In the News
Fighting the last war with borrowed money
On Friday, while the White House press corps was playing Dungeons and Dragons: the Judge Kavanaugh edition, President Trump was signing an $854 billion dollar spending bill with no reporters present. The…
Progressives must seize their momentum to articulate a saner foreign policy
Insurgent progressives have scored remarkable victories in primaries up and down the ballot and are winning the domestic “ideas primary.” As Barack Obama recently acknowledged, bold reform ideas — from Medicare…
U.S. congressman’s bid to lift lifetime bans on Canadian cannabis workers hinges on mid-terms, say policy experts
VANCOUVER—Whether Canadian cannabis workers will be permitted to cross into the United States may hang on the outcome of the November midterm elections, says an American policy expert. Rep. J.…
Education key to helping those trapped at the bottom of our economy
While wages for low- and middle-income workers have begun to recover, wealth inequality has still climbed to new heights, according to a new survey from the Federal Reserve, which conducts…
School Uniforms Becoming a Stiff-Fitting Policy on Black Students
Jerimiah Fassett was sent home from school earlier this September. He did not get into a fight. He did not bully another student. He did not disrespect a teacher. According…
DEA’s approval of Canadian weed imports shows U.S. agencies ‘don’t know who’s in charge,’ drug policy expert says
VANCOUVER—An announcement Tuesday that the United States has approved the importation of medical cannabis from Canadian producer Tilray exposes a deep contradiction at the heart of U.S. drug enforcement, says…
Wellesley Senior’s Research Looks at Effects of Trends in Boston’s Luxury Condo Market
Boston is experiencing a boom in luxury real estate, but many of the buyers are investors or part-time residents, which could have negative consequences for the city, according to Towering Excess:…
Midterms Labor Candidates are Shaking Up the Status Quo and Standing Up for Workers
Labor has always held electoral power, especially when wielded by women. Former Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins’s lifelong dedication to workers’ rights was sparked by witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory…
Wall Street profits jump 11% so far this year, DiNapoli reports
ALBANY — Wall Street profits jumped 11% in the first half of 2018 over the same period last year, lifting state coffers, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli reported Monday. “The securities…
Dignity is delicate
The popular Austrian tabloid Heute has a tradition of publishing pictures of the first babies born around the country in the new year. Vienna’s 2018 baby was a girl named Asel. She…
From Atlanta to AFRICOM: Resisting the Global War on Africans
Tonight’s show will feature a discussion about AFRICOM – the United States military command in Africa – and how it’s used to re-colonize the Afrikan continent and subject Afrikan people to…
“Punitive Discipline Policies Have Proven to Be Destructive to Children”
Nothing says America 2018 like a spate of stories on how back-to-school shopping includes bulletproof backpacks. Arming teachers and gearing kids up like commandos are presented as more-or-less reasonable responses to concerns about school safety. Any violence in…
Study: Boston Luxury Housing Supply Doesn’t Satisfy Local Demand
Tim Logan shares news of research from the Institute for Policy Studies in the Washington, D.C., which finds deficiencies in the city of Boston’s luxury housing market. “Many buyers of…
Baystate Business: Biotech and Politics
On the Tuesday, September 11 edition of Bloomberg Baystate Business we spoke with Dr. Pablo Cagnoni, CEO of Rubius Therapeutics, about the new technologies being developed by his company. Bloomberg…
What Will Persuade Conservatives To Fight Climate Change?
Republican opposition can continue to suppress US climate legislation even if the Democrats take the White House and both houses of Congress in 2020. Conservatives have been slow to address…
Boston’s new luxury towers appear to house few local residents
Many buyers of condominiums in the new luxury towers sprouting around Boston are either part-time residents or investors — sometimes with no clear connections to Boston — according to a study…
“Sharing Their Treasure.” More Evidence That Only Donors Can Prevent Tuition Hikes
Late last year, the nonprofit College Board published a report whose main takeaway was as predictable as it was bleak: University tuition and fees increased by a few percentage points…
Think tank sees peril in Boston luxury towers
A NEW REPORT from a Washington-based liberal think tank raises concerns about the proliferation of luxury condominiums in Boston and urges policymakers to identify who all the new owners are and…
Nike’s Bad Air
Nike changes its brand more often than Madonna and more profitably. In the company’s latest transformation, Nike has risked–make that sought–the ire of Donald Trump and his drones by making…
On Their Death Bed: Jair Bolsonaro and Obama’s Political Legacy
In the first segment of “By Any Means Necessary” we’re joined by Arnold August, author of the new book Cuba-U.S. Relations: Obama and Beyond to talk about the stabbing of right-wing Brazilian Presidential candidate Jair…
House Republicans escalate crusade against environmental groups working in China
Two leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee are continuing their crusade against environmental groups. This time they are targeting the World Resources Institute (WRI), a well-respected international environmental and…
Solar isn’t accessible to half of Americans. Can community solar change that?
At a happy hour in Midtown Manhattan, Luis Pineiro and Jose Hernandez have a lively discussion on how to get solar energy to more residents in the South Bronx. Pineiro…
Union Membership Narrows the Racial Wealth Gap for Families of Color
Wealth is critical to families’ immediate and long-term economic well-being. It helps families pay their bills if their income drops due to unforeseen events such as a layoff or medical…
What Just Happened? $30 Trillion to the Richest White Americans Since 2008
Thirty trillion dollars. That’s nearly a third of ALL our current wealth, newly created and distributed to the richest 10%, who are mostly white millionaires. These fortunate takers profited mainly…
Welfare, But for CEOs
Twitter users knew something was up last week when they noticed a bunch of accounts with “Amazon FC Ambassador” in their display names, saying things like“I actually do make a decent living working…
The Devil’s in the Details: NAFTA Puts Trump in a Political Pickle
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump promised to renegotiate the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in favor of American workers or scrap the deal altogether. That message resonated…
Bail reform in Ohio
CLEVELAND — Each year, Ohioans are sent to jail for months, sometimes years, before their cases are resolved. These individuals frequently live in squalid living conditions and under a constant threat…
CEO vs. Worker Pay: Federal Contractors Have the Biggest Compensation Gaps
American taxpayers are subsidizing wide gaps in compensation at major U.S. corporations that receive lucrative federal government contracts and subsidies, a new report shows. More than two-thirds of the top 50 publicly held federal…
The Government is Seeking New Free Trade Deals After Brexit – and We Could All Pay the Price
In a somewhat surreal twist, in what is already an increasingly surreal global landscape, UK trade minister Liam Fox announced that the government will do a public consultation on whether the UK should seek…
How does federal contractor CEO pay compare with what their employees earn?
Ten publicly held companies based in Greater Washington included on a list of the 50 largest firms winning federal contracts paid their chief executives anywhere from 41 to 218 times…
