Inequality and Poverty

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

Kennedy Says Min. Wage Hike Top Priority

Oct 23, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has promised (CQ-$$) the swift passage of a minimum wage bill if the Democrats take power. Prospective House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi has made a similar promise. Kennedy, who would be chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee if the Democrats can gain six seats Nov. 7, said he would try to follow Pelosi’s example. While a Democratic-controlled House could easily pass a minimum wage increase, opposition from conservatives in the Senate would make quick action more difficult.

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"Cheaper" Suburban Housing Isn't

Oct 16, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The now-cooling housing market, which had been growing at rapid clip, priced a lot of housing outside the reach of many middle-class workers. Looking for affordable housing, a lot of families have opted to move further out into the suburbs looking for cheaper housing. This would seem like a solution to the problem of ever-increasing home prices. Maybe not (WSJ, $$): Moving to an area with lower housing costs often doesn't pay off for low-income Americans, according to a study to be released today by the Center for Housing Policy, a nonprofit research group based in Washington.

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Hundreds of Economists Call for an Increase in the Minimum Wage

Oct 12, 2006 by Craig Jennings

EPI has released a statement signed by over 650 economists calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage. As economists who are concerned about the problems facing low-wage workers, we believe the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005’s proposed phased-in increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 falls well within the range of options where the benefits to the labor market, workers, and the overall economy would be positive.

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Joint Economic Committee Decries Income Inequality

Sep 22, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Although today's Joint Economic Committee press release was intended to bemoan the absolutely crushing burden of income taxes paid by the top 50% of income earners which has stymied all attempts to get this economy moving [/sarcasm], it actually underscores a troubling trend in income distribution. According to the new data, the top half of taxpayers ranked by income paid 96.70 percent of the individual income taxes paid in 2004, compared to 86.05 percent in 1949, 89.35 percent in 1959, and 90.27 percent in 1969.

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Income Inequality: Terms of the Debate

Sep 15, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Paul Krugman crystallizes the issue of income inequality(sub. req'd). Yet in spite of all this technological progress, which has allowed the average American worker to produce much more, we’re not sure whether there was any rise in the typical worker’s pay. Only those at the upper end of the income distribution saw clear gains — gains that were enormous for the lucky few at the very top.

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Senate Finance Committee Looks at Executive Compensation Excesses

A Sept. 8 Senate Finance Committee hearing demonstrated that a 1993 tax code reform has failed to curb the growth of extravagant CEO compensation packages. In fact, the reform created loopholes that have opened the door for outrageous salaries and bonuses, and unscrupulous behavior by company executives and boards of directors. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vehemently denounced the loopholes in the tax code created by the 1993 reforms.

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Senate Committees Stand Up To Corporations...Maybe

Sep 6, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Wall Street fatcats, beware! The Senate Finance and Banking Committees are watching you, and they're sick and tired of your greedy, cheatin' ways. Seriously. They each called hearings today on executive compensation.

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Mortgage Bills Come (Past) Due

Sep 1, 2006 by Craig Jennings

While wage increases have failed to outpace inflation, real housing prices have nearly doubled in the past ten years. Astronomical housing prices made it impossible for many families to purchase a home. The market responded by introducing and aggressively marketing new mortgage "products" like ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages) and interest-only loans. These mortgages made monthly payments affordable, but their continuing affordability hinged on two things: 1) that interest rates would not rise and that 2) the housing market continued to sizzle.

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New CBPP Paper on Min. Wage

Aug 31, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Another sad anniversary is coming up. Tomorrow is the 9-year anniversary of the last time the minimum wage was raised. For the occassion, the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities have a new paper on the minimum wage. On relative poverty: For example, in 1978, even before the gap [between executive pay and the minimum wage]began to grow quickly, the average CEO was still paid 78 times as much as a full-time year-round worker earning the minimum wage. By 2005, the average CEO was paid 821 times as much as a minimum wage earner; this is the widest

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Bernanke on Minimum Wage

Aug 31, 2006 by Matt Lewis

We've noted that there's been a spate of establishment-types (and establishments) that have come out denying basic conservative talking points on economic policy. Now, here's new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who says that a raise in the minimum wage will not cause inflation. BNA has the story. In a written response to questions from Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.), Bernanke avoided addressing whether he thought the federal minimum wage should be raised, but he said the small number of workers affected would mean that overall labor costs and inflation would see little upward pressure.

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