Category Archives: The destruction of the middle class

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) Suits Become Favored Hedge Fund Investment

ISDS suits are increasingly getting financial backing from speculators like hedge funds.

Mexico’s Economy Is Being Plundered Dry

Some vignettes of Mexico as a failed state.

Health Care “Reform” by Insiders Who Benefit from the Status Quo: Media Fails to Report Conflicts of Interest

Quelle surprise! The press regularly presents highly paid, well-connected health care insiders as independent voices on “reform”.

13 Questions That Expose Charter School Falsehoods

The sales pitch made by charter school boosters does not hold up to scrutiny.

It’s Time to Regulate the Gig Economy

Depicting the gig economy as ‘sharing favours’ creates a parallel dimension, where chores are form of leisure, with no relation to ‘work’.

Reading the Fine Print in Cuomo’s “Tuition-Free College” Plan

Cuomo’s plan Is means-tested, doesn’t cover fees, covers full-time students only, and has a residency requirement, clawbacks, and “crapshoot” clause

Globalization and the End of the Labor Aristocracy, Part 2

How the the new international economic architecture for trade, investment, & property rights hurt workers in advanced and developing economies

“I’m Back in the USSR / You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are”

Parallels at ground level between the USSR and the US of A.

Why You Can’t Have a Shorter Workweek

A recap of the numerous, internally inconsistent arguments as to why workers can’t have a shorter workweek.

More Evidence That Charter Schools Are a Taxpayer Ripoff That Delivers Poor Results

A damning new report from California shows that charter schools are a grift that profits investors at the expense of taxpayers and children.

It’s Not the Gig Economy, Stupid

Why the decline in labor unions has had a bigger impact on the fallen state of wage workers than the much ballyhooed gig economy.

IMF Blames Fall of Middle Class on Globalization and Technology

An IMF report comes up with some orthodoxy-reinfocing conclusions by failing to address some key issues.

Goodbye Fiduciary Rule? Department of Labor Delays Implementation Until June

Implementation is now delayed until June, yet the steps many firms have taken to comply suggest the fiduciary rule will survive in some form.

Wolf Richter: Great Debt Unwind: Consumer Bankruptcies Jump, First Since 2010; Commercial Bankruptcies Spike

Both consumer and commercial bankruptcies spiked in March– and the oil bust’s not to blame.