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“We spent probably about $2 trillion in my lifetime by now on this drug war, and the drugs are winning.”

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Sanho Tree warns Salon that militarized operations in response to drug trafficking in Ecuador and elsewhere not only fail to curb the flow of drugs to the U.S. but actually exacerbate the problem. “We spent probably about $2 trillion in my lifetime by now on this drug war, and the drugs are winning,” he says. “It’s only the policies of prohibition… that make this beast churn, decade after decade, and it only gets bigger and more powerful.”

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In a widely syndicated article on state initiatives to increase taxes on the ultra-wealthy, Chuck Collins talks to The Associated Press about wealthy people who support higher taxes on the rich.

“It’s good for everybody, in a time of grotesque inequality, for wealthy people to chip in a little bit more, especially at a time when others are just struggling to keep up,” Chuck says.

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In a powerful article in American Prospect, Sarah Lazare cites the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies’ finding that the estimated $1 billion/day for the Iran war could instead provide SNAP and Medicaid benefits for millions at risk of losing them due to funding cuts. That war “is not protecting Americans, but it is preventing Americans from having enough resources,” Lindsay explains.

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“When corporations can get away with shifting their employees’ basic living costs onto taxpayers, this is a form of corporate welfare,” the report said. “It means taxpayers are subsidizing business models based on poverty wages.”

Read the full article in Nevada Current.


From the article:
“‘Affordability’ is on the lips of every politician in America and on the minds of most Americans. Surveys consistently find it to be a top concern for voters (though the war in Iran could soon displace it).

But one group is conspicuously silent: the companies that rely on the low-wage workers hit hardest by inflation.”

“Here’s one likely reason US companies stay mum: They’re reluctant to admit just how heavily programs like Medicaid and SNAP subsidize the cost of their employees (and how much money they save as a result).”

“In a new report out this week, the Institute for Policy Studies names the 20 largest employers of low-wage workers in America, which collectively employ 6.7 million people. Only five of these companies—Costco, FedEx, MGM Resorts, Tysons Foods, and Amazon—pay median wages above the federal Medicaid/SNAP thresholds. (Amazon is barely over the line.) The lowest-paid workers are at Ross (median wage: $9,602) and Starbucks ($14,674), likely because most of their workers are part-timers.

According to the Institute, many of these workers can’t afford to buy insurance from their employers, which is why they end up opting for Medicaid. Among companies with the largest share of low-wage workers, the Institute reports, just 43 percent get employer-provided health benefits—though 67 percent are eligible. (Some of these workers may get coverage through a spouse or through a parent if they’re under age 25.)”

Read the full article and watch an in-depth video interview with report author Sarah Anderson in Washington Monthly.

“This is highly unpredictable and so we won’t know the cost of it until it’s over,” said Lindsay Koshgarian, program director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute of Policy Studies, who said the conflict is “not necessary” and is taking away from other policies that could “make life more affordable for Americans.”

Read the full article from CNN.

From the article: “Millions of low-wage workers for some of America’s largest retailers are relying on public assistance to survive.  

A report by the Institute for Policy Studies examined 20 S&P 500 companies with the lowest median wages that have primarily U.S.-based workforces. According to the group, 6.7 million workers earn wages low enough to qualify for government assistance programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”

Read the full article in Black Enterprise.


Kate Hess Pace shares her observations from organizing in rural communities in southern Indiana in her work as Executive Director of Hoosier Action.


Read the full article in The New Yorker.

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