.
We owe much to the Occupy movement. In less than a month, protestors across the country (and the world) ignited a conversation about the destructive nature of inequality in our lives and in our democracy. With a motto that created a big tent—We Are The 99%—the leaderless movement seemed to resonate with Americans from the beginning.
Does $9.04 an hour sound like a lot of money to you? Probably not. But it's a $1.79 more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and, starting January 1, $9.04 be the new minimum wage in Washington State.
Lots of us hate Christmas shopping, so it's nice to have some moral support for these Grinch-like sentiments from an organized campaign called Buy Nothing Christmas. This group has lots of ideas about how to celebrate Christmas without a pile of Chinese-made presents that, chances are, the recipents don't even want.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who calls himself “America’s toughest Sheriff”, claims that harassing Latino immigrants is good for America. His actions, however, are pretty far from what America is all about.
It’s been a politically and socially tumultuous year, with far too many setbacks and too few victories on the key challenges facing Americans today. Our Year in Review captures some of those ups and downs, with a focus on the events that defined the boundaries of our political debate and the actions that most impacted the lives of the 99%.
Not two weeks after September 11, 2001, when the stock market was still all over the map and plans for and unfunded war in the offing, President Bush famously told Americans to "[d]o your business around the country" and