Bernie Sanders Unveils a 12 Point Economic Plan to Break the Koch Oligarchs
On the Senate floor today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unveiled a twelve point economic plan that if enacted would break...
Author: onepercenttakers
Why Our Lives Feel Squeezed: 400 Reasons
We don’t know who exactly filed the tax returns with America’s 400 largest incomes in 2010. The IRS won’t reveal...
Congress Refuses to Add to the Deficit—Except When Giving Tax Breaks to Big Business
Congress routinely allows huge packages of nominally temporary tax incentives, loopholes, deductions, and credits to expire, only to revive them...
Are Republicans Nostalgic for the Gilded Age?
The Republican Party today could be rechristened the Party of the Second Gilded Age. Hostility to abortion and affirmative action,...
Koch-linked organization uses ‘dark money’ to fight political disclosure
As the Internal Revenue Service contemplates new rules to illuminate “dark money” in politics, a little-known nonprofit group is fighting...
Leaked: The Oil Lobby’s Plan to Kill Off California’s Climate Law
You remember Fillmore. He’s the resident hippie of Radiator Springs in the Pixar blockbuster Cars. Much to the chagrin of...
Fast food workers plan nationwide strike for December 4
Fast food workers in at least 150 cities nationwide will walk off the job on Dec. 4, demanding an industry-wide...
The Long, Dark Shadows of Plutocracy
Some people say inequality doesn’t matter. They are wrong. All we have to do to see its effects is to...
Robert Reich: The 1 percent is gutting America’s middle class
The richest Americans hold more of the nation’s wealth than they have in almost a century. What do they spend...
Walmart workers plan Black Friday strike
For the third Black Friday running, America’s largest retailer is expected to face labor protests at locations across the country....
Kmart Workers Say They Risk Being Fired If They Don’t Come In On Thanksgiving
While Kmart has claimed that stores try to staff shifts on Thanksgiving Day, which will begin before 6 a.m., with...
Scott Walker: Denying Health Care To Low-Income People Helps Them ‘Live The American Dream’
Defending his fellow Republican governors’ decision to block Medicaid expansion in their states, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Friday...
How CEOs Are Rigging The Game To Get Paid More
The paranoid water-cooler lament that the boss has rigged the rules so that he will get paid even if he...
More Than 70 Percent Of Americans Like Their Obamacare Plans
With the second Obamacare enrollment period set to begin this weekend, there’s at least one piece of good news for...
Mass. Teachers Defeat Corporate Ed Reform Bill Through Rank-and-File Power
To the casual observer, Massachusetts may seem like an unlikely place to open up a new front in the assault...
Bernie Sanders to Colbert: “Frightening the Billionaire Class” Should be Goal of Grassroots Movement
Appearing on Monday night’s Colbert Report on Comedy Central, Sen. Bernie Sanders told the show’s host that he’s still contemplating...
Postal Workers Push Back Against Privatization and Post Office Closures
Union workers at the U.S. Postal Service staged one of their largest national demonstrations to date November 14, protesting fresh...
Walmart Workers Plan Black Friday Protests Over Wages
CHICAGO, Nov 14 (Reuters) – A group of Walmart employees pushing for higher wages said on Friday they were planning...
Republicans Can’t Stop Obamacare as Over 100,000 Uninsured Americans Sign Up in a Day
HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced that Obamacare is getting even stronger as 500,000 people accessed their accounts on the ACA...
Corporate America Steps Up for Maine’s Right-Wing Gov. Paul LePage
Although Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, has been referred to as “America’s Craziest Governor,” he won his re-election last week –...
‘Poster Boy for Malevolent Big Business’ Indicted Over Fatal Coal Mine Disaster
Don Blankenship, the former CEO of coal giant Massey Energy, faces up to 31 years in prison after a federal...
Walmart’s Inhumane Policies for Pregnant Workers
In February, Bene’t Holmes asked her manager at a Chicago Walmart to put her on lighter duty. She was four...
Obama should devote final years to changing economic conversation
Presidents are rarely able to accomplish much in the last two years of a second term. Tuesday’s election results guaranteed...
The Peasants Still Have Their Pitchforks
What can we expect Congress to do about America’s staggeringly top-heavy concentration of income and wealth over the next two...
Sanders Calls for Voting Holiday to ‘Fix’ Failed Democracy
Responding to the “disgraceful” voter turnout for last week’s midterm election—just 36.6 percent—Senator Bernie Sanders (Vt.) argued on Monday that...
San Francisco Raises Its Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour
The Democrats were brutalized at the polls Tuesday, but progressives can at least take some consolation in some notable strides...
Richmond: The little town that beat big oil
“The Chevrons of the world, the Koch Brothers and the others … their religion is greed … we cannot allow...
A Bright Spot in Tuesday’s Bloodbath: Massachusetts Voters Passed a Strong Paid Sick Leave Bill
On Tuesday night, Massachusetts became the first state to give workers 40 hours of sick leave a year. California and...
US Corporations Top List of Those Living in ‘Magical Fairyland’ of Tax-Dodging
More than 300 global corporations and financial institutions—including well-known names like Pepsi Co., FedEx, JP Morgan Chase, and Amazon—have created...
Minimum Wage Measures Pass Overwhelmingly, Even in Red States
Measures aimed at raising the minimum wage passed overwhelmingly in the five states where they appeared on Tuesday’s ballot. The...
Republicans Smear Mary Burke, Sneer at Minimum Wage
Silly season is almost over. But in these waning days before the November 4 election, Republicans are getting in their...
Bernie Sanders: The Real News Story They Won’t Discuss Is, Why Are People Working Longer Hours For Less Pay?
From the transcript at Moyers & Co., where Bernie Sanders makes his usual incisive points: BILL MOYERS: Well, that’s interesting....
Denmark’s McDonald’s Workers Aren’t Demanding $15 an Hour—Because They’re Already Making $20
Imagine a world where fast food workers can pay their rent and utility bills, plus buy their children food and...
South Dakota’s Minimum Wage Workers Are Eating At Soup Kitchens — But They Could Get A Raise Soon
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA—In downtown Sioux Falls, The Banquet provides community members free warm meals six days a week. These...
Bernie Sanders: U.S. Headed Toward Becoming Third World Country
BURLINGTON, Vt. – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said a new report that paychecks are shrinking and half of all...
With Election in a Dead Heat, Union-Busting Gov. Scott Walker Attacks the Unemployed
Gov. Scott Walker finds himself in a startling dead heat with Democratic candidate Mary Burke, business executive and former state...
Social Security Kept 27 Million Americans Out of Poverty in 2013
Government programs can effectively reduce poverty in the United States. Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)—a more comprehensive measure of...
Scott Brown’s Big-Money Sellout
Name a major super-PAC or dark-money outfit and there’s a good chance it has helped Republican Scott Brown, the former...
Paul Krugman: Plutocrats Against Democracy
It’s always good when leaders tell the truth, especially if that wasn’t their intention. So we should be grateful to...
Why It’s Time to Update Overtime Pay Rules
Americans are working longer hours and are more productive—yet wages are largely flat. Indeed, the median worker saw a real...
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Thinks $7.25 Is a Living Wage
Reasonable people may differ on the precise definition of a living wage. But the consensus is that $7.25 an hour...
Wall Street and Major Retailers Agree That Inequality is Killing Us. Why Don’t Republicans?
Income inequality is killing the economy. Retailers, bankers and Democrats agree on that. Really. It’s only Republicans who continue to...
Koch-affiliated money is pouring into Alaska like never before. Labor unions are going all out to fight back
Republicans’ most likely path to retaking the Senate in November requires GOPers to pick up seats in six key states:...
“The Show Must Go On”: Guitar Center Workers Push for First Contracts
Guitar Center store workers are fighting for fair wages and improved conditions at stores around the country. The company has...
Governor: I Don’t Know What The Minimum Wage Should Be Because ‘The Private Sector Decides Wages’
In a gubernatorial debate Tuesday night, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was asked whether he supports the concept of a...
Bernie Sanders: Purchase of Election by Chevron Shows We Have ‘Oligarchy, Not Democracy’
The Independent U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders was in the city of Richmond, California on Thursday and said local...
Eighty percent of Americans want to hike wages, but powerful Republicans keep saying “no”
The first national campaigns of the Republican Party, more than 150 years ago, linked economic progress with democratic participation, urging...
The Walmart Way of Business: When Profits Go Up, Cut Health Care for 30,000 Employees
Walmart is a wildly successful company. Its “corporate fact sheet” online boasts that for “the fiscal year ended January 31,...
“More Money Than I Could Count”: Mitch McConnell’s Very Special Relationship With Lobbyists
There may be no Washington lawmaker cozier with K Street than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). DC law firms...
$10.10 Minimum Wage Would Save The U.S. Government $7.6 Billion A Year
Raising the federal minimum wage would save the government billions and have sweeping benefits for low-income families, according to a...
