New York already has a financial transaction tax on the books — it’s time to...
Co-Written with Lenore Palladino. Recently re-elected Governor Andrew Cuomo likes to complain that he’s “a progressive Democrat who’s broke.” Here’s a simple way to raise millions of dollars and make...
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Big Box Retailers Own The Political Process On Black Friday
Co-Written with Catherine Ruetschlin. This Black Friday, workers are striking at 1,600 Walmart locations for a $15 wage and the end of workplace abuses in a series of strikes. But at the same time,...
View ArticleWhy is Cuomo Leaving Wall Street Cash on the Table?
Co-Written with Lenore Palladino. Governor Andrew Cuomo has claimed that he’s “a progressive Democrat who’s broke.” But in his most recent executive budget, he proposes ending a little-known tax that...
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Why Washington’s gridlock won’t go away
Pundits have suggested that the Republican control of U.S. Senate will lead to a new era of bipartisanship, which will offer new solutions on immigration, the environment and tax reform. These...
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How America can fix the racial wealth gap
One of the most persistent but unaddressed problems in the United States is our massive racial wealth gap. Wealth provides an important cushion from the threat of unemployment, medical emergency or...
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America’s white millennial problem: Why the next great generation might not...
Nearly anytime Democrats lose an election, there is a pervasive narrative that, just around the bend, there will be an “emerging Democratic majority.” Originally projected to occur between 2004 and...
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The great American rip-off: How big-money fuels racial inequality
In the wake of Citizens United, large donors dominate the political landscape, with 84 percent of the money spent in 2014 coming from contributions greater than $200. The big money explosion is...
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Three secrets to revitalizing liberal America
2014 was not a good year for the left. Republicans now have a stranglehold on the House, where they control the most seats they’ve had since 1948. That lead will likely last fordecades. Democrats...
View ArticleWhy is the financial industry so afraid of Joseph Stiglitz?
Co-written with Palladino. If the government were creating a new panel to advise on financial regulation, it would make sense to include a Nobel Laureate considered one of the most influential living...
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Why the GOP’s war on Social Security hurts basically everyone but rich white...
Polls consistently suggest that the No. 1 women’s issue is the economy. Female voters are split, particularly by marriage between the Democrats and Republicans. Married women slightly prefer...
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The true cost of Citizens United: The Roberts Court’s darkest hour revisited
Co-written with Liz Kennedy. It’s been five years since the Supreme Court decided Citizens United, which allowed unlimited corporate money into the political system and increased the domination of...
View ArticleThe right’s dog-whistle trick: How it exploits racism to rip apart the social...
In his newest book, “Dog Whistle Politics,” Ian Haney Lopez argues that politicians on the right have used coded racial appeals to tear at the fabric of the social safety net. Lopez, the John H. Boalt...
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The real reasons Democrats can’t win
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Republicans are trying to position themselves as the party of the middle class. In a recent essay, Thomas Edsall writes, “The Republican appropriation of leftist...
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The Income Gap at the Polls
In 1986, the economist John Kenneth Galbraith declared, “If everybody in this country voted, the Democrats would be in for the next 100 years.” But for decades, the consensus among scholars and...
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Why Obama’s Tax Plan Matters
Today, Obama will deliver the State of the Union address, which will focus on inequality, which he has previously called, “the defining issue of our time,” and which was recentlyhighlighted by a...
View ArticleDemocrats Finally Found a Smart Way to Stop Wall Street’s Reckless Behavior
This piece was co-written with Lenore Palladino. For too long, it appeared that many Democrats were trying to fight economic inequality with policies like the minimum wage while ignoring the 800-pound...
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No, The Decline in Marriage Did Not Increase Inequality
Co-written with Marshall I. Steinbaum. In a “letter from the editor” last week, The New York Times’ David Leonhardt claimed that liberals overlook evidence that changing household structure, meaning...
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On Income Inequality: An Interview With Branko Milanovic
Branko Milanovic is a World Bank economist and development specialist. He’s currently a visiting presidential professor at CUNY’s Graduate Center and a senior scholar at the Luxembourg Income Study...
View ArticleThe unbearable whiteness of America’s donor class
The rise of money in U.S. politics has been widely discussed in the wake of two controversial decisions by the Supreme Court: Citizen’s United and McCutcheon v. FEC. However, the discussion has...
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Millennials Are Less Racially Tolerant Than You Think
However frustrating the current state of race relations in the U.S., there is, according to various pundits and prognosticators, hope for the future: Millennials, they say, are the most tolerant,...
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