Tag: Poverty

The “long nineteenth century” of class against class climaxed in the labor insurgency that followed the Great Crash of 1929. It seemed to resolve itself in the New Deal. But the questions it raised have endured, resurfaced, and grown more pressing of late.

In an effort to stave off criticism of its low wages, the United States’ largest private employer announced Thursday that it will raise the pay of half a million workers to $9 an hour in the next six months.

In a scathingly sardonic (and somewhat humorous) column for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan explains why those in the political class, and anyone else who has trouble understanding poverty, are despicable human beings.

The U.S. Census Bureau shows “the generation that has been dismissed as entitled and whiny is struggling with higher levels of poverty than their counterparts did in 1980,” when one in seven 18-to-34-year-olds lived in poverty, The Guardian reports.

More than a century ago, Alabama enshrined a basic protection in the state’s constitution shielding its poorest citizens from being forced to pay debts they couldn’t afford. But a public hospital in the mostly rural southeast corner of the state has found a way around the law.

The way comedian Russell Brand sees it, the two options society is facing, not just in Ferguson but globally, are: “Shall we have a more equal society or shall we fortify and bolster our means for oppressing people?” Watch as he continues his war against Fox News’ misinformation and provides his take on the Ferguson protests on his Web show, “The Trews.”

Amy Goodman interviews UC Berkeley professor John A. Powell on Tuesday about Ferguson, Mo. Powell says two of the most important issues of policing poor communities is whether there’s trust, and whether authorities recognize the humanity of those they are charged to protect.

Here’s a lecture I gave recently at this year’s Aspen Ideas Festival. The irony of talking about inequality with an audience composed almost entirely of the richest one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans was not lost on me.

A New York Times data analysis venture looked at six basic measures to get a picture of the quality and longevity of life in each county of the nation. The toughest place to live was Eastern Kentucky—“land of storybook hills and drawls.”

Rather than confront poverty by extending jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, endorsing a higher minimum wage or supporting jobs programs, conservative Republicans are taking a different tack.

To those who won a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Tuesday “declaring all sorts of job protections for teachers ‘unconstitutional,’ ” teachers unions are at the center of the California school system’s problems—not poverty or inequality—Michael Hiltzik writes at the Los Angeles Times.

The eBay and First Look Media founder (shown) is a walking contradiction when it comes to his “progressive anti-state image” and his actions to further the “global neoliberal agenda”; Facebook may wield control over votes in elections; meanwhile, more than half of congressional members are millionaires and have no idea what it’s like to be poor. These discoveries and more after the jump.

The most moving part of NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant’s tearjerker acceptance speech was the thanks he gave his mother, who, under difficult circumstances, raised four children without a spouse or, sometimes, food.

There are many sides to whistle-blowing. The one that most people don’t know about is the very personal cost, prison aside, including the high cost of lawyers and the strain on family relations, that follows the decision to risk it all in an act of conscience. Here’s a part of my own story I’ve not talked about much before.

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Why the rich keep getting richer (and don’t even realize it), poverty around the world, Stephen Colbert heads to CBS, and Pacifica tries to put a network back together again.

This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Why the rich keep getting richer (and don’t even realize it), poverty around the world, Stephen Colbert heads to CBS, and Pacifica tries to put a network back together again.