As the United States enters its fourth year of economic struggle, the political right continues to insist that cutting government spending, taxes, and regulation will return us to prosperity. While that promise seems rosy to many desperate people, this prescription is all wrong for what ails the economy. The right-wing economic agenda continues [Continue Reading...]
The latest wave of anti-tax fever continues to spread across the nation. Vast amounts of economic and historical data from the past half century show that tax cuts, especially for the rich, do not produce sustained economic growth or more opportunities for the middle class. Yet anti-tax ideologues either brush off such evidence [Continue Reading...]
January 2009 seems so long ago-Barack Obama was inaugurated on a wave of popular enthusiasm for “change” as the country teetered on the brink of an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Obama quoted Tom Paine, but he just as easily could have recalled Franklin Roosevelt’s words at his first inauguration: “This Nation asks for action, and action now.” [Continue Reading...]
Here in North Carolina, we are going to celebrate a dubious golden anniversary this summer. Fifty years ago this June, spurred by fears of union corruption, communism, and (gasp) black and white people organizing together for better jobs and higher wages, the North Carolina legislature imposed a prohibition on public workers collectively bargaining for a legal contract–General Statute (GS) 95-98. [Continue Reading...]
