Media

There’s a line in Johnny Paycheck’s 1977 hit song that goes “I’d give the shirt right off my back, if I had the guts to say ... Take this job and shove it, I ain’t working here no more.” In the past year, fast-food, retail, and warehouse workers have shown they do have the guts—but instead of quitting, they’re fighting back. From New York to California they’re taking to the streets. They’re fighting for a living wage, for respect from their bosses, and in some cases, for the right to form a union.

Like so many young Americans, Derek Wetherell is stuck.

At 23 years old, he has a job, but not a career, and little prospect for advancement. He has tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, but no college degree. He says he is more likely to move back in with his parents than to buy a home, and he doesn't know what he will do if his car—a 2001 Chrysler Sebring with well over 100,000 miles—breaks down.

Progressive groups are warning that the Supreme Court may be on the verge of allowing federal candidates to collect multi-million dollar checks from donors.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, attorneys and representatives from the campaign finance watchdog groups Democracy, Public Citizen and Demos all raised the specter of candidates hosting $1 million-a-plate fundraisers in the near future if the Supreme Court strikes down a key provision of campaign finance law.

Five years after the fall of Lehman Brothers and the worst financial crisis since 1929, one thing seems certain: another meltdown of the financial system will eventually happen. Why? Because we still haven't fixed many of the problems that led to the last crisis. 

Have you heard of the Freedom Partners? According to a Politico investigation, the group raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debates. According to IRS filings, the group has 200 donors, each of whom paid at least $100,000 in annual dues. And while its head, Marc Short, claims that, “our members are proud to be part of [the organization],” they refuse to be publicly identified. So, proud to be a part of it, as long as you don’t know who I am?

The Tea Party crazies are at it again in Washington, making John Boehner and Eric Cantor look like flexible moderates by comparison. While Boehner and Cantor want to avert a government shutdown—which is the last thing the GOP needs right now—extremist members of the House stand ready to bring the federal government to a standstill starting October 1 unless Obamacare is delayed for a year and Pentagon spending is increased.

When it comes to financial products, the line between employee and consumer often becomes blurry. If your boss insists that you receive your wages on a pre-paid debit card that charges high fees to access your earnings or check your balance it’s clearly a serious employment problem. And yet consumer law may be workers’ best remedy.

California is going to raise its minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016, and surely one reason is the wave of strikes by low-wage workers over the past year. 

When workers hit the picket lines, it's tempting to gauge their chances of success in narrow terms: Will they force concessions from their employers? 

The top .01 percent of earners made nearly five percent of the national income in 2012. That’s just 16,000 Americans that make over ten million dollars a year.