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The President Should Make Walmart Part of the Minimum Wage Debate

“No family should work full time and live in poverty.”

Blog
Joseph Hines

Coming Next Thursday: A New Global Labor Movement?

Globalization has kept labor unions on the defensive for nearly forty years now. While workers are pretty much stuck where they live, corporations are able to move production around to find the lowest wages. But labor has gotten better over the years at exploiting a globalized world for its own aims, and we may see a big step forward on that front when fast-food workers stage their first-ever global strike on May 15 against multinational giants like McDonald's. 
 
It's true that globalization has put more cards in the hands of capital.
Blog
David Callahan

Who Is Really Able to Attack Inequality?

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley are two of the most admired progressives in politics right now. But there's a big difference between these leaders: One has lots of power and the other does not. O'Malley's power was vividly on display Monday when he signed a law that will raise his state's minimum wage in Maryland to $10.10 by 2018.
Blog
David Callahan

Supreme Injustice

The Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this spring in McCutcheon v F.E.C., which increased the amount of money donors can contribute to political campaigns for federal office, has added new fuel to an 80-year-old debatebetween those who contend that the Supreme Court decides cases on the basis of abstract principles of law and those who argue

In the media
Thomas B. Edsall

What Would Happen to Companies Like Target If They Paid $15 an Hour?

Henry Ford famously shocked the nation in 1914 when he announced that he was doubling the wages of Ford's workers to $5 an hour. Ford's logic was that better paid American workers would become bigger spending consumers -- not only buying more Model Ts, but more of everything. Which is pretty much what happened in the U.S. over the next 50 years as a new middle class sprang into being. 
 
So which corporate leader in a low-wage industry could we imagine stepping forward to be the Henry Ford of today?
Blog
David Callahan

Senator Warren's Proposal: Tax the Rich, Relieve Student Loan Debt

Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation on Tuesday to tackle the nation's over $1 trillion student loan crisis. "Exploding student loan debt is crushing young people and dragging down our economy," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.

In the media
Andrea Germanos

Why Student Loan Refinancing is a No-Brainer

In the federal student loan market, the government is the lender, and therefore is in a position to reduce the overall burden on the borrower.

Blog
Mark Huelsman

Forget Everything You Know About U.S. Politics. It's All Going to be Different

Michael Lind has one of the bigger brains around, and you can always count on him to advance provocative and sweeping arguments. He doesn't disappoint with his new piece in The Breakthrough Journal, "The Coming Realignment." It's one of those big think articles where the thesis seems entirely obvious after you've heard it. 

Blog
David Callahan

Shareholder Activists Target McDonald's CEO Pay in Bid for Higher Worker Wages

Shareholder activists on Monday called for the board of McDonald’s to cut the wage of chief executive Donald Thomson, citing poor performance and the massive gap between his wages and the average fast-food worker. The fast-food giant holds its annual meeting on 22 May and will be targeted by protesters calling for a higher wages for workers as well as shareholders disappointed with the company’s financial performance and Thomson’s remuneration. Change to Win (CtW) Investment Group is organising a vote against Thomson, who took over as CEO in 2012.

In the media
Dominic Rushe