Media

The average retail sales job pays only $10.09 an hour, and some retail outlets—notably Walmart, the largest private employer in the world—pay as little as $8.00 per hour. But a handful of large retail companies have made generous compensation a key part of their business models, and it seems to be paying off.

The liberal Connecticut Working Families Party and the conservative Independent Party of Connecticut probably don’t share a lot of ideological common ground.

Connecticut's experiment with New York-style fusion politics gave Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy two lines on the ballot in 2010, and he needed the votes cast on both to narrowly defeat Republican Tom Foley.

So, it's a little surprising that a push to end cross-endorsements is coming from one of the governor's strongest allies in the legislature, Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn. Or that Malloy is open to the idea.

One of the biggest problems with financial reform is having to discuss issues that most people find painfully boring. For instance, “derivatives.”

In the debate over our energy future, I keep coming back to the question of whether or not fracking can be done safely.

In taking on the cost of college, President Obama is going up against one the best organized special interests in Washington: Higher education.

This morning the New York City Council will hold a hearing on legislation to guarantee paid sick days  to all working New Yorkers. The measure has been pending for several years with repeated compromises  to address the concerns of employers.

As everyone knows, the "fiscal cliff" deal raised taxes on households making over $400,000, restoring the Clinton-era top income tax rate to 39.5 percent.

One fact that gets less attention, though, is that progressivity in the tax code ends right there: There is no difference in the tax rate paid by a two-income professional couple bringing in $400,000 and a CEO who brings in the average pay for such executives, which was $14 million in 2011.

Fittingly, perhaps, Cuomo’s single biggest misstep in office can be tied to the power of moneyed interests. After fighting long and hard, the governor was forced to abandon a scheme to build a $4 billion convention center in Queens, as part of a joint venture with the Genting Group, a Malaysian corporation.