A project of the Labor Institute to reverse runaway income and wealth inequality.
Our best path out of the Trump China box is to put him in a box he can’t get out of. By Les Leopold As Covid-19 deaths and unemployment soar, Trump’s reelection chances depend on three factors: 1) the Democrats making significant electioneering mistakes; 2) the Trump campaign finding ways to discourage Democrats from voting … Read more
Total Deaths and Job Loss By Les Leopold As November nears Trump will continue to bombard us with a dizzying array of statistics that he hopes will demonstrate how great a job he and his administration are doing. We do the most testing in the world. We’re making the most ventilators. We build the most … Read more
As we scramble to locate hospital beds and life-saving equipment during this pandemic, remember that we are fighting two diseases. By Les Leopold If you or your loved ones become seriously ill during this pandemic crisis, either with Covid-19 or for any other reason, there may not be a hospital bed or life-saving equipment available … Read more
Amazon proudly claims that from 2010 to 2018 it contributed $168B to the US domestic gross product. Amazon, as we all know, is a big company owned by Jeff Bezos (he actually owns 12 percent of Amazon’s stock, the controlling interest). So a $168B contribution to the GDP sounds like a lot. According to Forbes … Read more
One of the prime goals of the Reversing Runaway Inequality program has been to advocate for public banking. While the details have to be ironed out, New Jersey is now moving forward with the creation of a public bank. You can read the news here. The San Francisco Chronicle also covered the event. Here is … Read more
California governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law on October 2, allowing city and county governments to set up publicly owned banks to accept tax and other revenue and fund infrastructure and other programs with lower costs than those offered by commercial banks. You can read the story in the Guardian here..
View this post on Instagram In 1945, the first transfer of the Bank’s profits to the general fund was made—$1,725! The next time this occurred was in 1949 and 1951, a veterans’ fund received $1.5 million. Learn more in The Bank of North Dakota, From Surviving to Thriving – The First 100 Years hardcover book. … Read more
Each Sunday Tony Wikrent posts a list of links at Real Economics and Ian Welsh. Some are political, many lead to news about runaway inequality. This post borrows a few that seem to fit together very well. The New York Times reported that inequality is getting worse, which for poor people means more sickness and an earlier death. … Read more
The Business Roundtable was formed in 1972 with the goal of undermining New Deal-forged worker rights and corporate regulation by the federal government. The Roundtable worked to weaken antitrust regulations, undermine labor protections and stopped Ralph Nader’s attempt to create a consumer protection agency in 1977. This was a group of hundreds of the country’s … Read more
Les Leopold turned his recent testimony about corporate tax subsidies in New Jersey into an op-ed in the Newark Star Ledger. You can read it here.