Media

If the Great Depression went down in history as the great equalizer (by razing the incomes of the wealthy), the Great Recession may be known for having the opposite effect. According to a new report issued by the Congressional Research Service, the share of wealth owned by the richest 1 percent of Americans grew from 2007 to 2010 to 34.5 percent. The only time, in the last two decades, when this group had a greater share of wealth was in 1995, when the World Wide Web was first commercializing.

Despite near-record levels of economic inequality, many politicians and pundits still don't think this widening chasm is much of a problem in a country supposedly dedicated to egalitarian ideals.

Inequality, the logic goes, is a natural result of different degrees of work and creativity. Some people strive harder and have better ideas, as well as take more risks, and giving them outsized rewards is a good thing, since it encourages others to emulate this behavior and makes us all wealthier in the end.

For all the talk about the need for voter-identification laws, you’d think millions of Americans were impersonating dead people to get their candidates elected, or casting multiple ballots after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Not even close.

David Callahan posted a terrific blog yesterday that outlined HSBC’s outrageous behavior as catalogued in a 350-page report by the Senate’s Permanent Committee on Investigations.

One of the big questions environmentalists struggle with is whether there should be a price on nature. For some things, like the cost savings that are realized through cleaner air or water, there is a rote calculation that can be done to price out environmental and health benefits. But, if you think of nature as an independent entity having a worth beyond what it can provide to humans, how do you put a price on it? How much is the Amazon River or the Himalayan mountain range worth?

Today we got a concrete sense of why, exactly, the banks fought so hard to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Because, among other things, this is an agency that can slap the banks with huge fines and force them to alter their business practices by legal fiat.

Without your consent, approval, or even awareness, large for-profit credit reporting companies know an awful lot about you. TransUnion, Experian, Equifax and their smaller competitors know the credit limit on your AmEx card, how much you still owe in student loans, and all about that time you made the car payment late. Now, for a change, we may get to learn a bit more about them.

WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, the DISCLOSE Act which would shine a light on the dark money dominating our democracy was defeated on the Senate floor. Although it received a majority of votes it failed to overcome a filibuster from Senator McConnell. 

Tonight, critical legislation that would shine a light on the dark money dominating our democracy was defeated on the Senate floor. To be clear, it received a majority of votes, but failed to overcome a filibuster from Senator McConnell.