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If you want to understand how privatization of public services typically works, Grand Rapids, Michigan is as good a place as any to start.

Proxy season is the magical time of year when shareholders cast their votes on corporate governance. Since 2011, the ‘Say on Pay’ provision of Dodd-Frank ensured those votes would include an up-or-down non-binding voice in executive compensation packages. If that sounds toothless, well, hardly anyone is even getting gummed. According to Equilar’s say on pay tracker, most companies’ executive compensation plans passed with 90-plus percentage majorities.

Income and wealth disparity has emerged as a critical economic and political issue for the US. At its core, it is a discussion of how we measure whether the economy is increasing or decreasing the well-being of Americans as a whole. Traditional measures like GDP growth, the stock market and even unemployment rates do not capture the circumstances of today’s economy.

Walmart has grown from a single store in Rogers, Arkansas, into a massive American institution. It takes in more money per year than most countries produce in GDP. It employs 1.4 million people, or nearly 1 in 100 American workers. Its stores cover 1.1 billion square feet.

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance at Walmart's (WMT) shareholder meeting Friday. In the "pomp" department, over 20,000  of Walmart employees were treated to a star-studded spectacle featuring Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Florida Georgia Line, Sarah McLachlan and Harry Connick Jr., among others. 

There was a lot of pomp and circumstance at Walmart's (WMT) shareholder meeting Friday.

In the "pomp" department, over 20,000  of Walmart employees were treated to a star-studded spectacle featuring Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Florida Georgia Line, Sarah McLachlan and Harry Connick Jr., among others. 

All across the country, public services are increasingly outsourced to private contractors in the name of efficiency and cost savings. But a new report from the non-profit research group In the Public Interest (ITPI) shows that outsourcing public services hurts middle and working class communities as well as workers.

You’ve probably heard by now that a stunning 95 percent of the gains the United States economy has made in the years since the Great Recession have gone to the top 1 percent.

“Working moms” employed by the world's biggest retailer, Walmart, have walked off their jobs in a number of cities across the United States. Union organizers said employees walked picket lines Wednesday throughout the day in 20 cities including Tampa, Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.