A project of the Labor Institute to reverse runaway income and wealth inequality.
You can read her ideas and plans here. Key quote: Here’s the problem with the belief that helping Wall Street always helps the economy: it isn’t true. In recent decades, Wall Street has grown bigger and financial sector profits have gone from 10% to 25% of total corporate profits, but everyone else in America has lived through … Read more
The AFL-CIO Paywatch program keeps an eye on the executive compensation figures public corporations are required to report thanks to the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. That’s information companies didn’t want to report, and a closer look shows why. Read it here. A few takeaways: In the past 10 … Read more
Lordstown is the poster child for modern financialized capitalism and runaway inequality By Les Leopold The vacant Lordstown General Motors facility is a frightening sight—6.2 million square feet of modern industrial might spread over 900 acres doing absolutely nothing except depressing the regional economy and the spirits of northeast Ohio. Just a few months ago … Read more
Think about how much your income would go up if you didn’t have to pay for healthcare at all. That would begin to close the gap between productivity and wages for the first time in a generation. By Les Leopold Pundits and politicians repeatedly warn us that the country cannot afford costly social services. They … Read more
Today, a similar common denominator unites every identity group with every economic populist: All have much to gain from policies that address rising inequality by Les Leopold According to conventional wisdom, the Democrats must appeal to middle-of-the-road swing voters in order to defeat Trump in 2020. Supposedly these voters want a moderate who “crosses the … Read more
By Les Leopold He’s a “moderate.” Such a soothing political word. It conjures up a reasonable, considerate person who seeks the middle ground between ideological extremists: Works well with others, crosses the aisle to make good policy, knows how to win incremental change rather than issuing jarring proclamations that jump too far ahead of the … Read more
The writer, Dorothy Krahn, cites Les Leopold’s Runaway Inequality while it makes the case why an improved minimum wage is an antidote for inequality. She says: “A minimum wage below survival levels creates a false economy, increasing our taxes due to the help the working poor need. Sadly, minimum-wage jobs are no longer the province … Read more
Some Democratic leaders think the party’s future success relies on suburbanites, women and minorities, and forget about the white working class. Wall Street Democrats love this. Les’s new article explains why, and why this is a problem that could be exploited by a savvier politician than our current president, to the detriment of us all. … Read more
A Runaway Inequality activist, Tim Cates, sent along an article from his local shopping paper, the Ashland Sneak Preview. In the April 2018 issue, the publisher, Curtis Hayden writes about reading Les Leopold’s book Runaway Inequality. Mr. Hayden does a great job of laying out the problem with wealth and income inequality, and settles on … Read more