At the end of last week, Democrats in Lansing, led by State Senator Bert Johnson, proposed that we increase Michigan’s minimum wage to $10 an hour, from $7.40, where it’s been set for the past five years, in spite of the rising cost of living. Given that it would make Michigan’s the highest minimum wage […]
Posted in Economics, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged ALEC, Bert Johnson, Elizabeth Warren, Idaho, income inequality, Obama, poverty, shifting the tax burden to the working class, slavery, Subway, trickle down economics, Wal-Mart, Washington State, wealth inequality |
When I flew into Providence a few weeks ago, to attend the Netroots Nation conference, I caught a taxi from the airport to the hotel with a fellow by the name of Bob Sloan. Bob, like me, had won one of the Democracy for America scholarships, and we talked about our work as we made […]
Posted in Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged ALEC, American Bail Coalition, Bill McCollum, Bob Sloan, Boeing, Bureau of Justice Assistance, CAD, Charlie Crist, Clearwater, company towns, computer drafting, corporatocracy, corrections, cubicles, Dell, Democracy for America, Department of Correction, early release bond, Escod Industries, ex-prisoners, factory, factory work, Florida, Floyd Glisson, GEO Group, HP, IBM, Indiana, Indianapolis, Jack Eckerd, James Crosby, James McDonough, Janet Reno, Jeb Bush, job training, jobs, Keefe Commissary, Koch brothers, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, National Correctional Industries Association, NCIA, Netroots Nation, Newt Gingrich, Nordstrom, OnShore Resources, Pam Davis, Pat Nolan, PIE Program, PIECP, pride, Prison Fellowship Ministries, prison industrial complex, Prison Industries, Prison Industries Act, prison industry, prison labor, prison reform, Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises, prison sentences, prisoner advocate, prisoner rights, Private Correctional Facilities Act, private prisons, privatization, Ray Allen, recidivism, restitution, Right on Crime, slave labor, stand your ground, tethers, Texas, the cost of incarceration, tough on crime, UNICOR, unions, US Technologies, Wackenhut Corrections Corp, workers rights |
By Mark | November 22, 2011
Remember when, not too long ago, Michele Bachmann said, “If we took away the minimum wage—if conceivably it was gone—we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely“? Well, not one to be outdone, Newt Gingrich came out today, declaring that America’s child labor laws are, “truly stupid.” You know… those meddlesome laws that keep people […]
By Mark | September 13, 2011
Generally speaking, I don’t consider myself a huge Thomas Friedman fan. I caught a minute of him speaking on MSNBC this morning, though, and what he said really blew me away. It was extremely simple, but packed a wallop. As I can’t find the exact quote anywhere online, here’s the essence of what he said… […]
Posted in History, Media, Politics | Also tagged 2010 census, 2012 Presidential election, Bush tax cuts, census data, China, deregulation, education reform, immigration, infrastructure, Joe Scarborough, Michael Bloomberg, Michele Bachmann, poverty, tax the rich, That Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, the plight of the overtaxed rich, Thomas Friedman, Trudi Renwick |
By Mark | September 5, 2011
I know it’s probably cheating, but here’s something that I wrote a couple of years ago on the occasion of Labor Day. If anything, I think it’s even more appropriate today. As some of you probably know, Labor Day was first celebrated here in the United States in 1882. It wasn’t, however, made a national […]
Posted in Corporate Crime, Economics, History, Other | Also tagged 1882, American Railway Union, arbitration, Chicago, company towns, Eugene Debs, Grover Cleveland, Illinois, John Peter Altgeld, Labor Day, National Guard, Peter S. Grosscup, Pullman, Pullman Palace Car Company, Pullman strike, Richard Olney, strikes, union busting, unions, William A. Woods, World's Colombian Exposition |
