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Trickle Down

The Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the 'Recovery,' While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion

Les Leopold | Posted 05.09.2013 | Politics
Les Leopold

It's as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich. And that's no accident. Here's why.

Sequestration Nation, and Remembering Robert Kennedy

Robert Reich | Posted 05.03.2013 | Politics
Robert Reich

With the sequester now beginning, I find myself thinking about Robert F. Kennedy -- and 46 years ago when I was an intern in his Senate office.

The Inevitable Failure of "Sales Tax Only" State Revenue Plans

Duncan Quirk | Posted 01.17.2013 | Politics
Duncan Quirk

Putting aside the debates between the effectiveness supply-side economics and whether an increase in sales tax would disproportionately negatively impact the poor, state sales tax only plans cannot make up for the lost revenue under current laws. The reason?

Presidential Debates and Middle-Class Economics

Michael Farr | Posted 10.05.2012 | Business
Michael Farr

While a lack of middle-class income growth can create headwinds for any economy in the short term, the longer-term risks of political instability and civil unrest can become much greater.

Bain Capital Partners Deserve More Tax Breaks

Steven Clifford | Posted 11.06.2012 | Comedy
Steven Clifford

"Why can't we do this? Why can't we evade taxes on income simply because we invest it?" she asked. "We can't because we are individuals," I responded. "So are the partners at Bain Capital," she protested. "You don't understand economics," I explained.

Joseph Stiglitz: 'This Deficit Fetishism Is Killing Our Economy'

AP | The Associated Press | Posted 10.09.2012 | Business

NEW YORK (AP) — What's wrong with the U.S. economy? Growth comes in fits and starts. Unemployment has been over 8 percent for three and a half ye...

Corporate Primacy Causes People Poverty

Leo W. Gerard | Posted 08.18.2012 | Politics
Leo W. Gerard

Do Americans want a government of the people by the people for the people? Or do Americans want a government of the corporations by the corporations for the corporations, one dedicated to the proposition that the rich are better than everyone else?

Capitalist Revolution: Forget the Deficit and Learn From Europe

Sanjay Sanghoee | Posted 07.18.2012 | Business
Sanjay Sanghoee

Before we go wild with our deficit-cutting scythe, let's make sure that we are not hacking away at our own feet in the process.

The Economic Impact of Raising Taxes on High-Income Households

Jared Bernstein | Posted 06.25.2012 | Business
Jared Bernstein

Although tax increases on high-income individuals might reduce their saving, if the revenue generated is devoted to deficit reduction, the resulting increase in public saving is likely to more than offset any reduction in private saving.

Thoughts on Tax Day 2012

Robert Reich | Posted 06.17.2012 | Politics
Robert Reich

As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote in 1904, "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." But the wealthiest Americans, who haven't raked in as much of America's income and wealth since the 1920s, are today paying a lower tax rate than they have in over 30 years.

Should We Cut Rich People's Taxes Completely?

Posted 03.01.2012 | Comedy

On Wednesday night's show, Stephen Colbert made the argument that everyone else is afraid to make: cut rich people's taxes all together. During his...

A Message to Millennials: We Are the Children of Dr. King's Dream

Heather McGhee | Posted 03.18.2012 | Politics
Heather McGhee

How is it that life has gotten harder financially for the vast majority of Americans over the past forty years, yet we have had so few public solutions?

Trickle-Up Economics

Jared Bernstein | Posted 03.04.2012 | Business
Jared Bernstein

It is clear that the increase in capital gains plays a large role in driving inequality trends, and, if we taxed such gains as regular income, that would help to reduce inequality. So, can one argue on the one hand that tax policy is inherently limited as a tool against rising inequality, and on the other, that we should employ tax policy to push back on inequality? I could invoke Walt Whitman -- "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes" -- and leave it at that. But better yet, let me explain. In reality, the evidence shows that increased inequality is a pretax story.

Michael Lind on the Collapse of Left and Right

Robert Teitelman | Posted 11.02.2011 | Politics
Robert Teitelman

Like Wall Street over the past decade, we politically (and perhaps socially) have gone about creating intellectual monocultures, which may do one or two things surpassingly well, but which may prove exceedingly vulnerable.

Supply-Side Economics in Fact and Fancy

Robert E. Prasch | Posted 07.09.2011 | Business
Robert E. Prasch

Supply-side economics is a hearty perennial, one that closely follows the election cycle. Every four years ambitious Republican politicians rediscover that the wealthy would like to pay less in taxes.

Oh, Please. There Is No Conspiracy Against the Poor and Middle Class in America.

James Napoli | Posted 06.20.2011 | Comedy
James Napoli

I wish liberals would get off their high horses and let go of their quaint little idea that there is some sort of conspiracy against the working class. There is no conspiracy. We are getting reamed in a very public way.

How Income Inequality Helped Spark the Great Recession

Jake Whitney | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Jake Whitney

Governmental policies over the past three decades have resulted in an indebted middle class. Yet a healthy society depends upon a large and vibrant one. Why aren't Americans more alarmed?

Reagan, Trickle Down, My Daughter

Peter Gorman | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Peter Gorman

My daughter Madeleina, 13, got off from school early today and just a few minutes ago came into the kitchen while I was sweeping and asked: "Was Reaga...

Mr. President, It's Up to You

Lance Simmens | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Lance Simmens

Tensions are high, frustration is rampant, many are discouraged, but only you have the ability to grab the mantle of leadership and take us forward.

Stupid Politics From a Smart Administration

Joseph A. Palermo | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Joseph A. Palermo

The Democratic Party lost its spine the moment it decided to cash in on corporate political money. If we don't reverse Citizens United and get the money out of our political system, progressive causes don't stand a chance.

The Mid-Term Elections and the Failure, Yet Again, of Trickle Down Economics

Rob Shapiro | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Rob Shapiro

This is the third consecutive election to bring large losses for the party in power, all for the same reason. For a decade, neither party has been able to deliver the rising incomes and economic security that matter most for average Americans.

10 Reasons You MUST Vote--and Vote Democrat

Bill Folman | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Bill Folman

This election is too important to sit out. If you voted for Barack Obama in 2008, high on the promise of hope and change, do not stay on the sidelines now. Real change takes time.

Open Wide, Minimum Wage Is Good For You

Stephen Herrington | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Stephen Herrington

Attacks on the minimum wage are the final resort of business to maintain profitability in markets put into decline by their own anti-labor agenda.

Movie Review: Inside Job

Marshall Fine | Posted 05.25.2011 | Entertainment
Marshall Fine

Inside Job explains complex ideas with a clarity and skill that make them comprehensible to anyone willing to pay attention. But Charles Ferguson does it in a way that doesn't dumb things down.

Fantasies, Conspiracy Theories and Tax Cuts for the Rich

Elizabeth Bisbee Silber | Posted 05.25.2011 | Politics
Elizabeth Bisbee Silber

Republican fantasies and conspiracy theories create frenzy and fear in the electorate. They gin people up about non-issues while the real problems facing us remain unaddressed.