Poverty

( Tomdispatch.com) – In 1937, the American folklorist Alan Lomax invited Louisiana folksinger Huddie Ledbetter (better known as Lead Belly) to record some of his songs for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Lead Belly and his wife Martha searched in vain for a place to spend a few nights nearby. But they were […]

Employment

Poverty amid Plenty: A World Fragmented by Inequality

Liz Theoharis

By Liz Theoharis | – ( Tomdispatch.com) – A few weeks ago, the world’s power brokers — politicians, CEOs, millionaires, billionaires — met in Davos, the mountainous Swiss resort town, for the 2023 World Economic Forum. In an annual ritual that reads ever more like Orwellian farce, the global elite gathered — their private jets […]

Featured

Billionaires Gobbled up 2/3s of New Wealth at $2.7 bn/ day, as 800 million go to bed Hungry: Oxfam

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Oxfam , the British charity, has released a new report finding that the global problem of wealth inequality is growing ever more threatening. Of all the new wealth the entire human race has produced in the past two years, the richest 1% gobbled up 66% of it. The less-rich 99% […]

Food Insecurity

Housing Unaffordable for Half of US Renters

Human Rights Watch

By Matt McConnell | Researcher, Economic Justice and Rights Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – New survey data released recently by the United States Census Bureau found that housing payments for about half of all US renters were unaffordable in 2021 under guidelines set by the US Department of Housing and Urban […]

Drugs

Big Pharma spent more on Stock Buybacks and Dividends than on Research and Development even during COVID

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – The 14 largest publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion on stock buybacks and dividends from 2012 through 2021 — substantially more than the $660 billion they spent on research and development. So argue economists William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, and Öner Tulum, a […]

Employment

Why Many Turkish People who migrated to European Countries are worse off than those who stayed at Home

The Conversation

By Sebnem Eroglu, University of Bristol | – (The Conversation) – Many people migrate to another country to earn a decent income and to attain a better standard of living. But my recent research shows that across all destinations and generations studied, many migrants from Turkey to European countries are financially worse off than those […]

Debt

Is the Russian Economy headed for Collapse?

The Conversation

By Eric Werker, Simon Fraser University | – (The Conversation) – To justify invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has painted Russia as a hegemonic power re-asserting its rightful claim to imperial greatness. Yet even before the invasion, Russia’s economic capabilities were hardly capable of sustaining an empire. Now, with foreign sanctions presiding over a plummeting Russian […]

Inequality

The Top 10 Inequality Victories of 2022

Inequality.org

By Sarah Anderson | Inegality.org | – Congratulations to everyone who worked to move the country and the world towards greater equity in 2022. Herewith are 10 of the most inspiring economic inequality victories of the year. 1. The Union Boom No question. The union organizing surge has been this year’s top story. Petitions for […]